Late last year Coal Chamber revealed that they would be reuniting in 2023 to play the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas on May 13th. (The band has since also booked an appearance at September's Blue Ridge Rock Festival.) The shows will be the nu-metal pioneers' first since 2015.
Now, frontman Dez Fafara (also of DevilDriver) has opened up about what inspired the band to get back together. As it turns out, all it took was the vocalist being on his fucking death bed due to an extremely bad case of COVID-19.
"Unbelievable turn of events," Fafara reflected in an interview with Radioactive MikeZ, transcribed by Blabbermouth. "I was on my way out from COVID. And my wife called [everyone in Coal Chamber] and said, 'Hey, you guys may wanna text Dez or call Dez 'cause I don't know if he's gonna make it through the night. He's telling me where he wants to be buried and not to sell his '78 Cadillac.'
"So they started to call me, they started to text me, and over a period of six, seven, eight months, we didn't talk any business at all. And we realized that, you know, why are we not playing shows? Those guys are totally different people than when we broke up. I have always been the same — I've just been solid as a rock — and I told them, 'I'm solid as a rock. If I come out of this, I would love to do at least one show with you guys.' And that's how this all started — very organically."
You can listen to the full interview below. Looking ahead, Fafara added: "I'm very excited for the Sick New World fest and to see what we're gonna do. There's a lot of tours that have been offered. But we're gonna take it slow and we're gonna do what's appropriate for the brand and for the band and especially the fans that have been with us for so long."
