Chevelle - Christianity Controversy

Christianity Controversy

Chevelle has caused controversy among Christian groups, because at one point they were on a Christian rock label, and thus the band has mistakenly been labeled "Christian rock." Keith Miller of EvangelSociety.org has been critical of Chevelle due to the band touring on Ozzfest with bands such as Cradle of Filth, who he claims incorporate strong satanic and anti-Christian themes into their lyrics. Sam Loeffler said, "It's something that's probably going to follow us around forever and that's fine. It's pretty simple. We originally signed with a record company that was backed by Word (a Christian label housing John Tesh and Amy Grant), so the record was in Christian bookstores. It was really an accidental thing."

Chevelle has tried to distance themselves from being labeled as a Christian band. Sam jokingly stated in an interview, "We're recovering Catholics." Sam also told the Chicago Tribune, "Our faith is still extremely important to us, but it's also very personal. None of us feels being a rock band on stage should be a pedestal for preaching."

Pete Loeffler also said in a 2009 interview: "To us, it was and is, not that big of a deal. Our first label was owned by a distributorship that distributed to Christian bookstores and things like that. And it doesn't bother us at all to be called a Christian band. Although we have made a specific point to keep our religion out of our band and out of our shows because we believe it is everybody's choice to go and do whatever they want. And though we do have our individual faiths and all those things, it is not something that we'll preach to the people out there. So there were never any misconceptions for us or for our label in that regards. It really was what everybody else was putting out there."