Fear Factory Artistfacts

1989-
Burton C. BellVocals1989-2020
Dino CazaresGuitar1989-2002, 2009-
Raymond HerreraDrums1989-2009
Christian Olde WolbersBass1993-2009
Byron StroudBass2003-2012
Matt DeVriesBass2012-2015
Mike HellerDrums2012-
Tony CamposBass2015-2020
Milo SilvestroVocals2023-
The name of Fear Factory's debut release, Soul of a New Machine, was inspired by a review of the 1991 sci-fi flick, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, after the band spotted the phrase, "The Soul of the Machine," in the review's title.
Fear Factory has appeared on a total of three Ozzfest lineups over the years, including the festival's first-ever edition (a short two-date run in 1996), which also featured Ozzy Osbourne (and a brief Black Sabbath reunion), Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard, and Sepultura on the main stage.
Dino Cazares once appeared in a pornographic movie, Rock N' Porn. Other rock musicians that appeared in the release included current or former members of Static-X, Pretty Boy Floyd, Enuff Z'Nuff, Kingdom Come, The Misfits, and The Zeros.
In addition to his Fear Factory duties, Burton C. Bell is also a member of Ascension of the Watchers, along with John Bechdel (the latter of whom has worked with Ministry, Killing Joke, Prong, and Fear Factory). Also, Bell lent his vocals to the entire full-length debut by G/Z/R, Plastic Planet.
In our interview with Dino Cazares, he picked two Fear Factory albums as his all-time favorites. "Demanufacture because it really opened people's eyes... and Obsolete is probably the most 'adult songwriting record' that we've ever made at the time."
After Dino Cazares left Fear Factory in 2002, then-bassist Christian Olde Wolbers took Cazares' spot on guitar. Wolbers would hold this position until Cazares returned to the group in 2009.
Fear Factory has covered quite a few other artists' compositions over the years, including Nirvana's "School," Killing Joke's "Millennium," U2's "I Will Follow," Head of David's "Dog Day Sunrise," Wiseblood's "0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)," and Gary Numan's "Cars" (which also featured Numan on vocals).
Fear Factory's 2012 album, The Industrialist, is a concept album, with a storyline akin to the classic sci-fi film, Blade Runner. As Dino Cazares explained to Songfacts, "We decided to talk about the perspective of the machine, what he feels, what he thinks, and what he's going through. We call him 'The Automaton,' for lack of better words, a robot. Terminator-looking guy. But it's in human skin and looked very human, feels very human. And it doesn't know that it is an automaton. Doesn't know that, doesn't realize that until he figures it out, and he realizes, and he's in search for other people who are of his kind, and what he finds out is that he has a certain shelf life. In other words, they run on batteries and their battery is going to die within a few years. So he basically wants to find his creator and basically hopes that he extends his life."

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