Interview with Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber

[Frequent contributor and resident metal head Andrew Epstein went Wacken in Germany and weaseled his way backstage. Good boy. -AC]

Coal Chamber appeared in the 90’s along with a handful of American bands that became labelled as “nu-metal”. To the dismay of metal purists these bands took root in the hearts of teenagers all over the world. Coal Chamber was definitely the Costello to Korn’s Abbott. Sure they had pathos, but they also seemed like they were having fun. After three albums the band broke up, and while his peers decided to write more accessible tunes, vocalist Dez Fafara formed the band Devildriver, and successfully asserted himself within the same subculture that had resented him in the first place.

I caught up with Dez aboard a Gibson guitar branded tour bus backstage at the Wacken festival in Northern Germany. He’d just come off a successful reunion tour with Coal Chamber, and Devildriver is about to drop their sixth album entitled “Winter Kills”. Plus Gibson just gave him a free hollow-body guitar, so things are generally looking up. We ended up having a very candid conversation about his different musical sides and his no-nonsense attitude towards playing live and the commercial side of the music business.