COAL CHAMBER And DEVILDRIVER Frontman DEZ FAFARA: 'They Found A Tumor In My Head' Almost Two Years Ago

In a new interview with The Garza Podcast, hosted by SUICIDE SILENCE guitarist Chris Garza, DEVILDRIVER and COAL CHAMBER frontman Dez Fafara offered an update on his health, two years after COAL CHAMBER canceled a U.S. tour when he suffered a blackout and vertigo. Dez said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The vertigo thing really fucking threw me off, dude, 'cause it was a great Saturday afternoon. I'd been running miles and miles on the treadmill every day, and all of a sudden I had vertigo out of nowhere, and that took me out for almost a year. They had to do all sorts of MRIs and all sorts of crazy shit to me to figure out what the fuck was going on.

"You don't wanna say this stuff before you book tours or before you're doing deals or before you're going out. But for, I would say, over a year, maybe almost two years now, we've been dealing with a situation where they found a tumor in my head," Dez revealed. "So, they want me back in every six months. It's gotta actually grow a little bit to be safe to go in [and operate], 'cause it's very unsafe. If they go to get it now, I could lose speech and a lot of other stuff. So, yeah, it's the first time I've ever said anything about this, by the way. And so I go in every six months. And because I fast and I do intermediate fasting, and right now I'm on a four-day fast. You never feel better than when you're just drinking juices and stuff. I feel like I can look through walls. And I think that has kept it not growing. So the last time I went in, it was a couple of months ago, and then [the doctor] said, 'Hey, look, it's actually gotten a little, little bit smaller, which we've never seen.' And I said, 'Well, part of that is probably prayer, a lot of it.' And also just eating well and fasting, and I don't do high carb and I don't do a ton of sugar, and obviously no alcohol. But that's what I've been dealing with."

Reflecting on the incident which caused the COAL CHAMBER tour cancelation and eventually led to his tumor diagnosis, Dez said: "I don't know if anybody's ever experienced vertigo, but it happened on a Saturday afternoon. I ran upstairs, and next thing I knew, I was out cold on my floor. My wife was slapping my face to wake me up. I woke up spinning. Then next thing you know, I'm in an ambulance. Which is hilarious 'cause the kid [who picked me up in the ambulance] is, like, 'You know, Dez, it was awesome being in your house. I'm a huge fan.' 'Cause they had to come and wheel me out on a gurney. And I'm, like, 'Bro, I'm so glad you're a fan. Do me a favor. Give me something to stop the fucking spinning.' And he gave me something in my I.V. that did not. And he's, like, 'You still spinning?' And I was, like, 'Yeah, give me a bucket.' And he was, like, 'Bro, I don't know. Let's get you to the emergency room.' And my vitals were all over the place, and they did a head scan with me, and I came into the doc and he's, like, 'Hey, good news. I think you got the vertigo thing under control. I don't think that's really gonna happen anymore. But I wanna show you something.' And it was a picture of my head, and you just saw a tumor. And I'm, like, 'What is that?' And he's, like, 'You got a tumor in your head.' And the next thing was the cancer test to find out if it was cancerous. And that was on Christmas Eve… My wife goes, 'Hey, let's get in the car. We gotta go.' And I went in, and they did the test. And I'll never forget. It was this little Chinese lady. She's maybe five foot, and she goes, 'I'll be back in, like, 15 minutes and I'll know.' And I'm sitting in the chair, I'm, like, 'You'll know? Awesome.' And when she left the room, I told [my wife], 'Don't talk. Don't talk to me right now. Bow your head right now. We need to pray hard.' So, then she came in and she was, like, 'Hey, I got good news. It's non-cancerous.' Dude, I fucking jumped up. I scared the shit out of this woman. I jumped up and hugged her and lifted her in the air. She was just, like, 'Oh my God.' And I was, like, 'I'm so sorry,' and even [my wife] was, like, 'I'm so sorry for him. He's just emotional right now.' And I was, like, 'I'm fucking emotional. Hell yeah, I'm emotional. I got a tumor in my head and it's not cancerous. Cool. We can beat this fucking thing.' And next thing we know, a lot of doctor's appointments and shit, and that's what put me on hold for a year and a half."

