DEVILDRIVER Frontman's Hard Work Pays Off

Alan Sculley of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal recently conducted an interview with DEVILDRIVER/ex-COAL CHAMBER frontman Dez Fafara. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On why he left COAL CHAMBER:

"You've got all of these people that were into COAL CHAMBER, and we sold a fair amount of records around the world, I mean, a couple of million around the world. They've got COAL CHAMBER tattoos. Then all of a sudden the singer left and they don't know why. They don't take the time (to find out why). They just think well it was singer-itis and he's just going to do his own thing right now. But it wasn't like that. They (the other members of COAL CHAMBER) found methamphetamines and they found speed, and they found those things to be more important than making music, having camaraderie and doing the road trips. So I left."

On the birth of DEVILDRIVER:

"I could have really hung my hat on the 'Dez from COAL CHAMBER' thing, really went out and only headlined and put certain bands on underneath us to create a draw and probably would have built this thing, not in seven years, but in two years. It really would have been the easy way out, But I'm not the kind of guy who is like that. I wasn't raised like that. I was raised 'hard work pays off.' So what we did was get back in the RV and go and get it. We opened for every band that ever opened for COAL CHAMBER, everybody. I've got to say that. And we took every single slot. So if there was a 10 o'clock in the morning slot at Ozzfest and it was available, the ego wasn't keeping me from taking it. I took it."

On DEVILDRIVER's sound:

"It is a very popular thing right now to scream the verses, and when you get to the chorus you get this big, smooth, hooky clean, clean, clean vocal. What it says to me basically is just we want to get on the radio, so here's what we're doing for that. We don't think about any of those things."

On the band's latest album, "Pray For Villains", and the group's musical progression since its 2003 debut:

"Most bands I should say, are together four or five or six years before they get their first record deal. We were together six months. By the time we hit the second record, we'd only been together two years. By the time we hit the third record, we'd only been together for four years, four and a half years. So you really get this growth within the band that you can just see on CD. That's a rare thing.

"So when I say we keep defining ourselves, I really mean we're getting to the point where we understand each other and what's best for the music and what's best for the band, the name DEVILDRIVER. On this record, you get diversity as well as heavy, as well as groove, as well as a lot of hooks, and that for me, that's extremely important. We hit the nail on the head, I think, with this record, with diverse tempos, diversity in music, diversity in chorus, diversity in my vocals."

"A song like 'Resurrection Blvd.' is a huge, not departure, but a huge jump in hooks, especially the chorus. Vocally and musically, I think they really go together huge. 'Teach Me', 'Forgiveness is a Six Gun', and even 'I've Been Sober', the way the vocals go exactly with the chorus, I think we're just learning that. We're babies that are now walking, and we're learning how to write together and make things solidify. I think that's the word I was looking for, is to have it really solidify in front of me, everything coming together and trying to make something a little more melodic, while also keeping it heavy and not losing our realness."

Read the entire interview from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.