Interview Burton C. Bell Fear Factory

Lineup: Burton C. Bell - Vocals Christian Olde-Wolbers - Guitar Byron Stroud - Bass Raymond Herrera - Drums / Percussion

Lamb of God / Fear Factory Children of Bodom Throwdown HOB 11/09/04 Interviewer: Karma E. Omowale

"I’m doing exactly what I want to do, I’m living a dream and even though the Industry sucks, if you stay true to what you want to do, things are better."

What more can be said about the great Burton C. Bell that hasn't been said before?  Join me in my conversation with Burton as he discusses why he is frustrated with the Industry, who plays a huge role in his life, the role he plays in others and more...


Karma: Well first off, I would like to thank you for doing the interview.

Burton: You’re welcome, my pleasure.

Karma: What’s been the secret of your success for staying in the Industry for as long as you have?

Burton: [smiles] Perseverance is the first word that comes to mind!  Not giving up and for me, doing what my heart calls to do.  I’m doing exactly what I want to do, I’m living a dream and even though the Industry sucks, if you stay true to what you want to do, things are better.  Write the music you want to write, write the lyrics you want to write.  If you’re in it for the money, there’s definitely no way you can survive.  Hmmm!  [laughs]

Karma: [laughs] Actually, I do have a question about the Industry later.

Burton: Okay, no problem.

Karma: How this tour been going so far Lamb of God and Children of Bodom?

Burton: It’s been going really well.  All of the shows have either been sold out or packed and we’re all getting along.  So it’s been a lot of fun.

Karma: That’s great!!  So do you think that you serve as a role model?  And do you have any yourself?

Burton: I technically don’t think I serve as a role model but in reality I do.  My music and my lyrics have touched so many listeners.  This band’s been around for 14 years and we’ve been professional for about 12.  Fans come up to me and they are always saying that my lyrics have moved them or have helped them through some hard times.  And I’ve known this for a long time and I always felt if I had this opportunity to have my words seen and read by thousands of people [his face lights up] I better say something worthwhile and decent so people can definitely…[he pauses as a stream of people flow through the access doors].  Sorry about that!

Karma: Oh that’s quite alright.

Burton: I better say something worthwhile not necessarily decent but something that can be taken into context to be understood and people can relate to it. I do have role models myself, a lot of different artists, vocalists, singers.  There are different artists that I look up to because I respect what they’ve done artistically, musically, lyrically and in their lives.

Karma: Any one in particular?

Burton: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.  And then someone who’s not really in the Industry is Martin Luther, he was a brilliant man; he had a brilliant mind…

Karma: Martin Luther King?  [as I had a momentary brain freeze spacing the founder of the Lutheran faith,  Martin Luther]

Burton: No Martin Luther, of the Protestant Reformation.  Martin Luther King was also genius as well!  [laughs]
 

Karma: Do you foresee G//Z/R being resurrected?

Burton: It is resurrected but I’m not involved in it.  He [as in the founder of the band, Geezer Butler, of Black Sabbath fame] chose not to use me for the vocalist.

Karma: That’s too bad!

Burton: In know for a fact that they are recording a new album.

Karma: Now that’s interesting.

Burton: [clutching his chest] As sad as I’m not involved.

Karma: Hmm…

Burton: Yeah, you may want to ask him why.

Karma: If given the chance, I shall…because that’s not right!  Musically speaking, who are some of your biggest influences now?

Burton: Right now, Justin Broaderick has a new project out right now called Jesu, which I'm dying to hear, and he has always been a big influence.  He was in a band called Godflesh.  [as he points to name on the front of his t-shirt] Neurosis is a good influence; I love that band.  Their new album Eye Of Every Storm is very good, that’s all that I can think of at this time.

Karma: Okay.

Burton: But actually there’s this young band in Brooklyn called Still Life Decay that I’m really into right now.  I want to produce their record, they’re not even signed, but they're like a heavy Skinny Puppy!

Karma: How cool is that? 

Burton: And the new Skinny Puppy album is really, really good.

Karma: Yes it is.

Burton: Even the new Ministry album is really good!

Karma: True, it is.  Skinny Puppy and Ministry are both coming to Chicago within the month.

Burton: [with look of disgust] See, that’s drag about being on tour.

Karma: Do you feel that you have accomplished all the goals you have set for yourself?

Burton: No. [his voice drops] There’s a lot more…I mean I’m 35, I’m still young and there’s still so many more things I want to do artistically.  My goals are there, I don’t have a certain timeline but I’m ready to take care of it as time goes by.  [smiles]  One of my goals is to have another project that I’d like to release called Ascension Of The Watchers and I’m working on that.  [beaming] I would love to be able to release a couple of novels or a book…

Karma: Really.

Burton: [nods head] and I would like to be involved with graphic novels and so many other things.  I mean I am slowly making connections but I’ve got plenty of time!

Karma: That’s the wonderful thing about being young!  [we both laugh]

Burton: I know!  Absolutely!!

Karma: What’s your favorite song off Archetype?

