Nickelback is sick and tired of being misunderstood
PUSSSYKATT
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NICKELBACK singer Chad Kroeger is sick and tired of being misunderstood."I want
people to know we're a rock band - not an alternative rock band, just a rock
band," the 27-year-old Canadian told The Post. "We're not trying to reinvent
the wheel - we're just putting our own spin on it. We don't have tattoos, we
don't have earrings, we don't wear makeup. We're just four guys who write and
play songs, and when we get on stage, we try to entertain you. That's what we
do."
But the success he's now enjoying was far from assured, given his rocky
childhood, which included a short stretch in a juvenile detention center for
breaking into his junior high school.
When asked what turned his life around, Kroeger paused, taking a long breath
that lasted several uncomfortable seconds.
"The thought of going to prison for 18 months turned me around," he said
quietly. "That's when I realized if I didn't change, that was what was going to
happen pretty quick."
Music became part of his transformation. Along with his brother Mike and their
high school pal Ryan Peake, he formed a cover band that would eventually evolve
into Nickelback.
Kroeger and his band have paid their dues - and now that Nickelback is camped
atop the Billboard charts with its multiplatinum album, "Silver Side Up," he
isn't about to let the achievement slip away.
Post: At the Hammerstein Ballroom last week, your show was a symphony in fire
and explosions.
Kroeger: When you're watching a concert, any concert, after a while, it doesn't
matter who's on stage. After six songs, a show starts to lose its magic. So, in
our show, when the magic starts to wear off, the fire and explosions take the
music to the next level. I want the crowd to be entertained.
Post: Is that a Spinal Tap theory?
Kroeger: No, this wasn't external at all. On our first big tour in Canada, we
sold out all of the theaters in one day, so our promoter bumped us up to a big
arena - the Skyrink Center in Edmonton. It holds 14,000 people. You can't just
go in there and play a few songs and think you're going to entertain a kid
sitting in the back 240 yards away. When you play a big hall, you have to put
on a big show, especially when they're paying $30 a ticket.
Post: Not every rocker would say that.
Kroeger: I think bands get greedy when they move up to the big venue level, and
they don't put any money back into the production.
Post: And Nickelback does?
Kroeger: I can tell you exactly how much money we made on our first big
Canadian tour - $850,000. I can also tell you exactly how much we spent -
$750,000. It's never been about the money.
Post: You've been making music since you left high school. Has the rock 'n'
roll life gotten easier over time?
Kroeger: No, it's harder. We've been on the road for nearly three years
straight. We came off the road for five weeks to record "Silver Side Up" and
then went back. It's been a long haul. I need a vacation.
Post: If I gave you six months off, how would you spend it?
Kroeger: Don't start that. That's like when you're sitting around with friends
and everybody starts talking about winning the lottery. I won the lottery and I
can't spend a dime.
Post: Why not?
Kroeger: What am I going to buy?
Post: Anything you want.
Kroeger: Why would I? I'm never going to see it. I could buy a boat, a mansion,
cars, racehorses, every toy in the world - but I can't enjoy it. I'm on the
road until late December.
Post: Sounds like you're hardly enjoying your success.
Kroeger: If you never come off the road, it's no different than a day job.
Here's my day: We do a show, then I write on the bus until 5 in the morning and
then I sleep. The next day, I hope my voice has recuperated for the next show.
Post: So much for any rock star fun.
Kroeger: It was a little more fun when I was single, dogging chicks, because
then there was a mission. Now that I have a girlfriend whom I'm very much in
love with, I don't do that anymore. But I'm happier now that I know I have
somebody who loves me.
Post: Should people look deeply into your lyrics?
Kroeger: Absolutely. But some of it is very cryptic, unless I told you, this
song is about me and a friend who got in trouble when we were both really
young. I got sent away and came back a few months later and straightened out my
act, and he didn't. He died in prison on his 18th birthday, injecting something
into his arm he thought was going to get him high.
Unless I actually told you that story, you wouldn't know that's what the song
"Where Do I Hide" is all about.
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Marc Lostracco
"PUSSSYKATT" <agcgoss...@aol.com> wrote:
> We don't have tattoos, we don't have earrings, we don't wear makeup.
Yeah, but they'se got that dern hippie hair.