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Your new album 'Digimortal' will be released in April. How are the responses on the new songs live?
"Well, pretty good! We did a tour in America called Sno-core and we had the chance to play some new
songs in that tour and it came of really good. We played 'What will we become', 'Linchpin', 'Digimortal'
and 'Acres of skin'. The people seemed to like it, you know. I heard nothing else but good things.
"
They really get into it from the first moment?
"Well, yeah, they get into it but not like they know the songs or anything. Like when you come back
and everybody knows how's the cd and stuff it takes it to the next level. But so far even without them
knowing the cd, some people know the songs from Napster or something. You can tell like some people singing
the lyrics already like 'whow!'. They got a computer at home. That's all good. I don't care as long as you
get it.
"
Can you tell me something about the concepts, ideas and visions of the album?
"Well, 'Digimortal' is basically two words condensed: digital technology and human mortality. On this
record we don't really give any answers but we put the question out there, you know. What about, if
computers can think for themselves? What if you can download your memory onto a computerchip and save it in
cyberspace and then download it in a clone of you, it grows your age. They put a chip in there and the
clone is gonna have your soul. What is the soul, you know. That's kinda the question we asked with this
record. All the songs in the record are kinda like a collage to one big picture. It's not a story like it
was in 'Obsoletes. Like a song like 'Linchpin'. A linchpin could be the really fatal part to the machine;
when you pull that linchpin out the machine falls apart. Like the linchpin to a grenade when you pull it
out, it explodes. Pull the linchpin out and man and machine will fall apart. This record is more like man
and machine have come together. The previous album 'Soul of a new machine', the birth of the fetus into the
machine. 'Demanufacture' the barcode, the ribcage, a very angry type of record like. Basically man versus
machine try to struggle to each other. Then came 'Obsolete' on the third record, which was a very dark and
moody record. This one is angry, it's moody but it's all very focused. Man and machine are kinda come
together and are one. So they can't really live without another. If you look around you kinda see those
things already. Like I bet the next time I'll do an interview with you don't have this tape machine any
more, you'll have a mini-discplayer. And if I take the mini-disc away from you, and I gave you this you
would say I don't want this tape machine I want my mini-disc. You start depending on things.
"
And for our magazine it is the Internet and the whole computer thing.
"Right, That's a good resource for us to get our music out there. We have our online-site. It's like
an own store. Everything you wanna know about Fear Factory is there, you know, it's great. It's like a
revolution. As long as you get that record, I don't care. Even if you gotta steel it. Steel money from your
mom, if that's what you gotta do to get it, than do it. I don't care.
"
So the Internet is also very important for a band like Fear Factory?
"Very, very important!
"
You decided to work with producer Rhys Fulber again. What was the reason for this? You were very happy
with his work for 'Obsolete'?
"Well Rhys is a fifth member of the band. He has been with Fear Factory since 1992. He's our fifth
keyboard player, our fifth opinion, you know. After we make the music we get Rhys involved in
pre-production. What can we do to the songs to take it to the next level. Well, Rhys will be able to pull
each individual part out of each individual level, like the best qualities about Burton and the same thing
about me and Raymond. He can get all those things out, he knows exactly what each individual member likes
in the band. He tries to take it all out and that's what a producer needs to do. He steps up as being a
producer more than in the past. We put him in the producer-chair, like this is your job now. Even though he
has been with us for so long. We basically feel that we know what we want and we just need like a fifth
opinion. Rhys is also our programmer and stuff. He's a very essential part of the band and the sound, you
know. Without Rhys it wouldn't sound like this. He's like our fifth member basically.
"
Was the writing process different in relation to other albums?
"Yeah, this record Dino and I were al lot of it together with Raymond. We came to a lot of ideas.
Raymond as well, he sits there and works the parts out. Burton tries to get the whole concept things
together. Thinking all the songs and trying to think what he was going to talk about. And how he's gonna
get it on paper. He keeps us there, you know. We all write things down, like all these names, titles and
what ever we came up with. And we picked little parts out. Sometimes you see something 'ah that's kinda
cool' and start working on it. It was a very creating process and it definitely worked, we matured the
band. It wasn't really a stressful time but we knew that there was pressure to make a better album than
'Obsolete'. We worked really hard together for like 8, 9 months. And then we did 2 months of pre-production
and then we went into the studio. So we worked for a whole year on this record. We have put a lot of time
in it.
"
But there will always be some kind of pressure.
"Yeah, we always gotta make a better album. That's the hard part of it. We have to take it to a next
level.
"
I have the idea that 'Digimortal' is the most melodic Fear Factory album to date. Do you agree with that?
"I don't disagree with that. The melodic parts are more melodic and the heavy parts are still very
crunchy. This record is a lot more dynamic then the other records. And way more compact. The song structure
is something we wanted to concentrate on. I can put half a record right now if I want to. Just give me a
bass-guitar. It's really a song's texture. The way a song is flowing to an other. We simplify a lot of it,
keep what is cool and get the rest out of it. Less is more; that's my big theory in this album. Sometimes
less is heavier. Listen to 'Roots', that was a very simple album, but it was still heavy. After that record
I couldn't listen to another metal band again. Like this is the climax!
