In a new interview with “Whiplash”, the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie, CHEVELLE drummer Sam Loeffler spoke about the band’s recently released new single “Rabbit Hole (Cowards, Pt. 1)”. The track is taken from CHEVELLE‘s as-yet-unannounced tenth studio album, which will arrive later in the year. The follow-up to 2021’s “Niratias” will mark CHEVELLE‘s first release through Alchemy Recordings following a long run with the Epic label. Alchemy Recordings is a record label created in partnership between Dino Paredes, former American Recordings vice president of A&R, and Danny Wimmer, the founder of Danny Wimmer Presents, the premier production company for rock music festivals in the United States.
Asked why he and his brother, CHEVELLE vocalist/guitarist Pete Loeffler decided to produce the band’s new LP themselves after working with Joe Barresi for almost a decade and a half, Sam said: “Well, I’ll tell you this. We did four records with Joe [starting with 2011’s ‘Hats Off To The Bull’], and he was awesome. And he said to us, he goes, ‘You guys should do something different. Go try doing a record yourselves. See how it goes.’ So we did. And it’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done, for sure. It’s probably not worth it, but we did it, and we can say we did it.”
As for the decision to part with Epic and find a new label home, Sam said: “After we did eight full-length records with Epic Records, which we still have a very good relationship with them, yeah, we branched out and became part of a label with our friends that we’ve known for 25 years in the business. And our old friend Danny Wimmer tried to sign us to Flawless Records back in like 2000, and it didn’t work out, and we went to Sony instead. So now, after all these years, we’ve signed with him and his current label, so it was kind of cool.”
Asked what lyrical themes are covered on CHEVELLE‘s upcoming album, Sam said: “Well, [Pete is] definitely our lyricist, and he likes to write about things going on around him, of course — anything that’s just interesting that you can make interesting in an interesting way. That’s a lot of ‘interesting’ words there. So, yeah, on this one — ‘Rabbit Hole’ is really about going down a rabbit hole. And that’s ‘Cowards, Pt. 1’. And there’s a ‘Cowards, Pt. 2’, which deals with the same stuff but just a different part of it. And I don’t wanna give that away yet ’cause I’m hoping that’s gonna be the second single. And that’d be really rad if it was. But it’s definitely about going down rabbit holes.”
On the topic of a possible release date for CHEVELLE‘s tenth studio album, Sam said: “Well, I’m hoping record will be out by the time we go on tour [in August]. It’s just a matter of getting all the artwork and everything finished to get in the queue for printing LPs and stuff. So, we should have a date hopefully soon, the actual date. But this album’s pretty well-rounded as far as heavy songs go. I mean, it’s mostly really, really hard rock, ’cause that’s our thing, but there’s two lighter songs on it. And this song, ‘Rabbit Hole’, is, as far as the rock songs, the lightest song on the record, for sure. So you just end up going with the mid-tempo song as your first single. It happens every time.”
This past March, Sam told Audacy Music about the musical direction of the new CHEVELLE material: “We’ve worked really hard on it, and I think it’s some of the best stuff we’ve ever done, honestly. It’s so much fun to play, that’s for sure.”
Pete added: “We’re just happy maintaining — we’re trying to maintain, anyway — and put out shit that’s fun to play live. And a lot of these tracks are. I’m running through four of ’em right now that I can rip out at any time. That goes both ways too. A lot of fans wanna hear the old stuff, some wanna hear the new, but we just try and mix it up. But I think this new album’s gonna be a blast to see it live. So, come out to a show, please.”
This summer CHEVELLE will embark on a massive tour with special guests ASKING ALEXANDRIA and DEAD POET SOCIETY. Produced by Live Nation, the 38-city trek kicks off on August 7 at Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas, making stops across North America in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and more before wrapping up in Airway Heights, Washington at BECU Live at Northern Quest on October 2.
Last July, Sam told TribLive.com about CHEVELLE‘s next LP: “We kind of did expect to have it done [already]. It’s like pulling teeth. This is what I described: Writing an album and doing all that is like pulling your hair out and then trying to put it back in. Writers love having written, is what I learned. It’s just torturous on my brother. It’s torturous because there’s just so many factors to making something great. And then the longer you can live with it, the more changes you’re gonna make. So that makes you never want to put it out. You never want to pull the pin and throw the grenade because you’re like, well, it gets better every time I look at it.”
As for what the 10-song album — which was produced by the CHEVELLE members themselves — sounds like, Sam said: We’re always skewing towards heavy. [But] these [last] two songs that we’ve been working on right now are definitely different from everything we did, although ‘Niratias’, our last album, I think was a really important snapshot of what we’ve been learning about writing and about music and stuff. This one definitely sounds different than just rock music, definitely different.”
Back in 2022, Sam told Knotfest‘s Cori Westbrook about CHEVELLE‘s songwriting process: “Well, Pete‘s our songwriter so he’s our lyricist and everything. Basically, he just writes about what’s going on around him. If he’s taking the garbage out that night or has a bad day driving, he’s watching a documentary that really affected him, he hears a podcast — so he’s writing about those kinds of things. So if you’re able to internalize that kind of a thing, I think you have a lot to write about. It doesn’t just have to be a relationship that — a relationship with your dad or your significant other. I think those are some pretty powerful feelings — I get it — but if you are able to bring in all those other things in from your everyday life, there’s a lot more to write about. So as far as inspiration goes, it’s not hard to find; it’s everywhere; it’s all around you. And especially nowadays, we have so much access to what’s going on around us that there’s even more ideas to pull from.”
In a separate interview with Heavy New York, Sam said that he and Pete had “a whole bunch of music written… Because that’s what we do — you put music out, you write… It’ll be our first record in a long time not with a major label, which is just neither here nor there,” he added. “Epic Records did a lot of good stuff; we were with them for a long time, but we’re finished with that contract now. So now we’re doing something different. And we’ll see how different it is.”
Released in March 2021 via Epic Records, “Niratias” was recorded throughout 2019 and 2020 with Barresi. The album artwork was designed by Boris Vallejo — the famed and award-winning artist is responsible for the posters used for films like “Knightriders” and “National Lampoon’s Vacation”, as well as iconic ’70s and ’80s science fiction novel covers and magazines (such as Heavy Metal).
Over the course of its career, the Chicago rockers have generated nearly half a billion streams, notched seven No. 1 hits, and sold out shows worldwide. Their catalog spans the double-platinum “Wonder What’s Next”, which boasts the double-platinum smash “The Red” and the platinum hit “Send The Pain Below”. “This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In)” attained platinum status, while “Vena Sera” was certified gold. CHEVELLE has landed four Top 10 debuts on the Billboard 200, including “Sci-Fi Crimes” (2009),“Hats Off To The Bull” (2011),“La Gárgola” (2014) and “The North Corridor” (2016). The latter two each captured the No. 1 slot on the Top Rock Albums chart.
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