"Transgression is an experiment; every song was an experiment. We broke boundaries, we went beyond borders, we expanded upon ourselves."

Fear Factory has been a staple in the world of metal for well over fifteen years and still going strong. Since my last interview with the band's frontman Burton C. Bell the band has toured with Megadeth during the summer on Gigantour and are currently on their own headlining tour with Soilwork (later on) It Dies Today, Strapping Young Lad, and Darkane on top of releasing their tenth studio album entitled Transgression. It's always a pleasure to catch with Mr. Bell, the "guru" and to be able to tap into the brain underneath the "towel/turban". Join me in a conversation as we discuss the new album, Gigantour, and life. And then after the interview, stop by and take a gander at our blog on FourteenG's My Space profile as Burton turns the tables and puts me in the hot seat.

Karma: Thanks for sitting down with me again Burton.

Burton: [Smiles] My pleasure, thank you for coming out again.

Karma: A lot has transpired since we last talked…

Burton: …It's been a year!

Karma: Yeah, almost to the date! [Laughs] Well you have a brand new album out, then there was Gigantour…

Burton: [in some unrecognizable, robotic accent] Gigantour! [Laughs]

Karma: Behemoth or a bust?

Burton: It wasn't a bust but it wasn't a behemoth. It was a formidable opponent. [Laughs] It was the first tour of the Gigantour, so it had a lot of things to work out. The fact that the publicity was more word of mouth than anything else.  It was just the shows itself were doing publicity. And going from town to town playing huge places like… [turns and looks at me] The Tweeter Center, in Chicago?

Karma: Yes, the Tweeter Center.

Burton: Ehh, it was half-full! I mean that's positive! [Laughs hysterically]

Karma: Yes, it is a start!

Burton: For the type of publicity it had, I think it did very well.

Karma: And you guys have a new album out…

Burton: …yes, Transgression.

Karma: In our last interview, you said your heart wasn't into Digimortal, was your heart in Transgression?

Burton: Yes! My heart was in it… [pauses] It was a very time, oriented album. [Snickers]

Karma: Why was it such a time-oriented album?

Burton: We were on a deadline…

Karma: …self-imposed or by the label?

Burton: It was by the label. But we tried to meet it. I think we were late but… we got close to it by a couple of days. The deadline itself created a creative stress point and we worked as fast as possible with the songs we had and you know just made it happen. We were busy, it's like we were always doing something, you know. As I was doing vocals, Christian was doing guitar and you know back and forth and back and forth…

Karma: In essence it was semi-recorded live then…

Burton: …yeah, I'll say it was live. It almost took me back to the time of Demanufacture, that was a very point as well, kind of stressful. It was creative, now I don't want to say inspirational, but it definitely created a drive.

Karma: Tell the viewers something about the production of the album they may not have known previously. [Laughs and shrugs shoulders]

Burton: [Laughs] Yeah, seems like they already know everything about it. It think the one thing was the deadline that we were on. Wow, what don't they know…that's a good question? It's a lot of things I know. I don't know, that's an interesting question. It was the best home recording you'll ever hear! It was recorded at Christian's house. We did the drums at a place called Track Record; were we were there for five days and did all the drum tracks then we moved all of the equipment into Christian's house and the studio, our rehearsal spot, I Los Angeles. Yeah, Christian kind of created a studio in one of his bedrooms. Full on, sitting there with Toby Wright; it was one of the first times we ever recorded with a producer in the same room. First time I really worked with a producer. I had ideas for every song and things I was going to do. If I was stuck, Toby was there and had the creative input and I totally respected the man to listen all we tried, and we tried a lot of things.

Karma: A lot of your fans feel that the production of this album sounds "rushed" especially in comparison to Obsolete…

Burton: …[Laughs] At least we all see the same idea.

Karma: Will you take the same approach as in rushing to beat a deadline for another album? Do you foresee doing this again?

Burton: Well you know, what we will do is be more organized and make it happen.

Karma: In respect to rushing, is it that you just fell behind…

Burton: [Laughs] You know that's a good question, I don't know. It just happened you know! Good question!

Karma: Going a little further with lessons, what have you learned thus far from the beginning of FF to now…

Burton: …what have I learned?

