Nickelback |
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Thu. October 09.2003 3:44 PM EDT |
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Nickelback: Sunny Side UpIt's not all rage on the band's new record. The growling Canadians sing about partying night to night, and talk about how having a hit is a great sexual experience. by Dana Feher and C. Bottomley |
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Nickelback (Publicity) |
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The expectations could crush a weaker man than Chad Kroeger. Nickelbacks new The Long Road follows in the wake of Silver Side Up, a record that sold 9 million copies on the strength of the melancholy rocker How You Remind Me. Between
For starts, Nickelback kept their cool. The band says making The Long Road was downright painless. Indeed, the Roadrunner label trusted Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake, drummer Ryan Vikedal and Chads bass-playing brother Mike so much, they left the Vancouver group to their own devices. Going with their guts, the band resisted formula. This hard-rocking disc finds them at their heaviest. Success has also made Nickelback wary of overdoing the grunge-pop angst. Sure, the gravelly single Someday is a melodramatic apology to Kroegers girlfriend, but anthems like Throw Yourself Away - inspired by a teen who gave birth at the prom and left her baby in a dumpster - are capped with the joyful See You at the Show. Chad says the latter song recounts the triumphant Silver Side Up tour, with everyone jumping on the bus, having a big party every single night, and hoping this rollercoaster ride never ends. Its likely to continue for a while yet: The Long Road sold 200,000 copies in its first week. The band nurse ambitions to stick around as long as the Rolling Stones, but one thing might stop them: the press. Fried from talking to European media, Nickelback let themselves get a little goofy as they tackled VH1s questions about road life, their good fortune and, doing the hit dance. VH1: When the tour for Silver Side Up finished, was it hard for you to adjust to life back home? Chad Kroeger: Theres always this bizarre adjusting period. You buy a generator and set it up next to your bed, to accurately mimic the sound of your tour bus. Mike Kroeger: Its a little harder to make the diesel smoke properly. CK: The last time we got off the road, I crawled into bed. I was like, Okay, I know Im exhausted. Its time for night-night. I laid there and my eyes were just [open]. I got up. I walked around. I went back to bed and I was like, What is going on? It was strange. MK:[jokingly] You were sober! That was the problem. [Watch Clip] VH1: During the tour you turned from a mildly successful act to a multi-platinum-selling band. What was that like? CK: It got to the point where every single day somebody was coming up with this new piece of information. Oh, you just went platinum in the UK! Oh, you just went double platinum in Australia! As cool as it was to hear that everyday when wed go to eat, you dont pay attention to it. MK: Sometimes you just want to eat. Ryan Peake: We actually thought, were finally gonna get our full rider! [Laughs.] People are actually going to read our contract and give us exactly what we want, instead of kinda what we want! Ryan Vikedal: Hey guys, I think were gonna get the white socks and the white shirts now! CK: Can we get all the beer this time? [Watch Clip] VH1: How has your life changed since Silver Side Up came out? CK: Every time anyone asks us that question, they wanna [hear], Well, we went out and bought big houses and bought lots of cars. Everyone wants a mini-episode of Cribs. All they want to know is how many zeros are in the bank account. [Laughs.] Thats what youre wondering, arent you? VH1: OK, how many zeros do you have in the bank account? CK: Enough that my lawyer says to me, you dont have to lift anything heavy again so long as you live! Thats a nice feeling. VH1: But theres a feeling that youve really arrived? All that you worked for is in place? CK: You never get to that point where youre like, Okay, were here! Youre always looking at people who are more successful and have been around longer. [You think] Look at how long the Stones have been around! Lets try and be around for half as long. Wouldnt that be an amazing feeling? MK: There are nice things that you get to see, like when the kids are lined up in the snowy cold weather for four hours just to get in to a concert. Youre sitting there thinking, Wow, these people are all making a really cool sacrifice to come and see us play a rock show. Its cool that they think its that important. VH1: Did you write a lot of The Long Road while you were on tour? CK: We did a bunch of writing on the road. We