City of Fire – Burton C. Bell

City of Fire is a contemporary blend of rock, jazz, punk and metal elements that have been conceived from the minds of Burton C. Bell, Byron Stroud, Terry “Sho” Murray, Ian White and Bob Wagner. City of Fire offers a new level of creativity, as the band pay homage to their home town of Vancouver, Canada.

Burton C. Bell offers his unique vocals talents, infusing a combination of rock and grudge elements to create an amazing mature sound. Metal Obsession recently had the chance to speak with Burton about his latest project City of Fire and his plans for the future.

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Metal Obsession: Hey Burton. Welcome to Metal Obsession.

Burton C. Bell: Thank you, Anwar!

MO: To start off with, I just wanted to know what your thoughts were of the recent Big Day Out tour of Australia. Do you think the crowds reacted well to the new Fear Factory material?

BCB: They were good. It was a great crowd. We had a great time, even though the Big Day Out this past year was full of Indie rocker faggots. [laughs] The metal heads still showed up though.

MO: A lot of people may know you already with your role in Fear Factory, but many are probably unfamiliar with your most recent project City of Fire. Could you give us a bit of insight into how this project first started?

BCB: Well, it first started off with a band called Caustic Thought which was Byron Stroud, Bob Wagner and Ian White and that was an early 90’s band. They broke up shortly before Strapping Young Lad got together.

A couple of years ago though they decided to do a reunion. They were all like “Hey lets all work on some new stuff”, so they brought in Terry “Sho” Murry to help them write the new music and work on the old stuff. He worked on the demos and some new songs and everyone really liked what they heard.

So, Byron called me up and sent me the demos and I loved what I heard and said “Hell Yeah, I’ll be apart of this!” . They flew me out to Vancouver to chat about the music, did a couple of demos and stayed there for a couple of weeks and the time was killer. We went back and worked some more, did some more demos and then recorded an album.

It worked out really well. Terry and I were jamming in the studio and the more we jammed, the better it felt, you know? Everyone got along, we had a great time with each other and the band just felt right. Everyone loved what we were doing and that’s why we decided to continue and then we tried to come up with a name.

MO: What is the main drive or motivation behind the City of Fire, both musically and lyrically? Is there a main concept behind the album?

BCB: No Concept. There is no concept, no concept at all. It’s mainly the artistic freedom of the band and we’ve all said that. Whatever we’re inspired by, lets write about or write the feelings about that song. Whatever vibe goes with the music, lets go with it. When I hear music I come up with different ideas, so I’m not constrained to any concept. This is just about life and what we feel every day.

MO: Will this be a one off project, or will you hope to release more “City of Fire” material in the future?

BCB: This is not a one off project. This is the beginning of a long career for us. City of Fire is seen as a feature for all of us. We see that we are off to a great start. The album has not been officially released yet. It was only released on our website, strictly on our website last September and it’s not available in any record stores anywhere else.

Byron and I feel in this day and age, surviving on one band is a collapse to you. You have to have more than one thing going on to really survive as a musician, because this is the career we chose many, many years ago. That’s why all of us has different things going on. I mean Byron’s got Zimmer’s Hole, he’s also got Fear Factory. I’ve got Fear Factory, Ascension of the Watchers and City of Fire. We have different avenues to work with, and to constantly work.

MO: Having said that, do you think preexisting Fear Factory fans will feel somewhat threatened by City of Fire, thinking you may go somewhat a bit soft on them, or do you not pay attention to that kind of shit?

BCB: You know what, I really don’t pay attention to that. I mean I did Ascension of the Watchers before this, so obviously those people have no idea what the fuck they are talking about. [laughs]

MO: You mentioned Ascension of the Watchers before. Is there a chance will get to hear a new album of that too?

BCB: Absolutely! We’re writing new music now. I’m working on all projects all at once, so I’m very, very busy. [laughs]

MO: Is there any other side projects you’ve been working on at the moment you could share with us?

BCB: I did a couple of things here and there. I appeared on a Cycle of Pain album which is pretty much rock n’ roll. I did a song with my friend Steve Tushar called ‘Here Is Your Life Now’ and that’s very Depeche Mode like, I did that a couple of years ago. Right now there isn’t anything.

MO: You’re quite well known for having a very versatile voice, having both a stripped back melodic and somewhat operatic style to an assortment of animalistic screams and vocal grunts. Out of these two styles, which do you prefer to perform, or is there an equal appreciation?

BCB: I appreciate all of it, you know. It’s all a release for me. That animalistic aggression, I’m able to release a bunch of anger and feel exhausted and with the more soft and tender stuff I get a completely different feeling out of the way. I appreciate everything I do, I really enjoy all of it.

MO: Is there anything new vocally that you have brought on board with “City of Fire” that you haven’t tried before, such as techniques or delivery?

BCB: Yeah, there was the one song ‘Hollow Land’. Well, there is a couple of songs I’ll say. With ‘Hollow Land’ though I sing very low and it sounds almost like a Sisters of Mercy style which I’ve never done before and that was a lot of fun. Then on ‘Coitus Interruptus’ I went for a Robert Plant thing on a couple of lines there and I’d never done that either, so it was really fun. I got to experiment a lot and got to use a couple of voices I’ve never used before. There was a lot of freedom and no constraint in what I wanted to try which was good.

MO: Have you found it hard to juggle multiple projects and tours, more so now that Fear Factory are back in action?

BCB: It’s a little bit more difficult, but Fear Factory has a schedule that’s going to last until July and then I’ll be able to work on that later. I’m able to schedule things in accordance to knowing a plan. When I have that plan I’ll be fine, I think.

MO: Would you hope to bring “City of Fire” down to Australia, maybe even doing an Ascension of the Watchers and City of Fire double act tour?

BCB: That would be cool! It’s something Byron and I have discussed. It would kill a couple of birds with one stone, so to speak. City of Fire will definitely be down there later this year, so that’s something I’d like to work on and get Ascension of the Watchers down there as well. I think it would be a lot of fun.

MO: Now that you have completed the album. What are you hoping to get most out of this new project?

BCB: We recorded a great album. My hope..[pauses]..what is hope? [laughs] I hope it gets the respect it deserves. To me it’s a fucking incredible album and I think people should have a chance to hear it.

MO: Thanks for speaking with us Burton. Good luck with the new album.  I hope to see you back in Australia very soon.

BCB: Thanks Anwar, I hope too see you very soon.

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Q’s: Anwar Rizk
A’s: Burton C. Bell
Date: 23/03/2010
Origin: Canada/United States of America
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