meegs, mikey, and dez interview from loudside

“Underneath (COAL CHAMBER’s) music there is an undeniably positive message, a constant reminder that self-reliance and pro-active determination will ultimately lead to personal well-being.” - ALTERNATIVE PRESS

The rewards have not been easy to reap for the self-proclaimed "underdogs" of COAL CHAMBER. This Los Angeles foursome ran the gauntlet of rock and roll and came out winners, for no other reasons than sheer determination, humility and belief in themselves.

COAL CHAMBER were the touring workhorses of the aggro-rock world, upon the release of their self-titled debut album. Without the benefit of significant radio or any MTV airplay, playing live was their only way to get the music to the fans. The band spent 18 grueling months on the road in support of that record, and through this touring work, reached near-gold status.

The music on their debut album has been media fodder for the likes of CNN, MTV News, SPIN and YM and called "...King Kong on a skateboard, walloping and flattening just about everything in his path..." by KERRANG! The band call it the release of all the frustration and anger from trying to make it in the LA music scene. Songs off COAL CHAMBER like "Loco" and "Sway" became crowd favorites, and an outlet for the young "Spooky-core" kids to be themselves. “Kids kind of live through us. When they come to our shows, they can wear makeup and all that, which they couldn’t do normally. When they come see us, they can release all their tension and be whatever they wanna be,” says Mikey.

Kids will now have a whole new style to admire and model themselves after with the coming of CHAMBER MUSIC. The band have experienced an evolution in not only their look, but also in their music. “This album explores an entire range of emotions. It’s very three-dimensional. It explores love, happiness, pain, different kinds of hate, different kinds of coveting, by both yourself and other people,” says Dez. “Every band goes through their first record feeling the same way, because you have all that energy inside you, waiting to come out for the first time,” agrees Mikey. “But we’ve grown from there...”

While the first record laid down a granite foundation of brutal, tuned-down guitars, agonized vocals, and hiphop-inflected beats, CHAMBER MUSIC merely uses those as a launching pad. CHAMBER MUSIC takes flight with songs written over a long period of time, drawing from a vast array of experiences. This album’s musical journey explores the band’s individual personalities, and reflects their stages of life - from growing up in the band (Mikey) to bringing the first "Chamber baby" into the world (Rayna).

Meegs produces guitar sounds unlike anything heard before on earth, while strains of Gothic, classical, and electronic music all find their way into Coal Chamber’s audioscape. Songs like the poignant “Tyler’s Song” (written for Dez’s young son) reach a new emotional and melodic height for the band, while “Untrue” and “Not Living” set new standards for the heavy, aggressive feel that is unique to the quartet. “We’ve still kept our heaviness, but we used a lot of different instruments, from an orchestra to keyboards to piano,” adds Meegs. “This record definitely separates us from the whole ‘new school’ of heavy rock bands out there. ‘My Mercy’ is definitely one of those songs where everyone is gonna go, ‘what?’ It doesn’t sound anything like us, but at the same time, it does. That song has Aimee Echo (ex-Human Waste Project) and Elijah Blue Allman (Deadsy) singing on it, a string section, a melodic guitar part – it’s a beautiful, creepy, dark song that’s gonna freak people out... in a good way.”

One track that will surely stand out to old and new fans is the band’s cover of Peter Gabriel’s classic “Shock The Monkey,” featuring guest vocals by the legendary Ozzy Osbourne. Dez: “Meegs and I wanted to do ‘Shock The Monkey’ for five years, but we couldn’t do it on the first album. It wouldn’t have been right. We were actually working on it up in Boston (at Longview Farms studios, where they recorded with Josh Abraham), and we realized that Peter Gabriel and Ozzy sound a lot alike. And then we heard that Ozzy was a huge Peter Gabriel fan, so we just asked if he’d do it. It took him a minute to say yes!” “It was one of the biggest thrills of my life,” enthuses Dez.

As the band embark upon the next stage of the Coal Chamber experience, they do so with their trademark hope and humility, modesty and moxy... “We are establishing ourselves with this new sound in order to create a legacy of longevity,” says Dez. The songs on CHAMBER MUSIC will be the anthems of COAL CHAMBER’s regime - the underdogs are ready to inherit the earth!

COAL CHAMBER IS: Dez on vocals, Miguel on guitar, Rayna on bass, and Mike on drums



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Email: MeegsIsMyMercy@aol.com