Christian Olde Wolbers Interview: Arkaea, Fear Factory and Video Games

Dr. Matthew Warnock

Christian Olde Wolbers

Best known for his role as bassist and guitarist for the highly-successful metal band Fear Factory, Christian Olde Wolbers has put together an all-star line up for his latest project, the modern-metal band Arkaea. Joining Wolbers is fellow Fear Factory drummer Ray Herrera alongside Threat Signal band mates Pat Kavanagh, bass, and vocalist Jon Howard.

Arkaea is not your run of the mill metal “super group,” one that was put together in a board room or record label roundtable. These are four guys who love to play music and who are coming together to work towards a common goal, bringing well written, hard-driving metal to hard-core fans around the globe.

Arkaea’s debut album Years in the Darkness, which hit stores in mid-summer 2009, is exactly what one would expect from members of Fear Factory and Threat Signal getting together in the studio, with some exciting twists and turns thrown into the mix for good measure. After writing together for so many years, Wolbers and Herrera’s musical output brings a familiarity to the album that is reminiscent of their days with Fear Factory, without sounding like a Fear Factory album minus the band’s name.

While there are threads of the past sewn through Years of Darkness, the band is pushing themselves into unexplored and innovative territory. Songs like “Gone Too Far” and “Blackened Sky” are sure to excite and intrigue listeners as they swerve between in your face metal and intellectually based, highly rhythmic “math metal.” Others, such as the brooding “Gone Tomorrow,” showcase the bands artistic range and open the door to the emotional side of the band, something that is as refreshing as it may be unexpected for long-time fans of Wolbers and company. As is the case with the bands lineup, the writing stands them apart from other collaborative metal bands.

The songs on their debut album are not simply rehashes or Fear Factory-Threat Signal leftovers, they are unique to Arkaea, and are indicative of the new sound and direction these four metal masters are headed.

With their first album hitting stores and the band out on a fall tour to promote the new release, Wolbers and Arkaea are hitting their stride at just the right time. With a clear vision of where their music is headed and the songwriting and technical chops to pull it off, Years in the Darkness is not the culmination of a one-off collaboration. It is a taste of the future for a band that is looking to set the metal scene ablaze with their infectious lyrics, head-thrashing beats and face-melting guitar work. Take note, Arkaea is a band that is here to stay.

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Matt Warnock: Your new band, Arkaea, consists of two members from Fear Factory and two members of the band Threat Signal. How did you guys meet and decide to work together on this new project?

Christian Olde Wolbers: I worked with Threat Signal in 2005 as a producer and became good friends with the guys in the band. At they time they had a completely different line up, Jon is the only remaining original member of the band. He and I became really good friends during that time and he’s just an amazing guy to work with. He’s a great musician, great artist and I trust his opinion, so he was the first person I thought of when me and Ray (Herrera) decided to form the new band and write and record some new music.

At the time, Fear Factory was basically the only thing we had going on so we wanted to have something else going while the other guys (in Fear Factory) were working on their own side projects. While we were waiting to see if Fear Factory was going to move forward with a new record, we were actually writing material for a new Fear Factory album, we decided to take most of this material and form a new band, which became Arkaea.

We talked to Sam Rivers of Limp Bizkit and Ryan DeMartini from Mudvayne about working with us on the bass tracks. They were both too busy with their touring schedules and couldn’t do it, so we ended up talking to Pat Kavanagh, from Threat Signal, about the gig. Since Jon was working with Arkaea already, Threat Signal was on hold for a bit during that process, we figured Pat might as well come along and play with us as well. That group of guys became Arkaea, that’s how the line up was conceived.

Matt: What would you say to fans of Fear Factory and Threat Signal as far as the direction of Arkaea, and what they can expect from the new record?

