WRIF Virtual Rock Room with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger
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00:00Thank you so much for watching Riff TV. Now, this interview is obviously with video, but I don't interview everybody on Zoom.
00:07That's why I put it on my Talkin' Rock with Meltdown podcast. We talk to rock artists from all over the genre.
00:13So check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown wherever you get your podcasts. And now, to today's video interview.
00:21Hey, Chad, how you doing, man? Good to see you.
00:23What's going on? How are you, buddy?
00:24Good. I'm going to drop some names here for you real fast. My friend John Five says hello, and he says you're the best.
00:31And I asked him about the birthday party. You saw him at Tommy Lee's birthday, right?
00:35Yeah, we all got to go down to this spot that Tommy's got this love for. It's about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta.
00:45It's called Punta Mita, and there was tons of us there.
00:48It's really strange, though, being a friend with Tommy, and then Nicky shows up, and so there's Tommy and Nicky there.
00:59And, like, the 13-year-old fanboy in me, I'm just trying to suppress that. Just push it down. Push it down.
01:09Don't fan out, dude. Don't.
01:10I'm in the same boat. You know, I've been doing this for 32 years. Every once in a while, you talk to someone, you're like, man, I used to listen to them in high school, or whatever the case is.
01:19Oh, yeah.
01:20Yeah, it's a lot of fun, but John Five, I mean, do you know a guitar player better than that guy?
01:24John's incredible. He brought his guitar out one night, and we stayed, because we were there for, I think we were there for, like, five days.
01:32Wow.
01:32So, on one of the nights, John brought a guitar out, and a lot of people were heading to bed, and it was just, like, John and Tommy, myself.
01:42I think Deadmau5 might have stayed up with us that night as well.
01:45And John just played, because now I'm allowed to say that he's going to be filling in for Mick for the rest of the tour.
01:54And so, he just sat there and played every single Motley Crue riff that's ever been written and recorded.
02:04Flawlessly. Flawlessly.
02:06And, like, you don't need to put on music when you've got that kind of talent just sitting right there.
02:12I mean, he was just running the gamut, and it was fantastic.
02:16Yeah, he's so good.
02:17Well, let's get and talk to you guys.
02:18Let's talk about your band right now.
02:20Get Rolling comes out November 18th, which is next week.
02:23I mean, really, what the world needs right now is a new Nickelback record, right?
02:28That's what the internet keeps saying.
02:30I keep hearing this.
02:32We're just trying to oblige.
02:35Yeah, no, it's been fantastic.
02:37You know, new record.
02:39We haven't done anything in five years.
02:41We just kind of, well, I mean, the world had the giant pause button pushed on it.
02:47And so we thought it was a good time to get in and get creative and turn a negative into a positive.
02:53Yeah, so I've had a chance to listen to the record quite a few times, and some of the stuff that sticks out to me.
02:58First of all, I want to ask you about two songs, Just One More, and just heaven even know.
03:02What are those songs about?
03:04Are they about a particular person or just?
03:06Yeah, just one more.
03:11This one, it gets a little dark, but I'll keep it quick so we can stay light and bright.
03:17My cousin had a miscarriage.
03:22She was very far along, and so much so that they had a funeral service for the unborn baby.
03:30And it really affected me, and I just couldn't imagine what she was going through.
03:38And so that's where the line, tell me, Lord, have you got room for just one more, comes from.
03:46And what was the other song that you were asking about?
03:47I just haven't even know.
03:49Just haven't even know.
03:50So that one was sitting in the vault for a while.
03:52I wanted to make sure that that song was going to stand on its own two legs and stand out on a record.
03:58So it seemed like for the longest time, we kept coming up with these records, and we had something similar to that every single time.
04:09And I didn't want to put two of them on a record, because I like our records to be balanced.
04:12I like a little bit of everything on there.
04:14And so this time, we came around.
04:16I'm like, okay, we're finally going to record this tune.
04:18And there's a movie from the 80s where an actual angel falls into some guy's backyard.
04:28And I don't know why it sticks with me, but I was just thought, like, that just was always in the back of my head.