Asked by Garza if the doctors are still waiting for the tumor to get bigger so they can go in and operate on it, Dez said: "Yes. It's in my jawline, a little bit higher, on my saliva gland. And they're, like, 'It's gotta be bigger for us to fuck with this because this could…' It could affect my blinking, my smiling, my speaking.

"I'm of the mindset, and this will give you a little power into me here, is that I'm gonna make it go away," Dez explained. "I'm personally gonna make it go away with dieting, fasting and positive thought. It's gonna go away. So the next time I go in is February or March, I think. And it's gonna shrink more. It's gonna go away. Period, end of story… I came back out the second or third time [I got an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan done] — I think the third time — and he's like, 'This is crazy, but this thing is getting a little bit smaller.' And I'm, like, 'Well, have you ever had these go away?' And he's, like, 'No. And I get rid of a lot of these when I can, when it's okay to operate.' And I go, 'Well, this thing's gonna go away.' And he's, like, 'Uh, okay.' And I said, 'You'll see. This'll be a new one for your little medical booklet.' But if you don't think that way about life... And the crazy thing is when I was going through all this, and in the emergency room and everything else is, that's when I had parted ways with my longtime [DEVILDRIVER] guitar player, and so I still haven't spoke to him. And I was going through all this at the time too."

As for why he chose to go public with his tumor diagnosis now, Dez said: "I wanted to share that with you because I haven't shared anything [with anyone]. I think people need to know. And obviously this is gonna go out on the wire and people are gonna go, 'Fuck, that's what he's dealing with.' But no, I'm not gonna cancel tours. I'm showing up in Australia [this summer]. I'm showing up in August. Nothing's gonna stop that."

Dez continued: "The vertigo thing won't come back. The doctor's, like, 'With this, you only have that once. Your body won't allow that to happen,' which is odd, but true… And that's another thing — if I never had the vertigo, I would never find out I had the tumor until it was maybe too late. Anytime you get something like that going on with your head, tumor in your head, your body is gonna send you into a spin, just to get you to 'go check that, bro.' Like, your foot may start hurting if you've got something going on inside your foot, so you'll go get an x-ray, and then you can go, 'Oh, shit, that's what's going on. I got a bone that's broken' or whatever. So same thing. But I would've never found out about it. That was a hell of a punch in the gut, 'cause I'm in the doctor, and he's, like, 'Hey, look, and everything's cool with the vertigo and this and that. I wanna show you this, though.' And I'm, like, 'Okay, cool. Show me whatever.' And I'm, like, 'That's my head, right?' I'm, like, 'What's that?' And he's, like, 'Oh, that.' And he's, like, 'That's a tumor.' … It looks almost like the size of a quarter, but it's more like the size of a dime. And now it's shrunk a little bit, and it's gonna go away. I'm gonna make it go away, so we should talk in a year, 'cause I'm telling you. And I told this dude, 'Prepare your practitioners, bro. Get your book out, 'cause this one is done. It's gonna go away.' And with fasting, by the way, you can do that."

DEVILDRIVER's new album, "Strike And Kill", came out on July 10 via Napalm Records.

In addition to Dez, DEVILDRIVER's current lineup includes the guitar duo of Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold, drummer Davier Ortega Perez and returning bassist Jon Miller.

DEVILDRIVER will tour across the western United States with UPON A BURNING BODY and OV SULFUR. Kicking off August 14 in San Diego, California, the "Strike And Kill" North American tour 2026 will hit a slew of major cities, including Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, and Reno, before its conclusion on September 5 in Anaheim, California.

After COVID-19 nearly took Fafara out in 2021, Dez was very vocal about his brush with death and COVID's after-effects, which were brought into view when DEVILDRIVER canceled its appearance at the 2023 Bloodstock Open Air festival in the U.K. due to inflammation in his lower heart.

In January 2025, COAL CHAMBER canceled its previously rescheduled "Fiend For The Fans" U.S. tour. The trek, which was originally slated to kick off in August 2024 before being postponed to March/April 2025 due to Fafara's health emergency, was supposed to feature support from FEAR FACTORY, TWIZTID, BLACK SATELLITE and FRAYLE.