Burton: I love the first song “Slave Labor” because that pretty much sums it up for the music industry. [laughs]

Karma: Which Fear Factory album is your favorite and why?

Burton: I like...I like… You know it’s almost like asking which child is your favorite, because you love each one individually and has a growing experience for each one.  Each one holds different memories.  Each one has a different feel, a different emotion to it and I love them all but I can say which one is my least favorite.

Karma: Okay, which one is your least favorite?

Burton: Digimortal [voices drops] It’s my least favorite.

Karma: Really?  Why?

Burton: Uhh, my heart wasn’t in it.

Karma: Now that’s interesting.

Burton: The title says a lot about it, it’s digital.  And Digimortal is like it’s very cold.  It’s almost too cold and over-processed.  And that’s my opinion.

Karma: Now here is the burning question, what do you think needs to change in the Industry?

Burton: The Industry itself needs to adapt and evolve with the changing technology.  And if they don't do they're going to collapse within themselves.  Like I can't remember the name but it reminds me of the image of the snake that's eating itself [the ouroboros].  Sony [smiles deviously], huh, is a big snake that's eating itself!  Sony is creating the technology that putting Industry labels out of business.  So it needs to adapt and evolve and learn how to treat fresh artists and how the Industry [changing gears]…  Yeah, basically young artists nowadays are learning they don't need labels because of the technology growing and the internet and the high speed internet, they don't need labels anymore.  That's what the Industry needs to figure out…no not figure out, that's what the Industry needs to realize because of how they treat artists, they are pushing these younger bands moving towards the internet without using labels at all and that's what scares labels.

Karma: Interesting when the labels themselves are creating the vicious cycle to begin with.  What do you think you do to change some things?

Burton: What can I do?  I just need to be smart and watch technology and learn how it's evolving and adapt with the changing times and that's all I can do at this point.  I'm part of a label ad you can make things good for you when you find the right outlets for your art.

Karma: Well now that I have asked you those painful "Industry" type questions…

Burton: [smiles] Oh, that's okay!

Karma: [smiles] Here's the Speed Round of Questions.

Burton: [voice elevates and smiles] Alright!  Speed Round!

Karma: What's your mantra?

Burton: My mantra is live life to the fullest everyday!

Karma: Spiritual or religious?

Burton: Spiritual.

Karma: Favorite quote?

Burton: [shakes head and begins to laugh] Oh man!!  [we both laugh]  It's from a movie, and it's the first thing I could think of, "If you can only see what I see from your eyes".

Karma: Wow!  Which movie is that from?

Burton: Bladerunner.

Karma: If they made a movie about your life, who would you like to see play your role?

Burton: Me!  [we both share a guffaw]  Because I'm so psychotic, I don't think anybody else could figure it out!

Karma: Which CD’s/Movies did you bring on tour this go round?

Burton: I didn't bring any on this tour and I've actually picked some CD's up on this tour.

Karma: What did you pick up?

Burton: Past 2 days, I've bought 4 CD's.  I bought the Best of John Coltrane, Train by John Coltrane, which is a remastered CD-Rom kind of thing.  I bought The Mob Rules by Black Sabbath and I bought The Clientele.  And as a gift, a friend of mine bought me the new version of Dawn of the Dead.

Karma: Nice eclectic mix.

Burton: I've got a little bit of everything going on right there.

Karma: Top 5 favorite movies?

Burton: All right, these are the first that come to mind, I have a lot: Raising Arizona, Bladerunner, Alien, Pi, and Nosferatu.

Karma: Top 5 ALL time favorite albums.

Burton: And again these are the first ones that come to mind, I have a very wide record collection but the first ones that come to mind are: U2 Boy and The Joshua Tree, New Model Army Thunder and Consolation, Cult Love and [points to t-shirt and beams] Godflesh's first album [Streetcleaner]. 

Karma: Awesome choices!  What's your favorite color?

Burton: Blue.

Karma: What's underneath your bed?

Burton: My desk, it's kind of a loft bed.

Karma: Fill in the blank, I feel like ______ tonight.

Burton: I feel like I'm going to rock the house!!  [laughs] [And rocked the house he did!!]

Karma: There you go!!  What's your best memory?

Burton: There are so many but the first thing that popped to mind was losing my virginity!  [laughs mischievously] That was  a beautiful day!

Karma: [laughs hysterically] Introvert, extrovert, or ambivert?

Burton: What's an ambivert?

Karma: A combination of both.

Burton: I think I'm a combination of both because I'm a very private person but I do go on stage.

Karma: Favorite instrument to hear?

Burton: I don't know, [smiles] I love the sound of a bassoon.  I love a French Horn.  I guess it really depends on the moment.

Karma: What’s your favorite smell?

Burton: Wow!!  I love the smell of nature after your thunderstorm.

Karma: How would your worst enemy describe you?

Burton: Evasive.

Karma: Live or dead: If you could interview 3 people, who would they be?

Burton: Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, and Elvis Presley

Karma: Biggest pet peeve?

