Australian Fear Factory fans are being pampered this July, with the boys coming down to play their sophomore album Demanufacture in its entirety. We spoke with front man Burton C Bell about the album, making of it, and touring...
It’s very exciting that we are going to hear Demanufacture in its entirety live, but what is the motivation behind touring it?
Its something we’ve been thinking about for a while, and the last time we were down there – about a year ago – the promoter said “you guys should come back and do something completely different and play Demanufacture in its entirety”, and we thought ‘that’s not a bad idea!’ It was Australia that embraced Fear Factory, and it was Australia that gave Fear Factory its first silver and gold record for Demanufacture, so it seemed like the perfect place to do that. Other than that it was a sophomore debut that put Fear Factory on the map, so why not? We’ll see how it works.
In 2 years it would have been the 20th Anniversary of the album release, did you consider holding off and having a 20th anniversary tour?
Haha, I don’t know. We’re doing it in Australia, then we’re gonna do it in January on the 7,000 Tons Of Metal tour, but after August we’re gonna go back in the studio and start writing a new record.
You’re in a bigger venue here in Adelaide this time than when you were 8 months ago, do you think that’s due to the popularity of the album or were you surprised by the interest the last tour gained?
I think Fear Factory has been touring Australia for so long, and in the last tour we wanted to keep it small so it would be a good turn out, but Demanufacture is our most popular record so if the promoter feels that we should be in a bigger place then that’s all on the promoter and they must think its gonna do well.
I do know there has been a lot of hype about it since we announced it and people are pretty excited!
I’m psyched myself!
You and Dino are the only two members left from the Demanufacture days, do you think that Mike and Matt bring a different energy to the songs when it comes to playing them live?
They bring an energy that is fresh, but they are also fantastic musicians! The precision of this band is probably at the best it’s been in a very long time! Matt’s actually a guitar player, and its terrific that a guitar player is actually playing bass, and Mike is a fantastic drummer! We’ve been playing together for over a year now and we’ve played various Demanufacture songs, but he’s excited, they are both really as excited as we are to be playing the whole album all the way through as they are fans of the record too!
Its gonna be a lot of fun and have really good energy, Im gonna have a lot of fun myself as some of these songs we haven’t played in ages – one song we’ve never played live at all, so its gonna be great!
You all have incredible stamina to be able to play live the way you do, but even though it’s only an hour long, Demanufacture is an intense album to play. How do you think you’ll go with this?
We’ve been on tour ever since that, so we definitely have the stamina to do it! We usually do 16 songs a night so we will do the album in its entirety but we’ll do extra songs as well, not sure if it will be before or after, but we will definitely be making it a full set to give everyone their money’s worth.
Just branching off and mentioning Industrialist and other albums for a second – I noticed you worked with Rhys Fulber on Demanufacture as well as others, how much of an influence does he have with the sound of Fear Factory?
We started working with Rhys on Fear Is A Mind Killer, and he remixed some songs on Soul In The Machine, so we brought him on board as a keyboard player and to add atmosphere to Demanufacture, and he ended up mixing it with us. Ever since then, he worked on Obsolete, he worked on Digimortal, he did a couple of tracks on Archetype, and Industrialist. It’s pretty much Dino, myself and Rhys that are the trifecta of Fear Factory. He is a very integral part, and he really brings a sound that pretty much is the Fear Factory sound. He is super talented and does many projects in many different genres as well.
It’s very exciting that we are going to hear Demanufacture in its entirety live, but what is the motivation behind touring it?
Its something we’ve been thinking about for a while, and the last time we were down there – about a year ago – the promoter said “you guys should come back and do something completely different and play Demanufacture in its entirety”, and we thought ‘that’s not a bad idea!’ It was Australia that embraced Fear Factory, and it was Australia that gave Fear Factory its first silver and gold record for Demanufacture, so it seemed like the perfect place to do that. Other than that it was a sophomore debut that put Fear Factory on the map, so why not? We’ll see how it works.
In 2 years it would have been the 20th Anniversary of the album release, did you consider holding off and having a 20th anniversary tour?