Karma: Yeah!

Burton: Don't think too much! [Laughs] Seriously, if it sounds good, go with it. And usually the first inspiration is the best inspiration.

Karma: With Transgression as a stepping-stone in the career of FF, what is left to come of FF?

Burton: We have for the label that we're on an option left so we'll see if the label picks up the option. Depending on how well this album does, which so far is doing pretty good, but we have an option left. [Chatter in the room kicks up] And if they pick up the option, we’ll make another record.

Karma: What’s your favorite song off Transgression?

Burton: I love “New Promise”. I love that song; it’s something about it. The feel of it, the music, just the feeling of the song and the idea of it basically. It’s pretty deep. The whole record Transgression, really fit a description of what the band is going through and what the world is going through at various times. Even without a story, there’s a theme, there’s a concept like Archetype. Archetype was archetypically what Fear Factory has done; you know it wasn't a reach beyond our means.

Transgression is an experiment; every song was an experiment. We broke boundaries, we went beyond borders, we expanded upon ourselves…so in a form, that’s transgression of what we’ve done in the past. Each song, there’s an image of transgression that I wanted to describe that we see in our personal lives and in our daily lives. In my favorite song “New Promise”, is loosely based around the Terri Schiavo case.

Karma: [Look of shock washes over my countenance]

Burton: But it’s from the perspective of the husband. And if you listen to the first part of the song, basically I picture that whispering into his wife’s ear. I promise to release you from this pain. [Voice drops]

Karma: Wow! That is truly beautiful. So the case move you that much to make the song?

Burton: Not necessarily that, that was going on. However, it’s the idea of a loved one in pain and not really living. The loved one that has to bear the burden of taking care of the hospital bills and always being there standing by their side. You know do you want to see this someone? And this happens to many, many people. Yeah, in a way and as a writer, what writers do, you place yourself in that instance and that’s how writers really get the ideas.

Karma: Well switching gears here a bit, I want to know how it feels to be surrounded by all these gifted musicians in your band? [As all eyes go to Byron, sitting in a chair adjacent from us]

Burton: Cool! [We all chuckle] I feel lucky!! We have one of the best drummers [Raymond Herrera] around, our guitar player [Christian Olde-Wolbers] is a guitar player to be reckoned with now. [Looks to Byron and smiles] We have a bass player that’s ominous.

Byron Stroud: [Beams]

Burton: And he’s bear! I mean how many people can say they have a Kodiak on stage? [Room fills with laughter]

Karma: [In retrospect, two people can lay claim to fame of having Stroud on stage FF and Strapping Young Lad] So what's the latest with Ascension of The Watchers?

Burton: We just did a small northeastern tour, four shows, basically to start getting some ideas out there. I want to start from the ground, basically grassroots idea. I don’t want throw it out there with some label, “HERE!” and try to push it on to people. I just basically want to do it word of mouth, just small shows here and there. If people are interested in checking it out, let’s do it! They can come by and check it out! Everyone  knows its nothing like Fear Factory. Before the shows I’m walking around and saying, “Hey, thanks for coming out!” “Thanks for the support!”, and for them to expect something different.

Karma: Who does the website? It's gorgeous.

Burton: Oh a friend of mine, Brent Zius, does it and now he’s doing the FF Webstore. Yeah, he’s very awesome! He does the KMFDM Webstore and their website. [Chatter begins to startup considerably] [Turns and looks at group of people] Hey! I’m doing an interview!!

Person: Oh, I’m sorry!

Burton: [Turns back to me] Sorry! It’s going pretty well. I have another show in January, January 7^th.

Karma: Are you based out of LA as well?

Burton: No, out of NY, it’s John Bechdel, who is my musical partner. The band that I created is John Bechdel, two of the guys, part of another band in Brooklyn called Still Life Decay and they are really good. The singer from Still Life Decay plays drums for me, the guitar player is our second guitar player, and then there’s a photographer that’s playing bass. It’s very artistic, we all see eye to eye on the type of music, and everybody understands it. So I have another show opening up for Chemlab in January.

Karma: That sounds pretty awesome! Now out of all of the U2 songs, what made you choose "I Will Follow". Good rendition.

