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Interviews : “Being able to make music together after so long was definitely a blessing.” – An Interview with Dez Fafara (Coal Chamber)

By on May 28, 2015

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Dez Fafara – Coal Chamber

Coal Chamber’s official reformation as a band was probably the most awaited one and they most certainly have lived up to their reputation with their latest offering ‘Rivals’, their first album after 13 years and fourth overall. Already doing a successful run of shows over the past couple of months and receiving killer reviews, Metal Obsession had the chance to catch up with front man Dez Fafara to talk about ‘Rivals’, nu-metal, touring, Devildriver and heaps more!

Dez and co are doing show after show and are stoked with the reactions to the new album.  “Everything’s been great, I’m at home right now – getting ready to tour in a few days. We’re doing a tour of the UK and Europe and we just got back from Monsters of Rock in South America with Ozzy, Judas Priest, Motorhead and some other great bands.  The response live has been absolutely incredible so far; people already know our new songs and they sing along. But I think the response we’re getting from almost a 100% of journalists is the fact that this is definitely not some throwback record – which is exactly what we didn’t really want – to be part of some nostalgic, 90’s, throwback record. We wanted to do something that showed a little bit of maturity and the evolution of the band and I think Rivals is just that record.”

Rivals is a groove-laden, hook-filled banger of an album but there’s a lot more to it. Dez spoke more about the meaning behind the album title, how ‘Rivals’ stands out musically from its predecessors and the ‘nu-metal’ tag they’re commonly associated with.” It’s more not the word ‘rival’ as it so rivals can be external influences that have a negative effect on you or anything internally, inside your head that is messing with you and that’s why on the album cover it’s scratched out because as far as I’m concerned those things are the real rivals and we gotta get rid of them if we want to move ahead. That’s what the album cover is also about as well – people coming together as one and uniting and that for me is what represents this band. “

” It’s 100% different from the first three albums – to the point that we couldn’t even copy them because they are so different from each other as well. So this record, you know that  it’s Coal Chamber with a signature sound but the growth and the evolution musically is definitely there- it’s basically Coal Chamber in 2015. The thing with the nu-metal genre is that it’s tagging great bands – think about it –  Slipknot, Korn, System of a Down, Deftones, I could go on. I don’t get when people talk about the ‘nu-metal revival’ because these bands never went away. What I’m trying to say here is no matter what tag you put on this record, the fact is that it’s good!”

The band were completely dedicated to the making of this album even though they were touring before the recording actually began. “We were always writing while we were on the road, touring. We’d lock ourselves up in a room and record and track a lot of songs and then we locked ourselves up again for pre-production. All the arrangements and everything were really tight, and like I said the music has a certain maturity that shows the work ethic behind it. We recorded it in Florida with Mark Lewis at Audio Hammer who did an amazing job and I think people are going to love it, whether you’re a Coal Chamber fan or not.”

Most people would be of the opinion that after 13 years, the sound dynamic and chemistry of the band would face drastic changes but this isn’t the case at all with Coal Chamber. ” No, not at all. Nothing’s changed. I mean we had a great time. I used to come home  with smile lines on my face from laughing the whole day. That’s the kind of thing we had going on you know – having a good time and enjoying being in each others presence after that many years. Being able to make music together after so long was definitely a blessing. I think it’s important that people take this as an analogy for their lives – if you have a moment to make up with an ex- boyfriend, an ex-friend or an ex-boss that fired you rightly so; you should be able to walk up to them and say “hey I’m glad you did that because now I got my shit together!’. It’s really all about mending ways with somebody after 13 years and it feels great man! Not only that but we’re also making killer music together which is the best part.”

Of course, the most important thing here is how the whole idea for a reunion and new music came about and it happened in our very own country. ” It was in Australia actually – at Soundwave! I was listening to headphones that Meegs had on and he had some songs written which is when I asked him ‘What is this? What do you have here?’ and he told me it was just music. I said to him that if this was the level of maturity that he was writing with – the riffs, the musical arrangements, etc – that I wanted to be a part of it. So we started talking in late 2012, 2013 and got Napalm on board in 2013 and here we are, all set with our new record. It just so happened that I was also getting ready to take some time off from DevilDriver having toured for almost 2 years so it all worked out perfectly. ”

But Dez has something in the works with Devildriver after the band saw a line-up change late last year. ” DevilDriver’s looking really good right now man, we’ve got some crazy stuff. I’m sitting on 12 blistering tracks – Neil and Mike Spreitzer together are an insane guitar duo – something I’ve just always wished for this band.  Austin is one incredible drummer and they’re all just really great guys. The important thing here is that there’s a very positive, good vibe in the band and we’re having really good time. We’re recording around October/ Novmeber this year, and aiming  for a September release next year.

Devildriver is already at work on their next album, Coal Chamber on tour and Dez is a hardcore family man. He talked about the importance of balancing music and his personal life. ” When it comes to the bands, I’m fine, I don’t need to balance those – it’s the family that needs to be balanced. I sit down with my wife and ask her when she needs me home – which days and sometimes we scratch out weeks and months because she wants me to be home. They always come first no matter what. Being in a band, touring and seeing different places is what I really enjoy but that’s really all there is to it.”

So what are the chances of seeing these guys Down Under soon? Looks like Soundwave’s Boss is on it already! “Well me and my beautiful wife are meeting AJ and his wife Jo soon to have dinner with them and definitely have a conversation about Coal Chamber coming down to Australia sometime soon in what I think should be a proper headlining tour. It just has to be the right time for everyone involved for it to work out. He’s an honest and great guy, always has my respect, is a good friend of the family you don’t really find too many of those kinds of people on this planet too much.” Damn straight.

 The amazing and charismatic Dez Fafara had one last message to CC fans and metalheads alike. ” We’re really proud of this one so expect a killer record; expect a piece of art that we worked very, very hard on; expect something really different. Don’t expect a throwback record because that’s not what this is and hopefully with the new tracks,  we’ll move and groove you! Cheers!”

About

Prarthana is a vegan, Indo-Aussie, heavy music addict, fluent in sarcasm and metal. Traveling is an obsession as she enjoys taking in the history of various countries and following her favorite bands. She's either eating, teaching grammar or learning an instrument, when not occupied with windmilling in the faces of other humans.