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As a die-hard, life-long fan of all things Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal-related, I can honestly say that I feel there have been very few reasons to get excited within the past nine months. In fact, despite the apparently inescapable presence of Heaven And Hell’s stunning The Devil You Know and Dream Theater’s improbably chart-topping modus operandi Black Clouds And Silver Linings, the output of the genre as a whole has been, well, more than a little dull. Fortunately for all parties involved, there is at long last a solution to the proverbial madness at hand as legendary Fear Factory alumni Christian Olde Wolbers (guitars/bass) and Raymond Herrera (drums) have unleashed Years In The Dark, the stunning full-length debut from acclaimed Industrial Metal upstarts Arkaea…
Todd: What were the main motivations behind the formation of Arkaea? Was the group initially intended as a Fear Factory side-project or did you and Christian immediately have much larger aspirations for everything?
Raymond: “It started out as the next Fear Factory record. …(Guitarist) Christian (Olde Wolbers) and I had started working on the new Fear Factory record and about eight songs into it, (Fear Factory/Ascension Of The Watchers vocalist) Burt (C. Bell) decided he wanted to spend more and more time on his side project, so we said ‘I guess we’ll use these songs for something else’. Christian had worked with the Threat Signal guys. He had produced their debut record (2006’s Under Reprisal) and had really liked working with their singer Jon (Howard), so he mentioned him to me. He was like ‘Hey, this Jon guy is a really great singer and a really hard worker’. I was cool with that so we got him the songs and he really just started doin’ his thing and makin’ the songs his own, so to speak. So we decided ‘What the hell. We can finish the record here and get signed. We can just keep busy with it’, ya know? So it just kinda escalated and it got to the point where we had finished the demos. We had finished the demos at my studio, we started passing them around and there was a lot of interest from KOCH (Records)/E1 Entertainment, who was, oddly enough, going to release the next Fear Factory record. …When we started writing the next Fear Factory record, we were already looking at labels because our deal was up with (the now defunct) Liquid 8/Calvin Records. So we were essentially looking for a deal while we were writing the next record, but then it just all fell apart. When they heard the music, they were like ‘This is killer. We want to sign it anyway’, so we were like ‘Well, I guess there’s no point in pitching it to anyone else (laughs). So we had an agreement and started finishing up the record. It started out as one thing and ended up being another. Needless to say, when people hear the record, they’re going to be like ‘This is Fear Factory with a different singer’, but that’s kinda what it is being that Christian and I wrote all of the music (laughs).”
Todd: While compiling the material that would eventually appear on Years In The Dark, did you initially find it difficult to write and record material that you most likely wasn’t going to appear on a Fear Factory release?
Raymond: “To begin with, it was going to be another Fear Factory record, so it was like ‘Okay, we’re gonna do another record’, so we wanted to write some killer stuff. …I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the vocals because to me, they were intended to be Fear Factory songs. With it being one thing going into it and it being another thing coming out of it, it’s just like ‘Wow’. The more I listened to it, the more I became comfortable with the vocals. I started to change some of my parts around to fit Jon’s vocals a little more. I made sure certain parts stuck out a little more, I changed some of my rhythm patterns so they would fall a little better… So I actually thought it would be a little weirder than it turned out to be. It actually turned out to be an enlightening experience, so to speak, ya know? …It’s interesting because I was almost overexcited when I was writing. I just kept writing and writing until it became this huge snowball and Jon pretty much has the same attitude. He’s a young guy. He’s twenty four or twenty five years old, so he’s really eager to get his hands dirty, ya know? With Fear Factory, the music pretty much came from the guitars and the drums and them we just let Burt do his thing over the top. With this project, Jon was like ‘Oh, I wanna help write this’. …It was cool and it did make some songs better at the end of the day. I think Jon realized that it was a cool opportunity for him and he wanted to take advantage of it. Maybe that was the mindset going into it, but it was really nice to have the collaboration, ya know? Years and years ago, it was just (Fear Factory/Divine Heresy guitarist) Dino (Cazares) writing everything and then it was me writing with Christian, so it’s always been this two-way thing. For a little while, when we were doing (2001’s oft-maligned) Digimortal record, it was almost like there were too many cooks in the kitchen, so this was kind of a different experience for us. This was definitely healthy from a creative standpoint. …Going back to the first eight songs that we wrote, Jon definitely added a lot of his own element to those songs, making them more than just Fear Factory songs with a different singer.”
Todd: Taking everything into consideration, do you feel the release of Years In The Dark effectively signals the end of Fear Factory or could Arkaea continue to exist if and when an amicable reconciliation is truly reached?
