Since I first heard “Joyride” in May of 2017 I've completely fallen in love with Chevelle's entire discography. Today I'm listing all of my favorite songs starting from the demos to the recent album “Bright As Blasphemy” released last summer.
Commuter
Popping in to post about something I saw while browsing Google. “Any Last Words”, Chevelle's second live CD & DVD combo released January 11th, 2011, is available on Discogs for a decent thirty bucks. I know this effort is hard to find so this is a steal.
You can watch the entire sold-out show at The Metro on YouTube if you'd rather do that.
Both videos for “Rabbit Hole(Cowards, Pt 1)” was shortly followed by a lone lyric video for the sequel “Jim Jones(Cowards, Pt 2)” debuting May 28th, 2025. The black and white aesthetic continues, but a chink of color is added this time for effect against a grainy backdrop of the jungle. This particular clip looks pretty flashy and fancy compared to past lyric videos.
I think it looks rather neat and suits the song just as well. That's fine and dandy, however, I still prefer the lyric video to “Rabbit Hole”, just saying. The track peaked at number nine on rock radio not long after it debuted.
Happy one year anniversary to these tracks and “Bright As Blasphemy” celebrates one year on August 15th, 2026.
On May 28th, 2025 Chevelle announced the follow up single to “Rabbit Hole(Cowards, Pt 1)” called “Jim Jones(Cowards, Pt 2)” which is a lot heavier and less dependent on electronics than the first track. I happen to like the second song the most because I think it sounds a lot more like Chevelle and it's less dependent on mainstream appeal. The Chicago outfit used this track to introduce their tenth effort “Bright As Blasphemy” on new label Alchemy Recordings.
According to Consequence of Sound: “‘History teaches us the longest rabbit hole has no end,’ the band succinctly said about the new song via a press release, following up the ominous message expressed in the prior single ‘Rabbit Hole (Cowards, Pt. 1).’ Themes of dystopian techno-futurism run through both songs, as well as the LP sleeve art and various track titles such as ‘AI Phobias’ an9d ‘Shocked at the End of the World.’”
“‘Human Existence encompasses both inherent challenges and potential,’ stated the band. ‘It’s up to you how to pass the time. Enjoy.’”
What I love about “BAB” is how seamlessly the catchy electronics blend in with the metal riffs all on one album. When Chevelle announced this new era I broke a sweat. This album is wonderful.
On this day Chevelle's original lineup consisting of Sam and Pete with their younger brother and former bass player Joe Loeffler played at The Norva on May 23rd, 2003 in Norfolk, Virginia. The setlist consisted of tracks from the band's first two albums “Point #1” and “Wonder What's Next”, and the whole show was recorded and packaged for die hard fans to enjoy.
The concert movie is an accompaniment to “Live From The Road” captured at 2003's Ozzfest. These critical moments during the band's early years before their rise to stardom is something I wish I experienced, however, watching Chevelle live in 2017 was also super cool.
This DVD also features backstage and tour bus shenanigans any true fan would love. Distributed by Sony Legacy the show is available to anyone interested in experiencing the beginning of a band's journey through a murky industry. It's also available for streaming if that's what you prefer.
The date as I'm writing this is currently May 13th, 2026 meaning Memorial Day weekend 2026 is on the horizon within the next two weeks on May 25th. Some of you will probably be eating a good plate of BBQ or swimming in the backyard pool now that the weather is getting really hot. I'll be indoors reading a book in the cool a/c because no way in hell am I going outside in the scorching humidity in the Southeast.
One year ago, about two days after Memorial Day 2025 on May 28th, Chevelle released the lyric video for “Jim Jones(Cowards, Pt 2)” from their tenth album “Bright As Blasphemy”, their first effort on Alchemy Recordings after exiting Epic in 2021. The color scheme of black, white and red looked great on a phone screen matching appearances after the video for “Rabbit Hole(Cowards, Pt 1)” dropping in late-March, four years after “Mars Simula” from “Niratias”.
Here's the story of three Memorial Day events starting on May 29th, 2017 with a New Moon on May 25th. My love for this band wasn't instant during the time “The Red” and “Send The Pain Below” dropped from “Wonder What's Next” in 2002-2003. However, car rides between shifts hit me like bricks when a song I thought sounded an awful lot like Muse's “Hysteria”, except with plenty of screaming, actually turned out to be “Joyride(Omen)” from 2016's “The North Corridor”. So…I bought tickets to a concert held on July 19th, 2017 after the DJ accosted me about snagging one before they sold out, and there I was, a face in the crowd, and I had so much fun wilding out to a nostalgic moment from my adolescence.
Nine years later it's so funny that the date of the New Moon 2017 and Memorial Day 2026, May 25th, comes back full circle of these boys making a sudden reappearance in my life out of nowhere, and changing the landscape of everything in this next era of my life. Take a listen to this track after you listen to “Jim Jones”.
