CHEVELLE Frontman: 'Rock Shows Should Be Fun'

In a recent interview with the Arizona radio station 98 KUPD, CHEVELLE vocalist/guitarist Pete Loeffler and drummer Sam Loeffler were asked what they hope their music has done for fans. Pete responded (see video below): "We like playing the heavy stuff, but, honestly, it's hard to say. We just want people to get something out of it in their own way. You get fans that come up and say, 'Oh, I just went through a hard time.' That's great; that's awesome. And then you also get fans that come up and say, 'I just had a bad day and I needed to scream with you.'

"You can go really deep — I talk about things like Bernie Madoff, scams; I talk about ghosts and apparitions and horror, things like that," he continued. "I try not to be too serious nowadays, 'cause I felt like I really did that. In the beginning, I would take it too seriously — I wouldn't have a beer before [a show], 'cause I was worried about my throat — and now we're up to a half bottle of tequila. And you just don't worry anymore. Now we're partnering with a brewery out of Chicago and putting out our own beer.

"Rock shows, they should be fun," he added. "We're not going out there and playing this heavy music mad — we're not upset. We're actually having fun. A lot of people are, like, 'Why is he so angry?'

"Maybe people don't have to look too deep. Just go ahead and if you find something you connect with lyrically or musically, enjoy it."

Added Sam: "I think that's a big part of what we've been saying too. We're going out; we're doing our shows. We're not talking about politics [or] religion; we're not preaching from the stage. You're here — you paid for your ticket. Have a beer [or] don't have a beer. You're not at home; you're not at work. You're here — just enjoy this thing and don't think about that for a little while. Everybody needs that. People use yoga for it; they use travel for it — they use all kinds of things. And a show can be just that — it can just be fun."

CHEVELLE recently recorded eight new songs for the band's upcoming album, tentatively due in 2020. The disc was recorded in part this past May at Joe's House Of Compression studio in Pasadena, California with producer Joe Barresi (KYUSS, MELVINS, THE JESUS LIZARD).

Regarding the musical direction of the new CHEVELLE material, Pete told the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire": "There's some heavy stuff, there's some lighter stuff. I hope people dig it; that's really what I want.

"We went really dark on the last two [albums] — really heavy, more metal. Those singles were, like 'Rivers', super screamy. 'Joyride', stuff like that," he continued. "'Door To Door Cannibals'. It's personally where I wanted to be and where I like to live on stage. But this record, [Joe] was, like, 'Let's try and do some melodic stuff.' So I went down that road.

"There's about four songs we're trying to pick between to be the first single. They're on the melodic side. There's one, though, that comes out of the gate heavy as balls. And it's got a working title called 'Mars' right now, and it's all about this dude that's jumping on board with Elon Musk and heading there. I'm fascinated with space travel — it's intoxicating, actually, the more you find out about it — so there's a lot of that content on this album, lyrically."

CHEVELLE's latest album, 2016's "The North Corridor", debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart and produced a No. 1 Mainstream Rock single, "Joyride (Omen)".

The band's album of rarities from 2002-2016, "12 Bloody Spies: B-Sides And Rarities", was released last October via Epic.

This past September, CHEVELLE bassist Dean Bernardini announced that he will "take a break from the road" after completing this year's shows with his bandmates. He added that he will "continue to work" in music in some form or another while also putting time into his art and furniture business at home.

Bernardini has been with CHEVELLE since 2005, even though 2007's "Vena Sera" marked his first studio recording with the band.