MUSIC INTERVIEW: CHEVELLE

With ‘Hats Off to the Bull,’ the Loeffler Family Rocks, Expands, Evolves, Stays Real

Chevelle has always been a band of brothers. Formed in 1995 by the brothers Loeffler, and quickly rising to national renown through their 1999 debut album, Point #1, even when Joe left the band in 2005, Sam and Pete found his replacement within the family: their brother-in-law, Dean Bernardini. Across the years, Chevelle has sold more than three million records, played thousands of shows, and managed to preserve a distinctive sound even as they individually and collectively evolved and musically matured. Pete and Sam Loeffler recently sat down at a Los Angeles hotel room fresh from playing on Jimmy Kimmel and in the release week of their new album, Hats Off to the Bull, to talk with Buzzine’s Stefan Goldby about fame, family, and a new world still based on a band they have always lived within but are now beginning to look beyond…

 

Stefan Goldby: You guys released your debut album, Point #1, back in 1999. Twelve years on and six albums later, what’s the current state of your world as you release Hats Off to the Bull?

 

Pete Loeffler: Six albums…

 

Sam Loeffler: Twelve years… We are going strong. [Laughs]

 

PL: That’s a way to put an end to it, right? [Laughs]

 

SL: Yeah… I would say as this is our sixth record, and after 12 years of writing and working together, without a doubt, our music has evolved into what it is we look for and what pushes us to write, and what inspires us. And I think we’ve written and published 74 songs now, and hopefully none of them sound the same.

 

PL: Or too much the same…

 

SL: Yeah, they probably all sound like us, but with the ever-changing industry, here we are. We’re still here, and it’s pretty amazing.

 

SG: One thing that does kind of stand out about Hats Off To The Bull, is that there’s some new kinds of instrumentation for you on this record – some cello, some organ… Did you go into the album with it in mind that you wanted to widen the sound, or did that just come from things the songs simply needed?

 

PL: The decision to put organ on there, cello, timpani drums – that kind of stuff – was just a trial and error sort of thing. We’re a hard rock band, always will be, in this form…

 

SL: In this setting…

 

PL: …with the name Chevelle, we probably will. But trying new things is really what we were doing. And the producer [Joe Barresi] is one of those guys where he spends all of his time collecting things, and if it makes noise, he’s got it. So we open up those Pandora boxes, and lo and behold… [Laughs]

 

SG: From recording with Joe Barresi here in L.A., what stands out most in your mind from the creation of this album?

 

SL: I think one of the interesting things about making this record is I had a seven-day migraine at the very beginning of it, so I spent quite a few days in bed where I couldn’t get out. So because I wasn’t there, Pete and Dean [Bernardini] were in the studio working on some of the more acoustic-type songs, including “Envy,” which Dean ended up playing drums on, because after I came back, after I got fixed with my headache problem…

 

PL: The Botox shot…

 

SL: Yeah, I got a Botox shot in the back of my head.

 

PL: Did you ever think you’d do Botox?

 

SL: It works.

 

PL: The back of his neck looks fantastic…

 

SG: It’s so important not to have wrinkles back there.

 

PL: [Laughs]

 

SL: …but those, for me, are probably the fact that I wasn’t there is the first time in a record that I wasn’t part of something. Granted, it was only three days that I missed, but…

 

PL: But there was that fear that… “Wow, you may not be tracking drums on your own record…”

 

SL: Yeah, after seven days, we couldn’t really wait much longer. We had to get drums done. And I had worked four of those days with a severe migraine and gotten through, but we ended up replaying most of those songs anyway, but even still…

 

PL: Got through it…

 

SG: Chevelle has obviously always been a family affair, but there’s a little thing in the back of my head going: Has your sister (and Dean’s wife) Natalie [Loeffler-Bernardini] been feeling left out this whole time? What made this the right moment for her to join the family on record?

 

SL: When we were working on a song, we were working on “Same Old Trip” in the studio with Joe (Baressi) and Dean, and our sister Natalie was there, and Pete was doing these falsetto parts, and he said to Natalie, “Hey, you’ve got a girl’s voice. Why don’t you come in and sing these parts? It would be a little bit more natural than me singing falsetto.” And she came in, and I don’t know if she ever would have been interested in doing something like this, but she’s a go-getter.

 

PL: Yeah, she was a natural.

 

SL: She was awesome. She was standing there, she was really pregnant…

 

PL: And she owned it.

 

SL: She totally owned it.

 

PL: It was cool.

 

SL: I mean, she wasn’t heavily pregnant, so that was a little bit easier, but even still, she owned it, and that was great. We were glad that she was part of it.

 

SG: Turning to the album’s lead single “Face to the Floor” – either we could talk about you bringing Kevin Bacon back into the world of music in a much better way than remaking Footloose ever could have done, or we can talk about the more serious side of the lyrics: Your call.

