Gene Hoglan drummed on Fear Factory's 2010 record Mechanize, arguably my favorite Fear Factory record, as a seemingly one time thing. On the band's record prior to that, 2005's Transgression, it was drummer Raymond Herrera, and on 2012's The Industrialist it was just a drum machine. So is Hoglan fond of his one-time position as a member of Fear Factory? According to an interview with Metal Wani, he doesn't think about it and even forgets sometimes that he was in the band!
"I've gotta admit: Fear Factory is — flat out, I'll be honest — it's the one band from my entire history that I just don't pay attention to. I'm not saying anything the band doesn't already know; they know they weren't on my radar before I joined them. They flat-out know this. I was not a Fear Factory listener, or I did not pay attention to anything Fear Factory ever did. When they were saying, 'Hey, man, do you know this song? Can we jam this in rehearsal right now?' And I'm, like, 'Pull it up on an iPad real quick, or an iPod, and let me hear it for five minutes, and I'll play it back for you, but if you wanna kick into it right now, this second, I don't know your material, dude. So I'll have to [learn] it.' And even when looking back on my career, the Fear Factory era is just something that just… I just don't think about. When people ask me about Fear Factory, I sometimes think, 'Why are you asking me about Fear Factory?' And then they mention 'Mechanize', and I'm, like, 'Oh, fuck! Duh!' I can't explain the mental block that I have; I just kind of blocked it all out."
I mean, dude has ever right to be pissed considering he found out he wasn't in the band anymore via the Internet. He also argues that metal bands might want to have a real drummer because metal fans listen for technical prowess in bands, which makes sense as an argument.
"I'm always, like, I don't care what kind of drum machine you use, I will kill your drum machine. If you have a drummer like myself at your disposal, yet you are gonna go with a drum machine, I don't understand the thought process behind that. I did read [in an interview] here those guys were, like, 'Hey, man, we have a drummer come in, we've gotta pay him all this money…' Yeah, there's number one there. I see where you guys are coming from. 'First we've gotta pay him all this money, and then we just turn around and chop up all the drums and grid everything anyway. Let's just cut out the middle man and just program the drums.' I understand that from an economic standpoint, but if you're thinking long term, you are not thinking if you're thinking, 'Yeah…'"
Hoglan added: "Somebody like Rob Zombie, or somebody like that, that it's just this droning disco drum sound anyway, use a drum machine; who cares? Nobody listens to Rob Zombie to check out the drummer. But if you've got a band like Fear Factory, or a band like Slayer, or a band like Testament, you're not gonna have a drum machine playing for you and be taken seriously. So, hey, [Fear Factory] tried it, they saw how seriously they got taken, and now they're using a real drummer. Hey, I'm stoked at the fact they got Deen Castronovo [Journey] playing on the [upcoming Fear Factory] record ['Genexus']; he's playing a track or two on there, I hear. And that's gonna be awesome; I can't wait to hear his tune."
So where do you stand on this one? Drum machine or fuck 'em?