Burton: It was the least obvious. First pick would probably be “New Years Day”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, maybe “Pride”. Sepultura did a really good version of “Bullet The Blue Sky”, which is not very obvious either.

Karma: You definitely have a point there.

Burton: It was a very good cover; they did it very well. Well it’s the very first song off the Boy album, it’s the very first song people heard.

Karma: Well for the most part [for old schoolers that is]!

Burton: It means a lot to me. I love that album. I have the vinyl and I still play it! It sounds so good!

Karma: I have to agree! I still play all of my old U2 albums on vinyl too. Gotta love vinyl! Woohoo!! [We all laugh]

Burton: I’m still an audiophile that loves vinyl.

Karma: What’s your most prized possession?

Burton: At this point? I don’t know, probably my soul! I think it’s strong and no one can take that away from me.

Karma: Okay! Well here’s some more Speed Round of Questions for you.

Burton: Alright! I love these Speed Round Questions! [Laughs] We did this the last time!!

Karma: We did. [Smiles] Evolution or creation?

Burton: [Pauses] There goes the speed! [Laughter ensues] I think evolution is a part of creation and they both go hand in hand.

Karma: That’s a good answer! Do you believe in the afterlife?

Burton: Yes, but I believe the soul is energy and energy is constant and even though you die, whatever’s powering this machine called the heart and the brain it doesn’t die. It goes somewhere, it’s transferred to somewhere else. And whether another body or vessel happens to capture it…

Karma: …so be it.

Burton: [Nods head] So be it! That’s maybe how people believe in reincarnation, maybe that’s how they believe déjà vu. It’s all energy! Matter is energy.

Karma: Very true. What's your favorite tattoo?

Burton: I think my entire right arm. It’s basically turned into one big artwork. And it was all designed by Kore Flatmo out of Cincinnati, Oh. He started with the crucifix… oh I forget now but it’s an Aleister Crowley symbol. This is where I started and we basically started out together so it became one piece. He’s the only guy I’ll let tattoo me. He’s a true artist in my eye.

Karma: Well he must be. [Smiles] Now when you were single, what was your most successful pickup line?

Burton: Hello! And then we’d be starting to talk and I’d say, “Burton, you know what that means?” They’d say, “What?”, it means dweller in a fortified town! [Hysterical laughter erupts] They're like, “What?” It stumped them!

Karma: That’s a good one Burton! If you could learn another language, which one would it be?

Burton: German.

Karma: Why?

Burton: It’s very technical sounding to me. Something about it, even though I don’t speak German, after you’re over there for a couple of weeks it starts to make sense to you. And it’s part of my heritage too so that would be the language that I would learn.

Karma: Absolut or Jack?

Burton: Absolut!

Karma: Absolutly! [We all laugh] How in the hell ____ get a record contract?

Burton: How in the hell did we get a record contract?

Karma: NO [Laughs] How in the hell did blank get a record contract?

Burton: [Guffaws] Oh fill in the blank! Oh god there are so many bands but how in the hell did [pauses] how in hell did Enuff Z’ Nuff get a record contract? [Room fills with hysterical laughter]

Karma: Oh wow, that rocked! What single song do you feel exemplifies the sonic message of FF?

Burton: “Self-Biased Resistor” I love that song!

Karma: If FF were a cocktail, which drink would you be?

Burton: Oh a Boilermaker! You drop a shot of whiskey into a pint of beer and you down it.

Karma: Yes, it’s similar to a Jäger Bomb.

Burton: [Nods head] And then the Boilermaker starts to [makes sound of an eruption] It creates havoc within.

Karma: If your job was to interview bands, name one that you would like to interview?

Burton: Hmmm…Wow! A lot of my favorite bands I know a lot about already. I guess I would interview Ian Brown he was the singer of the Stone Roses, he has a couple of solo records out, and I love his solo records. I would also interview Neurosis; I don’t know that much about them. And they are one of my favorite bands.

Karma: Asides from Godflesh!

Burton: [Smiles] Of course!!

I'd like to thank Burton for interviewing with me again, to the band's tour manager, Dougie McKay, and to Al at Chipster Entertainment for setting it up!

Click here for Burton's interview of me on our blog on My Space.

Here for my first interview with Burton.

Here for review of tonight's show.