by Joe Matera

"Bands today are tapping into kids’ emotions and using them, using their souls for their own gain. Sure, I care about record sales, but not if I have to exploit my fans to get them. I want to empower my fans and give them wings of metal and steel, wings to help them fly over this world we’re in right now. This is a crazy world, and a little bit of empowerment can go a long way".

So says Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara, further proving that in the depraved world of hard rock and heavy metal, we can rest assured that some things never change. Sure, the horrific charm of the band’s newest release ‘Dark Days’ (Roadrunner) shows a marked maturity over the more simplistic grooves of the band’s 1997 debut and the more self-inflated sounds of their 1999 follow-up ‘Chamber Music’, but that sonic growth spurt couldn’t hamper the force that has driven Coal Chamber since their inception a decade ago.

"Yeah we like to think about it as moving forward" continues Fafara. "Coal Chamber like to do things different and out of the box everytime. Every album’s got to be different, sound different and with this, we wanted to move forward, but we wanted to move forward in a really raw form and more stripped down and heavy".

"I would be at home and I would receive FED EX’s" explains Fafara on how the writing process came together for the disc. "And they would be the CD’s burned with drum tracks and guitar riffs on them. I would write lyrics to them and within a couple of weeks I called the band and said ‘OK I’ve got 14 songs so let’s get together’, and once we did, we didn’t miss a beat man. We really put it together in a way where it just seemed like it came second nature. They all had home studios and they would send me the CD’s basically, and I would write to them".

The raw intensity and immediate energy of the band, that's captured on ‘Dark Days’ can be largely credited to producer Ross Hogarth. "He had a great effect on us" Fafara acknowledges. "He really brought me into my own self, this is the first time in my own shoes, if you were. I really felt like where I was coming from in the microphone, was from my heart. He really strapped all the band members down to playing to their best and to do the best that they could do. I have no doubt I’ll be working with him in the future as well".

The return to the more aggressive nature of the band first heard on their debut was in no way, according to Fafara, due to the lacklustre response by critics  to 1999’s ‘Chamber Music’. "I’ve got to tell you" expressed Fafara. "Our first album went Gold, our second sold almost 380,000 in the U.S and we only toured behind it for 6 months. So as far as I was concerned, artistically, it was a good showing and there was no pressure on us for ‘Dark Days’ at all. We basically said we’re going to make something really heavy at a time when there is a lot of rock and roll going down in the States, that’s all radio friendly, but don’t expect that from us. We’re going to do a dark album cover and put some art work on it that may or may not be pleasing to certain media. And our record company was really behind it. They let us stand for what we are and they let us remain artistically sincere, which is a good thing have when working with a company".

In the aftermath of the recent decision by bassist Rayna Foss-Rose to quit the band soon after recording for ‘Dark Days’ ended, the band re-called on the talents of German born Nadja Puelen, who originally filled in for Foss-Rose when she took maternity leave in 1999, within it’s ranks. "Nadja is very aggressive on the bass and has a very aggressive bass style" Fafara states.  "Live, it’s like bringing in new blood if you will. She’s not officially the new member but if anybody's going to make the cut, it’ll probably be Nadja. As to Rayna, she will never be coming back and she’s no longer a member of Coal Chamber . She gave us some good years of her life and now we wish her best with her family".

With touring behind ‘Dark Days’ currently in full earnest, did Puelen find the going tough when she had to learn all of Foss-Rose’ parts on ‘Dark Days’ within such short notice? "No" enthused Puelen. "I’m pretty much used to her style of playing from when I learned the first two records in 1999, when I filled in for her on that tour. So it was much easier for me to learn this new record this time round". What sort of gear will she be brandishing on stage then? "I’ll be mainly playing my Schecter basses which are strung with Dean Markley’s, through Ampeg amps and a Line 6 for effects".

And what about Fafara? "I’ll be using a Shure 57 microphone, but to be honest, I really use many different microphones. I’m the kind of guy that can really use anything, I just plug it in and put me up there, and I go".

The good news Australian fans of Coal Chamber will be happy to hear is that the band plan to be heading down our way sometime later this year. "Unfortunately we were supposed to come down on ‘Chamber Music’" revealed Fafara. "But we had been on tour for so long man that we needed a rest. But I know that we’re going to come down as part of this Dark Days tour cycle we’re doing and I know that we’re going to be down there sometime your Summer".