Fear Factory brings the Disrup Tour 2023 to West Texas

It’s always a treat when Fear Factory visits as they did on 9 October here in lovely El Paso, Texas at the one and only Rockhouse Dive Bar Kitchen Venue. This show has been circled on my calendar for a minute now, its shows of this caliber that really resonates with the El Paso Metal scene, they love then some Fear Factory, not to mention, it’s the third show of this tour, these guys were just getting warmed up!!

The band is from Los Angeles, formed in 1989, first release in 1992 and 10 full length albums under their belt, the latest in 2021. Over the past 21 years the band has been though serious changes and yet has endured, but as fate would have it there is only one original member left and that Dino Cazares in the above photo. Over one million records sold in the US alone, toured the world, 4 Ozzfests and Dave Mustaine’s first Gigantour, just to name a few. Fear Factory seems to fall under several categories of styles, Industrial, Groove, Thrash, Alternative and Death, take your pick or chose all, Fear Factory is all of the above and as in for influences, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Slayer for starters.

Local support on this evening’s card was Steellake and Scattered Storm, two outstanding locals that in my opinion couldn’t be more of a better fit, every time I shoot either one of these bands, its always a great show, frontmen Joel Lowas with Steellake and Andre Acosta with Scattered Storm never fail to deliver, true entertainers. Touring support was Overt Enemy from South Texas and Lions at the Gate, Cristian Machado’s band, you might remember him from his days with Ill Nino. Now here’s a fun fact, the bassist for Fear Factory is Tony Campos, but he’s also the bassist for Static X who will be here this Saturday with Sevendust, that’s another story. Tony is on tour with Static X and as fate would have it our own Javi Arriaga, who is Fear Factory’s Drum Technician is filling in for Tony on this tour and I also might add, Javi pulled double duty on this evening seeing he’s also the drummer for Scattered Storm. Javi is super popular here in El Paso’s music scene as a promotor, percussionist, bassist, just a musician at heart, I was proud to see him performing with Fear Factory that evening, couldn’t be happier for him, he truly deserves it. Milo Silvestro on vocals was quite the sight, puts on a fantastic show as well as Pete Webber on the skins and what can I say about Dino, an absolute soldier and this El Paso crowd loves him as a matter of fact I remember him playing here with one of Max Cavalera’s projects, if I remember correctly, it was Soulfly. They plowed through a 16-song set like it was nothing, the audience ate it up with a big spoon and in the end, they craved more as they should after a stellar performance Dino and company laid before them. The tour started on 7 October ends in the US on 24 October and then they bounce all over Europe ending in Helsinki on 16 December. In closing, great show from seasoned musicians and a blue-ribbon performance, what more could you ask for?

Story and Photos by Tim Schumann

Set List-

Recharger

Shock

Edgecrusher

Disruptor

Dielectric

Power Shifter

Freedom or Fire

Lynchpin

What Will Become

Arch Type