Stoking The Fires With DEZ FAFARA From COAL CHAMBER

Interview by Kris Peters
When Dez Fafara announced that Coal Chamber was on indefinite
hiatus in 2016, stating that the success of DevilDriver was taking
precedence, the heavy metal community to a man fell under a thick
wave of despair.
Bridging the gap between metal and industrial groove with an
impossibly infectious tempo, Coal Chamber helped revolutionise the
sound of metal, spawning a movement that has rapidly grown into a
way of life.
Songs like Loco, Sway, Big Truck, and Oddity are etched into the
annals of metal forever, and Coal Chamber became more than a
band.
They become an institution.
Fafara has previously steadfastly refused to discuss let alone
entertain the thought of a reunion despite repeated pleas from
metalheads the world over, appearing to shun any notion of a
reunion to the point many stopped even asking.
But public hope and expectation simmered once more in late 2022
when Fafara announced Coal Chamber would reform and play the 2023
Sick New World Festival, and the rest, as they say, is
history.
That festival turned into another and then more shows before the
dream pairing of Coal Chamber and Mudvayne joined formidable forces
to announce a US run that had fans clamoring for tickets for what
promised to be the concert event of the year.
With both bands set to include Australia on their tour of
domination in February, Fafara sat down with HEAVY for an open and
honest discussion about the past, present and future of Coal
Chamber.
"Cannot wait," he enthused. "We're excited. We went out with
Mudvayne all Summer and did big amphitheaters. It was an amazing
package. All the crews and everybody got along really well, so no
drama over a seven-week tour was a great thing. Obviously, the
pairing works extremely well, so when it was put to us to come over
we decided yeah, we cannot say no to this."
Often with tours that generate this much excitement so far out from
the shows, it can feel like an anti-climax of sorts by the time the
stage lights actually go down, so we ask Fafara what Coal Chamber
will be doing to make sure the reality by far exceeds the
hype.
"We're gonna bring good production, and we're gonna be on it, man,"
he promised. "Some of the shows that I saw from the Summer on
YouTube were the tightest we have done in our entire lives. So
you're getting a very special Coal Chamber right now. We're firing
on all cylinders, and we cannot wait to come down. Last night we
were texting for two hours straight, and I was laughing
hysterically. We were just having such a great time, and that's
what you want out of a band. You want a band that enjoys what
they're doing, and we're gonna enjoy coming down and giving it
110%."
We push Fafara to tell us more about the recent run of US shows so
we can gain even a small insight into what to expect.
"The shows were great," he affirmed. "The Summer was fantastic, and
it was great to see the audience out there, which was predominantly
the younger generation… I mean people that were 22, 20 years old
and born when we broke up (laughs). It's pretty crazy. Some of the
biggest bands anyway in the genre have always been Korn etc, but I
think us as a pairing coming to Australia will be fantastic shows
and everyone should get their tickets right away because it's
definitely gonna go clean. They're definitely gonna sell
out."
In the full interview, Dez talks more about the recent shows, if he
felt nervous the first show back with Coal Chamber, tapping into
different sides of his musical personality going from DevilDriver
to Coal Chamber, the early days of the band and the scene that
inspired them, promoting before internet and tricks of the trade,
what drew people to Coal Chamber in the beginning, their album
Rivals and how he feels it was 10 years too early, new music and
more.
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