Spiritech: 'Facebreaker', the new Divine Heresy track that has been posted on the band's MySpace page seems to sum up all that the band does well in about three-and-a-half minutes. Is this a fair indication of what the rest of the record sounds like?
Dino Cazares: Definitely very accurate. I mean, ripping riffs, really fast, insane blast-beat drumming, killer heavy vocals and a melodic side. I mean, the melodic parts really stick out. It pretty much sums up the whole record and that's the first song that we wanted people to hear, the first single, I guess you could call it. It's also going to be the first video as well, which we're going to do in July. We're in the process of choosing a video director right now.
Spiritech: Will there be any more very melodic tracks on the new album similar to 'Closure' from your debut?Dino Cazares: Yes, as a matter of fact there is. There's one called 'Darkness Embedded', which is a very mellow, cool, slow, dark, melancholy type track and it's definitely in that same vein. It's a really cool track.
Spiritech: New vocalist Travis Neal seems to have slotted into the band very neatly. How did he come to join Divine Heresy?
Dino Cazares: Well, when we were looking for a singer, we basically put it out there that we needed a vocalist and he was one of the many that auditioned. We had a lot of guys. He was a guy I knew from a while back, the band he was in opened up for another band that I had and so I kind of knew him already, I'd met him a few times. And he came in and it's funny, during the rehearsal... during the auditions, we sent everybody the songs 'Savior Self' and 'This Threat Is Real' to learn. That way when we audition you, you've got to play those songs. So he came in and was like, "yeah, let's do 'Closure'" and I'm like, "what?" (laughs) That's a hard song. So we did 'Closure' and he nailed it. So we said, "let's do something heavy", so we did one of the heavier songs and he was like, boom, he did it no problem. So we were like, "I think you're in" (laughs).
Spiritech: Fair enough. Now that you have a new vocalist and Joe Payne (bass) is a full-time member of the band, was it an easier process and more of a tighter unit when recording Bringer Of Plagues than it was on your debut?
Dino Cazares: Yeah, the first album there was a lot of drama and a lot of stuff going on and a lot of stuff that took a lot of time. This one was way smoother, no drama, no bullshit and everybody worked really well together. A good portion of it me and Tim (Yeung) the drummer wrote, but Joe and Travis definitely contributed heaps. You like that word? (laughs) It came out really well.
Spiritech: In what other ways do you feel this album is an improvement upon your debut?
Dino Cazares: It was a lot less stressful. That and we definitely challenged ourselves and pushed ourselves to go to the next level with riffs and beats and speed and technicality. Definitely showcasing Joe the bass player, showcasing him a little bit more. And obviously Travis sticks out really well, he does a great job so we pushed ourselves to go to the next level and we feel that we did.
Spiritech: Can you tell us about the meaning behind the title Bringer Of Plagues?
Dino Cazares: Well, as you know Divine Heresy is obviously something that means good and evil. Divine is something that's god-like and heresy is something that is against that. So it's like we've always kind of touched a little bit on the subject of Biblical terms, like 'Savior Self' and 'Royal Blood Heresy' kinda touched on a little stuff from the Bible. This one in particular is about the ten plagues... In the Biblical narrative, one being the beginning of the curses, two is the blood, three is frogs, four is beasts and flies and on from there - the unhealable boils, the hail mixed with fire, the locusts, darkness and finally death of the first born. We kind of like showed a lot of locusts on the front cover of the record. Kind of like the apocalypse basically.
Spiritech: Interesting, Now, Tommy Vext left the band on not particularly good terms...
Dino Cazares: Well no, no, no we actually fired him from the band. We fired him from the band in New York.
Spiritech: Okay, I stand corrected. Having been through a pretty public falling out yourself when you originally left Fear Factory, when the drama with Tommy started playing out publicly via the press, was there a part of you thinking, "oh no, here we go again?"
