On 2004/11/10 I drove up to Milwaukee, WI with my fiancé to interview Fear Factory. She is not a big fan but is in complete awe over how well Raymond can play the drums. After much confusion walking around the venue in order to find out where we were supposed to be we finally got our Photo Pass and then after almost 1 1/2 hours we found Fear Factory’s manager, Doug, who was very good to us. In fact all of Fear Factory’s staff was helpful and nice, once you figured out who they were compared to the staff at the venue.
We were supposed to meet with Burton or Christian at first. We were walking backstage when Burton disappeared and then Doug checked around. He said, “…how about Raymond Herrera?” I was so excited, to me he’s the quiet gentle member of the group and of course I’d like to interview him.
Because the plans changed and my video camera needed to be plugged in we were invited to chat with him on the bus. We walked past Christian into a small room in the back of the bus where Raymond of course had his XBOX setup and a copy of Halo 2 on the couch.
I of course left the video tapes in our van so video wasn’t going to happen. I apologize, next time we will be better prepared.
Ray was very pleasant and relaxed. He made it very comfortable for us to talk with him.
I asked him about the tour. They’ve been touring with several bands over the last so many months and he confirmed since January 20th. Raymond said the tour is going well so far and that they knew they’d be on tour this long. They are writing a new album on the road and are planning on finishing up the U.S. so they can head to Europe/U.K. for 1 week. The 3rd week of December they hope to continue working on the new record.
We asked about the upcoming remix album and Raymond said they hoped it would be out by Christmas, but are now aiming for the summer of 2005.
They are working on a few video game soundtracks, the new Rainbow 6.4, Tekken 5, & a couple of other projects.
The Kush Project should startup again in January of 2005, I asked him about The Watchers and he said we’d have to ask Burt.
I asked Raymond if there was anything new he wanted to comment about for the “Bite the Hand that Bleeds” DVD/EP coming out November 16th. He responded with, “…oh wow, that’s coming out like next week…” He says he hasn’t seen the full package yet, but he’s very excited because this is the first time they’ve ever packaged anything like this.
Raymond hasn’t seen “SAW” yet, but has a copy; he’s not so much of a scary movie guy like he used to be.
I asked Raymond about the rumor that Christian and Raymond were at a show with Dino earlier this year. He said that the rumors are kind of screwed up. They were playing a show in L.A. and Dino showed up at the show, he never saw him or anything, he doesn’t talk to the guy anymore, they don’t have anything in common anymore.
We asked Raymond about how he felt about people saying, “…that’s not a drummer, that is a machine, no way anyone played that…”, he said that he has gotten that since day one, that the idea behind Fear Factory was to start a band that matched the drums up to the guitars and he’s been doing that formula for so long that it’s expected now. He will continue to do it this way, but it has to fit the music and how/what Burton is singing. Raymond knows he has a much different approach to writing music than most bands out there.
Raymond should be giving his next food update to Alain of FearFactory.com shortly. He had a good sloppy joe the other night and he’s also raving about a San Antonio burger that he had.
We asked Raymond what the most meaningful thing a fan can do for him, he said that buying the album mostly, but there are a large group of fans, and many different types of fans that show it in many ways. He’s very surprised about the huge online following and appreciates all the expressions fans give for what it’s worth.
I asked him if he was going to participate in any of his old projects, Brujeria, Phobia… He said that he would love to play with Phobia again, maybe due a full length album since he only did 4 songs with them, but as far as any projects with Dino, he has completely parted ways with him.
Decapitated from Poland is who Raymond is currently listening to, They have a 19 year old drummer who is completely “sick” as Raymond puts it.
I will have photos of the show up later today. I would like to thank Raymond and Fear Factory’s staff for letting us come to the show and helping us promote Fear Factory.
Thanks,
Douglas A. Maske
Doug@MaskeProductions.com