DevilDriver and Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara has opened up about the things that have kept him grounded across more than thirty years in music, pointing to his faith, his family and, in an unexpectedly emotional moment, the loyalty of the people who have followed his work since the very beginning.
In a new interview with “Headbangers Australia“, Fafara was asked what has sustained him through three decades of highs and lows, both in the music industry and in his personal life. His answer began with the cornerstones of his life before taking a turn he clearly did not expect.
“My love and belief of God and a higher power watching over me. My wife, my children, my eight cats, my dog, my home. But — and I don’t wanna say ‘above all that’, but to the side of all that and equal with my relationship with the universe and my family is… ah, it’s almost emotional to say, it’s all of you. I wouldn’t, I couldn’t… This actually got me, actually; that question got me. I’m sorry. I have a heart, like other people. But I think it’s the fanbase. I hate even that word. Some kid ran up to me at the airport, ‘I’m a huge fan.’ I was, like, ‘Don’t call yourself that. Let’s just be people.’ I think all of you guys, anybody who’s ever supported me from 1995 on,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
The singer then connected those feelings directly to DevilDriver‘s forthcoming single, a song he says was written as a tribute to the people who have stood by him.
“The next [DevilDriver] single is called ‘Dead In The Water‘, and it’s actually about that — that I would be dead in the water without all of you guys,” Fafara continued. “And that’s why the first sentence is, ‘Let the fire rise, you were born for this, stay the course. Turn pain into power. Build from the ashes. Hope is never wasted.’ And I don’t wanna give away the next single, but it’s very much to all of you, to anybody who’s ever gave a f**k about this guy. I mean, I’m just a glorified plumber or what have you. I’m just some dude. I just happen to be able to pick up a microphone and… But I’m no more special than you or anybody else that’s watching this. I’m very grateful and humbled. And it makes me wanna dedicate myself even more to what I’m doing, and to keep going until it doesn’t look right, feel right, act right, sound right.”
DevilDriver‘s new album, Strike And Kill, is due out July 10 via Napalm Records. It marks the band’s eleventh studio full-length and a return to the aggressive groove metal sound that built their name.
Alongside Dez Fafara, the current DevilDriver lineup features the guitar duo of Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold, drummer Davier Ortega Perez and returning bassist Jon Miller, whose comeback marks his first appearance on a band album in well over a decade.
Strike and Kill tracklist:
- “Dig Your Own Grave”
- “Dead in the Water”
- “Sanctified In Scars”
- “Strike and Kill”
- “In the Moonlight”
- “Ride or Die”
- “Headed for the Fall”
- “Shut the Silence On”
- “Never Coming Home”
- “Summoning Shadows”
- “You’re just a Ghost”
- “Oath of Iron”
- “All Bets are Off”
