Things got a little too hot in Coal Chamber earlier this week and nearly

caused the metal band to combust.

Singer Dez Fafara and guitarist Meegs Rascon took the stage at

their Jagermeister Tour stop Wednesday in Lubbock, Texas, with frictions visibly

flaring, which proved not to be a good idea. Four songs into their set,

Rascon hit Fafara on the head with his guitar, prompting the frontman to

storm off the stage.

After Fafara returned to declare, "This is the last Coal Chamber show ever,"

the band tried continuing on, but drummer Mike Cox trashed his kit, ending

the performance.

Coal Chamber did not appear at Thursday's tour stop in Oklahoma City,

causing fans to believe what Fafara said to be true.

A spokesperson for the group, however, said Coal Chamber have not broken up.

They will be playing Friday (April 19) and finishing out the

rest of their tour, the spokesperson said, and then returning home to Los Angeles for their free May 7 show at the Key Club celebrating the release of their third album, Dark Days.

This week marks the second time in two years that rumors of a Coal Chamber

break-up have surfaced. Similar talk transpired when the band dropped off

the bill of the Tattoo the Earth Tour before it began last fall, but the rumors came to

a halt when the band announced it was taking the time off to record (see

[article id="1427175"]"Coal Chamber Drops Off 'Tattoo' Tour"[/article]).

Still, Coal Chamber admit that relationships within the band have not

always been peachy keen.

In an interview before the band's April 11 show in Los Angeles, Fafara and

Rascon said the title of their forthcoming album is a

summation of their struggles over the last five years, including changes with

their record label, management (see [article id="1425977"]"Coal Chamber, Osbourne Management Part

Ways"[/article]) and lineup (see [article id="1451841"]"Coal

Chamber Bassist Quits Band To Fuel Family"[/article]).

Fafara and Rascon, who appeared to get along last week (with the exception

of Rascon questioning Fafara's promise that Coal Chamber would play all of

their new songs live), were happy to report that the band was in good spirits.

"[Dark Days] is more of a cathartic, positive kind of thing," Fafara

said. "It's not like, [in a whiny voice] 'dark days,' it's like [in an

energetic voice] 'f---ing dark days, put 'em in the past.'

"I feel good," Fafara added. "I'm not feeling like we're the most

radio-friendly band, but I feel like we're going to put some kind of footprint in the mark of heavy music with this album. I feel real good about that. I feel good about the people backing us. And the band is in a great

mood. That in itself is a great thing."

To follow up their Key Club performance, Coal Chamber are planning a free

show in New York later in May. They are also scheduled to perform their

new single, "Fiend," on "Last Call With Carson Daly" on May 15.

Fafara described the song as an autobiography of being on tour. " 'Taking

everything in sight/ All through the night/ Leaving scars/ And crashing

cars,' these are things that have happened to me," he said. "And, 'Fiend for

the fans/ Fodder for the press,' that really makes sense for us. The first

thing we are is a live band. After that, we'll give the press their fodder.

And we've done enough sh--."

And they're still going.