Formed in the early 90s, Coal Chamber was a band that played urgent and aggressive music draped in heavy stage makeup, piercings, and black fetish clothing. As an up-and-coming nu-metal act, the band showed that simplicity and heaviness went hand-in-hand, and dominated the scene with a darker, more evil approach compared to what other bands were doing.
“It’s a cold, dark place.” – Miguel Rascon
Releasing 4 albums in total (one being gold and the others being pretty damn close), they proved they weren’t a one-hit-wonder. When asked what the band name represents in an interview with Lollipop Magazine, guitarist Miguel Rascon stated, “It’s a cold, dark place. It fits the imagery of our music. Potential energy. Heavy. Under great pressure.”
Judging by their appearance, you’d expect a pretty dark, brooding band, but Coal Chamber’s music actually emitted nuances of hope and optimism while also promoting individuality. By the time their third album was released, there was speculation that the band would never perform together again.
Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara was born in Santa Barbara, California and raised in LA. He grew up as an outcast. Fafara drew inspiration from a range of artists including The Cure and Motley Crue, recalling to the LA Times, “I had Nikki Sixx all over my walls!… I just liked the whole look of that band and the heaviness of it.”
In 1992, ahead of Coal Chamber’s inception, Fafara and guitarist Miguel Rascón, better known as Meegs, formed the band She’s In Pain, which was influenced by gothic rock and helped shape part of the band’s sound early on. Within the next several years, the roots of Coal Chamber were solidified, once the members found each other.
When we hear about the evolution of popular music, there appears to be a period in the 80s and early 90s when hair metal was popular and then alternative rock took over. Against the backdrop of this transition, there was a burgeoning scene in LA where the two genres cross-pollinated with hip hop, which initiated the birth of nu-metal.
“We would all go to shows every single night and play with each other and create this new scene together.” – Dez Fafara
Dez recalled to Metal Hammer about coming up amidst this transition, “The scene was relatively dead. We were coming out after the hair metal thing was done and killed off but there was a sense that something new was forming among the bands at that time. Up in LA, there were the Deftones, Coal Chamber and later on, System of a Down… We would all go to shows every single night and play with each other and create this new scene together. Clubs started to pack out again. One by one, we all got signed…”
Coal Chamber came together in 1994, playing gigs in Los Angeles and nearby Orange County. By 1995, they recorded some demos and caught the attention of producer Ross Robinson and Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares who connected the group with metal label Roadrunner Records.
Dez Fafara Temporarily Leaves Coal Chamber
Following Coal Chamber’s signing to Roadrunner, Dez temporarily left the group to spend more time with his wife. But less than a year later, he rejoined the band and his marriage ended in divorce.
Fafara reflected on his decision, telling Lollipop Magazine, “I strongly recommend against giving up what’s most important to you to please someone else in your life, and if you do, don’t descend into drugs and alcohol so deep that no one can pull you back out. A knock came on the door from Miguel, and that probably saved my life.”
Towards the end of 1995, the band was able to continue their deal with Roadrunner, and things started to look up. Sharon Osbourne, the wife of rock icon Ozzy Osbourne, stepped up as their manager. Coal Chamber then took part in the very first Ozzfest in 1996, which helped raise their profile considerably.
By February of 1997, Coal Chamber released their self-titled debut album on Roadrunner, introducing touches of the hip-hop and metal sound that was making the rounds in the scene. Their debut album would go Gold, moving over a half a million copies.
Featured on the band’s debut album was the song “Loco”, giving the band their best-known song. On the group’s sophomore record, Chamber Music, released in September of 1999, Coal Chamber veered away from the rap element of their sound and opted for a more open-ended, melodic direction.
“I always trust someone who’s tattooed and pierced over some guy in a suit.” – Dez Fafara
Dez told the LA Times, “Just be yourself. People who feel life through the way they look are living life so much more fuller than most people. They’re not afraid to show what’s on the inside through the outside. I always trust someone who’s tattooed and pierced over some guy in a suit.”
