Dino Cazares and Christian Olde Wolbers Are Still in Love
We will get a new Fear Factory album this year? Despite a previous vow from vocalist Burton Seabell that this would be the case, I’m guessing we won’t. But it’s not as though we’re short for FF-related entertainment while we wait: we’ve got the band’s current and former members continuing to shit-talk one another on social media to amuse us.
The latest round of verbal purple-nurpling began over the weekend, when one of the band’s former members, Christian Olde Wolbers, posted an old photo from his time with the group, along with this caption:
“Too bad Fear Factory is now history and now the past. Take care of your business and learn how to be business minded and how to successfully run a band.”
Wolbers’ post would have been insulting to the current members of Fear Factory regardless, but I imagine there’s a little extra sting in the fact that he chose a photo of himself when he was playing guitar for Fear Factory. In other words, the pic is from an era when founding guitarist Dino Cazares wasn’t even in the band (when he was, Wolbers played bass, as if ya didn’t know).
In any case, one might have interpreted Wolbers’ assertion that “Fear Factory is now history and now the past” to mean that his time with Fear Factory is now history and now the past (sheesh, that is a redundant sentiment), not that the whole band is now history… except that two years ago, Wolbers pulled a similar stunt, going on social media to announce Fear Factory’s break-up, despite the fact that he wasn’t in the band at that point.
So, understandably, some fans interpreted Wolbers’ comment as yet another declaration of Fear Factory’s demise. And when one fan asked Cazares about Wolbers’ assertion on Twitter, Cazares replied, “Cut the grass short so u can see the snakes! #exbandmembers.”
Cut the grass short so u can see the snakes! #exbandmembers
— Dino Cazares (@DinoCazares) May 28, 2019
Which is actually a weird reply when you think about it. Answering a question with unsolicited advice relayed via metaphor? It’s like if your friend was in a car accident and you were like “Hey dude, I heard you were in a car accident, are you okay?”, and your friend replied, “Buy an umbrella today in case it rains tomorrow! #insurance.” Like. Uh. Okay.
Still, I get Dino’s general meaning — “Wolbers is a snake.” Seabell previously said that the new Fear Factory able was done and delivered to the label, but hadn’t been released yet due to “some legal technicalities.” We’ve long speculated that these legal issues might relate to Wolbers, and this whole exchange, with Wolbers talking about being “business minded,” certainly lends some credence to that theory. But I would also think if these two were in the middle of a legal battle, their respective attorneys would tell them to shut the fuck up until the whole thing is resolved. So maybe Wolbers isn’t responsible for the delay.
You’ll know more when we do. In the meantime, feel free to recklessly speculate in the comments section.
