DevilDriver’s Dez Fafara on CBD and Performing In The Time of COVID

DevilDriver’s Dez Fafara is not shy about leaning into ethics and self-care, despite being the revered vocalist for a metal band. Instead of partying or overindulging, Fafara is vegan and  cannabis and CBD advocate. His draw to cannabis is because of the good it can do for health and wellness. 

Even throughout COVID, and helping his wife fight a bout with cancer, Fafara kept busy, releasing a new album with DevilDriver called Dealing with Demons and speaking out about cannabis advocacy. 

We caught up with Fafara about cannabis advocacy, CBD, and the world during COVID while live music is on hold. 

What have you been doing to stay sane during the COVID craziness? 

It was pretty intense; we watched a lot of records get pulled when COVID came out. DevilDriver decided to kind of make the move and release music at the time when people need music the most. 

I think it’s a pretty brave move. And we just got the numbers back yesterday, and we’re Number Four on the charts for rock albums, so that was good news. 

As far as keeping busy and sane, we run multiple companies over here, and there’s a lot been going on with DevilDriver, so that’s been keeping us busy. We’ve had to find ways to keep busy because touring is not happening right now. 

Last year, my wife got through two successful surgeries, and she beat cancer, so she’s immunocompromised. We’ve been trying to keep it super safe, only going out if it’s absolutely necessary. But other than not being able to tour, my life hasn’t really changed. 

Do you have anything exciting in the works that you want to announce? 

We’ve got a live-streaming company that we launched in February last year called Oracle Live, and we’ve worked with some pretty cool bands, with some more cool stuff in the works. We’ve partnered with venues all over the world, and we’ve got cameras all over the country and in multiple cities overseas in order to put some money in bands’ hands. 

I’m a big proponent of charity work and trying to help people through this rough time. 

Absolutely, that’s awesome. So how did your appreciation of CBD and cannabis come about? 

I’ve been a longtime proponent of marijuana as far as cannabis for medical use goes. For a long time I had ADD, ADHD; I have social anxiety; I mean I definitely chose the wrong job. It’s been like that my whole life, and cannabis has helped that a great deal. 

So when I use cannabis strains, I look for strains high in CBD and very low in THC cannabinoid profiles. It delivers a real kind of mellowing effect, but your clarity is really there. And it really takes care of your pain.

What I’ve found is, if I smoke high-THC cannabis, I get really anxious in social situations. I go somewhere, and then I’m out of there. But if I smoke CBD strains, I can be on a Zoom call with, like, 1015 people, and I’m dominating the call. 

For more info on DevilDriver, or to grab their latest record, check out https://www.devildriver.com.