nickelBack

CHART
Dec2001/Jan2002
Cover Story
Nickelback- Artist of The Year
pg. 33
by: Erik Missio
The Biggest Canadian Band in America
Nickelback- Artist of the Year

It's a chilly night in Portlan, Oregon but the rock fans (from giddy Britneys cell phoning their parents to wizened 50-somethings nursing their beers) are out in force. Hometown heroes Everclear are headlining the show tonight, but their top billing is more a formality than anything else. The buzz in the crowd gives you an indication of who the people are really here to see.

And from the second they take the stage until about 20 minutes after they leave it, Nickelback own the good people of Portland. Frontman Chad Kroeger, white cowboy hat and all, leads the way through a myriad of recognizable radio hits and crowd pleasers. His brother, bassist Mike works the crowd with confidence, while Ryan Peake rocks out stage right, playing his guitar like this is is one and only shot and greatness. All the while, Ryan "Nik" Vikedal pounds the skins, a jazz enthusiast rocking out in a country-western-inspired shirt.

gthe 'Back have gained a reputation for being a live band first and foremost and tonight they're owning up to the hype. "Where Do I Hide?" gets elevated by an impromptu jame session, "Worthy To Say" is transformed into a funky-as-all-hell masterpiece and "Leader of Men" (and every other song, for that matter) becomes a campfire singalong. Throughout the show, the band lovingly hurls water bottles at the crowd in the same way an opera diva blows kisses to her followers....

THE SPIRIT OF THE RADIO
Less than an hour before they're due to take the stage, Mike Kroeger is sitting in his dressing room, dealing with some uncomfortable stats regarding the band's current single, "How You Remind Me"- a song that's been played on American rock radio more times than any other song in history.
"In the US, a radio station starts playing it every 3.2 minutes. I can't deal with that," Mike says, shaking his head in disbelief. Somewhere in America, right as these words are being written, Chad Kroeger is screaming out, "Are we having fun yet?"

"Surprisingly, we've been getting a lot of guys who've been saying that they relate to [the song]," Chad says. "We thought we'd get that from a female audience, but we've got male fans who'd typically be into Slipknot- and we know this for a fact because an extreme rock station in Boston wouldn't play the song because it didn't fit into their core audience [until fans forced them to]. It went to #1 in two weeks."
In most markets, the album did too. Released in September, the band's Silver Side Up debuted at #1 on canada's Soundscan charts. Since then, it's come close to achieving double platinum status in the US and triple platinum status in Canada. In fact, Chad can't go into bars without being recognized (thought, as Mike gleefully points out, people tend not to notice bassists in public).

Eventually, though, with overexposure comes backlash. Thankfully, the band has already selected the album's second single, lest people get sick of their sound. Up next is "Too Bad," a riff-rocker that explores Chad's childhood relationship with his estranged father.

"We're very excited to get to the new single because of all the feedback we've been getting," he explains with a tone that suggests that maybe- just maybe- even the band's frontman is getting tired of hearing the same song on the radio all the time. But if "Too Bad" fails to come close to the unexpected triumph of its predecessor, are people going to start writing off the band as nothing more than a passing fad, a one-hit nu grunge wonder in the wake of Kurt and Eddie?

BIGGER IS BETTER
Quite simply, at this very second, nickelback is the biggest thing in American rock. From a commercial standpoint, there is no other Canadian rock artist that has accomplished what they have over the last 12 months. But while detractors cry "Derivative!" and eagerly anticipate the band's destruction, the boys in Nickelback aren't flinching. It's clear by their faces when the subject turns to how they deal with accusations of creatve redundancy, that they've heard it all before.

"I hate having to justify it. We've had people say, 'Are you influenced by Creed?' or claim that we're the same as 3DD and [that all of these bands] are all happening as some sort of movement," shrugs Peake. "We've been doing this for so long and we've been kicked in the teeth for so long because this just happens to be the type of music we like to play."

Guitar-driven rock has been what the band has played since their formation a half-decade ago. Their current success isn't some sort of carefully calculated marketing plan to unleash the right sound at the right time, it's what they've always aspired to be since their early days in Hanna, Alberta. And although the band now calls Vancouver home (finding major radio airplay in a small Albertan town was rather difficult), it was in Hanna that they were born, competing with the other struggling bands that stole each other's musicians and took turns playing in the local bars.

