There is so much to unpack from the conversation in the Electric Theater with clown and legendary frontman Dez Fafara. From the fallout and the untold realities of the current pandemic to trading stories from the road with Vinnie Paul and Dimebag of Pantera, the discussion is filled with highlights underscored by Fafara's keen ability to motivate.
Among the takeaways from the discussion include a story that Dez revealed about the earliest days of Slipknot. While Coal Chamber was gearing up for their second record, the band was set for a 7-week tour with a then burgeoning band from Iowa. Dez recalled how his guitarist Meegs Rascon seemed shook by the idea of having to perform after nine masked maniacs for 7 weeks. Dez responded by telling Meegs, "that's gonna be a bitch to follow. That's gonna be fun. You better get at it. We better pump it up. That's nine dudes out to kill every night." Dez continued, "You better get your hunger back in this. You better remember when we. lived together in a small apartment, traded Top Ramen, and fought people on Sunset Boulevard."
The core of the discussion would regularly revert back to the power of positivity and the notion that life is about the journey and less the destination. Dez explained, "Watch the movie play itself out in life. You never go into the theater knowing how the movie ends, if you do, don't go see the movie, you are wasting your time. Life is exactly the same way. Life will happen. Birth will happen. Death will happen. Pain will come. Joy will come. And at the end, we will say 'what was our story.'"
Both clown and Dez seem to bond over their mutual understanding that it's important to challenge the conventions of reality and assert themselves into the equation. Most of the conversation hinges on the idea that the greater world is equal parts circumstance and how people react to those circumstances, as artists, as humans, and contributors. In an exchange from two of metal music's most respected practitioners, music was only in the subtext of the conversation.
Settle in for a riveting 80-minutes that passes all too quickly.
