{"id":32561,"date":"2014-11-23T00:37:57","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T16:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=32561"},"modified":"2014-11-22T22:41:58","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T14:41:58","slug":"kroeger-says-he-and-wife-avril-lavigne-respond-differently-to-big-birthdays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/23\/kroeger-says-he-and-wife-avril-lavigne-respond-differently-to-big-birthdays\/","title":{"rendered":"Kroeger says he and wife Avril Lavigne respond differently to big birthdays"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chad<\/a>
Chad Kroeger and Avril Lavigne at the 2013 MMVA’s (MuchMusic Video Awards) in Toronto. Brian Patterson Photos \/ Shutterstock.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014Nickelback\u2019s Chad Kroeger just turned 40, and oh, how wife Avril Lavigne likes to remind him.<\/p>\n

The spotlight-prone lovebirds actually both celebrated major birthdays just months apart\u2014the \u201cComplicated\u201d singer recently skated past 30\u2014but Kroeger says they responded very differently to their respective milestones.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife just turned 30 and she seemed to think it was a big one. I just turned 40 and didn\u2019t care at all,\u201d Kroeger told The Canadian Press on Friday with a chuckle, seated at a Toronto hotel next to guitarist Ryan Peake.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really just didn\u2019t care. I think that if you\u2019re happy where you are in life, it doesn\u2019t matter how old you\u2019re turning. I think if you\u2019re unhappy in life, each birthday you have\u2014especially the landmark ones\u2014tends to be a reminder of how much time is slipping away and you haven\u2019t accomplished or found that person or whatever it is in your life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not so bad, when you\u2019re happy. I got a great gig; I get to play music for a living. And I\u2019m married, so turning 40\u2019s no big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a twisted way, it perhaps helped that one particular person close to him has been prematurely aging him for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wife\u2019s been calling me 40\u2014the entire time I was 39 she was like, \u2018Yeah, but you\u2019re 40,\u201d\u2018 he said with a laugh. \u201cI was so numb to it. Literally, halfway through being 39 I was telling people: \u2018Well I\u2019m 40, so what difference does it make?\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n

Kroeger\u2019s indifference to age is perhaps understandable given the stubborn longevity of his monstrously successful band.<\/p>\n

Nickelback\u2014originally formed in Hanna, Alta., as a mid-90s cover outfit\u2014is eight albums and nearly 20 years old with the recent release of \u201cNo Fixed Address.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over that period of time, the hard-rockers dual-wield the distinctions of being one of the most commercially bulletproof acts in the world\u2014more than 50 million albums sold, five multi-platinum albums, six Grammy nominations and 12 Juno wins\u2014and also one of the most gleefully maligned.<\/p>\n

The slights are too many to list, but generally Nickelback has been treated as one of the mainstream\u2019s most agreed-upon scourges; the subject of spiteful petitions, protests and even politics (Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel once had to publicly clarify he wasn\u2019t a fan). Critics, of course, have heaped enough acid on the band to fuel a 1960s happening.<\/p>\n

Nickelback has been dismissed as sexist, lowbrow and panderingly bland. Those adjectives could describe any number of turn-of-the-century mainstream rock outfits, but those bands didn\u2019t achieve Nickelback\u2019s ubiquity. After all, their breakout hit\u20142001\u2019s chart-topping \u201cHow You Remind Me\u201d\u2014was radio\u2019s most-played song in the \u201800s.<\/p>\n

Lately, however, there have been subtle signs of a thaw.<\/p>\n

Last year, influential sports and culture website Grantland decried Nickelback\u2019s tenure as the world\u2019s most hated band over\u2014and unfair, given that \u201cthere are similar but much stupider groups (we) should be mocking\u201d\u2014while the New Yorker recently mused with traces of sympathy on whether the band was thriving on the hate. Spin, meanwhile, provided a list headlined \u201cFive Nickelback Songs That Don\u2019t Suck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re kind of back-handed articles,\u201d Peake pointed out. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to take it. \u2018Thank you?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not cool to like the band. I get that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has been some actual praise swimming in the mix\u2014AllMusic, for instance, called \u201cNo Fixed Address\u201d the best Nickelback record to date.<\/p>\n

But Kroeger and co., at times, seem more comfortable being loathed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody sent me something recently (headlined) \u2018Eight Reasons It\u2019s Time To Stop Hating on Nickelback,\u201d\u2018 said Kroeger with a laugh. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that all the haters and the critics know how many favours that they\u2019ve done for us. Because otherwise we would just be this just whatever band. And now we\u2019re this controversial band. Everyone\u2019s like \u2018I hate them\u2019 or \u2018I love them\u2019\u2014whatever it is, people are talking about us.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows that if you make a video and you put the word \u2018Nickelback\u2019 in it it\u2019s going to get a minimum of a million views. Every single time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it must be interesting in some way, you know. Love \u2018em or hate \u2018em. Without that, we would just be Green Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pauses a beat, then laughs heartily, with mischievous flair. Whether it\u2019s in the realm of his music or his much-scrutinized personal life, Kroeger is cheerfully defiant to such an extent it almost seems like he\u2019s actually trying to incite more criticism\u2014he\u2019s extending an invitation to derision.<\/p>\n