Christian: Honestly, the songs started with a lot more technical guitar work, but as I heard Jon’s vocals I ended up going with what he was doing on most of the songs, as far as the musical intention behind the lyrics and vocal melody. So, instead of coming at it from a technical standpoint I found that sometimes I could play a Foo Fighters, Deftones type of thing with the chords and Jon would sing circles around it, really epic stuff.

When I was doing more complex chords and riffs we found that Jon’s singing was really bland. That’s why I began flipping some of the sections in the new songs. There are still bridges and some middle parts on some of the songs that sound like Fear Factory, but a lot of it’s different.

It’s also our debut album and we’re still searching a little bit. By the time we wrote Locust, which is the first song on the CD, we kind of felt like “OK, we’re starting to get our sound together.”Locust was really the song that started to put things in perspective for us, as far as what riffs were going to be part of our sound.

Jon and Pat are very good writers as well. On this CD they wrote a few things here and there, but on the next record they’ll definitely be more involved in the songwriting process, which will make it more of a mixture between our different styles. It’s our first album so we still need to develop our style and direction. We all come from different backgrounds and have played in different bands, so it takes a little while for everyone to gel. But we have a solid working relationship and things are going great so far.

Even at this early point I can already tell that things are really going to be great between us, and the next album is going to be a big step forward for the band. The first record was mixed by Terry Date who’s pretty much my favorite mixer and producer in the world. We’re definitely going to work with him on the next album because he’s a vital part of our sound. I want to keep working with the same producer and mixer, to help us move forward and build on what we’ve already accomplished. His input has really helped us move forward, he’s almost like the fifth member of the band right now.

Matt: I noticed that you write a lot of the music for the songs on your new album, do you also write the lyrics or is that a shared duty within the band?

Christian: Jon writes all the lyrics, I sometimes help out with song titles or offer some pointers here and there. As an outsider sometimes it helps to have that perspective when working on song lyrics. It’s a little bit of my brain child, Arkaea, so I like to be involved in all the different aspects of the writing process.

Ray and I write all the music, all the platforms, then Jon and Pat come in to help us rearrange things when we need to. We definitely appreciate and take their opinions seriously. It’s great to have the whole band contribute to the songwriting process. When Ray and I get together to lay down the platforms for each song we like to go in and get the music down quickly. For example, we just wrote the entire soundtrack to a Motor Cross video game, all eleven songs, in about a month. We just wrote and recorded a song a day, when we got together, so we like to work fast on the music side of things.

Matt: How do you approach writing the music for a song? Do you get together and jam things out with the other guys, or do you like to work everything out before you get together with the band?

Christian: I never come with a full song, I usually go to Raymond with one or two riffs and we build the song from there. We have two different ways of writing from that point. For the soundtrack and video game stuff we like to work right on the spot and put things down as we’re writing the music. For the songs we write for our bands we usually get together in my studio first, he’ll have his drum machine with him and he taps out the rhythms. It’s an MPC so he inputs the beats with his hands, the same kind of thing that guys do in the R&B and Hip Hop world. Once all of his drums are in there I just grab a guitar at low volume and start adding riffs on top of his beats.

Matt: How involved are you in the recording process as far as the technical side of things goes? Do you like to choose your own mics and set them up to your specs, or do you like to sit back and let the engineers do their thing while you focus more on the musical side of the process?

Christian: Yeah I’m involved in pretty much everything. I produced this record so I was right in there working on all levels. We had a great engineer on this record, Jeremy Blair, who worked with Guns n Roses, Zack Wylde and a bunch of other big bands. He worked at a place in L.A., that’s closed now, called Rumble, where he worked with a lot of famous groups, so it was great having him involved in the recording process. He knows all about what mics to use and where to put them for all of our instruments, guitar, bass, drums etc.

I know what works for guitar. I have my Randall signature stacks and my Jackson guitars, which are like the Ferrari’s and Bentley’s of amps and guitars, so we have great equipment, which really helps. My drummer, Raymond, owns Fleetwood Mac’s old studio, where we keep our gear set up and can go in anytime to record or work out tracks, which is a great thing to have when working on a new album.

