It Coal Chamber is one of the most talked about bands around the moment. They recently beat Korn, Marilyn Manson and No Doubt for the title of Best International Newcomer at the Kerrang Awards. As well as that, they’re now being represented by Sharon Osbourne (Ozzy’s wife and manager), a large feat for a band that has only been around for three years. Coal Chamber’s story is not one that you could write about or even talk about within one hour. When they formed in 1994, the band quickly recorded a self-titled demo and set out to make a name for themselves. They mixed hip-hop, punk, goth and hardcore to make up a thick, molten, down-tuned riffing style. Because Coal Chamber’s story is a volatile one with a lot of turbulence, its wasn’t until this year (1997) that its self-titled debut was released. Two years later when looking back at the band’s music and comparing Chamber Music to their debut, the first thing most fans will realise is that the sound has matured quite a bit.

“We definitely wanted to step away from the hybrid hip-hop thing that is permeating the US right now,” vocalist Dez Fafara explains. “We wanted to come out with something different and original, and I think we did that. The fans have been reacting wonderfully to it and they’re saying the same things we wanted. We wanted something more three-dimensional, landscaped and textured with this album and something with many different worlds to go into. And fans like it. They’re saying ‘you gave us a great album’, so it was wonderful to hear that from a lot of the fans.”

The Korn comparisons have been thrown at them left right and centre. But there’s a lot more to their music that the average listener may not release.

“Oh, there’s a lot more there,” states softly spoken female bassist Rayna (Foss). “Of course, we’re going to get compared to Korn but when you’re writing a review of our record for listeners that haven’t heard us you’re going to get compared to somebody. But after you hear our record and especially come see our live show, then you’ll develop another opinion.”

When Coal Chamber supported Machine Head in the UK earlier this year, the band virtually had the whole crowd singing along to, ‘the roof is on fire’ intro of Sway. Is this what Rayna is talking about, and what sort of a feeling did she get while on stage?

“It was an amazing thing. It’s like a big rush of energy that just surges into your body. It’s great, especially when you play in front of an audience you’ve never played in front of before. Each of our songs brings about different emotions from each of us. More of like an exorcism of our fears, our desires, angers and frustrations. It all comes together when you come see the show.”

The band has also played Ozzfest and this year’s Dynamo Festival. At Dynamo, Rayna was so nervous she had to go to the toilet at least 10 times before going on stage – once was as the intro tape was rolling! But listen to her very impressive bass playing and you’d think she’d been playing all her life. Not so! When Dez and Meegs (guitarist) hired her, she’d been playing for only six months and they’d only heard her after already auditioning 20 other people.

‘Yeah,” Rayna replied. “I never went out looking for a band and it was my first audition ever. I never thought I’d be doing this right now. I was teaching dancing and I think that’s helped me a lot. People ask me my influences and I say tap dancing, and they say ‘what, tap dancing!’ But if you think about it, it’s where I get my rhythm from.”

She’s definitely got a lot of rhythm and uses her tap-dancing during warm-ups for a show. If you listen closely to Coal Chamber’s album, you’ll realise that Rayna has put her heart and soul into it. The chemistry is definitely there for all band members. All of whom put together the illustrious cover which features an ice cream truck and driver.

“You know, we’re still trying to figure out who the ice cream driver is. We live just right off Melrose and late at night it’s not exactly the best area in the world. There’s this ice cream truck that comes by and believe me, the driver isn’t selling ice cream.

In 1999 while married to Morgan Rose, Rayna gave birth to her daughter. Since the birth of Rayna’s daughter, how long is she expected to be off the road and was it difficult finding a replacement?

“You never know when a mother is going to want to return back to the fold,” explains Dez. “So we’re here with arms open and we’ll just be on the lookout for when that time is. We knew we definitely wanted a female because a male would have been way too much testosterone in the band, so we definitely wanted that down to earth thing which a woman brings to it. Nadja Porombka (now Peulen) came in and she’s an absolute blessing in disguise. She goes off live, and the fans have really been taking her in, and she’s become a touring part of us so it’s wonderful to have her on board.”

Why did Coal Chamber cover Peter Grabriel’s Shock The Monkey?

”We’ve been wanting to do Shock The Monkey for about five years now, and we thought in the midst of all the pop music that was going on at that time when Shock The Monkey was a big hit, that it was a very anti-pop song. It was a very dark song and Gabriel’s video was very dark as well, and we wanted to do a cover and we wanted to really lend ourselves to it. So, we down-timed it and made it very Coal Chamber. And then, of course, having Ozzy (Osbourne) on it was a wonderful thing.”

Apart from Ozzy there are a few other guests on the album. Would you go through who they are and what part they played?

“Well, there’s Amy Echo who was formerly in Human Waste Project and is now in a band called Hero that is just getting ready to release a great album. Amy played a part where we needed a wonderful woman’s voice on My Mercy and she sounded like the two twin sisters in The Shining – she just resembled that whole dark feel. She’s also on Burgandy. Then there is Elijah Blue Allman (Greg Allman and Cher’s son) who is in a band called Deadsy and he’s just a musical genius. He came in and played keyboards on Shock The Monkey and also sang on My Mercy with me. It was wonderful working with those people and they are the only others on the album. Actually, DJ Lethal laid down some stuff on Notion that was really weird and spooky.”