Dino Cazares: (pauses) Hmm, yeah. That just seems... it always seems like that when a member, when something like that happens, it always seems like somehow they want to hurt me back. So they try to... they wanna go to the press and they wanna cry about it, blah, blah, blah. And they want to talk like... for instance with Tommy, I noticed that when he got fired, he got fired, but he just wanted to distract from the fact that he got fired and why he got fired so he would rather basically talk shit about me. You know, the guy got fired because he missed shows, the guy was doing steroids and he became a burden more than someone who was really helping us out. Granted, he's a pretty good singer, but he has a lot of baggage and we found that out during the touring... you really don't know anyone until you tour with them, really. Until you actually live with a person, and when you're on tour you're actually living with them and we really got to see who he really was and we weren't really very happy about it. So we had to fire him. He also recently joined another band called Snot and he just recently got fired from that too.
Spiritech: Do you think that says it all then?
Dino Cazares: Well, he's a young guy, he's in his early 20s and he likes to party. I think one of the main problems is that he was taking drugs. Steroids mixed with alcohol and drugs does not mix well.
Spiritech: Moving on to another topic, you've been quoted as saying that you literally "shit out" riffs. What are your three favourite riffs from the new record?
Dino Cazares: Hmmm, well 'Facebreaker', the opening riff is like my favourite. That was one of the first riffs that I wrote for the album. It just really stood out to me and I believe that riff kind of sets the pace for the rest of the album. The title track 'Bringer Of Plagues', the main riff in like my favourite as well. And actually, I would say the third would be the second track called 'The Battle Of J. Casey'. In the mid-section all the music drops out and there's a guitar riff that goes on by itself before the music kicks back in. That's one of my favourite riffs as well.
Spiritech: Some would say the timing of the release of Bringer Of Plagues is a little odd given that Fear Factory have recently announced a run of "reunion" shows, including a tour of Australia in August. How will you be splitting your time between the two bands?
Dino Cazares: Very carefully! (laughs) I'm definitely going to do both bands at the same time. I've done it before with my other bands Divine Heresy and Asesino, you know. When I'm not touring Divine Heresy I tour Asesino and when I'm not touring Asesino I tour Divine Heresy and then sometimes, both bands tour together. That's what I plan on doing with Fear Factory, when Fear Factory has off-time I'll be doing Divine Heresy and vice-versa. And we'll always be doing live shows together as well. Somewhere down the line, I'd like to get all three bands to play together.
Spiritech: That sounds killer! You've said a number of times in the past years that you would never return to Fear Factory under any circumstances. What made you change your mind?Dino Cazares: The way Burton approached me. We met each other again about a year ago at a show and he started talking to me and we became friends again. And then after a few months of talking, he approached me to see if I was interested in coming back to the band. I mean, I couldn't really turn it down. You know what I mean? I mean, why would I turn down playing with Burt, Gene Hoglan and Byron Stroud? Why would I want to turn that down?
Spiritech: I read the Metal Hammer online interview when it was first announced and the first question was, "Aren't you guys supposed to hate each other?" Where you expecting a lot of raised eyebrows from people?
Dino Cazares: Yeah, yeah of course. I expected it to be like, "what the fuck is going on here?" But Burton and I were able rekindle our friendship and it worked out fine. I believe that it was the other guitar player, sorry, the bass player Christian Olde Wolbers was the one who talked the most smack. And that's the one I really had issues with. Burton and I were actually friends before we started Fear Factory. We were actually in a band together before we started Fear Factory, you know what I mean? So we had more of a friendship than I did with those two guys. We had more history.
Spiritech: That actually brings me to my next question. I was reading an interview online yesterday with Raymond (Herrera, drums) and Christian where they were asked about this situation. They claimed they were both still members of the band and partners in the name and because of that legal action was pending. Can you shed any light on what's happening there?
Dino Cazares: I have no idea what they're talking about, but (as for) why the other two members aren't involved in this project, Burt's going to be releasing a proper statement that's going to explain all of it. And I really can't give any comment until... 'cause Burt wants to be the one to tell everybody. Within the next few days he's going to give a proper explanation of what's going on, what his idea was when he put all of this together, how he approached me and why the other two members aren't doing it. It's going to explain all that. I want to give him the respect to be the one to tell everybody... I haven't been in the band for like eight years. Burton approached me on it, so I'm waiting for him to give an explanation because he deserves to give it because he's been in the band ever since.
Spiritech: Can you tell us when the new Fear Factory album will be recorded and released?