knew that we wanted to have several songs on the new record that were more aggressive than the last album. I think were getting heavier and heavier on our albums even though were known for ballads! [Laughs.] VH1: You produced this album yourself. Why? CK: We really procrastinated our way into producing this record ourselves. Its so funny when we listen to people say, So you guys produced this one yourselves! MK: We sound like real go-getters. Its sort of the opposite. CK: Truthfully, we had so many producers in mind to do this. We just never got around to calling them! The label was enjoying everything that we sent them. There was no [one saying], Yeah, you guys need a little more direction. They were just like, This sounds good. Keep going guys! MK: We fooled them early. CK: I guess we just magically found ourselves with the keys to the condo and the parents were gone! VH1: Why did you title the album The Long Road? RV: We had David Edwards, an artist from Vancouver, come up with the artwork for the album. From there, we discovered the title. The best way to describe it is that Silver Side Up was the album that merged us onto the bridge. Now were just seeing how far we can go with it. MK: We worked on that answer for four hours last night. CK: [in disbelief] Merged us onto the bridge? That was great! Thank God that f*cking cameras rolling! [Laughs.] MK: Its all about merging! [Laughs.] VH1: What inspired the first single Someday? CK: I found myself making promises I knew I wasnt going to keep. Like, Dont worry, someday, sweetheart, well have time to go to Mexico, just the two of us. Or, I promise, someday there will be no interviews, no TV cameras, no Nickelback, no nothing. Just you and I. [The word] someday comes out of your mouth all the time, and it almost never happens. Its my way of apologizing. Sorry, sweetheart. VH1: When you write a song like Someday or How You Remind Me do you think, now thats a hit! CK: Ryan says its a hit. RP: I call all of our hits, and see the future & RV: He has this special hit dance. MK: Sometimes he makes it rain. RP: I get them confused sometimes. CK: [Laughs.] Not the rain dance, we want the hit dance! MK: Were like the last ones to go, Okay, it might be a hit. If it goes to No. 1 or something good like that, then thats the time when you can sort of agree with everyone saying, Thats a hit! But otherwise youve got to be humble about it and just sort of watch it develop before you decide. VH1: How do you feel when it does become a hit? CK: Its like having the best sexual experience of your life. Its like nine on the Richter scale. When a song that you write takes on this whole new life and people all over the world learn the words and sing along, its an incredible feeling. Were dying to see which of the songs people are going to sing along to the loudest. Thats their way of casting their vote. So were going to have to start chucking in almost the whole new album in order to find out whats really going to latch on. VH1: Do you prefer the road to the studio? CK: Thats a tough one. We make our records in Vancouver, so while were at the studio, we get to be at home. Youre sleeping in your own bed. The boys get to be with their families. MK: Thats hard, because when you do a good take in the studio, 20,000 people dont jump to their feet and scream, "Yes!" CK: Speak for yourself. In my mind, its a little different. MK: Lead singer. CK: Im kidding! What a f*cking dick! [Laughs.] [Watch Clip] VH1: Chad, you had a big hit with Hero. Will you and the band continue to have outside projects? CK: Right now, I think weve had our fill. Now its time to concentrate on Nickelback. Were a little busy. Those things are much more fun to do towards the end of an album cycle, when youve got a little downtime and you can focus and there arent huge tours coming up. Its nice to come back to the baby and go, I miss you! VH1: In one word, what is life like right now for Nickelback? RV: Busy. RP: Bubbly. Life for Nickelback is busy now. Its really busy now. Its what we have to do. CK: Sing! Dont sing! Sing! Dont sing! Shut up! RP: The dance part were really crappy at, but its good. VH1: Where do you see Nickelback in the future? RP: Nickelback hopefully will be around for a while. Typically, we dont look much further than three oclock today. Were always asking, What are we doing in an hour? What time are we onstage tonight? CK: We dont even take it a day at a time, we take it an hour at a time. RP: When we started this, we didnt say we were going for world domination and infiltrate every country out there. But things have been working out that way. Thats where were going to keep things. Nickelbacks very goal-oriented. MK: Can we get more cheese on that? |
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