Chevelle interview

iProng Magazine chats with Pete Loeffler, lead singer of the Chicago-based rock trio Chevelle, whose new album Sci-Fi Crimes debuted at #1 today on the iTunes rock chart…

interview by Matt Saye

Chevelle formed in 1995 in Illinois and are best known for their singles “The Red” off their 2002 release Wonder What’s Next, “Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)” from This Type of Thinking Could Do Us In (2004), and “Well Enough Alone” from Vena Sera (2007). Their fifth album, Sci-Fi Crimes, has just been released.

Your new album Sci-Fi Crimes is just now making its way into the hands of fans. Before I begin, would you like to say anything about the record?

Sure. Well, it is a different sounding album than we’ve put out before. It’s kind of like the best of Point #1, which was our first record and the best of our second album Wonder What’s Next. We went for a really raw live sound and some bands say that but we really meant it. We went into this record thinking “let’s do a different sounding album” and it’s pretty raw. We tried not to tune a lot of vocals. I sang these songs until they were right and there’s a lot of vibe on this album. I think it’s different and it came out great but it’s not perfect in any way. That’s what we were trying to avoid: a perfect sounding processed album. In this day and age I think it’s going to stand out from the other rock albums this year.

You said you went for “not processed.” Does that mean you recorded it live in the studio?

Yeah, we always record together as a band. That’s the only way to get the real vibe is to perform it together. There’s always overdubs, but if you’re going for that live sound you have to play together.

Overall, what was the recording process like?

I started out with an acoustic guitar and I wrote all these lyrics and got the melodies down and then I brought them to the guys. Then we hashed it all out. So we agree or disagree and form the song together as a band. That’s really pretty much how we do it. It works for us.

I’ve seen that you’ve been streaming “Jars” on your website for a few weeks now. What made you choose that as your leadoff single?

Yeah I didn’t really choose it. We left that up to the label. If I had my druthers it would be a heavier track, but you have to let them do their job. They’re ultimately going to push it hard and I believe that they have our backs. So really, we don’t put out any music that we don’t love, but I just basically finish the album and give it to them and if I’m happy with it I’ll be happy with what they pick. I think that song’s just got a strong chorus. It’s short and sweet. So that’s probably why they chose that.

You’ve titled this album “Sci-Fi Crimes.” Is there a story behind the title?

We went to Australia and we had some crazy experiences with some people we met out there and started delving into the whole UFO experience. Dean [Bernardini, Chevelle's bassist] is a pretty talented guy and he painted the cover. A lot of the songs talk about sci-fi situations, like “Highland’s Apparition” and “Roswell’s Spell.” It’s not like we believe it all, but we want to. We’re just talking about situations we’ve been in and things that have happened over the years with people.

To go back to something you mentioned earlier about trying a new sound, people are always trying to compare one band to another, but in terms of this album, were there any new or different influences you looked to?

When I got together with Brian Virtue [producer of Sci-Fi Crimes] we sat down and I said what do you want to do? And I said “I know you’ve worked on Jane’s Addiction albums. Let’s go down that road. Let’s bring up what you did way back when it wasn’t all about ProTools and making a record sound perfect.” I’m a huge Jane’s fan so we listened to a lot of Ritual de lo Habitual and Nothing’s Shocking and later stuff he had done with the band and we sort of took that kind of vibe and incorporated that into what we do: like not just be heavy all the time. Don’t forget the melodies and don’t take too much out of a song. If it’s a part and it’s weird and only happens once, let’s not necessarily take that out. We don’t want to just follow a format with songs that are just verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge format. We gelled really well and worked really well together.

When it comes time to making an album, how much does the digital availability of music factor in?

Actually I don’t really ever think about it. I’m all for getting our music out there but I guess I’ve never thought about it much. I know a lot of bands will be against selling singles on iTunes. People are going to get your songs half the time for free from their friend and they’ll listen to one song and that’ll be it. I think people are overwhelmed. Obviously that’s hurt record sales, but honestly I’ve never made money off record sales, so in a way I want people to have our music. I want them to buy the album for the artwork and to feel like they’re getting something tangible, but I don’t care if they get it online either. I just want them to have it so they come to our shows. That’s how my career keeps going. It’s our connection with people every night that keeps it going. I just want people to like this band and to search us out on their own.

I see that you’ve been on tour for awhile now. Have you had a chance to try out the new material live?

Yeah, we’ve played three new tracks about every night. On the Stimulate This tour that we’ve been on, we’ve only had a 35 minute set so we can’t necessarily put three new tracks in there that people don’t know. So basically it’s all singles except for one song, “Sleep Apnea,” which is the first song on the new album. On this tour we’re playing to a lot of new people. It’s a very Top 40 mainstream tour and we’ve never been in that market, so we play a couple new ones and the old ones that they know. But when we get our headline set [on the next tour] we’ll be playing a lot more new stuff. Maybe even an acoustic song or two to switch it up.

What’s your approach when it comes to performing a live show? Do you try out new things on stage or just try to play the songs as they were written?

You know, we do try to reproduce what people know and love. If they came to your show, they probably want to hear what they know. I think it’s fine to go off on a tangent in a bridge or whatever or extend the ending of a song. I think that’s really cool, but as far as when it comes down to certain things, like the melody of a chorus. we don’t change that. I toured with a band that did that and it just killed the vibe, so I learned early on that that’s not a direction I want to go. I feel like I want to give people what they know. It’s that familiarity that we go to a show for, right? Unless you’re the Mars Volta, where they just do anything.

With so many albums under your belt, how hard is it to come up with a setlist – to decide what to put in and what to leave out?

It is tough. With five albums, we have a lot of “pickens.” It’s so much easier when we have our own show. We’ve been swapping songs in and out a lot on this tour, but it is tough to make a setlist. Once we get to our headline run we’ll probably play a lot of older things and we’ll probably have to play a two hour setlist at least, so it’s gonna be fun.

Chevelle is currently touring on the Stimulate This tour, and will be headlining their own tour this Fall.

Sci-Fi Crimes is available in iTunes now. Learn more at ChevelleInc.com