Interview with Christian Fear Factory is a band that always stood for the combination of industrial and genuine death metal. On 24th of april 2001 the band will release its fourth regular studio album called "Digimortal". Although impressively sounding, some of the elements on the album may have a very controversial effect especially for the fans that always appreciated the harder "industrial" side of the band. Concerning this circumstance, the LA based quintet has undergone a constant development towards more mainstream elements culminating in rap portions on the new album and certain side projects that go into the rap metal direction. That, of course, was worth a few critical questions for the band. Bassist Christian Ode Wombers answered our questions: Noize Magazine: Hi Christian ! How are you doing ? Christian: Well, pretty good, what about you ? Noize Magazine: I am alright over here. Well, I´ve recently heard the "Digimortal" Promo and the sound on the album is pretty good. But is it true that there has been a problem concerning the producer thing ? I´ve heard that Bob Rock didn´t want to produce it... ? Christian: Well, at first I gotta say that we have got a new managment that is a very large one in the US. All their acts are selling kind of million of records. They think in a kind of manner like "Big records - big producer". And so it was their aim to count to a lot of people. Apart from that, after all the things about Bob Rock, Rhys Fulber made it sound even in front of the records. He´s really into the FF sound and so we decided to take him producing the album together with Fear Factory itself. I guess it was a good thing... Noize Magazine: So you mean that Rhys Fulber was more into the Fear Factory thing that any other producer ? Christian: Well, yes he is. But at least we want to keep our own sound. We do not want to lose our integrity. Producers always want to change the song concept. But all they really should give to us are some different ideas who to arrange certain songs. And that´s enough. Of course, it´s not like we are not open minded. We definitely opened our minds towards everything that could improve the FF thing. Noize Magazine: So are you satisfied with the production at least ? Christian: Hell yeah, that´s the best prodcution we´ve ever done. We´ve recorded for two and a half months and had a pre production of seven or eight months. So we really were prepared for the record. Noize Magazine: Ok, to me "Digimortal" is a consequent sequel to "Obsolete". But it´s way wider away from the traditional FF thing as far as I am concerned. It´s a step wider away from the raw sound of the beginning. Did you want to head that direction as a kind of concept ? Christian: Well, the band FF itself is a concept. FF stand for so called fear factors. Thats for example the government, the police and stuff. They all are fear factors. And this time we picked up things like the question "Can a soul be downloaded ?". It´s like digital mortality. If something like that will ever happen, well than things are getting worse... Noize Magazine: And who exactly is behind this lyrical concept of FF ? Christian: It´s Burt. He´s the one to sample informations and bring em to us in order to put up the lyrical concept. Noize Magazine: Another thing is that I´ve heard a lot of clean passages on Digimortal... Christian: Hey, yes, Burt sings more clean passages and even Dino is playing clean guitars. That´s for elevating the FF sound, you know. It was a kind of natural involving. If you look on bands like Rage against the machine you will see that their sound is also very cleanish but at the same time is very heavy. So at least, these sounds are way more dynamic. And that concept works pretty nice on stage. On tour we will have a man doing the synthesizers. Noize Magazine: Concerning all these studio technologies: The drum sound of Raymond Herrera on "Digimortal" once again is brilliant. Are you using trigger effects for the drums ? Christian: We use natural drums as well as trigger effects. But Raymond still has to play it of course. It´s a kind of natural unit between human technique and effects. It doesn´t harmonize but enhances the sound of the double bass. Noize Magazine: Another things I remarked is that for the first time FF use to integrate rap elements through the featuring of B-Real from Cypress Hill on the track "Back the fuck up". Don´t you fear to be put into the new metal thing with bands like Limp Bizkit or Korn ? Christian: Oh, none of these bands really are rap metal. Rap is Run DMC and stuff. And B-Real is a very dark person that really fits into the FF concept. And it´s something I had in my mind for a long time. Me and B-Real are like brothers now. We have different projects together. He´s like family to FF. And so it was obvious to integrate some of his elements into FF. I asked B-Real to spit some lyrics over that song and to me it sounds great. Back the fuck up is one of my favourite songs on the album. Thats really rap metal. I also will have a side project with him. Noize Magazine: And what do you think about the chances for hard music in the LA environment ? Isn´t it just more poser rock that´s selling much copies in that area ? Christian: Hmm, I guess that LA is a very hard place with all these ghettos and broken chances over there. So the music still fits. It´s kind of controlled anger. All these things are part of FF influences. And concerning all these new metal bands, I can only say that they don´t really inspire me. That´s nothing new. I take my inspirations much more from other musical styles, even from hip hop. That´s way more innovation. Noize Magazine: And what about the remix things ? Obsolete didn´t had a remix album. Will there be a remix record from Digimortal again ? Christian: We only did a few remixed tracks for b-sides concerning Obsolete. I dont know if there will be a complere remix album of Digimortal but definitely a few tracks. Noize Magazine: What about the label thing ? Is everything cool with Roadrunner ? Christian: Yes, it´s an ok thing. Roadrunner has now got a lot of bigger bands and they are growing together with their bands. We are satisfied with them and I guess it´s the same thing with them for us. Noize Magazine: And are you looking forward to play the european tour ? Christian: Yes, I love to be on the road. But we never played so long in front of an album. At the moment we are doing promo for a whole month and we will see how the fans will react towards the new material. Noize Magazine: And will you have got a special stage concept for the tour ? Christian: Not really, but we will come back when the album is out and then we will have a worked out stage design... By the way, the support on this tour will be Earthtone 9 and Kill II this. Noize Magazine: What about the future plans for FF ? Christian: Well, we´ll have large touring activities in the futre beneath some soundtracks for computer games and maybe we´ll also release a kind of Fear Factory DVD. Noize Magazine: Ok, that´s all for us, do you want to send some shouts out to the european scene ? Christian: Well, you all know what FF stands for: stay yourself and don´t scout the trends. Just stay yourself and we´ll see on tour ! Noize Magazine: Thanks Christian, all the best for the tour and the album...! Review by: Seb