In a recent conversation with Rock Feed, Nickelback guitarist Mike Kroeger opened up about how Metallica and other rock bands shaped their vision. Watching these bands perform live as teenagers, Kroeger and his bandmates realized that success was possible with hard work.
“Back in our day when we would see these shows, it would be Metallica live, it would be Poison live, it would be Mötley Crüe live, it would be Tesla live. We were just kids sitting in the audience watching this happen going, ‘This is awesome,'” Kroeger recalled. “I think those are just guys down there, they’re just people. I think we might be able to do that too.'”
Their early inspiration came from seeing how bands went from unknowns to arena headliners. “It’s a fairly audacious plan,” he continued. “We were just like, ‘Oh yeah they’re just guys,’ especially like the Metallica guys. Watching them play and understanding that 15 years prior they were nobodies. Then we see them playing into sold-out Arenas, it’s like one of those things where you go, ‘I think this can be done. We got to get our songs together and get to work. Maybe this is something that’s possible.'”
“We were reflecting back on that because at the time, we were sitting in there watching them, we hadn’t even begun to play yet. We were reflecting on that experience of sitting in the audience watching whichever one of those bands and do the thing and realize that they just worked really hard and wrote songs to the best of their ability and practice and practice and practice and played every gig they could get their hands on and then hopefully one day it breaks through. People are inviting you to come and play instead of you just showing up and playing, ‘Hey, here we are.’ We did plenty of that, played to a lot of weight staff, played to a lot of single digit inhabited rooms,” he added.
Nickelback and Metallica: A Shared Respect
Nickelback’s admiration for Metallica hasn’t gone unnoticed. Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo has spoken positively about them, particularly praising Kroeger. “Listen, the guys in Nickelback are super cool, OK? That’s what I’m gonna say. I actually know the bass player [Mike Kroeger], and he’s awesome. I like really getting to know my bands and stuff like that, and he’s a good guy.”
Frontman Chad Kroeger has also called James Hetfield his rock god, and Nickelback once surprised fans with a cover of Metallica’s ‘Sad But True,’ earning unexpected praise. Though their musical styles differ, the respect between the two bands runs deep.
