Dino Cazares Breaks Down Exactly Why Fear Factory Reunion Won't Happen

While many bands get back together, there's a pretty significant reason why you should probably never expect to see the core four of Fear Factory sharing the stage again.

While most are aware of the litigious actions between the band members that left Dino Cazares as the lone core member of the group, they're probably not aware of what exactly happened and the full fallout of those proceedings. Cazares has now broken it down in a chat with the Life Is Peachy podcast.

Fear Factory's Legal Woes

Within the discussion, Cazares sets the scene upon his 2009 return to the group after previously bowing out in 2002. Cazares says that the band recorded four albums, but behind the scenes bassist Christian Olde Wolbers and drummer Raymond Herrera had sought to collect on money owed to them and individually sued both Cazares and singer Burton C. Bell.

“I ended up beating my lawsuit against those guys, but Burton ended up losing his lawsuit against those guys and has to pay them a million dollars,” says Cazares. “So Burton decides to quit the band. And he said a lot of things in the press, like he only did Fear Factory out of necessity, he only did Fear Factory 'cause he needed money, he didn't believe a lot of the lyrics he was writing, and blah, blah, blah. He said he felt restrained doing Fear Factory, he felt like he was pigeonholed doing Fear Factory. And that's fine.”

Cazares makes one big clarification on the perception of the legal fallout, stating, “One of the biggest misconceptions is that people thought that I sued Burton, but that's not true. It was Raymond and Christian who sued us individually. We had separate lawsuits. They sued us separately so they can get separate money. So if they would have won my lawsuit, I would have had to give them a million dollars. I didn't owe them anything.”

The Lawsuit Aftermath

With Bell on the hook for money to the other two members, the singer filed for bankruptcy. “He tried to get out of paying those guys. And, unfortunately, he lied in his bankruptcy. That's a federal offense,” says Cazares.

“Raymond and Christian took him back to court, made him open up the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was null and void,” he continued. “So Burton had to pay back those guys, and they took all of Burt's assets. Assets, meaning whatever you own, whether it's a house, a car, a trademark, copyright, business, so on and so on. They took all that away from him for lying in court.”

The Other Ramifications From the Bankruptcy Issue

As Cazares lays it out, Bell's assets were then put up for sale by the bankruptcy court in order to pay off the debts. One of those assets was Bell's stake in Fear Factory. At that point, Cazares and Bell had split ownership for use of the band name.

“When I found out that Burton's assets were up for sale, my lawyer contacted the court of Pennsylvania and said, 'Hey, look, we're interested in buying this Fear Factory trademark,' Burton's half. At this point, I owned half and Burton owned half,” recalled Cazares.

“Raymond and Christian did not own the name at all,” he clarified. “They were only owed money. That's it. But they didn't own the trademark. Even though they tried to take the trademark from us and try to find every possible way to do that. 'Cause that's what lawyers do, right? They were not successful.”

So in order to get Bell's portion of the trademark, Cazares had to submit a bid just like any other interested person. Wolbers and Herrera also submitted a bid, but because of Bell's offense he was not able to try to buy back his stake.

Dino Wins the Bid

Given that Cazares is the lone member of the core four in the band, it's pretty obvious that he actually won the bid to take over that stake in the band.

Cazares says, “I figured, 'Hey, I'm gonna try to buy this name.' And I wanted to bring Burton and say, 'Hey, look, I got the name. Let's just continue.' So I put a bid up for the trademark.” But he says that he learned that because of legalities, he couldn't just give the stake back to Bell. But he could give Bell 50 percent of whatever was earned.

Fear Factory's Dino Cazares Guests on the Life Is Peachy Podcast

Why Bell Still Wouldn't Rejoin Fear Factory

While retaining 50 percent of what was made would be a great gesture, that still came with legal ramifications. Wolbers and Herrera had frozen the musician's assets and his return would have meant that whatever money Bell made from Fear Factory, a percentage would go to Wolbers and Herrera.

“So Burton didn't want to go out there on tour and [be] working his ass off and having to pay those guys a percentage of what he earns on tour,” says Cazares.

Why a Fear Factory Reunion Will Likely Never Happen

Cazares admits that putting a Fear Factory reunion together would face some major hurdles.

“Listen, sure, it's easy for all four of us to get together, but it wouldn't be easy to do business with them, it wouldn't be easy to write songs with them and it wouldn't be easy because somebody would have to be in control of that ship and that would be me. That's not gonna work. They got back together.”

Plus when Cazares took over the name and made an overture to have Bell return, the singer let it be known that he was over the band.

So Cazares says that he moved forward putting together a new lineup that can play the band's music as that is the best option available.

Responding to the potential backlash for sharing the specifics of what happened with the group, Cazares says, “It's not that it's something I need to get over. It's just what happened. That's all it is. This is just a story — my story of what happened. That's all it is. And I have no ill will towards any of those other guys. None.”

He says he's even spoken to Wolbers since the legal battle and adds, “I have no ill will towards those guys, but there are reasons why people are not in my life anymore. That is my choosing. I don't like to go back to people that have hurt me multiple times. And that's just how it is. But I have no ill will towards those guys at whatever they do.”

Fear Factory in 2024

As stated, Cazares put together a new Fear Factory lineup after the legalities were settled. He's handling guitar and backing vocals, with Milo Silvestro as the vocalist, Pete Webber as the drummer and Static-X's Tony Campos playing bass.

READ MORE: The 12 Rules if You Want to Be Fear Factory's Fill-In Bassist

The 2021 album Aggression Continuum was the culmination of previously worked on material from before all the legal action divided the group and it features Bell's vocals. Work has been progressing on a new record, which will be their first featuring Silvestro's vocals.

The band's touring for the year is mostly done with only solitary dates in Australia and Japan left to go, but more shows are on the books for March 2025. See all of their touring and get ticketing info through their website.