04:35And so the whole, you know, obviously it's a metaphor, but does heaven even know you're missing?
04:38Sounds like a bumper sticker.
04:40But it's truly about just loving someone so much and saying that they're so perfect that they must be from heaven kind of thing.
04:46Now, a couple other songs I wanted to ask you about.
04:48Vegas Bomb, I mean, that's just a fun song.
04:50High Times, that's just a fun song as well.
04:53But my favorite song of the record, can you take a guess?
04:55I'm going to say Skinny Little Missy.
04:57No, Steel Still Rush.
04:58But Skinny Little Missy is good, but Steel Still Rush, man.
05:01What a great melody.
05:02What a great hook.
05:03And I didn't know if anyone else had brought that up to you.
05:06That one doesn't come up in a lot of interviews.
05:08That one is about, so the very first time that we needed a bodyguard or that someone told me I needed a bodyguard,
05:16How You Remind Me goes through the roof and suddenly we're going to be playing all these arenas
05:19and there's all these trucks and buses that are, you know, outside the venue.
05:22And here we go and there's a world tour.
05:25And I'm like, who's this guy?
05:26And it's like, that's your new shadow.
05:29He goes everywhere you go.
05:32It's like, okay.
05:33But we just became fast friends and, you know, 20 years later, all the stories that he told me,
05:40because he fought in so many, he's fought in so many places all over the world.
05:44He's a Marine.
05:46And the stuff that he would tell me would just, it's just shocking.
05:51It is, it's very shocking.
05:52I'm glad, I'm glad someone else goes to war for us, you know, and we get to, to sit back and, and just come up with music.
06:01And so that one's, I'm not sure if you caught that within the lyrical content, but that's, that's what that song is about.
06:07Yeah.
06:08I, you know, Kit Rock's a friend and he hires a lot of ex-military guys to do the same thing.
06:13As you, as you probably well know.
06:15So, yeah, I mean, those, those guys, you know, they come out of wherever they're at, you know, Iraq, Afghanistan, you know, any, any of these places.
06:28And they're, they're looking for work and they're, they, they don't crack under pressure.
06:33Right.
06:34There's not a lot that phases them.
06:37If you can get shot at, you can, you can handle a bar fight.
06:41Yeah.
06:42Screaming girls.
06:42Right.
06:43Yeah.
06:43Speaking of a skinny little Missy, somebody brought this up to me on the internet when I was, when I was looking for, you know, to see what, what people wanted me to talk to you about.
06:50Have your lyrics kind of changed a little bit with the times, you know, obviously we're in different times than when the first record came out.
06:57And, you know, with songs like animals and different things like that, do you ever think about the times we're in now, as far as your lyrics are concerned?
07:02Well, I just, I think just because I'm a little bit older now, like there's, there's certain stuff that it would just be sort of silly for me to say, you know, back when I started off a song with, I like your pants around your feet, you know, that was a different time.
07:20That was a different Chad, a different era, you know, like when we recorded, you look so much cuter with something in your mouth.
07:27I mean, these songs, I think these, that you guys play these songs on the radio, I think is hilarious.
07:34And that anybody thinks that we take this band seriously, I think it's hilarious because we're just four goofballs and we're just sitting there going, can you imagine if they play this on the radio and then you guys play it on the radio?
07:45Um, but yeah, you know, it's, I think it's, it's, it's a little tough for, uh, Ryan P. Cause he's got a daughter.
07:55Um, I think there was a stage where his daughter was probably like 10, 11, 12, right in there.
08:02And I would look over at him and I'd get him to start, you know, um, songs.
08:07I'd get him to say the first line and get him to say, you know, I like your pants around your feet.
08:12Then he would change it up and just, just to, you know, just to mess with me.
08:16He'd be like, I like your feet around your pants.
08:19Just do that kind of crap.
08:21So, you know, the whole crowd starts laughing because he doesn't want to say it.
08:24He doesn't want to say his daughter's there.
08:25And it's like, well, last time I saw you guys, you're like, Hey, why don't you hang out and party with us here in Detroit?