 

SL: [Laughs] “Face to the Floor” - to sum it up - the song is about greed; specifically, it’s about the fact that Pete was watching this whole documentary on Madoff and that Ponzi scheme, and how many people that affected, and that’s why we sometimes…not really jokingly, but we say, “This is a song for Kevin Bacon,” because he’s one of the many people that was affected by this gigantic scam. We say this all the time: When you look at what Madoff actually did, it’s amazing that he was ever able to get that far – that there wasn’t something set up in place to keep something like that from happening. So the song is a very serious idea, and then loosely it’s about greed.

 

SG: You guys have had people scrutinizing your lyrics from day one, for various reasons, beginning with the whole ‘are you a Christian band?’ storm in a teacup. This song is an open welcoming of that reality, and you are using it to bring something specific to the audience’s attention. Pete – How did that process go for you to become so comfortable with the scrutiny that you now welcome and try to harness it: That’s markedly different now, isn’t it?

 

PL: It is different. After the first record, I realized that I needed to know exactly what these songs were about that I was singing. And Point #1 was ten years of songs and ideas – it was all a mishmash put together by us. I mean, Steve (Albini) helped, but he didn’t do anything [about the lyrics]. So shortly after doing interviews, I realized that I really need to focus and dial this in. So you live and learn, and later on down the road, I try to take one central idea and stick to it for each song, and then at least give you a base to pull off of, but at the same time, I try not to write about too many typical things in rock music: girls…

 

SL: …relationships…

 

PL: …hangovers, and all that stuff. All those are great, but we’ve had enough of that. So I try to switch it up, but people don’t really get it right out of the gate. I think that’s okay, but if they want to dig in, they’ll end up somewhere… I think that’s more interesting.

 

SG: You mentioned that you’re seventy-some songs in to Chevelle as a project and still striving to keep them all different, yet still sound like yourselves: What do you think is the biggest difference between this latest record and the five that precede it?

 

SL: The difference in records – there’s the obvious ones - that you hope there’s an evolution of your ability, your playing, things like that. But I think we turned a real corner with Sci-Fi Crimes – the last record, because we stood up and just said, “Okay, no more of this whole ProTools perfect vocals, sampled drums…

 

PL: …and ProTools are great…

 

SL: …but we didn’t want to sound like a typewriter.

 

PL: We didn’t want to use it to the Nth degree and chop it up.

 

SL: So with Sci-Fi Crimes with Brian Virtue, we went through and played the songs until they were right, and we made the songs sound right. And the vocals weren’t tuned; Pete sang it until it was right, played guitar until it was right.

 

PL: If you listen to this new album, and even Sci-Fi Crimes, the vocals waver. They’re not in perfect pitch and I like that. I go back and I listen to Soundgarden records… sorry guys, but that is real. It was before ProTools, and it’s not bad.

 

SL: And the songs aren’t quantized so they’re not dead nuts ‘on’: They sound like a song. We don’t want everything to sound exactly like everybody else’s records, and if you do that to everything, everything sounds the same, and I think we can just start counting records and pick one producer and look all their records, and they probably sound identical.

 

SG: There shouldn’t be a problem in revealing that there is a human being playing the music…

 

SL: You might as well just write it all on Garageband, even though that is fine for some people too…

 

SG: Just not for Chevelle. You just mentioned Sci-Fi Crimes, which went straight in to the Top 10 on Billboard and was the best new entry position you have had so far, but that was a couple years ago.

 

SL: That was two-and-a-half or three years ago.

 

SG: And that’s a very different world at this point. What would you consider a success for this record, given where we are in the musical world today?

 

SL: I think this record is already a success, even before we know what it sells the first week. It’s already a success because we’re here and we’re still writing the songs that we want to write, and then we’ve got this whole critical… Wow, we’ve had #1 four weeks in a row for a rock song, and it’s doing great. It’s Top 10 in alternative as well, and that’s amazing because you’re only as good as your last track. For example, the Foo Fighters – just because they’re the Foo Fighters doesn’t mean they get to go #1…

 

PL: …or that they can put out a bad album: They still have to put out a good album, which they will because we believe in them and they’re good.

 

SL: They still have the ability to put out a good album, yeah: That’s exactly it. If we don’t write good songs, we don’t get any radio play. They don’t like it; they’re not playing it. They might try for two weeks, but that’s basically it. So it’s already a success because people are playing it.

 

PL: Also, to add to that, this is one of those albums where I can go and put it in my stereo at home and listen to it, which… I’m not saying I’m doing that, but over the process of mixing, I noticed that I would drive around and I would compare, and it’s one of the first albums that I was genuinely excited about hearing, and you can take that however you want six records in, but it’s a process and it’s difficult. I’m proud of this record.

