DEVILDRIVER Frontman Says He Performs 'With More Energy Than Most 20-Year-Olds'

Adrian Mack of Straight.com recently conducted an interview with vocalist Dez Fafara of Santa Barbara, California metallers DEVILDRIVER. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On Sharon Osbourne and family:

"She was my second mother [when she managed Dez's former band COAL CHAMBER] and she's a very loving individual. When I was in COAL CHAMBER, those [other] guys [in the band] were so strung out on drugs that they fired her one day without me around, and she was the first person I called to manage DEVILDRIVER. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the time now. But I hung out with that family when they were kids and Ozzy made me breakfast. The one thing you need to know is that they're real people."

On DEVILDRIVER drummer John Boecklin:

"He's the best drummer in heavy metal. He looks up to Chris Adler from LAMB OF GOD, who's a great drummer and a great guy, but Boecklin smokes him. He's better than anyone that's out there right now."

On his first-hand experiences with the supernatural:

"I had some interaction with some things. I don't know if you want to call them entities, but I had some interactions within my own realm that were not good.

"There are other worlds, and other dimensions beyond what we know. And if you reach into other spiritual realms, you better know what you're dealing with. I've found my own path, but you can boil it down to one thing: karma. You can do as much magic as you want, but if you don't have good karma, well… You know."

On DEVILDRIVER's success:

"The shows are getting bigger. So the record company has said they're going to slam everything into the fifth record. It's really rare that a band grows the way we did over four records. Usually, by then the career is over, but that's not the case with us."

On his live performance:

"What I do requires the gym and yoga, man, so here's the deal. When I can't perform the way that I do, which is with more energy than most 20-year-olds I play with, or when I get slaughtered by a 20-year-old who goes on before me — and I mean destroyed — then I'll pack it up. And I really will pack it up. But that's not gonna happen anytime soon. I'm in better shape now than when I was twenty-fucking-five years old. I can run five miles with ease, come back, do kempo, and fuck my wife for two hours. You don't even have that kind of energy when you're 20. You think you do, but you don't."

Read the entire interview from Straight.com.

Video footage of DEVILDRIVER's November 3, 2009 performance at Atak in Enschede, Holland can be viewed below (courtesy of "letthemetalflow").