Dez would continue to be mindful of the change in the band’s approach, telling the LA Times, “Kids want to talk about things and kids want to party. Those two entities exist within them. It’s up to you to bring it out in them. You can hand them a beer or you can hand them a thought. I heard one singer on MTV say, ‘I don’t have responsibility. Since when has rock been responsible?’ And I just thought, ‘When has it not?’ … I feel I have a responsibility. If I’m going to touch 500,000 people, I might as well give them something other than ‘f you’.”
That’s not to say that the band abstained from typical rock n’ roll excess. “All the drugs, the alcohol, the sex—all that exists on tour. I tend to sit in the back of the bus with candles, just writing. I stay away from all those things now because I sunk myself into them the past two years, and I’ve done it all,” Fafara revealed.
Dez acknowledged that kids by the late ’90s faced a lot more difficulties than himself in their childhood. This was often referenced in nu-metal music, which included anecdotes of violence at school and places of worship.
You look into a child’s eyes and you want to instill something positive–something that can get them through that.” – Dez Fafara
Dez’s words of wisdom still resonate, saying, “Everybody is bummed and angry. But I have to try and give them something else lyrically, to base their life around, other than just pure hate. We all grow up, we all learn to hate. You look into a child’s eyes and you want to instill something positive–something that can get them through that.”
By the early 2000s, Sharon Osbourne stepped down as the group’s manager and Coal Chamber signed with Left Bank, which represented the likes of Motley Crue and Blondie.
By the time they recorded their third album, Dark Days, in 2001, Coal Chamber still had yet to reach an audience that their peers, including Korn and The Deftones, had.
“This is the last Coal Chamber show ever.” – Dez Fafara
Dark Days was released in May of 2002, and during the tour to support the album, internal tensions rose. Fafara and Rascon came to blows on stage during their Jagermeister Tour stop in Lubbock, Texas. 4 songs into their set, Rascon hit Fafara on the head with his guitar, resulting in the frontman walking off stage and telling the crowd, “This is the last Coal Chamber show ever.” The band tried to keep playing, but drummer Mike Cox destroyed his kit, ending the concert.
Coal Chamber failed to show up at their next tour stop in Oklahoma City, which led fans to speculate about the authenticity of his statement, despite a spokesperson for the band claiming they weren’t breaking up and still had planned shows.
Coal Chamber Breaks Up
Coal Chamber called it quits in 2003. Dez Fafara went on to form DevilDriver the following year.
In 2011, despite an earlier statement by Dez that Coal Chamber’s breakup was permanent, the band reunited. Meegs recalled to Schecter Guitars how it happened, “After many years of being broken apart, Dez called me to get the band back together. It took years after that to really jell and form a bond together again. [A lot] of hard work and soul searching. It just felt right after so many years to make music and tour again. Fully organic in that sense. Wasn’t about the money for me. It was about doing it right.”
Following several more high-profile festival performances in the next few years, the band signed a new record deal with Napalm Records.
In late 2014, the group began work on their comeback album, Rivals. Rivals was released in May of 2015, and much like Dark Days, it peaked at No. 1 in France and Germany, while also placing highly on the Top Heatseekers Chart in America.
In the end, tensions overtook the band, and once again, facilitated their breakup.
“All the members had problems that I didn’t want to deal with anymore, so I left.” – Dez Fafara
Dez revealed to Blunt Magazine in 2016, “We had a massive draw, we were a massive presence all over the radio. It was just that inward, all the members had problems that I didn’t want to deal with anymore, so I left.”
By 2020, during an interview with Loudersound, Dez revealed, “I’m not gonna say no to a new Coal Chamber album,” while going on to explain that the relationship with the members of his former outfit was still good but everybody was busy with their own projects.
Today, Dez prioritizes DevilDriver while also running a surf business and a new management agency he formed with his wife to find and develop new talent.
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