Was looking for Sam's birth date when this showed up:
Excerpt from a May 12th, 2004 issue of Modern Drummer.
MD: Getting back to your drumming, where’s this newfound interest in double kick patterns coming from?
Sam: I have a friend who I run everything by. His name is Dean Bernardini, and he plays in a band in Chicago called Liftpoint. I met up with him when I was eighteen, and he’s like the big brother I never had, since I’m the oldest boy in our family. But Dean taught me what it means to have technique. He literally taught me what it was to have style. Dean’s a great drummer, and he was able to spot problems in my playing early on.
Was this before Dean became their brother-in-law? Also, I didn't know he was originally a drummer.
Full link to the interview here: https://www.moderndrummer.com/2004/05/sam-loeffler/