Raymond: “It’s funny because right now, there’s a legal battle going on over the name and over the trademark. Essentially, Burt and Dino have formed an alliance now. Christian and I were working to create the next Fear Factory record when it all got pulled out from underneath us, so I think some people were just expecting us to wait around until it was time to do another Fear Factory record. I’m down with doing another Fear Factory record or not, ya know? It’s all kinda up in the air right now. It’s kinda become a legal battle more than anything else which is really unfortunate. …It’s dumb, actually (laughs). I would say it’s sad if it’s something that wasn’t pending, but the whole situation is just dumb. There’s just no other way to put it. I’m trying to lighten it up, but… Christian and I are both very hard working. We’ve tried to tour and tried to do a bunch of stuff, but it just hasn’t happened. It was kinda a blow to us to have all this music written trying to get the wheels in motion and then just be told ‘Oh, we’re gonna do something else’. It’s not like we’re eighteen years old ya know? I’m thirty six years old now (laughs). I figure I’ve only got about eight or nine years left where I’ll still be able to do this stuff. I kinda feel like the time’s tickin’. Plus, it always feels like were writing better and better stuff and we didn’t want to sit around waiting to put it out when we can just make it happen, ya know? Especially when we have the means. We have the gear, we have the studio, ya know? We have a solid fan base and we have a label that’s interested. When you have everything going for you, why wouldn’t you do a record, ya know? So that’s kinda the way we looked at it. We were like ‘Well, if this is what were gonna do, this is what were gonna do’. As far as Fear Factory is concerned, I guess we’ll see once all the legal smoke has cleared, we’ll see what’s gonna happen there. There’s definitely been some twists and turns. And, oddly enough, none of it has had anything to do with either Christian or myself. At least if I had done something wrong, I could be like ‘Okay, my bad’, but as I’m sure you’ve heard, this all stems from Burton and Dino not getting along. That’s why the band broke up in the first place. I was the one that had to kinda put the pieces back together by getting rid of Dino and trying to get Burt back onboard. …It’s like ‘What did I do wrong?’”
Todd: In hindsight, what were the main contributing factors to the group’s latest bout of ‘…interpersonal…’ turmoil? Is there is a general concern between yourself and Christian regarding the group’s ability to truly survive the latest proceedings unscathed or, at the very least, with everyone’s collective dignities wholly intact?
Raymond: “Unfortunately, a lot of has to do with small stuff, ya know? It’s all state of mind and none of it is reality. That’s probably the saddest part about it if you really want to say that it’s sad. But it’s not good for the brand. It’s not good for the band at all, ya know? Whenever you make changes, people start to lose interest. We didn’t know how well-received Fear Factory would be when we did (2004’s) Archetype with not having Dino on it because he was a big part of the band. And I don’t think anyone would deny that. But to make a double change like this…I just don’t know if it’s a smart move, especially this close to having been through another line-up change, ya know? I just think people will lose interest. Look, since all of this has happened, I’ve definitely heard from a lot of fans who were like ‘Man, I’m just so disappointed. I’m really turned off by all of this.’, ya know? And it’s not just towards Burt and Dino. It’s almost as if I had something to do with all of this. People are definitely pissed off about it. They think its bull and I can relate, man. When that whole thing happened with Sepultura, that was kind of a big blow, ya know? I love Max (Cavalera) and I love the band, but when the change happened, it wouldn’t have mattered if the singer was ten times better than Max because it doesn’t matter. It’s not about that. It’s not about getting the best musicians in the world. It’s about getting that notoriety and that’s what you kinda missed. To throw a few different curves like that in a short time period isn’t really good for anybody, I think, ya know? …When we got rid of Dino, I’m sure he had supporters that were like ‘Screw Fear Factory if you’re not in it’ and I don’t know to what extent that was really out there. As far as what we’ve seen on our side, it was probably damaging for a little while, but then I think we gained people’s respect. Maybe that’s what’ll happen here if those two continue on without us or whatever. I don’t know. I won’t have analytics on how bad that will or won’t affect things. But it can’t be positive, ya know?”
Todd: At this point, do you feel your relationship(s) with Burton and Dino have been irreversibly damaged?
Raymond: “If you had asked me that question ten years ago, I think I would have said yes. But now, being older and much wiser, I don’t think anything is irreversible when it comes to relationships. I couldn’t sit here and say yes or no. There’s definitely been some damage done, but I don’t think that anything that has been done is irreversible. I would be more than happy to make Arkaea the main thing for me. If I never did Fear Factory again, I would be fine, as bad or good as that may sound. Or I’d be happy to continue doing it. I think I’d be happy or comfortable either way. I think from a fan perspective, I think people would love to see the original line-up come back. And being that the two original guys that are the reason why the band split are now friends, it all really just makes sense, but at the same time, it somehow doesn’t in a really weird way, ya know?”
Todd: What was the main inspiration behind the name Arkaea? Is there a secret meaning that were all missing?
