Former FEAR FACTORY singer Burton C. Bell says the band moving ahead with a new vocalist “doesn’t affect me at all”
Speaking with the “Talk Toomey” podcast, Burton was asked how it felt to see his former band hitting the road with someone else singing the parts he originally wrote and recorded with the group. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It doesn’t affect me at all. To be honest, I haven’t been this happy in a long time. More power to them, but I’m just moving forward in my own life, my own career, and I’m just trying to make a name for myself.”
When asked if he has watched any of the online videos of his former band performing with his replacement, singer Milo Silvestro, Bell replied: “No, I don’t. I don’t care to.”
Burton added that he doesn’t mind being asked about FEAR FACTORY despite the fact that he is no longer involved with the group. “FEAR FACTORY, it’s what I’m known for,” he explained. “And the 30 years I had with FEAR FACTORY were some of the proudest moments of my career. And everything I’ve ever done in FEAR FACTORY I’m very proud of. Even some of the questionable things I’ve done in FEAR FACTORY I’m still proud of. It was a great legacy.”
In September of 2020, Burton issued a statement officially announcing he was leaving the inductrial-metal pioneers, saying that he “cannot align” himself with someone whom he does not trust or respect.
Bell announced his departure just over two weeks after guitarist Dino Cazares launched a GoFundMe campaign to help out with the production costs associated with the new FEAR FACTORY album.
Bell would say in a talk with Kerrang! magazine that his departure from FEAR FACTORY was a long time coming. “It’s been on my mind for a while,” he said. “These lawsuits [over the rights to the FEAR FACTORY name] just drained me. The egos. The greed. Not just from bandmembers, but from the attorneys involved. I just lost my love for it.
“With FEAR FACTORY, it’s just constantly been, like, ‘What?!’ You can only take so much. I felt like 30 years was a good run. Those albums I’ve done with FEAR FACTORY will always be out there. I’ll always be part of that. I just felt like it was time to move forward.”
Bell will unveil “Paradise Found“, his debut exhibition of photographic works, at the Vincent Castiglia Gallery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from March 11 through May 23. The photographs Bell is presenting are representational of his industrial and science-fiction aesthetic.
“Paradise Found” consists of 20 original full-color photographs of abandoned industrial buildings taken in darkness and fog from 2002 to 2003. Bell’s images are printed on aluminum using the dye sublimation process – an approach Bell calls “celluloid impressionism.”