08:30We've got another guy day off.
08:31And I'm like, yeah, that's 16 year old girl and her friend that was just here.
08:34That's my daughter and her friend.
08:35And you're like, yeah, you're screwed.
08:38Yeah.
08:39No, you got it.
08:40You know, there's that's the, that's the dad moment.
08:43Um, we're seeing a lot of that too.
08:44It's great that we, that so many parents are bringing these, uh, these teenagers to the show now.
08:50And, and, and they're the, the teenagers are fans, you know, cause they grew up on, on, on the music.
08:55Um, yes, we're old.
08:59Yeah.
08:59Join the club.
09:00You know, speaking of Detroit, I asked your brother about this last time I talked to him and I thought this was hysterical.
09:05Of course, when you guys played here on the Thanksgiving day in the lions game, speaking of not taking yourself seriously, that funny or die video was just like, I mean, that's, that's classic.
09:14Even today.
09:14What can we name everybody?
09:18Okay.
09:18I was Robocop.
09:20Um, one of those Alice Cooper, Tom Selleck, I think, right?
09:23Is that Tom Selleck, Alice Cooper and Dave Coulier.
09:28Oh, that's right.
09:29My friend cooler.
09:30For the wind.
09:31Yeah, that's right.
09:33Cut it out.
09:34Hold that out of nowhere.
09:35Yeah.
09:35Um, yeah, that was, uh, yeah, that's, that, that's the level of, you know, to which this band takes themselves serious.
09:44Now we're four goofballs and trying to get us to do anything serious.
09:49And it's, it's weird.
09:50You know, I think that there's been some misrepresentation of this band over the years because, you know, we'll be in a photo session and we're doing this photo shoot and we're just goofing off.
10:01And you've got all these candid shots and we're laughing and just like, you know, cry laughing and, and just getting all these great shots.
10:08And then right at the end, it's always the same thing.
10:10All right, guys, give me a little bit of attitude.
10:12And so we all do that thing and we all kind of stand there and do one of these.
10:15And then they, and that's the picture that gets used every single time.
10:20It's like, look at these douchebags, these douchebags taking themselves so seriously.
10:25And it's such an, just a terrible misrepresentation of the band.
10:29Yeah. You know, I, I know you guys don't take yourselves that seriously.
10:32And I, I love the band, you know, and it's like, uh, I'm always championing guys for, uh, right here in Detroit.
10:37Speaking of other Canadian bands, uh, Tyler Dean and Dave from, uh, theory of a dead man.
10:42Say what's up.
10:43Uh, they wanted me to ask you about a hockey team that came into the recordings to the first album you guys did.
10:48Apparently someone threw up in the bushes and everything, huh?
10:51Well, so we were here.
10:54Yeah. So we, I had them recording at a studio called greenhouse.
10:58Um, and I actually, I actually bought the, the, all the gear from that studio.
11:03Cause that, that studio, the board, um, the SSL was originally the board from little mountain and that little mountain with Bob rock recorded, you know, a ton of the Motley stuff.
11:16Um, two Aerosmith records, like just so many legendary, um, what else was done on there?
11:24Um, uh, slippery when wet.
11:27Yeah. That's in Vancouver, right?
11:28Yeah.
11:29Yeah.
11:29So I actually want to buy in that studio and it doesn't exist anymore, but I know he's going this, this story.
11:34Okay. So the Carolina hurricanes, that's right.
11:41Uh, we're in town and we were down at this, this bar that every, like it's, it's just always full of hockey players.
11:49Like after every game, both teams, uh, go to the, to the Roxy and, um, there must've been six or seven of the guys.
11:59And I, uh, I said, Hey, let's, uh, why don't you guys come back to the studio?
12:04We'll play you guys all this new stuff we're working on.
12:06And they're like, yeah, absolutely.
12:08I made them ride in the back of the truck.
12:12Um, and then we got to the studio and, and then I started, um, I'm, I'm, I'm not bad at chugging beer.
