“It’s really hard to not have a producer because you need somebody to take it away from you and say, ‘No. This is done. Stop spending time on it.’ But this is where we’re going,” Sam Loeffler of Chevelle explains to 100.3 The X Rocks regarding Chevelle’s upcoming release and the band’s pursuit of pushing themselves “harder and harder.”
While the album hasn’t actually been announced, Chevelle have no issue letting people know that it does indeed exist. And it’s pretty much finished.
But, it took awhile for the band to get there – it’s been more than four years since Chevelle released their LP, Niratias: “These songs take so bloody long now to write because the first versions of ’em are just – you’ve gotta keep going and keep going, getting it better, and then you’re like, ‘All right, I’m really happy with this.’ And then (Pete) looks at it and goes, ‘Can I write a better chorus? Because I think the verse is better than the chorus.’ And then he writes a better chorus, and now the verse isn’t good enough.”
With Pete Loeffler exclusively at the helm of production, it makes sense that both Pete and Sam were relentless, and restraintless, in the development of their new record. “Every single word is scrutinized over,” Sam emphasises about the forthcoming material.
He explains that Pete will often approach the music with a, “‘How do I suck every moment of joy out of this process so that it can be as good as it can be?'” mentality. However, that can often be the downfall of the pursuit of artistry – depending on how you look at it. To Pete? “At the end of it, he’s like ‘This is joyless, and it’s perfect.'”
And Sam acknowledges how it all sounds – “I make it sound brutal, and it is kind of brutal. The writing process and finishing a song is like pulling your hair out and then trying to put the hair back in.” While gruesome, it’s a pretty good analogy. “The fun part about it is the writing. The hard part is the producing and just going back and doing it again,” Sam elaborates.
Still equipped with their signature sound as “the way that Pete plays is particular to him, the way that he writes,” Chevelle’s unannounced, upcoming release is one Chevelle fans are sure to anticipate.
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