Fear Factory frontman Burton C. Bell revealed some of the real reasons behind the dispute with former band members Raymond (drums) and Christian (guitar/bass) in a recent interview with Rock My Monkey...
Burton: Before I go off on all the comments and everything, I'd like to make an official statement first. First of all, I just want to cut through a lot of the confusion about one issue since it really will be part of every answer. I have not made a public statement about it; I'm not one to air dirty laundry, but I have been forced to correct certain misstatements by Raymond and Christian. The fact that I have not worked with Raymond and Christian for the past three years as FEAR FACTORY is for this one reason — it's that I did not want to be involved with their manager. Her name is Christy Priske and she happens to be Christian's wife. During the "Transgression" mixing session, her and Raymond started a love affair that lasted for a couple years. As [she was the] manager of FEAR FACTORY, this was completely unacceptable to me.
Rock My Monkey: Were you aware that the two of them [Christian and Raymond] were working on a new FEAR FACTORY CD?
Burton: To begin with, I think it was irresponsible of Raymond and Christian to discuss specific business transactions in the media, but I can tell you that I never agreed to any deal that Raymond, Christian and Christy proposed for two reasons: The terms that they brought to the table were unacceptable; and I would just not allow the band to be managed by Christy. After I took that position, Raymond, Christy and Christian threatened to sign the deal anyway without me, claiming that they had spent a lot of money on attorneys to negotiate the deal even though I never approved of the expenditure or saw any of the proposed agreements.
You can read the entire interview here.