"I don't know if there's such a strong music scene there any more, but when we were growing up it was cool," Chad says. "When you were done riding your skateboard, free-styling on your bike or what not, you'd just pick up an instrument and play."

But eventually you'd want to play that instrument in front of larger crowds. In 1995, Peake and Chad borrowed some cash and trekked down to Vancouver to hook up with Mike, who had becun his own musical exodus earlier. There, with Kroeger-cousin Brandon on drumes, Hanna's barbarians became Nickelback, releasing a debut indie EP, Hesher, and a full-length album, Curb, later that same year. Vikedal stepped in as the band continued to gain some serious support from Vancouver rock station CFOX and cultivated a grassroots fan base. Eventually scrounging up enough cash to put out 1998's The State, the band sold a staggering 10,000 copies without a record label or management. Instead, they embraced a DIY ethic and kept track of the radio exposure they were getting in each city they traveled through, often pimping their wares to various record shop owners and DJs themselves. On their own, Nickelback succeeded where many big shot record labels and management-types fail: they were able to rise above their peers and gain national attention in Canada. Then they achieved one better and conquered America.

Dopo aver cantato con l'EMI Canada e la RoadRunner Records negli US, la band ha realizzato nuovamente The State and proceeded to tour the hell out of the US, playing some 200 shows last year alone. Unlike other Canuck acts who've tried to make it big in the States and failed miserably, Nickelback struck a chord with the American markets. Some claimed it's because they "sound" American- a vague suggestion that the band still tends to endorse. In any case, along the way, Nickelback started to become friends with the very bands that critics drew comparisons to: Creed, Staind, incubus, and others. These were artists without any sort of airs or pretensions about them, these were bands that were first and foremost about the music.

"It's cool to have worked with Big Sugar and all those bands [while in Canada], but when we first ran into 3DD in Milwaukee it was something totally different from anything that we ever experienced," Vikedal relates. "It opened our eyes... They were just so respectful to us and we had such a good time touring together. That had never happened before. [Until that point] it was always, 'Yeah, you guys can't have this dressing room,' but with them we were equals, friends."

"Le altre band possono anche dire cazzate sul nostro conto" continua "Noi sappiamo chi ci rispetta e chi rispettare".

BACK TO THE FUTURE
Although it might be hard to top a year that saw the success of The State and the unprecedented supernova of Silver Side Up, Nickelback intend to keep busy in 2002. Having just returned from the Land Down Under, the band are currently finishing up a US tour before returning to headline shows in their home and native land after Christmas. And, after all these years of touring, the group are starting to find sutble, intricate nuances in the cultural differences between nations.

"When Aussie fans and Canadian fans are having a good time, they don't give you the finger," Mike says. "[In the US], the better time you're having, the more middle fingers you're going to see."

"It's a Slipknot thing," his brother offers.

"No, it's a Limp Bizkit thing. It's all Fred Durst asking fans to give him the middle finger," he replies with a sigh. "Okkaaaayy... If that's what having a good time is all about, then give us the finger. You don't see that in Canada or Australia, though."

Endearing finger alutes aside, what's not immediately clear is whether Default, the Vancouver band mentored by Nickelback, will be joining them on the road.

"I hope these guys do well," says Peake. "They're growing down here... It's not that we're some big, huge band and we like sitting back and watching the baby bands grow. It's just that they're really cool guys and it's great to watch them progress."

Default won't be the band's only proteges in the coming months, though. Chad lets slip that he's set up a production studio and is looking to land a distribution deal, although he remains tight-lipped on whether he already has some acts in mind. Still, it's a safe bet that the band will be bombarded with even more demo tapes from hopeful would-be rock stars in the future. After all, Nickelback have already realized what almost every kid with a guitar and a garage thirsts for: in many ways they're the manifestation of the Great Canadian Rock'n'Roll Dream. They are, after all, the first Canuck band to claim US rock radio since the Guess Who's "American Woman," some 30 years ago.

Is it hard to be so successful so fast? To feel this much pressure?

"I don't have a clue. We're kind of busy right now, doing all this touring," Peake says. "We've got our heads down and we're working hard. We just want to see how far we can take this."