Dino Cazares: Later this year it will be recorded and it will be out early next year, in February or March.
Spiritech: You're coming to Australia in August with Fear Factory and I'll be lucky enough to see you guys twice in Europe as well. What kind of set list are you going to play with this lineup?
Dino Cazares: A lot of stuff from Demanufacture, Obsolete, stuff from the first record and some from Digimortal. Maybe a new song, we don't know yet. Maybe.
Spiritech: Nothing from Archetype and Transgression I'm guessing? (laughs)
Dino Cazares: (Laughs) If you want to hear Archetype, just listen to the early Fear Factory records. That's pretty much... they're pretty much a carbon copy. The riffs are pretty much a carbon copy. The song 'Slave Labor' was a carbon copy of 'Shock', so why not play the original version, which is 'Shock'? They're very, very similar. I could go through the whole record and tell you what riff each was... I could actually sue Christian for stealing my riffs, but I was like, "no, I'll take the high road, I'm very happy with Divine Heresy," and that's what I was just really happy doing until Burton approached me and I ended up coming back. He pretty much had it all set to go.
Spiritech: Do you think you could ever have a working relationship with Raymond and Christian again?
Dino Cazares: No, because I think that the difference between Raymond and Christian and Burton is Burton is more sincere. I believe Raymond and Christian, I believe it's more money-driven, because it's been since they've been in the band...they've been more money-driven, they've been more money hungry kind of guys and first and foremost for me it's more about the music, it's not really about the money, it's about playing the music that you love and playing with people that you like. I'm very happy to be coming back and playing the old songs that I created. I'm happy to be back... no I don't see myself coming back and jamming with Raymond and Christian again. I mean, why? Why would I want Raymond when I've got somebody better - Gene Hoglan? Gene Hoglan's a legendary drummer in the metal world today. He is a legend. I'm not talking about a legend in the figure of speech that you say in Australia, like (*adopts Aussie accent*) - "he's a legend mate!" (laughs) A metal legend, a real metal legend. Why would I want to go back to Raymond? Come on. Okay, maybe he was the beginning drummer, but still, Gene Hoglan is so much better and I would never pass up an opportunity to play with him.
Spiritech: Is it a similar situation having Tim Yeung as the drummer for Divine Heresy as well?
Dino Cazares: Exactly. Tim's in Divine Heresy and the guy is fucking insane, you know what I mean? (laughs) He's like this devil behind the drum kit.
Spiritech: Will we see Divine Heresy out here for a tour sometime soon?
Dino Cazares: Of course, of course. You will see us out there.
Spiritech: I spoke to you last year and you remarked that you had a lot of history in Australia. Was it about Metal audiences Down Under that you think "gets" what you've done with Fear Factory and Divine Heresy?
Dino Cazares: They definitely were one of the first, the first countries that we had a gold record in. You guys were the first country that really embraced us, next to Europe; England and Europe. Then in the States, it didn't really hit in the States for us until the third album Obsolete, whereas like Soul Of A New Machine and Demanufacture were already a big hit across the globe. I don't know what it is about Australia and Fear Factory, I don't know. I don't know, because we went there a lot? We were always there, we kind of became household names there. And you know, back in 1996 I believe, it was during the Demanufacture tour when we had we had to cancel some dates 'cause Burton lost his voice. And there was a riot in Sydney, Australia and it became national news all over Australia and it was in the national newspapers all over Australia. So I think just that alone really helped us promote the band because you can't get, you know, five o'clock news, they were talking about Fear Factory on the five o'clock news around the country. That was great publicity that we got and that really helped us in getting the Big Day Out that following year and boom, it just took off.
Spiritech: Great stuff. Final question - do you have any last words for PyroMusic.net readers?
Dino Cazares: Can't wait to go back there, can't wait. Had a great time last year when I was there for the Soundwave Festival. I had a blast, had a great time and I can't wait to go back. I've had a great history there, Fear Factory's had a great history there and I just love Australia. They've really embraced our music and you know, it's almost like a second home. Australia has the same kind of weather as Los Angeles, so when I go there, it's like I never left home! (laughs)
- Spiritech
