Coal Chamber and DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara believes that Pantera are "the best heavy metal band on earth".
Fafara commented in a recent interview with Sense Music Media "For me, people will say Metallica, but Pantera is the best heavy metal band on earth — end of story."
Fafara also revealed that he is happy about the reunion run Pantera is currently on which will include a trip to Australia for Knotfest Australia. "I love that band. And I love what they're doing for the brothers, and for people who never got to see it — they get to see it now."
The declaration was followed by a collection of memories from Dez's time touring with Pantera and frequent references to his friendship with Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo "I toured the world with him for fucking three-and-a-half, four years. And multiple times, and I lived at Anselmo's house for years. Whenever I didn't have a home, and I came home … I either went to a hotel in L.A. or to his house. So that being said, I'm glad that they're out, and people should go check it out."
Dez also noted that Pantera played a role in his romantic life. Dez shared that his first date with his wife involved going to see Pantera and Black Sabbath in Los Angeles. "I took my wife — our first date was Pantera and Black Sabbath at the Forum." "She disappeared with fucking Sharon Osbourne for like three hours, then she [came] back, and Sharon told me, 'She's the one.' And I was like, 'Of course, I know she's the one, but you took her for three hours. So where the fuck did you guys go? … So, yeah, if [Pantera] comes to [play near] you, you should go see that."
The full Sense Music Media interview can be viewed below.
Coal Chamber are set to hit Australia next month for a co-headline tour with fellow late '90s/early '00s giants Mudvayne. Speaking to Maniacs about the tour Fafara expressed excitement about the upcoming tour.
"Very excited to be coming down with Mudvayne. We did a tour with them this summer in amphitheatres, it was incredible. The band is playing like never before. I mean, just like fucking firing on 110 cylinders. It's just it's amazing. So yeah, we are excited. Definitely. Australia to me is always a really special place. I’ve got a lot of a lot of friends there. We're putting together a setlist now, we were actually on the phone last night putting together the setlist”.
He also expressed gratitude for the band's current renaissance and opened up about the nu-metal revival that has seen the band finding a new legion of fans, two decades after their initial peak.
“There is a definite revival man. We saw it on tour this summer when we were doing meet-and-greets. I’m looking at a 22-year-old kid with face piercings and JNKCO pants on, and I’m like, ‘You could easily be from 1993, and you're 20 years old! You weren't even born when we broke up, like, what the fuck is going on?’ You know, so it's incredible to see. Some of those bands from that scene are some of the best bands on the fucking planet when it comes to delivering a live show doing something different, injecting something different. It's, it's fantastic to see. And I feel blessed by it, man.”
The tour comes 27 years after their iconic self-titled debut album was released by Roadrunner Records. Reflecting on how it feels now to play 'the song' that broke his band out of the underground and into a position of prominence Loco, Dez affirmed the song still makes him hyped when it comes around in their sets.
"I enjoy playing it all, but when we hit the first note of Loco, there's a 23 or 24-year-old kid inside me that fucking ignites! I love playing Rowboat, coz it’s so far away from what I do with DevilDriver. If you see us playing it live, it's because we've all said we want to play it live, which is basically saying we want the emotion of playing it live, right? So I think the setlist is going to be great. Coming down with Mudvayne is going to be a fantastic thing, you should get your fucking tickets before they're gone, the shows are 100% going to be sold out, and many of them are close to it now. Later on down the line, we're going to be launching meet and greets as well. We've got to find a significant charity in Australia to partner with. So when we find that out, we'll launch the meet and greets.”
The full feature can be found here.
Mudvayne and Coal Chamber
Australian Tour 2024
February 14: Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
February 16: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
February 17: Festival Hall, Melbourne
February 19: Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide
February 21: Metro City, Perth
Tickets on sale now via ThePhoenix
Listen to Coal Chamber
Knotfest Australia 2024
Thursday 21 March 2024 - Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
Saturday 23 March 2024 - Centennial Park, Sydney
Sunday 24 March 2024 - RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane
Stay up to date on all things Knotfest Australia over at https://knotfest.com/