Trolling aside, however, the members of Nickelback every once and a while acknowledge that the attacks have extracted a certain toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me, it\u2019s not the way I pictured my career going. Let\u2019s put it that way,\u201d Peake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNope,\u201d Kroeger agreed quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is what it is and you grow a thick skin,\u201d Peake added.<\/p>\n

Although \u201cNo Fixed Address\u201d is unlikely to change the minds\u2014or catch the ears\u2014of their most ardent non-fans (there\u2019s a song titled \u201cShe Keeps Me Up,\u201d after all), it\u2019s a surprisingly diverse set that, like 2011\u2019s \u201cBe Here Now,\u201d is probably more varied than it needs to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillion Miles an Hour\u201d is the type of serpentine pile-driver that would sound right at home scoring pro wrestling highlights, but it\u2019s also lifted by pounding synths and slick electronics. The aforementioned \u201cShe Keeps Me Up\u201d funk-struts to a disco-fried beat, while keyboard-driven power ballad \u201cWhat Are You Waiting For?\u201d barely includes guitars at all, and the vaguely Latin-influenced \u201cGot Me Running Around\u201d features a guest spot from pop-rapper Flo Rida.<\/p>\n

Even Kroeger\u2019s harshest critics would concede that he knows exactly how to craft a radio-ready rock hit\u2014in fact, that\u2019s an explicit cause for much of the criticism. And given that Nickelback, with its sturdy worldwide fanbase, could thrive simply by preaching to the choir, why indulge such musical flights of fancy?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re just going to re-record the same rock song or the same mid-tempo ballad over and over and over again, that\u2019s really unfulfilling and that becomes a 9-to-5,\u201d Kroeger replied. \u201cI don\u2019t want that. That\u2019s not why we started chasing the dream in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really is this two sides of us that a lot of people just don\u2019t get.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the more famous barbs associated with Nickelback flew from the bow of Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, who once claimed in a Rolling Stone interview that \u201crock and roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, when it comes to arena-filling rock acts, Nickelback really is one of the final few standing. Kroeger notes that \u201cin Europe there are entire countries that don\u2019t have rock stations.\u201d Fans in those countries\u2014and Nickelback has fans in seemingly every country\u2014\u201cjust think we\u2019re a pop band.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, of course, they are. Kroeger is comfortable slipping between genres as a songwriter, and has penned tunes for Santana, Daughtry and Tim McGraw. Most recently, of course, he contributed to his wife\u2019s self-titled 2013 debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was brought in to co-write one song and wound up marrying her,\u201d he remembered. \u201cLittle did anyone know my true intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you allowed to co-write songs with anyone else?\u201d Peake wondered with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d Kroeger replied emphatically. \u201cNope. No, I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, did Lavigne contribute at all to Nickelback\u2019s newest?<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was just a great sounding board,\u201d he responded. \u201cRyan does the same thing with his wife. I think my wife\u2019s tougher, a tougher critic than his.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shifts into an anecdote here, about a tour to Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was writing this song called \u2018See You on the Other Side,\u2019 and I was just playing it on my acoustic guitar … and Avril\u2019s like, that song has to go on your record. … That was one where she opened the door and was like: \u2018THAT is really good.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n

He shakes his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remembered it now. Why wasn\u2019t I listening?! Why the (hell) didn\u2019t we record it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, maybe he\u2019ll find a way to include it on the next one.<\/p>\n

And oh, he promises, there will be a next one. With glee, he even muses on the idea of putting out more than one record at once, just to bait the \u201chaters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kroeger\u2019s confident because he\u2019s found that Nickelback fans are a renewable resource. On the band\u2019s most recent tour, he continually had the experience of looking out into a crowd of adolescents less than half his age.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I kind of thought, well, I\u2019m (with) Avril, and she\u2019s got like 16 million followers on Twitter, maybe there\u2019s some sort of connection,\u201d he recalled. \u201cBut it really wasn\u2019t that. We sort of came to the conclusion that it\u2019s just been longevity that\u2019s helped us accrue fans that are young now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve lasted through a generation of music already,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He curses, and it\u2019s easy to picture Nickelback\u2019s detractors doing the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoly (hell) we\u2019re old.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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