Drummer extraordinaire Gene Hoglan (FEAR FACTORY, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD) has issued the following update:

"Hey there everybody, I hope you all are doing well! I know I am, just getting off 12 months on the road out of the last 13. We, being Fear Factory, just ended a pretty non-stop run this year so far with a few shows in Australia, New Zealand and Japan with METALLICA. The shows were unbelievable and enormous, and we were treated extremely well by the men in the band as well as their crew. Well, except for the dude who yelled at some of us for leaving our plates behind in catering. Woops, my fault. Food. It'll always get ya in trouble somehow.

At a very nice dinner that Metallica was gracious enough to invite us to, I did get to relate to James the story of how we met 30 years ago, at a backyard party, when I was a 13 year-old metalhead, and he was the first person I'd ever seen wearing an IRON MAIDEN shirt. A homemade, one color print of the first album, but nobody knew Maiden in these parts, let alone had a shirt! So I, being the punk that I was, followed him around that party all night, pestering him to make me one. Of course he told me to fuck off. Repeatedly.

This year has been a whirlwind of activity in the FF camp, as well as mine, and we've still got a couple of months to go. FF's touring cycle has had us to Europe four times (five, maybe?), Down Under twice (watch out Tasmania, you're liable to be added to the list next time), across the States three times (four? Is it four?), a cross-Canada trip (I think Terry Fox still might've made it further than us), roughly a couple hundred shows, one passed-out-behind-the-wheel bus driver, and one burned-to-the-ground bus. And only a few screamers outta Ol' $eely.

As for me, I (with the help of the Minions here at GHI) got this fun new website out, as well as The Atomic Clock DVD. I would like to take a moment to seriously thank any of you who has bought it. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. The response has been pretty mighty so far, and I'm really happy that people seem to dig it. Again, I thank each one of you very much. To those who have merely stolen it, well, all I can say is that I and people like me, will keep self-funding our own projects, losing money more often than not, just to keep ourselves happy and your thievery business booming. We'll keep Hell packed with your fresh souls. Okay, that's a little harsh, but you get my drift. If you bought it, I thank you. If you stole it, I can't.

And in other breaking 'Shameless Pluggery' - OH MY GOD! I ACTUALLY MADE THE COVER OF MODERN DRUMMER! Holy moly, can you believe that? Lemme just say, that after plugging away at this career of mine for over 25 years, and this being the absolute highest honor a drummer could imagine for himself, I am still in shock at this unmitigated distinction. And I thank David Ciauro and all over at MD for bestowing upon me this incredible privilege. This mag has been the Bible for us drummers forever, and it would have been completely unfathomable to me 27 years ago when I picked up my first copy that I'd ever be on the cover. Needless to say, I am QUITE stoked! Hey, any time any bit of the mainstream acknowledges metal in any way, I get stoked.

Anyway, I'll drop the self-fellating for a minute to quickly point out to any regular reader of this website, that we've just posted a ton of links for the press campaign for the dvd. A crapload of interviews and such, with more to come. They can be found in the "Media" section of HoglanIndustries.com. I hope you enjoy listening to me pontificate as much as I do. Har har.

So folks, I'm sure you can expect another update from me in the usual next 7-to-12 years. I'm sure I'll have a boatload to talk about, rest assured. This has been an amazing year so far, and we still have 2 months left. Awesome! Oh, btw, as of this writing, I've dropped 60+ pounds, with waaay more to come. I thank my woman for that, truly.

Mom, I made the cover!"