nickelBack

www.altarnative.com, August 2000

Instead of sitting back and hoping for their big break, Nickelback's Chad Kroeger went out and sought after it.

"It was extremely calculated," says the singer/guitarist of Vancouver, Canada's Nickelback. "It wasn't some flukey thing like our record wound up on a record executive's desk and they just happened to hear it and like it. Nobody gets signed like that anymore."

It took plenty of fast food and radials for the band (Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger and drummer Ryan Vikedal) to get its name across The Great White North, touring constantly for almost two years as an independent band before earning the attention of American audiences. Their first single off The State, the moody rocker "Leader of Men," has thrust the band into the spotlight. But throughout the album lie upbeat numbers ("Old Enough"), 80s-influenced aggression ("Diggin' This") and heavier tracks overall ("Deep").

Yet Kroeger says the song that has landed the band on Billboard's Top 20 mainstream rock charts is not indicative of the band's sound. "The song doesn't sound like any of the other songs we have. That's probably why we got played so much and sold as many records as we did."

Surprisingly, the Kroeger brothers (Chad and Mike) didn't rehearse together as kids. "He's be in his room playing stuff he wanted to play and I'd be in my room playing stuff I wanted to play." Part of Chad's decision to perform was his cousin Brandon Kroeger, who served as Nickelback's first drummer, later leaving to pursue non-musical interests.

The band released the seven-song demo Hesher (short for "hey, sure") in 1995, and "Curb" the year after. By that point the band had a manager, but he was fired before the release of 1998's The State because of what Kroeger describes as a lack of focus on the radio market.

The Kroger and the band took their future in their own hands. "We went Top 20 in Canada on our own, just by me calling the music directors at the different radio stations. Then my brother would call record stores and get as many record stores to carry our records. We sold 10,000 albums that way. We were an extremely independent record company ourselves. It's not that easy to do." After some wheeling and dealing the band signed to Roadrunner Records, which re-released The State. The band is preparing to shoot the video for the album's second single, "Breathe."

"We've been some busy kids," Kroeger says. "It's been great. It's like a dream come true. If the worst problem is being out on the road too much, that's a nice problem to have."