Dino Cazares Says He Has “Respect and Love” for Burton C. Bell; Vocalist Calls the Fear Factory Crowdfunding Campaign a “Scam”
It’s been a dramatic week for Fear Factory fans. First, Dino Cazares announced that the band’s long-awaited new album would be released in 2021. The guitarist later elaborated that the band “need help financially to complete [the record].” But when fans suggested they launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise those funds, Cazares expressed hesitation, citing the state of the coronavirus-infected economy.
Nonetheless, a couple of days later, a GoFundMe campaign was launched, purportedly help the band finish the album and cover legal fees incurred while fighting with former members over the rights to the group’s name.
Then, a few hours later, there was another twist — frontman Burton Seabell released a statement distancing himself from the campaign:
“Let me be clear. I am not part of, nor am I benefiting, from any GoFundMe Campaign.”
Cazares later clarified:
“[Burton] sang on the record he’s finished his parts. The donations is for live drums ,mixing and mastering plus keyboards the production team and performers need to get paid for there [sic] work. Burton definitely benefits from a great sounding record.”
Still, Seabell reiterated his longstanding who claim that the album is complete and has been complete for sometime, asserting that the crowdfunding campaign is a “scam” intended to pay “for Dino’s legal bills.”
Now Cazares has released a longer statement further elaborating on the brouhaha surrounding the crowdfunding campaign:
“This is to address some of the controversy regarding the Fear Factory GoFundMe page. It is not a scam. All donations go toward covering newly incurred production costs and not anyone’s personal legal fees.
“On the previous version of the album recording, which was completed in 2017, it had programmed drums. I decided to not make that mistake again and had Mike Heller perform live drums on the record. I later realized I needed to re-track guitars and bass to fit better with the live drums. I also decided to add new keyboards from Rhys Fulber and a few other keyboardists. Damien Rainaud took over production duties for all this, and Andy Sneap is also handling the mixing and mastering. They all did an amazing job on ‘Genexus’, and I decided to bring them back for the new album. Burton’s lead vocals, which were also recorded in full in 2017, will remain on the new version of the album.
“Fear Factory has exceeded its limit in borrowing money from the record company to complete the new version of the album. For this reason, and this reason only, a decision was made to ask for outside donations.”
Cazares also continued to address fan questions on social media, going so far as to say he has “the up most [sic] respect and love for the guy.”
And yet, somehow, this isn’t the end of the story. Former FF bassist Christian Olde Wolbers — one of the former members who had been embroiled in the aforementioned legal battle for the Fear Factory brand — told a fan online that Seabell and Cazares “did not win [the name] we let them have it.” He also said of the duo, “one is bipolar and the other is a pedo.”
In response, Cazares tweeted:
“Wow [Wolbers] stooped to new lows, that’s to bad because I was considering on letting him come back.”
He later added “I wish [Wolbers] and his bands much success.”
More on the Fear Factory soap opera as it continues to unfold…
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