 

SG: With the Foo Fighters record, the state of the music industry let Dave (Grohl) literally go into his garage, buy the board from one of the best studios in town as it went out of business, and track it like a literal garage band. For you guys as artists, who have been doing this a while, who do know what you’re doing, what are the greatest opportunities coming for you guys? You’re in a nice position. The first single came out, it did go to #1 at Active Rock – good job. But if you didn’t do that before, you were pretty much screwed. Maybe you were going to get a video on the television, and that was it. A, B, and then you hit the road and try to build it up show by show. But today, there are so many more avenues open to you right now, but it is noise, or are there things that you really feel are meaningful for or that artistically will help you?

 

SL: That is a good question.

 

PL: Yeah, because we’re kind of old-school at this point. We look at it like: go make a record, and then go on tour, and…

 

SL: …go make a record.

 

PL: Yeah, it’s like this lifestyle that we live, but you’re right. With the Internet, there are so many avenues. We never attempted putting on a bunch of spoof videos on YouTube or…taking a totally different approach for this band. We have a lot of fun on the road, we just never videotape it and put it out there. Do you want to do that and cross that line? It’s a good question.

 

SL: Yeah. I don’t know, man.

 

PL: More exposure. Is it better, or is it just annoying?

 

SL: The band you follow that tweets 30 times a day – is that just too much? Or do people really love it? I don’t know. I’ve got to figure in with our culture, especially with kids that are coming up – I say kids around the age of 15 years old – they’ve come up having anything they wanted at any time. Just go online and Google it…

 

PL: Yeah, they find it and take it.

 

SL: And if they can’t get that, they’re gonna move on instantly. So where are we at?

 

PL: Instant gratification.

 

SL: Yeah, so if they don’t have instant gratification, they’re gonna move on. And granted, we’re not necessarily just writing songs for just 15-year-olds, so I hope that in the rock music there’s some intelligence there. But I don’t know how to give any more than what I have and what I’m giving them.

 

PL: I think you probably give until you’re comfortable, and when it starts getting awkward, you pass and move on.

 

SG: As a band that isn’t putting every bowel movement on YouTube but have been shooting a bunch of stuff… Your DVD “Any Last Words” comes out in a couple weeks. That’s the way that you tap into that sort of thing, right?

 

SL: Yeah. “Any Last Words” – that DVD thing – it was cool when we did it and I was glad that we did it, but I felt like it could have been more. I felt like we could have done a lot more with “Any Last Words”. We did it at the Metro in Chicago, we shot two nights, it was all live – all of the recordings are live. We didn’t add anything to it, so whatever you’re hearing is what we played.

 

PL: It was a weird time, if you remember back. We were in between tours and tired and burnt out…

 

SL: And our record company was in a major transition.

 

PL: But there were a bunch of things that happened behind the scenes too. There were issues with lighting rigs, and can’t get things in and out, and then it was like scrap everything and go old school. And then there were people saying, “You’ve got to have the house lights on to shoot video,” and we were like, “Well…”

 

SL: Yeah, they left the house lights on.

 

PL: And since it was two nights, half the show is bright like house lights and half of it is a regular rock show because we saw it the second day and were like, “Well, that didn’t work,” and had to use some of it anyway. But we should have done a ton of behind-the-scenes footage and all that.

 

SL: And we tried to do all that stuff, but it just never showed up.

 

PL: So we’ve got to do another DVD.

 

SL: There was nobody to do it. And our A&R guy, at the time, showed up that first night and said, “I just want to say goodbye. I’m done.”

 

PL: [Laughs] Yeah, it was like, “Outta here.”

 

SL: And there was nobody there from the label. It was that transitional time. It’s much much better now. We’ve actually got a really great label and people are in place and they’re working, which is evidenced by the success we have on the radio and stuff that is being pushed.

 

SG: What are you proudest of about this new record?

 

PL: That’s a good question.

 

SL: “The Meddler”

 

PL: “The Meddler,” yeah. I used some crazy old-school surf-y guitar reverb on the song called “The Meddler,” and I never thought I’d do that, and it turned out amazing. People dig it. I love it.

 

SL: It’s my favorite song on the record, yeah.

 

PL: I do it live too. I never thought that would coincide, but it did.

 

SL: Yeah, it totally works.

 

SG: Is that sound something that came from being here in LA?

 

PL: I honestly don’t know where it came from. I just got a hold of a reverb pedal and it came out.

 

SG: Over the years, the dynamic of being a family band has definitely played a big part in your band’s history. After years of living in each other’s pockets, of everything that you guys have been through, what do you think that ends up making unique about the Chevelle of 2011, because you didn’t just go through all these things, you went through them together as a family?

 

PL: It’s not easy being in a band with brothers. That’s evidenced from the past of the band, but I think that we’ve experienced some of our highest highs together – biggest moments – and then some of our lowest of the low, so Sam and I are pretty much best friends. Dean is right there in the middle. We’ve known him since we were 15. I think not every band has that dynamic. Because we can all hang out and talk about normal things – not band things. So the Chevelle of 2011 and 2012 is probably unique because it’s just never been any better… I don’t know if I summed that up right.

