Fear Factory fans are still hoping for Burton C. Bell’s return to the band, but Dino Cazares doesn’t seem concerned.
Cazares recently shared a photo of his Ibanez LF7 Lo Fi pedal and wrote, “I used this Ibanez LF7 Lo Fi pedal all over the ‘Digimortal’ record.”
When a fan replied with “Bring back Burton and I’ll care,” Cazares responded, “You need to go support his solo band he does FF songs live. Not sure if you knew that info since you’re a big fan.”
Back in the early 90s, Fear Factory was sued by producer Ross Robinson over their debut album. Bell also faced legal disputes with former band members and filed for bankruptcy twice.
Cazares clarified that he wasn’t the cause of Bell’s financial problems.
“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,” the rocker explained in an interview.
“So if they would have won my lawsuit, I would have had to give them a million dollars. I won my lawsuit against them. I didn’t owe them anything. But, actually, Burton filed for bankruptcy, and when he filed for bankruptcy, he tried to get out of paying those guys. And, unfortunately, he lied in his bankruptcy. That’s a federal offense,” he continued.
“Raymond and Christian took him back to court, made him open up the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was null and void. 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,” Cazares added.
In September 2020, Bell left Fear Factory for good and pursued his career with Ascension of the Watchers.