DINO CAZARES Says His Online Trolls Are 'Surprised' When He Responds To Them

During an appearance on the latest episode of the "Rock 'N' SeXXXy UnCensored With Amber Lynn" podcast, FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares spoke about the fact that he is "very active" on social media. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I do answer a lot of fans back — good and bad."

When host Amber Lynn asked if he lets any of the online criticism of his music get to him, Dino said: "I look at it this way: at least they listened to it and gave it a shot. But there are people who just wanna go up there and just talk shit; that's just how they are. But the funny thing is that when they do and then I answer them back, they're surprised. They think that they're anonymous; they think that no one's gonna see it. But people do see it. A lot of artists do see it. A lot of artists kind of try to ignore it because it bothers them. Some artists just can't handle it; they're very insecure about it. But I'm, like, 'I'll give you shit back.' It's funny, 'cause they'll give me shit and I'll give them shit back, and then they'll be, like, 'Well, you're the asshole,' 'cause I responded to them and gave it back to them. So it's kind of funny."

After co-host Joe Williamson noted that you've got to have "thick skin" to be in the entertainment business, Dino said: "Correct. But [the online trolls have] gotta have the thick skin as well if they're gonna dish it out; they've gotta be able to handle it. It's so easy, 'cause somebody could try to attack you online and you just go look 'em up on Facebook, Instagram or wherever. 'Okay, this guy's got this, got this,' and you could attack them back. And people are, like, 'Oh, shit.'"

Dino has yet to announce FEAR FACTORY's new singer following the departure of Burton C. Bell nearly two years ago.

In a recent interview, Cazares confirmed that ONCE HUMAN's Lauren Hart originally auditioned for the vocalist position in FEAR FACTORY before he recruited her to front his DIVINE HERESY project.

This past February, former NIGHTRAGE singer Antony Hämäläinen, who unsuccessfully auditioned for the vocalist slot in FEAR FACTORY, claimed in an interview that the new FF frontman is "a person from Italy."

In April, Dino told "The Garza Podcast" that the new FEAR FACTORY singer is emotionally ready to handle the inevitable pushback from some fans that he will get once his identity has been revealed.

Pressed about what happened to cause Burton to leave FEAR FACTORY, Dino said: "Because we went through some really heavy lawsuits for four years, and it financially crippled us — personally as well — and I just believe that he lost interest. I think that possibly all the stuff that we went through in FEAR FACTORY was just, like… He's one of those guys, 'Fuck it. I'm out. I quit. Fuck it.' He doesn't come across as a fighter — as somebody who's gonna be, like, 'Fuck it. We went through it. Let's go through it and let's just continue.' I mean, I left the door open for him for a while to come back into the band, but he pretty much said fuck me, Raymond [Herrera, former FEAR FACTORY drummer] and Christian [Olde Wolbers, former FEAR FACTORY bassist] — everybody. Fuck everybody."

In September 2020, Bell issued a statement officially announcing his departure from FEAR FACTORY, saying that he "cannot align" himself with someone whom he does not trust or respect.

Bell's exit from FEAR FACTORY came more than two weeks after Cazares launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist him with the production costs associated with the release of FEAR FACTORY's latest LP, "Aggression Continuum".

"Aggression Continuum" was released in June 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP, which was recorded primarily in 2017, features Cazares and Bell alongside drummer Mike Heller.