Burton: Ohh, ignorance!

Karma: Is your glass half empty or full?

Burton: It's always half full.

Karma: What's was your favorite childhood memory?

Burton: As a kid getting run over by 3 motorcycles.  [we break out in hysterical laughter]

Karma: Oh no!

Burton: When I was 5 years old, no 4 by 3 dirt bikes.  We were playing chicken and I won, I got run over. 

Karma: [falls over with laughter]

Burton: And I got hit [as he starts to clap his hands] boom, boom, boom!

Karma: Nicknames your friends would give to you on the fly?

Burton: Oh I ain't telling you.  [we both die laughing]

Karma: What color are your kitchen plates?

Burton: Blue.

Karma: Same as your favorite color.

Burton: [smiles] exactly.

Karma: What was your most embarrassing moment on stage?

Burton: Oh, oh!  I landed flat on my ass in front of 80,000 people!

Karma: Where was that?

Burton: In Holland.

Karma: Really?

Burton: At a festival.

Karma: But you recovered.

Burton: I recovered [laughs]

Karma: What are the ringtone(s) on your cellphone?

Burton: There are a few: I have "The Funeral March", I have the "Alfred Hitchcock Theme", I have the Halloween Theme, I have Tubular Bells, and I have "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly", that one's my favorite and "Don't Fear The Reaper".

Karma: Okay.

Burton: There's a theme going there!

Karma: I see!  [laughs] How about the first car you ever owned?

Burton: It was a Datsun F10 1977 5-Speed.  Front wheel drive, it was a hatch back.

Karma: What color?

Burton: It was white.

Karma: I was expecting you to say blue.

Burton: [laughs] No, it was a hand me down.

Karma: How about your first job?

Burton: It was in a restaurant in Northern Virginia I was basically a line cook in a seafood restaurant.

Karma: What's your favorite household chore?

Burton: [snickers] I like sweeping.

Karma: You do?

Burton: There's a certain Zen to it.

Karma: I can see that, you are cleaning out the old.

Burton: Exactly!  [smiles]

Karma: If you could travel the spans of time: which era would you visit?

Burton: Pfft, man!  I would visit the time when…oh there are so many different times…so many times that were annoying and so many very interesting times too.  I think I'd like to go back to New York in the late 1800's, I'd like to go back to that age.

Karma: What's your favorite comfort food?

Burton: Little Debbie's Oatmeal Crème Pies.

Karma: Oh that's awesome!

Burton: [laughs]

Karma: What would be the Soundtrack of Your Life be?

Burton: It would be a score, very moody.  There are a lot of songs from Billy Idol to U2.  [laughs]

Karma: There are a lot to choose from.

Burton: Yeah, there are so many different songs.  I have a wide collection

Karma: Toast: burnt or barely toasted?

Burton: Toast, I don't even like toast [laughs]

Karma: Okay so neither?  [laughs]

Burton: Not really!  Well see I don't usually eat toast, I eat English muffins, slightly toasted.  Okay, so I'll have to say slightly toasted because it keeps the flavor.

Karma: Herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore?

Burton: I'm an omnivore.

Karma: If you could commission a band to cover a song of yours who would it be, which song and which band would do it?

Burton: I would commission Ministry to do "Self Bias Resistor".  I think it could be done really cool!

Karma: That would be cool!  When you were a kid, did you envision yourself doing this?

Burton: Yes!  [chuckles]

Karma: Awesome!  That's very awesome!!

Burton: I told you, I'm living a dream!  This is what I always dreamed of.

Karma: What's your favorite day of the week?

Burton: When you're on the road and in a band, days don't really matter but I happen to like Tuesdays.  Tuesdays are a good date night because it's not amateur night.  Amateur night is Friday or Saturday night.  On date night, things are never crowded: restaurants, movie theaters.  It's like pre-mid week and everybody's just busy working, like I said, it's just the perfect date night.

Karma: What’s the first thing you do when you get home from touring?

Burton: Shower!  [we both laugh hysterically]  It's necessary!

Karma: What were your thoughts on the Elections?

Burton: [countenance becomes stone cold] I was stunned and disappointed in the Democratic party and I'm disappointed in Kerry for giving up so quickly before all the votes were counted.  I sent in an absentee ballot and my vote not counted.

Karma: You're kidding!  That's horrible!

Burton: [nods] Because he conceded before al of that could be done.  I'm just stunned!

Karma: Yeah, like a lot of America is [and the rest of the free world now that I sit back and think about it].

Burton: I'm just stunned!

Karma: Whom would you ask these questions of?

Burton: Well, I'd probably like to ask Henry Rollins or something!  [laughs]

Karma: He would be a lot of fun! Well thank you Burton, this has been a complete pleasure!

Burton: It was mine!

 

I'd like to thank the band's tour manager, Dougie, Mark Morton from Chipster Entertainment and Burton for the wonderful interview!

See pix from tonight's show, click here

&

Here for a new follow up interview with Burton