Coal Chamber are set to play their first shows as a band since 2015 at Las Vegas' Sick New World in May and Virginia's Blue Ridge Rock Festival in September. Serving as one of the main pioneers of nu metal, having the band back is a joy to behold, but it appears that it came about from the edge of near tragedy.
In a new interview with Radioactive MikeZ, vocalist Dez Fafara has revealed that he reunited the band from his deathbed whilst battling COVID-19. He was even telling his wife where he wanted to be buried. He said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth, "I was on my way out from COVID. And my wife called [everyone in Coal Chamber] and said, 'Hey, you guys may wanna text Dez or call Dez 'cause I don't know if he's gonna make it through the night. He's telling me where he wants to be buried and not to sell his '78 Cadillac.'
"So they started to call me, they started to text me, and over a period of six, seven, eight months, we didn't talk any business at all. And we realized that, you know, why are we not playing shows? Those guys are totally different people than when we broke up. I have always been the same — I've just been solid as a rock — and I told them, 'I'm solid as a rock. If I come out of this, I would love to do at least one show with you guys.' And that's how this all started — very organically."
The band previously reformed in 2011, releasing their 5th album, Rivals, in 2015 before breaking up again in 2018. When asked about whether a new album would be in the mix, Dez admitted: "I've had e-mail after e-mail after e-mail with offer after offer after offer, and it's really just up to the camp to what we're gonna do. As of right now, we have these few festivals. There's an amphitheater tour that's offered to us in June or July. We're not sure what's gonna be happening. We will see. And only the future time will tell. But we're gonna do what's best for us and for the fans."
The band will be joined at Sick New World on May 13 by the likes of System Of A Down, Korn, Deftones, Incubus, Evanescence and loads more. At Blue Ridge Rock Fest, between September 7-10, they will be playing alongside Pantera, Limp Bizkit, Shinedown, Megadeth and loads more.
Dez's other band Devildriver recently revealed the details of their new album, Dealing With Demons II, and shared a furious new track, Through The Depths.
