Coal Chamber existed between 1993 and 2003. Frontman for the band Dez Fafara continued his career post-Coal Chamber with the very successful DevilDriver and would eventually reform the band around 2011. Coal Chamber would go on to perform reunion tours and even do a new album called Rivals in 2015. Coal Chamber broke up again in 2016, apparently permanently this time, and in 2017 Fafara said DevilDriver would begin doing Coal Chamber songs live.
Now in an interview with Scars And Guitars (as transcribed by The PRP), Fafara has a lot of pretty negative things to say about his ex-bandmates. Fafara once again says that DevilDriver will be doing Coal Chamber songs live, and reportedly better than the originals ever were. He also really doesn't hold back when it comes to the negative things either, as you'll see shortly.
"If you're a band just starting out, you need to hear me. Do not start a band with partners — ever. 'Cause I can't go do Coal Chamber right now unless I get others involved. And I'm the one that came up with the name, I'm the one that started the band, I'm the one that took the ads out for players, and in the end, my dream, the thing I started, because it's with partners, I can't go out and fucking do it…"
"So let me tell you what's happening. I finally… And this is a conversation that could actually last hours, but we'll make it real fucking short. Most guys—Danzig, Rob Zombie—when they leave their bands, they play their songs. Rob was doing White Zombie Songs the day he fucking exited. I didn't do that to my fans. I was, like, 'I'm not gonna do that to you,' because I held out hope that it would come back together.
It did — 13 years later, it did. I waited 13 years to play 'Loco' and the songs that made me who I am, that gave me a gold record, that supported my family. I waited 13 years to find out that they can't continue, that they can't go on, that they're all still fucked up and in the same headspace.
So now, what's happening is I've finally… I said to myself and to my wife, everyone around me, I'm burying it. No, it is not coming back. The minute I step on stage with DevilDriver and do Coal Chamber songs, it's never coming back. I told Meegs that. I told Mike that. I said, 'So you'd better get ahold of me.' What they said was, 'Call the lawyer.' Well, go fuck you, dude! How about that? So that's where it's at right now.
When you're dealing with people that are partners, that suffer from mental illness — literally — you can't get shit done. And so, no. DevilDriver is… I don't know if it's this year or the beginning of next year, but we've already begun rehearsing six Coal Chamber songs with full production; I'm bringing the balls to the table.
And once I do that, even putting on a bit of Coal Chamber for myself on stage, there's gonna be no going back. Because once people hear this, and we've had some of the people hear this at the rehearsal studios, and they all said the same thing: 'Oh, dude, these songs played by this band are the way these songs should have been done.' They're not half assed; they're fucking ferociously on point.
And now, me playing these songs with these guys, too, has made me feel reinvigorated. I mean, wait till you hear 'Loco' with two guitars and double bass played on point, spot-on. You'll lose your mind. So there's the answer for that."
"I wish I could be the person that would say, 'Oh, it's definitely gonna come back,' and give the fans some hope and all this other shit. But I'm just a fucking realist, right? And life is short. One of the reasons I took the last year off is I buried two of my best friends from high school in the last two years.
And I realized, 'You know what? Life is short. I'm gonna come off the road for a while. I'm gonna spend some time with family. I'm gonna re-evaluate,' and everything else. And part of that re-evaluation was the Coal Chamber scenario. Because we have a record deal on the table, we have all sorts of stuff that could move forward.
I reached out and said, 'What's going on?' And it was, like, my drummer said, 'I'd rather build houses,' and my guitar player, Meegs, would rather live with his parents. So, fuck it! I'm doing DevilDriver, and I'm doing Coal Chamber songs. And when I bring them, you guys are gonna shit!"
So yeah, if you were a fan of Rivals then this certainly sucks. However, if you didn't care about the Coal Chamber reunion, then you may peacefully continue down your path of not caring without any further interruptions. At least until DevilDriver brings up those Coal Chamber tracks live.
