Since their 1994 inception in Los Angeles, Coal Chamber [ tickets ] has enjoyed one hell of a ride. Their explosive self-titled debut opened eyes, leading to a slot on last summer's Ozzfest outing. The foursome's high-profile stint on that tour ultimately led Sharon Osbourne, wife and manager of Ozzy Osbourne, to sign the band, the first new act she has taken on in a decade.

Now, on the eve of Coal Chamber's sophomore release ''Chamber Music'' and a marathon headlining tour in support of the album, the advance buzz is already building. Both Alternative Press and MTV have labeled the album one to watch. Lead singer Dez Fafara sits down with LiveDaily.com contributing editor Michelle Wong to talk about the buzz and future plans.

What happened with the tour you had scheduled previously with Insane Clown Posse, Kool Keith, and Biohazard?
Well, actually it was Insane Clown Posse, Twisted and Biohazard, and we already went out on that tour.

What happened to Kool Keith?
I have no idea, he just didn't show up. But we actually left that tour after two days.

Was it that bad?
It was just production, it was nothing between the bands. It was too much production. We're taking out full pyro and full lighting and they were taking out, ya know, all of their stuff, so it was just impossible for us to do.

Do you feel a little better going out on your own?
Oh, definitely. It's going to be us, Machinehead and Slipknot, so it's kind of like a Roadrunner (Records) family.

Which I think is a better line-up.
Which I think is way better too. From the beginning I've always been down with the fact that we're with a small, independent label. We come from a place that's really underground, that doesn't have a lot of radio or MTV play, and we want to stay with bands like that. Machinehead and Slipknot are just adding a much heavier flavor to the bill. Better for the kids. At the time (we booked shows with ICP), we just wanted to play with everybody. Actually, ICP were cool. I ate lunch with them and stuff, and two days later we were off the tour. It's just a weird deal. If we could all get together sometime, it would be cool.

Why didn't you play OzzFest this year? I know you guys are friends with Ozzy, and you've played the OzzFest the last two years.
Totally, and Sharon (Ozzy Osbourne's wife) is our manager. Well, we did it a couple years in a row, so you would expect us to be there. We wanted to do things that are unexpected. One of them was not doing the OzzFest. Plus we had no new album out, so it wouldn't make sense for us to go on. Even though our manager runs the thing, we don't want to just play political games and command a spot that we don't command sales-wise.
So next year when we come back we'll be able to say, ''Hey, we want this set,'' and she'll be like, ''Okay, you can have this time because you've sold this many albums. You know, do it the right way instead of people going, ''Well, she's their manager, that's why they're doing it.''

There has been a lot of excitement behind the new album, and magazines like Alternative Press and MTV have picked it as one of the most anticipated albums of the year. Does that make you feel uncomfortable or does it make you feel more excited?
The pressure was within ourselves, and the pressure was all gone after we recorded 35 songs in Boston. I kicked back one night and listened to all 35 songs and went, ''Okay, no more pressure.''

Why did you record in Boston?
To lock ourselves away. To get away from L.A. , get away from New York, to get away from everybody that we knew. It made us write a whole lot of songs. We didn't listen to any of the new releases that anybody released in the last year and a half, so it was really cool for us to venture off and see what we came up with.

Your music has been described as ''spookycore.'' Do you think that's accurate?
You know what? Fans started to coin that, I think because there is such a mixture of kids wearing baseball hats and T-shirts and slabbing eyeliner on with fishnets underneath their shirts. People started going, ''spookycore'' and adding little titles. I don't like titles, but if you're going to title us, then that's pretty cool. I like it. It's kind of accurate, too, because we think of ourselves as a core band. We're still scratching. It's not like we're really wealthy or anything.

Is the album still going to be released in a couple weeks?
Now what I'm hearing is September 7. It's just getting moved up. It's all good though. It'll all work out.

I've been waiting for the album to come out. It seems like I've been waiting forever.
You try being me (laughs). They told me March. Then it was like April. Then we were still mixing in May...

What type of things have held back the release of the album?
Well this band is just surrounded by... I wouldn't say problems, I would just say weird occurrences. We were going to use an engineer, a longtime friend -- he died. Our producer, he's right in the middle of doing our album -- his mom dies. You know what I'm sayin'? We have a guy mix it -- we fire him. We fire four mixers before somebody finally gets it.
It's just a really, really strange thing, and I think we're being really picky right now because we know this is our sophomore jinx. We feel like we've beaten it, but now it's up to these (mixers and engineers) who don't understand. So we have to be there 24-7, and I think that's what's taking the time right now.
It's so important, this album. This is the one that's going to put us on the map as not being hybrid-metal or anything like that. Just being a total, dark, rock band. I think that's important because there's nobody doing it. I think in a world of everyone wearing track suits and sequins, (and) now I'm looking around and they're all doing leather and studs. It makes me go, ''Cool.'' I'd rather have everyone change along with me.

How do you feel about the emergence of bands like Korn, the Deftones, Limp Bizkit - bands that mix rock & rap?
Good friends of ours, all those guys. They're all great. I think all those bands are in the hip-hop thing a little and I think that's cool. They're all our friends. Lee (DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit) did some sh*t on our album, on ''Notion.'' He was in every day and we'd sit back and smoke weed together. We were recording next door to each other, so it's good to see all those bands doing their things.

Jay Gordon from Orgy was your producer on the first album. You're not using him this time around though?
I love Jay, though.... We couldn't use him because he was doing his thing in Orgy. Also, you have to understand that he was taught by Josh Abraham, our producer for ''Chamber Music.'' So it was kind of like we used the pupil first, and on the second album we used the master.

Rayna (bassist) is going to have a baby, right?
Yeah, if she already hasn't. She's so pregnant right now.

She's not going to be touring with you this year then.
No, we have a fill-in bass player named Nadia. She's a little demon.

Cool, so you got another girl?
Actually, we tried out a bunch of guys and a bunch of girls and she just seemed like the one that fit. She came in and really didn't say anything. I love that.

Why?
It's real strong to me. She's from Holland and after we got done doing a strong set, we all sat down and she was just perfect. She'll be with us for at least seven or eight months.

So you plan on touring for the next year to support, ''Chamber Music?''
Well, we did 19 months straight on the other album, and what I mean by that is that we never came home. When we did come home, we played a show in L.A. and left. A lot of bands right now play four months and start saying, ''oh, we're so sick of the road...,'' and I'm thinking, after four months? So we're going to at least do 20 months on this tour.

You recently shot the video for the cover of ''Shock the Monkey'' with Ozzy. Why did you choose that particular song?
We've been wanting to do a cover for about five years. We've wanted to do ''Shock the Monkey'' for about five years.

Is that a song that you like or a song that you and Ozzy both like?
Meegs (guitar) and I wanted to do it on the first album because it's a really dark song. Then we were listening to it one night in Boston and we were saying how Peter Gabriel sounds like Ozzy. We were wondering if Ozzy would do it. So we called up and found out that Ozzy is not only a huge Peter Gabriel fan, but he listens to Peter Gabriel every night before he goes on stage.

To pump himself up?
Yeah, to pump him up. And if you listen to them they sound alike. So he just said, ''Yeah, we'll do it.'' It was just really cool.

What is the premise of the video?
I'm in a '56, black, convertible Cadillac and we drove it into this old tunnel and there's all these monkeys, climbing around, hanging off chains with water dripping down.

Real monkeys?
Real monkeys, and they're jumping all over my shoulders and it's just real insanity. It was really crazy. We used like ten of them and they are just out of their mind.