We’re veterans with this stuff by now so we know what works. We’re not going to go in and mess around with different mics on the snare or anything. We know a 57 works well, so we don’t need to fool around with what works. We’ll try some new things out, usually when companies send us gear to test out, but normally we just stick to what works for us.

Matt: You played a lot of bass in Fear Factory but you’re playing guitar in Arkaea. Did you find it a challenge to switch to the guitar as far as your role in the band and how your sound fits into the overall vibe of the group?

Christian: Well, I started out as a guitar player so it was pretty natural transition. Honestly, a lot of the bass parts in Fear Factory were played as if they were being done on a guitar, which became a big part of our sound. It was a very natural change for me, especially since it’s much easier to write a song on guitar than it is on the bass. You can pick up a guitar and hear all the chord voicings and notes right there. Guitar is really the main instrument in metal, as far as writing instruments are concerned, it’s all about the guitar and drums.

Matt: I know you use a ton of different guitars for recording and performing, what are some of your favorite guitars to use when you’re playing live and in the studio?

Christian: Yeah, on the new record I used my Jackson seven string custom shop Flying V, that I had built in 2004, which sounded really good. I have a new Jackson Kelly, with the traditional two-tone finish, which I really like. I also have a silver burst with a Floyd Rose which is pretty much my main guitar. As far as amps I use my Randall Archetype signature series amps.

Matt: Do you run your guitars through distortion pedals or do you prefer the gain on your amps to get that heavy sound?

Christian: I use the gain on the amps. The only effects I use are a whammy pedal, chorus and delay. I have some multi-processors in my rack, I have a Bradshaw switching system, so I have a lot of different toys that I can play with if I want, but I tend to keep things simple.

Actually, I use a J&B Marshall with a Metal Zone on top, believe it or not. I EQ the sound with the J&B and then with the Metal Zone I tend to keep the volume really low, but I push the gain a bit more, then I push the pedal in to add more gain. There are a couple of songs on the record, “My Redemption” and “Black Ocean,” where I use this technique to get those unique sounds. It kind of sounds like I’m playing through a low-fi radio.

Matt: You have a thick tone throughout the album but you’re playing really fast chords and rhythmic ideas all the time. Do you use thick strings to get that fat sound?

Christian: I use really thin strings actually, with a standard tuning on my seven-string guitar. I use a .09 through .46 on the first six strings, and then I add a .52 on the seventh string, which isn’t that thick. The key is that the guitars are set up so that I can pick lightly and still get that thick tone. If I pick hard on those strings it gets muddy.

If you listen to Van Halen and guys like that, they used really light picking which allowed their amps to breathe and get that nice crunch. Standard tuning really helps too. If you try and tune down too much it can take away from the sound quality, so I tend to keep everything in standard tuning.

Matt: Do you use a different set up in your live performances as compared to your studio rig?

Christian: No, they’re both the same set up. I take my live rig and just set it up in the studio. I have my rig set up so that I can write my effects right into the system. I program my effects into my Bradshaw controller so that when I play live everything is right there. I’ve worked it all out in the studio and can bring it on to the stage without changing anything. It’s all right there, it’s really amazing.

Matt: The first Arkaea CD is out in stores now and is doing very well. Are you planning on focusing your attention on promoting the new album or do you already have ideas in the works for a follow-up album?

Christian: Raymond and I are getting together to lay down some new I song ideas that I need to get off my chest. So by the time we come off the tour for the first album we’ll have enough material to start laying down tracks for the next record.

We’re also looking to head out on the road this fall to support the first record and we’re excited to bringing the Arkaea sound to the fans.

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Links

http://www.myspace.com/christianoldewolbers

Years in the Darkness on Amazon

Jackson Christian Olde Wolbers Dinky 7-String Electric Guitar Red Blue Pearl

Jackson KE2 Kelly USA Electric Guitar