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 Vocalist DEZ FAFARA talks about reuniting nu-metal sensation COAL CHAMBER for one last hurrah while TOM HERSEY dies his hair blue and styles it into some kind of undercut/dreadlock monstrosity.
When we get in touch, Dez Fafara is quick to put to rest any speculation that Coal Chamber, his nu-metal band that dissolved amongst extremely acrimonious circumstances in the early noughties, is getting back together permanently. His day job, groove/thrash metal act DevilDriver are going from strength to strength and he’s under no illusions otherwise.
“We’re reforming for Soundwave only. By no means do I want to step away from DevilDriver right now. About an hour ago I was talking with the DevilDriver people about 2014 bookings, so we’re running really strong. We’ll start another DevilDriver tour in March.”
Though it’s only a one-time deal, the fact that the members of Coal Chamber have come to be back on speaking terms with one another, let alone playing these reunion shows, seems a miracle. When the band broke up in 2003 it was after a protracted series of verbal and sometimes physical onstage altercations (at a show in Texas, guitarist Meegs Rascón hit Fafara in the head with his guitar’s headstock, prompting Fafara to tell the audience ‘this is the last Coal Chamber show ever’) and worsening drug problems within the band. Consequently there was a fairly substantial hatchet to bury.
Vocalist Fafara explains that the allure of playing those tunes, the groove metal bangers with weird, gothic sensibilities, helped facilitate an understanding that the past was the past and that was fine so long as it wasn’t repeated.
“I got over all the shit that went down with Coal Chamber because they got off hard drugs, and I don’t hold a grudge. And the fact that I had to move my family and all my kids into a one-bedroom apartment and basically start over, I didn’t hold that against them. I don’t think life is about that. I think life is about shedding light, and when they got clean and started coming around again I knew I could do that again.
“It’s going to be great to revisit those old songs and revisit some of those old feelings onstage with those guys. But also don’t expect Coal Chamber 1996. It’s going to be stepped up a little and those songs are probably going to sound a lot heavier to you.”
Discussing revisiting 1996, I cannot resist asking about the band’s outrageous image during their first incarnation, because Coal Chamber’s stylistic choices – lots of polyester, leather and metal studs – hilariously typified the late-‘90s early-‘00s goth/metal garb. Although the band’s tunes have stood the test of time, all the mesh shirts and facial piercings that the band used to rock have come to seem a little, well, ridiculous. Will reuniting Coal Chamber get the band back into the make-up and choker necklaces?
“Are you going to see me out there onstage in fishnets and black lipstick? No, you’re not. I don’t think I’m going to revisit some of Coal Chamber’s fashion. It’s kind of like revisiting your high school yearbook photo. You feel nostalgic and uncomfortable at the same time.”
COAL CHAMBER play the Eatons Hill Hotel with Marilyn Manson, Wednesday 13 and Motionless In White on Friday Feb 24 (AA) and Soundwave at the RNA Showgrounds on Saturday Feb 25 with Slipknot, Lamb Of God, Mastodon, System Of A Down and many more. See www.coalchamberofficial.com and www.soundwavefestival.com for more.
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