Coal Chamber – Interview

When Coal Chamber first stepped out in the music world with their Roadrunner Records debut, they were immediately tagged as Korn wannabe’s. Three years later, the Chamber has brushed off the harsh criticism, and have paid their dues with three years worth of Ozzfest stints, and numerous tours with Pantera, Megadeth, and Sevendust. Their bottom-heavy funk metal has earned them a dedicated fan base throughout the world and they have been getting awesome reviews everywhere they play. Now we’re just waiting for a new record. It’s been a while, and they do realize that, but they have been hard at work on an album that they believe can send them to the front of the new wave of Neo-metal, a genre that has evolved tenfold in the past few years. We had a chance to chat with Mike, Coal Chamber’s gifted drummer, about the past, present, and new album, and about life as seen only through Coal Chamber’s eyes. Here’s how it went…

You’ve said you’re trying to get away from the whole heaviness scene, so what goals have you set with that in mind?

It’s still heavy. I think this album is heavier than the first one. It’s heavier in more than just guitars and screaming. It’s more along the lines of Nine Inch Nails heavy, it’s emotional. Our goal is longevity. You look at a career like Ozzy’s, and you want to be that. He gets bigger every day. We want to take the slow road. We don’t want to be huge with one hit and be gone the next day. We want to slowly build, and have that fan base, which we already have. As it’s going right now, it’s perfect. We’ve got a lot of good things lined up; everything is going very well.

Are you done shooting the new video?

Yeah. I just flew in yesterday from LA. It’s “Shock the Monkey” (Peter Gabriel), we did it with Ozzy. Miguel and Dez have wanted to do that cover since way back when they were first jamming. It just never happened on the first album. We were lazy, I guess. On the new album, Josh said, ‘Let’s do it,’ so we did it. We did the song, then we went to our manager, Sharon (Osbourne, Ozzy’s wife), and asked if Ozzy could do the part. He’s a Peter Gabriel fan; he listens to him before he goes onstage. And he kind of sounds like him, the higher parts at least. So he agreed on doing it, we did it, and it came out totally amazing.

So Ozzy’s on the cd and in the video?

Yeah. The video concept is this: Dez is standing there at the beginning and he’s holding this ball of light and the ball of light is Ozzy’s head floating above his hand. We drive through this tunnel in this old black Cadillac, and Ozzy’s head is flying all around inside the tunnel while he’s singing, then it goes to live shots. Then at the end, we have real monkeys, those little spider monkeys all over the place. They were like straight out of Pet Semetary, all evil. At the end, we come driving out of the tunnel and it explodes. It was really cool to do. You’ll enjoy it.

Any idea when it’ll be pushed?

It’s going to MTV in September. We’re going to release another single first, we don’t want to try to get big with a cover like a lot of bands are doing. We want to set our own identity first. And if it sucks, then we’ll go to the “Shock the Monkey” single.

You’re touring with the Insane Clown Posse this summer?

It starts in July. We’re doing shows for four and five hundred to twelve thousand seat arenas.

You did Ozzfest for three years, opened for Pantera on two big tours. Did you reach the audience you hoped to reach the last couple of years?

Oh, definitely. That’s how we got Sharon Osbourne as our manager. That’s where everything started taking off. I think the whole Ozzfest thing was the best thing we could have done. We had so much fun with all the bands, it just stemmed down to where we are now. Ozzfest was the pinnacle of our growing together as a band.

Did you ever do Dynamo (Annual Festival in Europe)?

Yeah, we did it two years in a row. No, it seems real diverse. When we did it, Korn and Marilyn Manson were the big bands. Now it’s opened up a lot more. That’s the cool thing about festivals over there. Actually, we’re doing one in Japan with Marilyn Manson and Garbage. That’s diversity!

What do you think of this year’s Ozzfest lineup?

We were going to do a show in LA, but we’re not going to do it. It’s real diverse this year, Primus and Slayer, you know? It’s cool though. I’d like to do it, but we’re trying to get away from it after doing it three years in a row.

If someone threw Woodstock at you, would you take it?

Yeah, but the timing is just kind of bad. We don’t want to do anything half-assed. We want to come out full blast. We’re going to have props and cool shit. We don’t want to do a show for the sake of doing it. We don’t want to be unprofessional.

What kind of plans do you have for the rest of the year after the ICP tour?

Tour our asses off. That’s the reason why we have so many fans now, without radio or MTV. Now they’ll both be picking us up, and we tour on top of that, we don’t know how good it could really be. The fans want to see us live. We want to play live. The last time we toured, we were out for eighteen months straight. I’ll play every day, I love it. Some guys bitch about being out so much, we’re not like that at all. Touring is it. It’s the best thing about being in a band.

Cool. That’s about all. Do you have anything to add?

We’re finally coming out, full bore, and I hope fans can respect that we wanted to take our time and do it right.

Right on, man. I’m looking forward to hearing it and seeing you guys. Good luck to you!

Thanks. Take it easy.

+ rick hinkson