This is the moody-indie-hard-rock band Chevelle.
They’ve been working hard since 1995 when they formed in the Chicago suburb of Grayslake, IL.
Three piece bands tend to roll as a tighter unit, and when you consider this band started with three brothers (Pete Loeffler handled guitar and vocals while brother Sam Loeffler hits the drums and little brother Joe taking up the bass and playing out at 14 years old)… Chevelle possessed a chemistry that was reflected by the solid simplicity of driving singular riffs that dominated their first breakout song and video, “Point #1”.
Chevelle’s first album, “Point #1” caught the tail of end of the grunge explosion and rode the sound to a fair of amount of visibility and success for a debut album.
Youngest Loeffler departed around the release of the bands third album, “This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)”, and continuing with the ‘keep it in the family’ mentality, the two remaining brothers asked brother-in-law and long-time friend Dean Bernardini, who has been on bass with the band ever since.
2016 sees the band supporting their 8th studio album, “The North Corridor” that dropped in July.
It’s a heavy, dark affair and shows a band that has honed their sound to a precise attack and roll…. Helmet fans should find something to admire in the Tool-like taunts of their latest track, “Door To Door Cannibals”.
Drummer Sam Loefller comments on the visuals for the video: “Pete, Dean and I wanted to do a sort of ‘nightmare/horror’-type video for ‘Door To Door Cannibals’, so we spent some time brainstorming and kicked around the idea of a mental/experimental hospital we find ourselves in and can’t wake up from. We thought it could be killer if we added some messed up elements that would make Pete freak out and question reality on his way looking for an escape, including a few open doorways with questionable events going on inside. I think we achieved a grittiness that created a sense of urgency but still left us with a little bit of creepy tongue-in-cheek style that some horror films are known for.”
Bassist Dean Bernardini adds: “”We have to play the singles that people know, and we always try to pepper in new stuff and stuff we like to play, which is usually heavier. I think this record was designed in a way to be more aggressive and more fun to play onstage, and that’s just going off the reactions we see from our perspective. You can tell when a crowd is into what you’re doing — I think that drove the darkness of this record. It was, like, let’s play more stuff that we love playing onstage!”
‘Door To Door Cannibals’
A couple other choice Chevelle songs…
‘The Red’
Their breakout debut, ‘Point #1′
