Fear Factory News

(3/8/99, 1 a.m. PST) - Los Angeles hard rock band Fear Factory put its metal to the pedal on Friday to create a soundtrack to a new Accolade PlayStation racing game called Demolition Racer.

"We just get together in a studio and see some footage from the game and then create some music," says drummer Raymond Herrera. "Our music is metal/ industrial, which is perfect for the violent, aggressive games with car crashes and people killing each other. It's not like we're doing a Mario game."

Obviously, the gaming community agrees that the Roadrunner act is a perfect fit, as the band's music has appeared in several other games--from NFL Extreme to Carmmegedon I. "I've been into games since I was seven years old. I'm an addict. So it is cool to actually be in them somehow," Herrera says. "Sometimes we even get to take it a step farther. In Test Ride V, you can play against my car and there are little Fear Factory logos all over it. And our bass player [Andrew Shives] is gonna be a star in a skateboard game we are going to do music for called Kick Flip. It's a skateboarding game and that's one of his hobbies."

Herrera says video game work is great for three reasons: it helps keep the band busy creatively and financially, it introduces the band to new audiences, and it increases the guys' collections."Music in games has gotten better It's an industry of its own with good money involved. When games went to the CD format, it also bettered the sound quality," he says. "We've already seen a whole new group of fans crop up because they heard us in their video game. We also have fans who buy the games and don't have a system to play them on, but want all the Fear Factory recordings. It's also a bonus to get the free game hook-up. As a musician, I already get free music. I don't have to buy anything anymore."

Demolition Racer should hit stores in late summer or early fall. In the meantime, the band will play a show at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. The next stop is MTV's Spring Break in Cancun. A few days later, the band starts a U.S. tour in Kansas. After a few months of gigs, it will head to Europe for a tour. If the band has any down time, they will start working on music for Kick Flip.

"It'll be fun to get on the road again, and we managed to get a few free days off while we're in Cancun."

-- Midnight Jones, Los Angeles

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