"
And Burton is singing a lot more...
"His voice matured over the years. After ten years, he's 32 years old and that sounds a little old and
stuff. He sounds maturer. He knows how to use his voice at this point. It took him a long time to get to
this place. We push him in that way we can.
"
There's also a guest appearance on the album; B-Real from Cypress Hill participates on the song 'Back
the fuck up'. How did he get involved in 'Digimortal'?
"Me and B are business partners in a lot of different ways. I'm part of Cypress Hill, it's cool, the
Soul Assassins organization and all that kind of stuff. I was always working with him on 'Skull and Bones';
I just worked with him on a new Cypress Hill record to. More producing projects, too. We do a lot of
Hip-Hop stuff on our label.
They were just hanging out with us in the studio. We had a lot of our friends hanging around and we
barbecued and we were doing our record. And B said: 'Let's do something with that song.' And like two hours
later the song was done. It's one of my favorite songs of the record.
"
So you're also a Hip-Hop fanatic?
"Yes, very much, since I was young. Beastie Boys, Run DMC, especially NWA, Ice-T. They added attitude
and power to it. Even though it was not metal, but it felt like metal. They had the same anger and power. I
listen to a lot of different types of music. Like Batmobile and stuff, rockabilly. With Fear Factory I
tried to concentrate all those different styles and whatever I grew up with, things that excite me. You
can't get a lot of ideas out of metal bands these days. I don't know why... Nothing really sticks to me.
The only bands that stick to me are RATM, Deftones and a band called Refused, but they broke up.
"
Can we expect a remix-album of this one?
"Maybe, who knows! We have been talking about doing remixes. I have some ideas. We just wanna tour the
record of a little bit and when things settle down, it's gonna be hard to find some time to do some
remixes. We always like to be very much involved, instead of doing it with tapes.
"
Can you give a reaction to the following thesis: Fear Factory isn't a band, it's a concept?
"When the band started, they came up with the name Fear factory. That was a concept name already.
Like; 'What is a Fear Factory?' I went to boarding school when I was a kid. To me that was a Fear Factory.
I hated that shit. It was a prison. People are sheep these days. They just follow. That's what a Fear
Factory is about. Be your own individual.
"
Don't you think the whole 'concept-thing' limits the band in its possibilities and capabilities?
"No definitely not.
"
Why not?
"It's the other way around. People don't wanna hear about me crying how bad of a youth I had. Or how
my daddy beat me up. People don't wanna hear about that shit. Everybody has a value. We don't feel the need
to talk about political reasons. We are more like; what brings the future for us? It still relates to every
day life, but in a futuristic aspect. Burton is a science fiction writer. He takes the present and puts it
in the future. He writes about a present future. That's what sci-fi writers do. That's what George Lucas did.
"
Choose one of the following and tell me why you chose it:
Touring or recording?
"Those are two completely different worlds. But I think recording. Completing new tracks every day.
Doing creative things. With touring you can really just play. I'm really into the producer angles of music
these days. I like being in the studio a lot more than being on stage. On stage is a whole different world.
I love it too, don't get me wrong. That's why I got in a band for, I wanted to tour. I becoming a producer
is a whole different level for me. If I stay on stage being a bassplayer it doesn't get me anywhere. That's
why I do a lot of other stuff on the side.
"
Man or Machine?
"Man, because we control the machine. You don't wanna be controlled by machines. We are in charge.
"
Robocop or the Terminator?
"Terminator, not the second terminator. The second terminator was wreck. The first that what it was
about. He came down to earth to kill.
"
Belgium or The USA?
"The USA, hahaha. Everything is there. I get depressed when I don't see the sun or the ocean.
"
Girls or Beer?
"Girls, I don't fuck around with all the girls and stuff, not at all. I have my girl and that's it.
"
Does your girl go on tour with you?
"Actually she is gonna come out for a couple shows.
"
Can we expect Fear Factory at the Dynamo Festival this year?
"We haven't been asked for any festivals. Because the record is not out yet. I know we're coming back
this year. Festivals maybe next year. I wanna do some different festivals like Lowlands, Pinkpop.
" (Later on, the Dynamo Festival got cancelled due to foot-and-mouth disease, but Fear Factory will
show up at the Lowlands-festival- Red.)
I guess you have achieved almost anything you could dream of with the band. Is there still something you
would like to achieve?
"The only thing like that we achieved was success within the band ourselves. Whatever we worked on was
successful for us. Completing an album with the four of us like this and making a sound like that. That's
success. Go out and play for these kids, that's success. Each individual member has different goals in this
band and in the end the same goals are all the same. We wanna grow up, we wanna be a bigger band. We have
been working for this for ten years now. And we have our first golden record in the States, after ten years.
We did it the old fashioned way, by touring."
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/fear-factory/fear-factory/378/
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