The beef between Coal Chamber and the Insane Clown Posse may soon move from the media to the courtroom as Coal Chamber's management says that it is preparing a lawsuit against ICP.

The band's camp is currently putting together a suit against ICP after the Clowns dropped the band from its current U.S. tour. As we first reported last month, Coal Chamber left its tour with ICP and Biohazard just two days after the trek began (see "Coal Chamber Drops Off Insane Clown Posse Tour").

Sharon Osbourne, who manages Coal Chamber as well as her husband Ozzy, first broke the news during a face-to-face with the Clowns on Howard Stern's syndicated radio show Friday morning. Osbourne Management confirmed to MTV News that a suit is in the works but could not provide any details about the nature of the lawsuit or when it might hit the courts.

Between the obscenities and name-calling on Stern's show, ICP accused Coal Chamber of being unable to draw fans to the tour. Osbourne denied those claims as well as ICP's boasts that their new album has gone platinum (Osbourne pointed out that the album has in fact only sold 400,000 copies, not enough for platinum or even gold status) and that their tour is a success (Osbourne noted that according to touring trade mag "Pollstar," ICP is selling about 59 percent of the available tickets on this tour).

If ICP's New York show Thursday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom is any indication of how things have been going for the group around the country, Osbourne may be right on the money. During Stern's broadcast, the Clowns boasted that 4,000 fans turned out at Hammerstein for their show. However, the venue holds only 3,700 for concerts, and with one of the room's large balconies completely empty, the crowd looked to be well under 3,000. That number was cut roughly in half after hometown hardcore heroes Biohazard finished their set prior to ICP's headlining performance.

Coal Chamber had its say on the tour fallout when frontman Dez Fafara and drummer Michael "Bugs" Cox spoke with MTV News on Wednesday. "We're on the tour co-headlining, and the first show there's no sound check, no nothing. No light show, no nothing," Cox explained. "We thought it was a first show thing. The second show, same thing. It turns out that a thousand kids were leaving after we were finished" [RealAudio] (see "Coal Chamber, ICP View 'Production Issues' Differently After Tour Fallout").

Coal Chamber has teamed with Slipknot and Machine Head for its own tour, which launched on Thursday in Dallas. Here's where to catch them:

  • 8/20 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre
  • 8/21 - Maryland Hgts., MO @ Riverport Amphitheatre
  • 8/22 - St. Paul, MN @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium
  • 8/23 - Lincoln, NE @ Royal Grove
  • 8/25 - Milwaukee, WI @ Rave
  • 8/26 - Peoria, IL @ Madison Theatre
  • 8/27 - Kansas City, MO @ City Market
  • 8/28 - Tulsa, OK @ Mohawk Park
  • 8/29 - Amarillo, TX @ Midnight Rodeo
  • 8/31 - Lubbock, TX @ Liquid 2000
  • 9/1 - Killeen, TX @ Club Oz
  • 9/2 - Corpus Christi, TX @ Bucket's
  • 9/3 - Odessa, TX @ Ector County Coliseum
  • 9/4 - Shreveport, LA @ Malibu Beach Club
  • 9/5 - Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theatre
  • 9/7 - Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
  • 9/9 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Orbit Room
  • 9/11 - Cleveland, OH @ Nautica Stage