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Biography
The first seeds of Coal Chamber were sewn after the 1992 dissolution of a band called She’s In Pain, formed by vocalist Bradley “Dez” Fafara and guitarist Miguel “Meegs” Rascón. After a few months making music together, the duo decided against continuing as She’s In Pain and decided to form a new band. One that was influenced by the burgeoning Nu-Metal scene that was taking alternative metal styles like thrash, death and groove metal and combining it with influences cribbed from Hip-Hop. The duo put out the word that they were putting a new band together, finding Jon Tor from an advert for a drummer that they put in a local newspaper and recruiting Rayna Foss on bass, who was a friend of Fafara’s wife.
At first, Coal Chamber looked like they were going to leap into the spotlight soon after forming. In late 1994, their first couple of gigs around the L.A rock hotspots like The Roxy and the Whiskey A Go-Go caused a monumental stir. This was mainly because their demo tape had found its way into the hands of Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares, and he was raving about the band to anyone who would listen. Because of this the band were noticed by metal legends Roadrunner Records, who offered them a contract at the tail end of 1994. However, things weren’t going to go entirely according to plan. Fafara’s wife had a huge problem with him performing with the band, and he quit the band in order to save his marriage.
The band were rudderless, as the partnership between Fafara and Rascón had powered the band from the very beginning. The band were dropped from their contract as quickly as they’d been offered it and it looked like they were coming to an end, but by the spring of 1995, Fafara had changed his mind. He had so much faith in the band that he ended his marriage to re-join it, and their mojo was well and truly found again. They began gigging anywhere that would have them and by the end of the year, Roadrunner welcomed them back with the most open of arms. Fortunately, the band were able to regain their momentum as quickly as they’d originally found it, and not even Tor leaving the band could stop them, as they replaced him with Mike Cox and went straight back on the road.
They spread their name far and wide with a slot on summer 1996’s Ozzfest tour and as soon as they came off the road they went into the studio, making their self-titled debut album and releasing it in February 1997. The album would eventually be certified Gold and the band would spend the rest of the year touring with everyone from Machine Head to Napalm Death. Their second album “Chamber Music” was released to commercial success in 1999 but the bands run of good luck was coming to an end. Their third album “Dark Days” was tepidly received both critically and commercially, and the band had to deal with rising personal frictions between Cox, Fafara and Rascón. The powder keg went off in May with a disastrous show in Lubbock, Texas and the band officially split in 2003.
Fafara went on to see some legitimate success in his new act Devildriver, but in 2011, it was announced that the classic Coal Chamber line-up (minus Rayna, who was raising her daughter) would re-unite for a stint on the Soundwave festival in Australia. The band have taken it slowly as Devildriver are still very much alive and kicking, but they have completed a new album for release in May 2015, and will complete a full tour in support of it. By all accounts, the band have still got it in spades, and remain a live band to see as soon as possible.
Live reviews
Anybody familiar with Roadrunner Records - that’ll be anybody who can make any real claim to being a fan of American metal over the past decade or so, then - will know full well what it is that’s made them one of the most consistently exciting propositions in the metal scene; they’ve signed bands who run the gamut, stylistically speaking, from straightforward metal tropes to nu metal, industrial metal (see the likes of Fear Factory, for example) and gothic sounds, too. In that regard, Los Angeles four-piece Coal Chamber could effectively serve as the house band for the label, in that they’ve evinced most of tose styles at some point during their career, one that originally spanned a decade between 1993 and 2003 and resumed in 2011. Since reforming without original bass player Rayna Foss, they’ve yet to make a new record to follow-up 2002’s Dark Days, but their live shows - which have taken them to clubs and festivals around the world in the past three years - remain every bit as incendiary as ever, with brutal, technical guitar playing and uncompromising vocals from frontman Dez Fafara, who also plays in DevilDriver and kept his vocal cords nice and warm during an impressive stint with the Santa Barbara group in between Coal Chamber’s active periods; he currently splits his time between both.
Joeg_67
Nu-metal band, Coal Chamber have been going for over twenty years now, having made their debut in 1992. Their career has seen some peaks and some troughs but they have always maintained a large and loyal fanbase, which will sell out, shows wherever they travel in the world. It wasn’t until Coal Chamber caught the attention of Ozzy Osbourne’s wife Sharon Osbourne who became their manager though they later parted ways over creative differences. Of course this will never take away from the fact that their first studio album released in 1997 made it to number 10 in the US Chart. Their song “Sway” opens the set nicely to a horde of fans who have worshipped this band since their formation years. It is heavier than I could have predicted, as though their guitars have all been turned up to 11 and vocalist Dez Farara is screaming louder than he has ever screamed. Their song “Fiend” is a mid set peak with guitarist kicking off the preceding with a dark and diminished riff, which sends this audience into a frenzy transforming this circle pit into a deadly maelstrom. The close the set with “Notion”, seeing the crowd bounce up and down as if there are sharks in the water.
Lannistaar
Nu-metal band Coal Chamber have never been afraid to explore the theatrical side to their music and since their formation in the early 90s they always proudly claimed to be in touch with the goth side of metal. Amassing a large fanbase in the beginning that was often described as cult, fans were left devastated when the group announced a hiatus in 2003. Fortunately a lengthy eight years later the group reforms and the following appears to have stood the test of time as tickets sell out fast for the reunion tours.
It would appear a little time away to refocus and consider the future of Coal Chamber is exactly what the musicians needed as they appear onstage with great focus and intent whilst playing music from the new album 'Rivals'. The goth influences remain which is a nice touch for the older fans as lights beam behind and smoke billows around the feet of the animated performers. The instrumentals are blistering, riffs deafening and vocals as booming as ever and it feels great for the devotees as it seems like Coal Chamber have never really been away.
sean-ward