12:21Um, and, and doing a little, so if you've got like a Corona or any glass bottle of do, you know, just top to bottom, just as fast as you can.
12:29So I start just goading these guys into like drinking more and more and more and more.
12:36And they've got a game the next day.
12:38And so, uh, they got their asses handed to them by Vancouver and I'm taking the assist on that one because I was hungover.
12:46I was so incredibly hungover, but I knew that they were skating guilty the next day for sure.
12:52Apparently it was seven, nothing from what I hear.
12:55It was, it wasn't good.
12:56I can tell you that.
12:58All right.
12:58Two more things here for you.
12:59Then we'll cut you loose.
12:59I know I got a bunch of interviews.
13:00Uh, I know you were friends with a diamond VP.
13:03Are you going to go see this, uh, this Pantera reunion, whatever they're calling it.
13:08Yep.
13:08Yeah.
13:09I'm absolutely going to go.
13:10I want to, I want to see him, you know, uh, Charlie Benetti is a good friend of mine.
13:15Uh, Zach's a friend of mine.
13:17I, you know, I want to, I want to see these guys play.
13:19I actually, I don't know Phil.
13:20I've never met Phil.
13:21Um, I was really close with, uh, with diamond and Vinny.
13:24Um, but selfishly I would like to see those songs performed.
13:31You know, I want to see them performed live.
13:33I know that while, um, Vinny was alive, he had no interest in doing it.
13:40He wasn't interested at all.
13:42Um, and that's fine.
13:44You know, that's, that's absolutely fine.
13:45But, uh, you know, when they come to town, uh, I'm, I'm going to go see the show.
13:50You know, I want to go, uh, I want to go scream along to some of these songs.
13:53And, and that's, and again, it's just me being purely selfish.
13:56I want to hear the tunes.
13:58Yeah.
13:58Vinny, I knew Vinny pretty well.
14:00And we bonded over our love of hockey and he never, he never really talked to me about
14:04wanting to play, uh, with those guys again, but you know, that's, that's the way it goes.
14:08Hey, speaking of hockey, a final thing here for you, Stanley cup predictions were early
14:11in the season.
14:12What are you thinking?
14:13Uh, it's looking like the avalanche might be trying to make another run for this one here.
14:20So, um, are we doing, am I, am I betting with my heart or am I betting with my wallet here?
14:26What are we doing?
14:27Uh, I know that, uh, and my brother, Mike has always been the biggest, um, Red Wing fan,
14:36you know, that, that lives outside of the Detroit, the greater Detroit area.
14:41Um, so if I'm betting with, uh, my wallet, I think I'm going to have to go avalanche on this
14:49one.
14:49Yeah.
14:50That's a good pick.
14:50You know, I just played hockey yesterday for the first time with, uh, Brendan Morrison.
14:54How is he?
14:55He's great.
14:55He, uh, you know, I told him I was gonna be talking.
14:57He was, Oh yeah.
14:57He's got this big old house and stuff, you know?
14:59I'm like, yeah, okay, cool.
15:00You're supposed to be on your boat or something the other day where we're supposed to talk,
15:03but yeah, I never met him before.
15:04And he was awesome to play with.
15:06That's yeah.
15:07I mean, those guys, 20 years, 30 years after these guys retire, uh, they get on the ice and
15:15if they don't want you to touch the puck, you don't get to touch the puck.
15:17It's something, it's really something.
15:22No question about it.
15:23Well, I'll tell you what, Chad, it's always a great talk with you guys.
15:25Get rolling comes out on November 18th.
15:28And like I said, the world needs now is a new Nickelback record.
15:31So it's, uh, the record's really solid, by the way, uh, really cool stuff.
15:36Thank you, man.
15:37Thank you for taking the time today.
15:38I really appreciate it.
15:39Thanks for the reschedule.
15:40Uh, I, I really appreciate it.
15:42We Detroit has always been good to us.
15:43You guys in particular have always been so good to this band.
15:48Um, we, we love you.
15:50We are going to come back to Detroit every single tour we can and, and show you guys as
15:54much love and try and reciprocate.
15:56So thank you so much, my man.