STACK NZ Dec #58

MUSIC

FEATURE

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capital. For every dollar raised, he would email the band asking them not to visit. He got 60 backers and raised $339 – hardly the edge of an anti-Nickelback revolution (he claims on the campaign website that he donated the money to charity, and that it was not for personal gain). The band, if not quite seeing the funny side, do admit the constant attention keeps their name in the media. In October, after news of the Mandell campaign reached the band, Chad Kroeger ruefully admitted that, “if [the critics] had stopped writing all this stuff about us, there would be no controversy . . . and we probably would have died out years ago. They don’t know that they’re still responsible for us being around today.” The aptly titled No Fixed Address was recorded in several different locations over 2013 and 2014. Mike Kroeger lives in Maui, Hawaii, and several sessions took place there. Brother Chad was based in Los Angeles at various times in the last year, so some recording took place there as well. The band also recorded in Vancouver, and at several European locations while they were on tour. So, the album is literally and figuratively all over the map. While that explains the splash of styles across the album – from the electronic experimentation of the opener Million Miles an Hour to the funk of Got Me Running Around (featuring Flo

Nickelback return with a new album, No FixedAddress

T o this day, The Beatles have sold more records in America than any other band not originally from those shores. But, who’s second? Led Zeppelin? Pink Floyd? AC/ DC? … um, Adele? Nope, none of the above. The answer? It’s not from Europe or Australia, but closer to the USA. The second biggest non-American selling band in American recording industry history

marriage to pop star Avril Lavigne, and arrives just in time for him to turn 40. And while there’s growly vocals, big-as-a-house power chords, and plenty of lighter-waving rock choruses on offer, there are some new directions afoot in the world of Nickelback, no doubt about it. While Nickelback fans will swoop on the new

Rida), there’s another element in No Fixed Address that might raise some eyebrows – humour. For example, the southern delta blues-fuelled Get ‘Em Up is tells the story of a bank robbery gone very wrong – disastrously, absurdly, utterly wrong. The other thing about Nickelback is that, despite not quite being ‘elder statesmen’, they are travelling toward

There’s a moment in Million Miles an Hour and my son goes, ‘did he just say ‘trippin’ balls’? I was like, ‘Yeah your Uncle just said ‘trippin’ balls’ – right there

just hopped over the border and got amongst it – no, it’s not Bryan Adams... it’s Nickelback. Yep, the Canadian poster boys of post-grunge arena rock – loved and hated in equal measure – broke America wide open some time ago. No matter what anyone thinks of them, the facts

remain: nine Grammy Award nominations, three American Music Awards, a World Music Award, a People’s Choice Award, and 12 Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammies). Nickelback was formed in the early ’90s, initially as a cover band called The Village Idiots. The nucleus of the band was Chad Kroeger and his brothers Mike and Brandon, who shared a mutual love of Led Zeppelin and Metallica. They re-named themselves Nickelback when they released their Hesher EP, the name coming from Mike Kroeger’s job at Starbucks where he was often heard to say, “here’s your nickel back” when giving customers their change. The band’s new album, No Fixed Address , comes over a year after Chad Kroeger’s

album, it’s hard to ignore the jibes that have been levelled at the band, sometimes from fellow musicians. When Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney attacked them in 2012 – telling Rolling Stone that “rock ’n’ roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world” – the band simply tweeted a ‘thanks’. Despite its apparent voraciousness, Nickelback laugh off the vitriol; in their world it seems any publicity is good publicity. In any case, much of the derision aimed at Nickelback is inevitably amplified by social media. Recently, a London resident named Craig Mandell tried to crowd-fund an anti-Nickelback campaign to keep them out of the English

a certain maturity. Chad Kroeger just turned 40 and got married, and brother Mike admits he’s had some funny moments playing the band’s music to his kids. “I get some honest feedback.” He said, speaking to Loudwire.com, “there’s a moment in Million Miles an Hour and my son – he stops the track – and goes, ‘did he just say ‘trippin’ balls’? I was like, ‘yeah son. Your uncle just said ‘trippin’ balls’, right there.’”

No Fixed Address by Nickelback is available now

DECEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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