Severing ties with a close one, even family, is never easy, and Chevelle’s Pete and Sam Loeffler know that pain well. The brothers haven’t spoken to their sibling and former bandmate Joe Loeffler since parting ways with him in 2005. In a new interview on The Garza Podcast, hosted by Suicide Silence guitarist Chris Garza, Pete and Sam reflected on the split, revealing that they haven’t spoken to him since.
Pete expressed:
“There’s a certain amount of turmoil and a certain amount of poking you can do at each other. And if you can’t work through those times and become closer, you’re not gonna last. And that’s something that’s rare for us, is that we’ve been in it together. And it didn’t work with our other brother. It couldn’t get very far.”
Sam adds:
“He was not open to anything, any bit of criticism, even just development. It was, ‘Hey, man, that’s a little flat. We’ve gotta do that again.’ ‘No, I’m not.’ This doesn’t have to be an argument. Let’s just do it till it’s right. And then the fucking shit hits the fan, and then it’s, like, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening? The world is ending.'”
Pete continued:
“Every other week he was quitting the band. The fourth time we just said, ‘No, it’s done.’ And those were the big ones. ‘Cause he would complain about starting every tour. It was, like, ‘I don’t wanna fly. I’ll take a train there.’ So it was a battle every time we started a tour. But it was not sustainable. We started out as three brothers, but we couldn’t do it for very long.”
Sam confirmed:
“It was never going to work. And who he is today, we don’t know. We have no idea.”
Pete then revealed how he and Sam haven’t spoken to Joe since 2005. The two discussed how their family dynamic has been complicated since, which there are a total of seven siblings.
Sam explained:
“But we get along with everybody for the most part.”
Pete added:
“Other than one. That’s not bad, right? Six of us get along out of seven.”
Back in July 2005, Chevelle officially announced Joe’s departure, citing “irreconcilable differences” after initially stating he had chosen to “take a break to be home with family” during a tour with 30 Seconds to Mars and Taproot. Joe quickly countered the claim, stating on the band’s website, “I was fired, plain and simple; in fact, there wasn’t even a discussion about it, they just dropped it on me.”
Nearly two decades later, the brothers continue as a duo. Chevelle’s latest album, Bright As Blasphemy, arrived August 15 via Alchemy Recordings, marking their first release with the label after a long run with Epic Records. Based on Metal Insider’s Metal By Numbers, the album debuted at #5 on the charts. Read our review here.
The full video is long and worth watching. Check it out below:
