Dez Fafara, 60, the frontman of DevilDriver and Coal Chamber, revealed publicly for the first time on The Garza Podcast that doctors found a tumor in his head nearly two years ago, a disclosure that explains the medical emergencies, the canceled Coal Chamber tours and the stretches of silence that had worried fans since his 2024 blackout and vertigo episode.
The important clarification that Fafara had to post on Instagram immediately after the story spread: it is not a brain tumor. It is not brain cancer.
The tumor is non-cancerous and located just above his jawline near a salivary gland, not in his brain. Multiple music outlets got that wrong. "READ CAREFULLY CAUSE PRESS HAS GOT IT WRONG," he wrote. "I do not have a brain tumor. I do not have brain cancer."
What he does have is an inoperable benign tumor that doctors are monitoring every six months.
Surgery right now risks affecting his speech, facial movement and the ability to blink, so the approach is to wait until it grows enough to operate safely.
The twist: it has actually been shrinking on its own, which his doctors have told him they have never seen before. Fafara attributes that partly to prayer, diet, fasting and eliminating sugar and alcohol.
He is not canceling tours. DevilDriver released their 11th album Strike and Kill on July 10. A North American tour starts August 14 in San Diego. "I'm gonna make it go away," he said. "Period, end of story."