CHEVELLE has released its new single, “Self Destructor”. The track, which can be streamed below, is taken from CHEVELLE‘s upcoming follow-up to 2016’s “The North Corridor”, “Niratias” (Nothing Is Real And This Is A Simulation), which is due on March 5.
CHEVELLE frontman Pete Loeffler told “Loudwire Nights”‘ Kevin Vargas about “Self Destructor”: “The song was actually written in 2019 so it’s just strangely coincidental that it fits so well with 2020 being what it was. It’s hard not to find that in everything now. I’ll give you one thing though. It focuses on science deniers, and you guys can run with that. Go delve into the lyrics and check it out. It’s aggressive and I’ve had to learn how to play it all over again this past year with Sam [Loeffler], so fingers crossed that we can do that live too.”
Regarding the overall lyrical direction of “Niratias”, Pete said: “It has a lot of space to it, a lot of interstellar travel to it. You’ve got Elon Musk trying to get to Mars and that was completely fascinating to me so when I write lyrics, it’s just kind of made its way in there. As you’ll see with the cover, it’s sort of space themed as well.
He added: “I love the idea of the cosmos and I love Carl Sagan and Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson and all these people that look beyond and look to the future. Getting off this planet is part of that future if we can do it. It’s funny when you started to delve into it how difficult that really is. How are you gonna deal with radiation out in a spaceship for nine months or longer than that? It’s fascinating. It just made its way into the music.”
Back in 2018, Pete said that he wrote “about 25 songs” for the band’s next disc, but that only eight had been recorded at that point at Joe’s House Of Compression studio in Pasadena, California with producer Joe Barresi (KYUSS, MELVINS, THE JESUS LIZARD).
In December 2018, Pete explained to the Rock 100.5 The KATT radio station that “things take longer than we thought” and that the band would take a few more months to make sure the record came out “that much better.”
Pete also spoke about his previous comment that CHEVELLE‘s next album was turning out to be a more melodic affair than “The North Corridor”.
“I mean, that’s the thing,” he said. “You wake up… Everyone has to choose. You’re, like, ‘Am I gonna be in a good or a bad mood today?’ At least in my family, we do… So, on the last two albums, it’s been, like, I woke up and I was, like, ‘I wanna play heavy shit.’ And that’s where we’ve been. But, honestly, the music is way more melodic on this one.”
“The North Corridor” debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart and produced a No. 1 Mainstream Rock single, “Joyride (Omen)”.
The band’s album of rarities from 2002-2016, “12 Bloody Spies: B-Sides And Rarities”, was released in October 2018 via Epic.
In September 2019, CHEVELLE bassist Dean Bernardini announced that he would “take a break from the road” after completing that year’s shows with his bandmates. He added that he would “continue to work” in music in some form or another while also putting time into his art and furniture business at home.
Bernardini had been with CHEVELLE since 2005, even though 2007’s “Vena Sera” marked his first studio recording with the band.
