Nickelback
- Making their own rules.
From their unusual
name to their powerful modern rock sound and captivating lyrics, Nickelback
fuels the imagination. Beyond the music, the band's story is equally
interesting. They have a do it yourself mentality that helped propel them
to the top of the charts in their native Canada. All without a record companies
backing. They learned the rules of the game and decided to play their own
hand. The result: A band that knows how to play the game successfully with
the music to back them up. Now with the support of Road Runner Records
in the US, Nickelback stands poised to take the rock world by storm.
 The
name of the band came from bassist Mike Kroeger. He was working at the
Starbucks Coffee in Vancouver. At the time coffee was selling for $2.95
to $4.95 a cup. He was so used to telling customers "Here's your nickel
back" that when the band was trying to come up with a name, the phrase
"nickel back" stuck in his head. Mike suggested calling the band Nickelback
to his brother Chad, who is the lead vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter
of the group. Chad thought the name was perfect and it stuck.
The band self produced
and distributed an EP called "Hesher" and their full-length debut, "Curb"
in Canada. To support their releases the band toured extensively
throughout the country. The real breakthrough occurred when they
released "The State" on their own record label in 1999. Aided by a law
that requires Canadian broadcasters to have 35% of their play-list consist
of homegrown artist, the first two singles from the album hit the Canadian
top 15. It must be pointed out that it wasn't only this Canadian law that
broke the single and album in Canada, but the major promotion efforts of
the band. They took on the task of calling radio programmers to get the
song added to play-list and then followed up with calls to record stores
in the stations' broadcast area to insure they had copies of "The State"
in stock.
It didn't take long
for the major record labels to the south to take notice. A bidding war
broke out and the band had to decide between the top two  contenders:
RCA and Road Runner. They finally decided on Road Runner because of the
large independent label's track record of putting everything they have
behind their artists. Road Runner is about as close as you can come to
a major label while remaining independent, and that was just what Nickelback
was looking for. Road Runner has succeeded with an impressive roster of
new metal bands like Slipknot, Coal Chamber, Soulfly and others.
With Road Runner
firmly in their corner Nickelback had the resources and enthusiasm to bring
their music to U.S. audiences. Road Runner released "The State" in America
in March and the first single quickly got major attention from modern rock
and rock radio stations across the U.S., landing "Leader of Men" in the
top 20.
Aside from radio,
Nickelback took their show on the road supporting bands like Creed, Sevendust
and 3 Doors Down. Lead vocalist Chad starts every set by asking the audience,
"Have you heard of Nickelback?" Receiving modest applause. He then states
his mission for the next 30 to 45 minutes is to make the audience remember
their name. Towards the end of the set he again questions the crowd, "Now,
how many of you know who Nickelback is?" The Audience roars their response!
Musically, Nickelback
lands on the harder side of the Modern Rock spectrum. Although, "The State"
is  quite
a bit mellower than their live performances, the music none the less crosses
over well to fans of hard rock. The first U.S. single, "Leader of
Men" shows the bands mellower side, while the second single, "Breath" will
show fans these guys know how to kick it into high gear when it hits the
airwaves this summer. "The State" is far from a one trick pony. All ten
of the albums original tracks have hit potential. Not since Pearl Jam's
"Ten" has an album had so many possible hit singles on it.
What's next?
The band spent the
month of June on tour with Creed and Sevendust. In July they returned to
the road with 3 Doors Down, who they had toured with last spring. When
we spoke to the band at the end of June they said that there was some talk
of them playing dates with Metallica, Korn and others on the Summer
Sanitarium Tour.
They have already
written most of the music for their next album and the group is anxious
to return to Canada so they can get back into the studio to record.
The bottom line.
Nickelback is the
genuine article. They have all the ingredients of a great band: talent,
musicianship and excellent songs. Their U.S. debut, "The State" proves
they have what it takes to earn the respect of fans and their music is
well worth the price of admission.
Band
Photos and Album Art Copyright© 2000 Road Runner Records and Nickelback.
All Rights Reserved by Copyright holders.
Want
more?
Order
a copy of "The State" online
Listen
to selected tracks from "The State" in Real Audio and MP3
Watch
a streaming video or "Leader of Men"
Learn
more about the band at Road Runner Records
Visit
the band's official site for the latest tour dates, news, pictures, multimedia
and more
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