Aside from various live performances on late night talk shows Chevelle also made scattered high-profile appearances across network TV, video game spots & promos as well as movies and such things. I remember the summer of 2002 when Chevelle debuted “The Red” and 2003 when they dropped “Send The Pain Below” before I fell off only to reunite in 2017. We're discussing TV spots in today's post.
While on the subject of network TV their smash debut single “The Red”, although overplayed to absolute death during its heyday, was used for sports promos and the Chicago trio performed this top single on Letterman, Craig Kilborn and Kimmel in the early 2000s.
Additional details for local tour spots and festivals include shows like Gary Cool TV, morning blitz and festival interviews.
“The Clincher”, the lead single from their 2004 album “This Type Of Thinking(Could Do Us In)”, was also used in a commercial and trailer for EA's Madden NFL 2005 while “Jars” was featured in “Tony Hawk: Ride”.
Sure, that's during their early career following the success of “Wonder What's Next”, but even 2021's “Niratias” saw its share of success when lead single “Self Destructor" was used heavily in TV and digital spots for “Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard”.
We await many more appearances in the near future! Read this old interview of Sam speaking with CWG Magazine!
Although Chevelle's "La Gargola” era was pretty minimal they made up for it with an extensive North American tour running from April and May into a month-long trek in December of 2014. They hit the road with Middle Class Rut in the spring and summer and winter runs accompanied by Crobot with hits and new material in hand.
Kicking things off in spring, May 17th, Chevelle stopped at The Egyptian Room in Indianapolis, The Pageant in St. Louis, and also appeared at major festivals like Rock On The Range.
A summer tour focused on the West Coast and Midwest at specific venues like The Fillmore in San Francisco and The Wiltern in Los Angeles.
In December Chevelle embarked on a winter tour beginning in South Carolina before concluding in Milwaukee.
Chevelle also toured extensively during the summer and autumn months of 2016 beginning on May 16th where they performed the usual stints of headlining dates and festivals, playing alongside Nothing More in the fall. This was two months before they dropped their eighth effort “The North Corridor” on July 8th. The Chicago trio also headlined dates in 2017 where I went to my first ever Chevelle show with Black Map and Dinosaur Pile-Up exactly the same week, fifteen years later, when “The Red” was released just shy of three days.
The outfit jammed several more shows scattered around the Midwest and Great Plains during summer of 2016 alongside Bush in July.
Another gathering happened at The Joint in Las Vegas, Nevada with Disturbed for an arena tour which kicked off on September 23rd.
Key highlights for Chevelle are Pointfest on May 21st and The Paramount in Huntington, New York on August 2nd. Stops at The Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, Wyoming in October.
These dates officially began Dean Bernardini's ascent as Chevelle's replacement bassist after Joe's departure.
Chevelle initially dropped a fast paced glitchy lyric video for “Rabbit Hole(Cowards, Pt 1)” the same day the single debuted on their YouTube channel. Then they released a real video for the track on May 14th in black and white. The contrast is astounding!
According to Revolver, Pete and Sam have interesting opinions about what the video means to them.
“‘The sea was angry that day, my friends, for sometimes you cast your net and win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you just don't get that happy ending,’ the group wrote in a joint statement. ‘Either way enjoy the new 'Rabbit Hole' music video, friends!’”
“While we see Loeffler singing bits of the song, he mostly lays motionless on the beachline, up until another figure — played by Chevelle drummer and brother Sam Loeffler — strolls up with a fishing net. As you can see up above, the predator/prey narrative comes to a chilling conclusion.”
To be honest, I think I prefer the lyric video over the actual video for the song. However, depressing and chilling as it may be the clip does show maturity with the b&w aesthetic whereas the other clip is a fun and fast thrill ride. The difference is immense, but really shows the depressive state of affairs after a fun time.
“Joyride(Omen)” is the lead single from Chevelle's eighth studio album “The North Corridor” released July of 2016. The track became their fifth number one on the Mainstream Rock chart, although a music video for this popular song is absent, the boys instead opted to release one for their second single “Door To Door Cannibals”. The song debuted May 13th, 2016.
"Yeah, it’s a little reminder to quit chasing the past or wishing for the future type situation. Maybe someone has come into your life like that where they’re always just saying how great it used to be or how it’s going to be good when this happens or they’re actually missing what’s going on in the here and now. And I guess it kind of comes from my teens and my youth and just from having a kid. We have a son. He’s almost two now. So now, you know I was being a dad and these things are coming up. They’re resurfacing and these memories from the past and it’s me just wondering what the world’s gonna be like when he’s older. I guess I was thinking about my younger days when I was writing this song and how I was. I had a lot of really good friends but I had a lot of people who were always, you know, they were searching a lot and everything was intense all the time, you know what I mean? And instead of enjoying life, they were constantly beating themselves down and I think I got pulled into that a little bit when I was in my teens and I guess it came out in song form in this song [Joyride], so it’s just something that no one can control. You might as well just live in the moment and enjoy it because you never know,” Pete says about this track.