Haha, I don’t know. We’re doing it in Australia, then we’re gonna do it in January on the 7,000 Tons Of Metal tour, but after August we’re gonna go back in the studio and start writing a new record.
You’re in a bigger venue here in Adelaide this time than when you were 8 months ago, do you think that’s due to the popularity of the album or were you surprised by the interest the last tour gained?
I think Fear Factory has been touring Australia for so long, and in the last tour we wanted to keep it small so it would be a good turn out, but Demanufacture is our most popular record so if the promoter feels that we should be in a bigger place then that’s all on the promoter and they must think its gonna do well.
I do know there has been a lot of hype about it since we announced it and people are pretty excited!
I’m psyched myself!
You and Dino are the only two members left from the Demanufacture days, do you think that Mike and Matt bring a different energy to the songs when it comes to playing them live?
They bring an energy that is fresh, but they are also fantastic musicians! The precision of this band is probably at the best it’s been in a very long time! Matt’s actually a guitar player, and its terrific that a guitar player is actually playing bass, and Mike is a fantastic drummer! We’ve been playing together for over a year now and we’ve played various Demanufacture songs, but he’s excited, they are both really as excited as we are to be playing the whole album all the way through as they are fans of the record too!
Its gonna be a lot of fun and have really good energy, Im gonna have a lot of fun myself as some of these songs we haven’t played in ages – one song we’ve never played live at all, so its gonna be great!
You all have incredible stamina to be able to play live the way you do, but even though it’s only an hour long, Demanufacture is an intense album to play. How do you think you’ll go with this?
We’ve been on tour ever since that, so we definitely have the stamina to do it! We usually do 16 songs a night so we will do the album in its entirety but we’ll do extra songs as well, not sure if it will be before or after, but we will definitely be making it a full set to give everyone their money’s worth.
Just branching off and mentioning Industrialist and other albums for a second – I noticed you worked with Rhys Fulber on Demanufacture as well as others, how much of an influence does he have with the sound of Fear Factory?
We started working with Rhys on Fear Is A Mind Killer, and he remixed some songs on Soul In The Machine, so we brought him on board as a keyboard player and to add atmosphere to Demanufacture, and he ended up mixing it with us. Ever since then, he worked on Obsolete, he worked on Digimortal, he did a couple of tracks on Archetype, and Industrialist. It’s pretty much Dino, myself and Rhys that are the trifecta of Fear Factory. He is a very integral part, and he really brings a sound that pretty much is the Fear Factory sound. He is super talented and does many projects in many different genres as well.
I remember when I first heard Fear Factory. I heard Zero Signal on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack -
That movie really boosted our album, and because of that, I got a gold record for it, that album went gold as well.
One of the things that blew me away was the speed of Raymond’s drums, it was really my first experience with blast beats and I honestly questioned if it was real or not, as many others did, but I found out later on that he uses triggers. Does Mike use triggers too?
The natural drum sound is not really the Fear Factory sound, so Mike does use triggers as well on everything except cymbals.
You really broke the mould with Demanufacture and a lot of musicians have taken inspiration and motivation from it, but what sort of music inspires Fear Factory?
It’s a lot of different things, I listen to a lot of different types of music. Dino is the metal guy of the band and he likes industrial, but I am the more industrial avant garde guy in the band, but there is some metal I like. We both listen to different types of songs, then you have Rhys’s taste as well.
People wonder where I get my harmonies from, I listen all different types of music, and inspiration comes from all different angles of life so you have to keep it fresh and do different things.
Who would be your favourite non-metal performer to listen to right now?
I’m listening to Willie Nelson right now and I like the new Nick Cave, its amazing.
That's cool, I was never really a big Nick Cave fan until he played here not too long ago...
I saw his recent show too and it was fantastic and the record is amazing! Its pretty well known that I’ve been a Nick Cave fan for many, many years though, even before Fear Factory.
As I said, it’s nearly 20 years since Demanufacture came out. Do you remember the feeling and excitement of first creating and releasing it?
