Chevelle to crank up the Big Easy
The 2005 Winterfresh SnoCore Tour blows into Spokane today for a night of rock with headliner Chevelle.
Before crashing the Big Easy Concert House, this all-brother band, which has been together since 1995, has been busy touring the world with rock’s elites and fine-tuning its live performance.
This Chicago-based trio – drummer Sam, singer and guitarist Pete and bassist Joe Loeffler – has demonstrated what’s next since the platinum success of its second album “Wonder What’s Next.”
Despite more than 400 shows on the road to promote “Wonder What’s Next” and dates with Audioslave, Foo Fighters and Korn, Chevelle now is headlining a tour of its own.
The Winterfresh SnoCore Tour, which is presented by MTV2 and began Jan. 22, isn’t likely to be in the grandiose style of Chevelle’s main-stage Ozzfest performances or include the rumored excesses and debauchery of its tour with Korn, but it is certain to provide plenty of the low-end guitar work and shadowy lyrics that have made the group’s last two albums popular.
“When people look back at the music of 2004, they’ll remember it as the year of lip-synching and ‘wardrobe malfunctions,’ ” Sam Loeffler says on KHTQ-FM 94.5’s Web site. “So what better way to launch 2005 than with a tour featuring real rock bands?”
The current tour is likely to include much of the new album “This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In),” including the song “Vitamin R (Leading Us Along),” which explores the abuse of the prescription drug Ritalin. Pete Loeffler takes that subject very seriously as his friend’s life was swallowed by it.
Chevelle sounds similar to mainstream super-group A Perfect Circle; Maynard James Keenan’s influence can be heard in Pete Loeffler’s vocals. And the brothers are similar to Tool and the Deftones in the carefully sculpted feedback and distortion of the guitars.
Rounding out the tour lineup for tonight’s show at the Big Easy is Helmet, Crossfade, Strata and Future Leaders of the World. Tickets are $25 through TicketsWest, 800-325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.