nickelBack

Rock Climbers
by Alan Paul

Growing up in Hanna, a tiny, isolated farming town in the Canadian province of Alberta, the members of Nickelback were a good three-hour drive from anything resembling a city. Worse, they had but one selection on their radio dial: an AM station that broadcast country by day and church services by night. Maybe that’s why they  picked up instruments and began making music themselves.

“There wasn’t much else to do in Hanna except play music or get into trouble,” says Chad Kroeger, the group’s singer and guitarist. “I did plenty of both.”

Nickelback formed five years ago, after Kroeger, his bass-playing brother Mike and lead guitarist Ryan Peake moved to Vancouver. They started out as a cover band, but once Chad began writing more material, the trio quickly developed its own sound, drawing a wide range of influences into its straight-forward rock.

“I come up with the skeleton for the song, then everybody else throws their own spice into the spaghetti sauce,” says Kroeger. “And they add a lot, because everyone has very different tastes. Mike is a metal guy, Ryan Peake is Mr. Melodic, and our drummer is into jazz.”

The result is the punchy, crunchy swagger of The State (Roadrunner), the Canadian quartet’s American debut. Thanks to the singles “Breathe” and “Leader of Men,” as well as touring spots with groups that include Creed and Sevendust, Nickelback has begun the long process of making a name for itself.

“We’re just trying to get a foothold in America so we can start climbing,” says Kroeger. “We’ve been doing this five years and have a good handle on it. Most of our songs have a nice rolling groove that gets the head nodding. We’re not reinventing the wheel. We are a rock band writing songs that can stick in people’s heads. That’s the goal.” —Alan Paul