Celebration time
With their 20th anniversary looming, rock trio Chevelle continue to surprise
THERE’S A TENDENCY for rock bands’ fortunes to wane as the years go by. Chevelle, however, seems to keep accelerating.
La Gargola, the hardrocking Chicago trio’s seventh studio album, netted Chevelle its highest-ever chart positions, No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Alternative Albums survey, after its April 1 release.
That has combined with a strong showing for the first single – Take Out the Gunman, which hit No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart – to leave the group members feeling like they’re still on the ascent, even as the group nears its 20th anniversary.
“We’re kind of shocked,” says 37-year-old singer/guitarist Pete Loeffler, who formed Chevelle in 1995 in Grayslake, Illinois, with his brother Sam on drums and his brother Joe – replaced by brother-in-law Dean Bernardini in 2005 – on bass.
“We knew that the album had something special to it from the vibe in the studio, but when people started hearing it, friends and stuff, they told us that it was kind of a little bit different for us, in a good way. And people went out and bought it that first week, you know? That was insane.”
For his part, Sam Loeffler downplays the album’s success – “We weren’t up against Beyonce,” he says, “which was nice” – but also credits a “team effort” between the band, its management and its record company with keeping Chevelle in first gear.
The 10-track La Gargola, Chevelle’s second project with producer Joe Barresi, is different by design. Like its predecessors it straddles a line between melodic hard rock and abrasive heavy metal, but La Gargola leans toward the latter, reflecting the industrial rock Pete Loeffler was listening to prior to making the album.
“The whole time I was writing I had Sam playing an electronic drum kit,” the guitarist explains, speaking by telephone from his home in suburban Chicago. “He hated that, by the way, but it was just the way I was going with some of the music I was listening to at the time, and I wanted to get that fake-drum feel and re-
ally build off that sound. Then we ended up getting into more industrial tones with fuzz pedals and things like that.
“(Sam) fought me on it the whole way,” he continues, “but it really shaped the music and shaped the sound. It’s good to try new things, you know? And we ended up going with real drums on most of the songs. We just tweaked them in a way that sounded a little bit more electronic.”
Sam Loeffler wasn’t alone in his concerns. In fact, his brother admits that there was a moment of panic” when he had to call a time-out and gather everyone together to discuss where Chevelle was headed.
“At one point they were like, ‘Man, we’re not vibing on what you’re throwing with us right now,’” Pete recalls. “So we walked outside and I said, ‘Look, you’ve got to trust me on this. Some of this stuff’s really good.’”
TRIGGERING IDEAS
The internal pressure wound up pushing him to write more songs, he adds, including the second single Hunter Eats Hunter and Twinge, which helped his bandmates settle into his vision.
“It’s good to have a little bit of honesty,” Pete says. “You get further with that. I trust my guys. We have that conversation every album – ‘Hey, where we at? You guys vibing this?’ – because I have to lean on them. They’re my guys. We’ve been doing this a long time together.”
That comfort level, Pete adds, allows him leeway to tackle some heavy subjects. He considers La Gargola a “dark” record overall, and Take Out the Gunman certainly dives into the topic of mental illness and “people getting guns that shouldn’t,” which he worked hard to present in a balanced fashion.
“I have no answers, no solution through the music,” he says, “but it’s just sort of a moment in time. I was up late watching the news, and it was something that was happening and struck me to write about.
“You could easily offend people who have been in that position,” the guitarist admits, “or you can offend people who fight for gun ownership and things like that. But, hey, we do need to talk about it, even if I don’t have any answers just yet.”
For the record, Pete is not a gun owner and has gone to a firing range only once, simply to “see what it was all about.
“I walked away from it saying, ‘Eh...,’” he says. “It’s really not for me. I don’t feel comfortable holding them. You can certainly get a lot more done, I think, with a guitar.”
Chevelle’s cohesiveness also comes from continuing to spend substantial amounts of time together, Sam speculates. Unlike myriad sibling bands that don’t get along, the drummer says, the Loefflers and Bernardini spend nearly as much time together off the road as they do on.
“We go to each other’s houses every week and watch U.F.C. fights,” says the 39-year-old drummer, whose wife gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son, in April.
“We go to parties together, we go to the bar on Monday nights and we rehearse together all the time. We’re one of those bands that rehearses two or three times a week and then, before we tour, we’ll rehearse every day. So we’re together that way too.
“We have very like-minded ideas of fun and where we’d like our career to go,” Sam continues, “and sometimes the really good ideas come up when we’re sitting at a bar or something. I think you can really tell a band that hates each other versus one that spends time together and gets along. It doesn’t just translate to the stage, but to the music as well.”
Even so, the Loefflers find it a bit surprising that it’s been 15 years since the band’s independently released first album, Point #1 (1999), and that Chevelle’s 20th anniversary is looming in 2015.
They aren’t quite sure how they will commemorate the mark – “We did sort of a 10th anniversary a couple years back,” Pete notes with a laugh, “and then we realised that it was actually 15 years” – and, truth be told, they’d rather make new music than recall past glories.
“Honestly, every year is an anniversary of something we’ve done,” Sam says, “and every year feels like, ‘I can’t believe we’re still doing this for a living and still making records, still touring, still having a great time.’ And, on top of that, it’s only increased.
“As a band you only want to move forward,” the drummer says, “so it’s great that we have people at our shows all the time who are 20 years old, 25 years old, 18, 16. It’s amazing to me that, after all this time, we’re still making new fans.
“So I really feel like there’s literally a celebration every night, because we’re just really grateful for what we do and we’re glad that we’ve had such a great reception.” (Gary Graff, The New York Times Syndicate)