You’re coming back to Grand Rapids, where we’re based, [and you’re playing at The Orbit Room Feb. 24]. You’ve played here quite a few times now. What are some of your memories from playing here before? Sam Loeffler: One of my favorite memories is of a guy in a wheelchair crowd surfing.
How has the experience of touring changed for you over the all the years you’ve been a band? Do you still get the same sort of rush out of playing live that you did when you first started? It is still a rush to have people sing along to our songs and it is always a challenge to play well and give a great show.
You’ll be headlining this tour in support of your new album, Hats Off to the Bull. How much [material] from the new album do you plan to play on this tour? Now that you have six albums, how much more of a challenge has it been to make the set list each night? Do you change things up a lot, or do you stick to a lot of the same songs for each tour? We will probably play at least five or six new songs. The set [list] is difficult to write because we want to play singles that everyone knows, and we want to play songs that are fun for us because we don’t get to play them all the time.
Some fans and critics have said that they feel like your new album sounds a lot like your first few records. Do you agree? Was that something you were consciously trying to recapture, or was it just the opposite? If this record sounds like our first record [Point #1] it is because it was recorded in a similar way. As for the songs sounding alike, we have strived to write over seventy songs that sound different from each other.
You guys have a definitive ‘sound’ with Chevelle, but you’ve always striven to not write the same song twice. How tough has it been to carve your place in melodic, alternative metal, while not getting pigeonholed? It is tough, but I think we have pulled it off. We have a sound that is specific to us, and it’s cool that we have inspired other musicians and bands to do the same and strive for their own sound.
The lead single from the new album, “Face To The Floor,” is about Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and the people he took advantage of. Why did you want to write a song about that whole situation, and confront all the greed that’s on Wall Street? The song is specifically about greed, and that is what Bernie was doing was he deceived all those people. It is a powerful subject, and Pete likes to write about things that he sees going on around him.
‘Face To The Floor’ has become one of your most successful singles, in terms of chart-position. Have you gotten a lot of feedback from fans about why that song has resonated with them so much right now? Did you think the song would do as well as it has? I think it has a good beat and you can dance to it.
Why do you think there aren’t more bands willing to tackle the social inequalities that are a part of the current recession? I think it is probably best for us (and maybe other bands) to give people a release for their everyday problems and relax a little. I don’t think we have tackled social inequalities.
As a band, are you guys supporters of the Occupy Wall Street Movement? Nope. I suppose there are good points in the protests as well as bad points, but as a whole we don’t believe that we should be talking politics as a band.
On the song ‘Same Old Trip,’ you tackle the topic of censorship. What’s your stance on the whole Stop Online Piracy (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) that’s being discussed by Congress regarding censorship on the Internet? I am really waiting to see how it all plays out. As of late, Congress has not impressed me with anything they have done lately.
I read another interview where you guys had mentioned that at some point you feel like you’ll have to grow up. How much does playing with Chevelle still feel like you’re living out your adolescent dreams? How much would you say you’ve matured musically? [We’ve] definitely matured in our songwriting and musicianship, but being in a rock band is still not really living in the real world.
My favorite song on the new album is ‘The Meddler,’ where you guys lay on some serious reverb. When you were recording this time, how much did you try out different effects and work out the parts until they were just right? What was that process like this time around? That is my favorite song too. We threw everything but the kitchen sink at it, and we ended up loving the reverb-ed ‘surf’ guitar sounds.
You’ve said that the album’s title, Hats Off to the Bull, is a nod to how you guys always root for the underdog. Who are some of your other favorite underdogs? Do you still feel like Chevelle is something of an underdog band, even after all your success and all these years together? Yes, we are a bit of an underdog – as is rock as a genre right now. I think that rooting for the underdog is generally more fun. We all love a Cinderella story, right?
What’s been your secret to keeping Chevelle going as long as you have? Do you think the fact that you guys are so close personally, being brothers, and brothers-in-law, has helped keep the band going? I think Chevelle has continued basically because people are getting our music and relating to it. If nobody listened, we would keep writing and recording in my basement.
With all that you’ve already accomplished, what goals do you still have for Chevelle? What would you still like to achieve with the band that you haven’t yet? We would all love to spend more time in other parts of the world playing to our fans outside the U.S. We have been trying to, and it is difficult to get a release in Europe and some other countries.