Joe Loeffler

Joseph "Joe" Loeffler (born September 12, 1980) was the bass player and also a backup singer of the Chicago hard rock band Chevelle. He replaced original bassist Matt Scott in 1996 after the band had been formed in 1995 by his brothers Pete (singer, guitarist) and Sam (drums).He was inspired to play bass after listening to Rush Limbaugh's bass line introducing the show segment. Joe quoted "this is heavy, thats cool...after that I picked up a bass that had been laying around our parent's house for like six months, actually the guy Vitamin R (Leading Us Along) was written about left his bass he rented and didn't play it for like six months, maybe it was because of ritalin or something.". He uses Ernie Ball Music Man basses and can be seen playing a Bongo bass on The Clincher music video. Joe used a vintage Music Man Stingray, a 4 string natural ash with a black pickguard as well as another 4 string black Stingray for most of his career before switching to 5 string Stingrays and then to a Music Man Bongo right up until he left the band. Joe was always noted for his astounding bass tone, which was created by using an Ampeg SVP-PRO preamp into a Crown power amp and finally fed through a pair of Mesa Boogie or Ampeg (earlier) 8x10 cabinets. Joe Loeffler wasn't noted for using many pedals, but he has used a Digitech X-Series Bass Driver, A Tech 21 SansAmp RBI which supposedly, is in his rack setup, and a Boss Tuner. Joe finally switched brand much later in early 2005 to using full time Mesa Boogie gear consisting of 2 Mesa Boogie Big Block 750s, and 2 Mesa 4x10s, as well as a Mesa 8x10.

In June 2005 Chevelle announced that Joe was leaving the band "due to irreconcilable differences." According to Pete and Sam, Joe didn't care too much for the constant pressure that comes with touring. Sam said: "It's not a secret to anyone in the industry or any fans that ever talked to him that he hated traveling. That was the biggest player in our decision. It was kind of a mutual decision, but it kind of wasn't, because he didn't want to do it, but he also didn't want to quit, and we were just kind of like, 'If you don't want to do it, you can't do it, because it's affecting us".'" So Pete and Sam felt that it would be for the best if Joe would "take a break to be home with family."

On the other hand, according to Joe, he did not want to leave the band hanging like that. "The only way I'm staying home is if you fire me," he said. So they did. For some reason, it came as a shock to Joe, thinking that they wouldn't actually let him go. He took offense at Pete and Sam's remarks on their website as to why they let him go: "First off, very typical. This is exactly what I expected from them. Try and make it look like I didn't want to be in the band. I was fired, plain and simple; in fact, there wasn't even a discussion about it — they just dropped it on me. I told them I would never quit and they would have to fire me. They were trying to get me to quit and told my managers that I did. I called Sam and said, 'Why are you doing this?' and he said, 'We don't want you to come back.' I said, 'I will not quit.' The next day Pete called for the first time and said, 'Did (our managers) call you and tell you you're out?' I said 'No, were they supposed to?' He eventually said in that short conversation, 'You're fired."'

"I am insulted by the message on the front page of the site (by the way, that's the first change to the site I've seen in at least a year!). It is completely false and out of line. I made no decision and am not taking a break. I will be working on getting a new job immediately. A break also means there's a chance to come back, and nothing could be farther from reality. I was fired and they have not said a word to me since. I would never ask to be back in (why would I want to after this?) and I never did in the past when I quit. 'We'll miss having him on the road with us.'... Right." [http://www.metalunderground.com/bands/details.cfm?bandid=1245]