Coal Chamber/DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara recently spoke with ‘The Chainsaw Symphony” and shared some thoughts on the current nu metal revival.
Check out the full interview in the below video:
“I think nu metal was different. I think what’s beautiful about nu metal is it’s different. And you’ve got so many different influences. Look at the biggest bands on the planet right now: Slipknot arguably… right up there with Metallica, Korn as nu metal as it gets.Deftones, System Of A Down… I mean, I could go on endlessly with our peers that have never gone away that have still stuck to that same formula. So now do I think nu metal is an ugly word? no.
And I think there’s this generation now of not only 15-to-17-year-olds but even 20 and 30, why they go back to that music and listen to it, or why they would even wanna listen to a new Coal Chamber record is they know it’s gonna be something different. And that’s what was beautiful about that time and era and that music—there was so many different influences to that music. You know, Coal Chamber has this metal influence along with this Bauhaus and goth kind of thing with us. Then you’ve got Korn where they’ve got kind of a rap influence with their thing. I think that’s the beautiful part of that word.
I think what you’re gonna see, especially in the future, and I’ve seen it on the road now, especially with the meet-and-greets and the younger fans coming to the shows is that they’re searching out the music that’s different, because what’s happening now in and around the heavy music scene is truly—and I have my ear to the ground; I hear every new band comes up, from demos to new releases—I think a lot of the stuff is sounding awfully the same.
And that’s pretty sad. What happens you start getting this new generation of music that starts to degenerate within its own scene because everybody sounds the same. You’re not gonna get that with any of the so-called nu meta’ bands or Coal Chamber whatsoever; you’re gonna get something totally separate from other music. And, after all, isn’t that what music is all about? It’s supposed to be special and different.”
“They called it nu metal is because it damn well was. When we came out of Hollywood, the hair metal bands totally killed the scene. The Roxy, the Whisky… Nobody was drawing anybody. And here comes Coal Chamber, here comes the Deftones, selling out shows. The Roxy, the Whisky. Here comes Korn from Huntington Beach, busing people up from Orange County to make sure their shows were happening and here you’ve got this new scene—nu metal,’ cause it was heavy shit. But I think the term nu metal is almost, like, pretty badass. Because you’re doing something new within a genre that existed forever and is heavy as hell, but it sounds newer and newer influences, so it’s definitely not a dirty word.”
