Buzz Bake Sale Preview: Chevelle

via Flickr user Chad Davis

​No matter how hard the members of Chevelle try, they won't be able to run away from certain parts of their past or comparisons to other bands. Face it, when you sign with a Christian Rock label and have your first album distributed through Christian book stores, you're going to be labeled as a Christian band. No matter how many interviews you have in which you spell out it was a coincidence and you're not trying to preach in your songs, so long as your albums are sold alongside rosaries, you're gonna be a Christian band. Although they did recently tour on Ozzfest and sharing a stage with Cradle of Filth should help distance you from the Christian Rock genre a bit.

The comparisons to one of their admitted musical influences, Tool, aren't going to be so easy to shake. Especially when your singing voice sounds an awful lot like Maynard's and you put out a video like this, that looks like a few Tool videos...



But when it comes down to the music, which is what this is all really about anyway, Chevelle does have that alternative metal sound that Tool and Helmet made famous a decade or so ago. If you're going to emulate a band, I can think of at least three thousand bands that would be worse, so good job Chevelle!

Chevelle will be performing at the Buzz Bake Sale in Cruzan Ampitheater on Saturday, December 5, along with :30 Seconds to Mars, Matisyahu, Cage the Elephant, Panic At The Disco, Manchester Orchestra, and more. Tickets are $40 for reserved seats, $20 for lawn.