I remember the feeling, it was a feeling of, just, relief because writing and recording that record was a real test of our strength as a band, because we went through so much to do that. While we were writing the record we were dealing with the Rodney King trials and the tension that was was in LA. Our rehearsal spot was down in South Central and we were driving through the area where the LA Riots started and we lived through the whole LA Riots, it helps create the vibe of what was going on in our lives within the record.
Then we had to live through the Northridge Earthquake after that and had to go through almost two different recording spots just to get this record done, and we went through so much trouble with it that once it was done, oh man it was such a relief!
And you had something as simple as Bon Jovi recording in the next room and telling you to turn it down – I read that and laughed so hard!
Haha! Yeah there was Fear Factory in the small room and Bon Jovi in the large room and we were both recording, but Faith No More was recording King For A Day in the barn down the road, and we were friends with them, so we would go hang out and go see Mike Patton do his crazy vocals, and we were like whoah, what’s going on here!
That would be cool, I have a bit of a crush on Mike Patton I’ll admit!
A lot of chicks do! Haha
Ok, final question… Did you think back then that you would be doing this all these years later?
No, I didn’t. I figured it would last like 10 years and I was just taking each day as it goes and each record cycle as it comes, and I am thankful that I am still able to survive doing what I love.
Fear Factory are bringing Demanufacture to HQ on the 9th of July, tickets are available here
Interview by Melissa Donato
That movie really boosted our album, and because of that, I got a gold record for it, that album went gold as well.
One of the things that blew me away was the speed of Raymond’s drums, it was really my first experience with blast beats and I honestly questioned if it was real or not, as many others did, but I found out later on that he uses triggers. Does Mike use triggers too?
The natural drum sound is not really the Fear Factory sound, so Mike does use triggers as well on everything except cymbals.
You really broke the mould with Demanufacture and a lot of musicians have taken inspiration and motivation from it, but what sort of music inspires Fear Factory?
It’s a lot of different things, I listen to a lot of different types of music. Dino is the metal guy of the band and he likes industrial, but I am the more industrial avant garde guy in the band, but there is some metal I like. We both listen to different types of songs, then you have Rhys’s taste as well.
People wonder where I get my harmonies from, I listen all different types of music, and inspiration comes from all different angles of life so you have to keep it fresh and do different things.
Who would be your favourite non-metal performer to listen to right now?
I’m listening to Willie Nelson right now and I like the new Nick Cave, its amazing.
That's cool, I was never really a big Nick Cave fan until he played here not too long ago...
I saw his recent show too and it was fantastic and the record is amazing! Its pretty well known that I’ve been a Nick Cave fan for many, many years though, even before Fear Factory.
As I said, it’s nearly 20 years since Demanufacture came out. Do you remember the feeling and excitement of first creating and releasing it?
I remember the feeling, it was a feeling of, just, relief because writing and recording that record was a real test of our strength as a band, because we went through so much to do that. While we were writing the record we were dealing with the Rodney King trials and the tension that was was in LA. Our rehearsal spot was down in South Central and we were driving through the area where the LA Riots started and we lived through the whole LA Riots, it helps create the vibe of what was going on in our lives within the record.
Then we had to live through the Northridge Earthquake after that and had to go through almost two different recording spots just to get this record done, and we went through so much trouble with it that once it was done, oh man it was such a relief!
And you had something as simple as Bon Jovi recording in the next room and telling you to turn it down – I read that and laughed so hard!
Haha! Yeah there was Fear Factory in the small room and Bon Jovi in the large room and we were both recording, but Faith No More was recording King For A Day in the barn down the road, and we were friends with them, so we would go hang out and go see Mike Patton do his crazy vocals, and we were like whoah, what’s going on here!
That would be cool, I have a bit of a crush on Mike Patton I’ll admit!
A lot of chicks do! Haha
Ok, final question… Did you think back then that you would be doing this all these years later?
No, I didn’t. I figured it would last like 10 years and I was just taking each day as it goes and each record cycle as it comes, and I am thankful that I am still able to survive doing what I love.
Fear Factory are bringing Demanufacture to HQ on the 9th of July, tickets are available here
Interview by Melissa Donato
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