 

SL: I’m not sure how to say it either, but I definitely feel like…

 

PL: …it’s like a connection, but it’s got to be deeper than for people who weren’t family. It sounds cheesy, but sometimes when we rehearse, we can try to do things and end up on the same last hit of a song. Maybe it’s just because we’ve been playing together for 20 years and we’re brothers and we’re on the same plane.

 

SG: Platinum record? Check. Thousands of shows? Check. Pretty much played every continent, every country: What’s left to achieve for Chevelle?

 

SL: That is a good question. I would say one thing for us: we have had a continuing problem with Europe, with getting there. Because Sony is its own entity in Europe and the US, they don’t necessarily agree on everything, so as much as we’ve tried to get to Europe, we’ve only been there on really two records. So we’re really hoping that, with Hats Off To The Bull, we’re gonna get back to Europe and be able to go and play all these great places that we’ve had shows before and also new places. We haven’t been back to London in eight years. We haven’t been in Germany in eight years because our labels haven’t agreed or whatever… they do now. I think that’s a really big deal for us…

 

PL: So we need to get back to Europe.

 

SL: And that being said, yeah we’ve sold millions of records in the US. We’ve played thousands of shows in the US, and it’s awesome.

 

PL: I think more than what does the band want to accomplish, now that we’re getting older, we want to branch out to other things. I want to start a side project. I want to do some other things. [To Sam] You are talented in so many ways in this whole business realm because it’s the music business, and I think I’d like to grow in other areas – keep the band going, but try some other things. That’s what’s new. That’s what’s coming up.

 

SL: Yeah, I think that’s true. Some other projects have happened from this, and I’m going to explore those too.

 

SG: How does that play out for next year? You’re rather committed to this project for a number of months... [Smiles]

 

SL: I don’t think anything we do is going to interfere with what we’re doing here. This is our priority.

 

PL: No, there’s enough downtime on the bus to explore other areas and to line things up for the future, and it’s time to do that. It’s not like we’re moving on from this band. We’re not leaving anything; we’re just gonna add.

 

SL: Yeah, that’s a good way to say it.

SG: From this Chevelle thing that’s still too fun to leave alone, as you think back, what has been the single best rock-star moment? The moment that the 13-year-old you would be geeked out about?

 

SL: Generally, it’s when we’re playing these festivals, and we’re playing 10, 12 Top Ten singles, and there’s 25,000-35,000 people up on their feet, and you’re the one that is really bringing them there. That’s one of those shivering moments.

 

I don’t think there’s necessarily one thing that you can pinpoint, but you can look at your career, you can look at a portion of your career, you can look at a tour, like “Wow, that went really well and we were a part of that, and that’s one of the reasons why it went really well.” We say our minds are like conveyor belts – that every time something new comes on, something else old has to fall off the other end. [Laughs]

 

PL: If you don’t have a good memory! I had a moment where I was awe-struck in where I was sitting. I was sitting in Ozzy Osbourne’s TV room, where he hangs out and does whatever. And you’ve got Jonathan Davis from Korn and Marilyn Manson over in the corner primping, getting ready for an interview. And I’m sitting on the couch waiting for everything to start, and we’re talking to Ozzy about whatever was on the news at the time. That was pretty amazing for a young band member…

 

SL: … yeah, it was.

 

PL: It was probably 2003 when that happened, so it was a few years back, but it was something I’ll never forget because it was a good experience.

 

SL: It was pretty crazy… I actually rode motorcycles with Billy Joel about two months ago. That was out on Long Island, and that was one of those moments where I was like, “Wow, this band that I work in got me to be able to go and do this.” That was really cool.

 

PL: Yeah, that’s a good one. And then there are times when, recently, we had a day off and we drove to Malibu. I’d never been to Malibu before – first time -- so I’m standing on what feels like the edge of the world. In between shows – a day off – and the band basically took me here for a beautiful day off, and I couldn’t afford to live there, but you never know where the band is going to take you, and you have all these experiences, and travel is such a big part of life. You take that out of the equation, I don’t see how you could be very well-rounded. That’s a small one.

 

SL: And a whole other facet to that is ending up in the morning in this dingiest, dirtiest bathroom you’ve ever seen in your life, and there’s no where else for you to go. There’s nowhere to walk to, to even be somewhere clean, and it’s just disgusting. And this is your life. This is where you are right now today.

 

PL: Highs and lows, man. That’s what this band experience is. It’s amazing.

 

SL: Yes. Very high highs… How were the highs today? Very, very high.

 

Chevelle’s new album, ‘Hats Off to the Bull,’ is out now on Epic Records.