Raymond: “There’s actually a funny story behind the name. One day I’m drivin’ and I get a call from Christian and he’s like ‘Dude, we figured out the name’. He was working with Jon on vocals at the time. So I was like ‘Okay, cool. What is it?’ and he was like ‘Arkaea’ and I was like ‘Arkaea? What does that mean?’ and Christian was like ‘What does Meshuggah mean?’ and I was like ‘Okay, fair enough’. That’s how the name was born. I don’t know how they came up with it. He was just sittin’ in a room with Jon and they were tryin’ to come up with names while he was doin’ vocals and they somehow stumbled upon it. It turns out it’s not actually a real word or at least any word that I can find, which could be a good thing for us because if you type in Arkaea (into s search engine), nothing else is going to come up. So I guess from a trademark standpoint, it’s really good, but from a meaning standpoint, it can be whatever you want it to be. At first, I didn’t know what to think about it, but the more I wrote it and seen it, I was like ‘This is actually kinda cool. I’ve gotten more positive comments than negative comments. The other thing is that people don’t know how to pronounce it.”
Todd: What are the group’s touring plans? Have the possibility of a Fear Factory reunion affected these plans?
Raymond: “Actually, at the moment, our Booking Agent is out scouring the earth for tours. I think we’re looking at starting in late July. We’ll probably be on the road for a while. If Fear Factory gets back into the swing of things and I end up having to do two sets, I’m gonna be pretty tired, but whatever. I guess we’ll cross that path when we get there. It definitely wouldn’t be the first time I’ve played two sets. I’ve done it before. And if that that ends up being the case, then that’ll be the case. Like I said, I’ll just be really tired when it comes to touring, ya know? (laughs) …We know exactly what we have to do to support this record. This is not our first rodeo. We done this many time before and we know what we’ve gotta do. We don’t wanna treat Arkaea like some kind of second-hand thing, ya know? We wanna treat this as a real project because we put all the time and effort into it as if it were a real project, so I wouldn’t want to treat it as anything else, ya know?”
Todd: Ideally, if the ‘classic’ Fear Factory line-up does ultimately opt to reunite, what will Christian’s role be within the group? Will he revert to playing bass or will he continue on as the group’s second/co-lead guitarist?
Raymond: “I don’t know. And it’s funny because I’ve had this conversation with Christian a few times already. I wouldn’t want him to go back to bass. We’d love to have a second guitar player. I’ve always wanted a second guitar player for Fear Factory and we actually almost had one at one point. Around the time of the beginning of the band, I had a good friend who was a guitar player for another band. We brought him in, but it just really didn’t work out, so I was bummed that it didn’t work out because I always wanted to have two guitar players. Even though we don’t have any solos, there’s a lot of different rhythms that can be played with two different guitars. That would be really interesting for me because then I’d be able to pick and choose which rhythms I’d want to play off of. I just think it would be a pretty interesting style. I would love it if Christian would stay with playing guitar and we got a bass player. …If we got a different guy to play bass. In my perfect world, that’s what I’d love to see because from a fan standpoint, all the b.s. and pride aside, I think being able to write a record with Dino and Christian together would be great. I’ve never been able to do that. It’s always been one or the other. I think for them to be able to work together would be the sickest thing they’ve ever done because Christian has really proven himself as a writer and I’ve become comfortable writing with Christian as you may have heard on the past few record, ya know? I think the dynamics between the two of them would be really sick because the one thing they both have in common is that their right hands and really, really fast. Above and beyond that, I just think their styles would meld really well. So who knows? Maybe that’s a pie in the sky. Maybe that will happen and maybe it won’t, but at the end of the day, I am a fan of the music we write. I actually can listen to a Fear Factory record and not critique it because I truly enjoy what we play and write.”
Todd: One touring in support of Years In The Dark actually commences, what type of set list will the group be working with? Is it safe to assume the group will be incorporating a certain aspect of Fear Factory’s catalog?
Raymond: “Actually, we haven’t really discussed doing any Fear Factory songs. …At one point, we were discussing throwing in a Threat Signal song and a Fear Factory song. When we do shows, if people start asking for Fear Factory songs… I almost don’t want it to be a situation where people will expect that. I do want people to know that this is a project, but obviously we want to play to our strengths, which for Christian and I is Fear Factory and for Jon and (bassist) Pat (Kavanagh), it’s Threat Signal. I think if fans really wanted to hear it, we probably would do it. No disrespect to either Dino or Burt, but even with Divine Heresy, people had sent me videos of them doing “Zero Signal” and a couple of others tracks. I obviously didn’t take offense to that, but I don’t know if we’d wanna do that. I guess time will tell, really. If that’s what people really want, then I guess we’ll throw maybe one or two in there. I’m actually curious to see how Jon would sing a Fear Factory song or maybe how I would even do the drums on a Threat Signal song, ya know? …It’ll be very interesting.”
Select Christian Olde Wolbers / Raymond Herrera Discography
Years In The Darkness (2009) **
The Best Of Fear Factory (2006) *
Transgression (2005) *
Live On The Sunset Strip (EP (2005) *
Archetype (2004) *
Hatefiles (2003) *
Concrete (2002) *
Digital Connectivity (DVD) (2001) *
Digimortal (2001) *
Obsolete (1998) *
Remanufacture (1997) *
Demanufacture (1995) *
Fear Is The Mindkiller (EP) (1993) *
Soul Of A New Machine (1992) *
* as members of Fear Factory
** as members of Arkaea