On the latest episode of Electric Playground, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger discusses his love of the video game Fable. So we thought we’d take a look at the life and times of Mr. Kroeger and his band Nickleback, the biggest hard rock band to come out of Canada since Rush.

According to www.Nickleback.com, brothers Chad and Mike Kroeger formed the band in Alberta in 1996 with their cousin Brandon (who is no longer with the band) and pal Ryan Peake. As a kid, Chad sold soccer magazines and spent two months in juvenile hall for getting in a fight at school at 14. By his teens he had taken up the guitar and started penning songs. Soon he was jamming with his brother and they formed the band. Chad wrote lyrics and hammered out the guitar riffs, while the rest of the band helmed the music.

“I come up with the riff, the main structure of the song,” Chad once told www.rocknworld.com. “I come up with the melody, I write the lyrics and then I bring it to the guys and they throw their spice into the spaghetti sauce and what you hear is what you get. 

The name Nickelback came from Mike’s experience as cashier at Starbucks. Customers would pay $1.50 for a coffee that costs $1.45 and he’d always have to give them "a nickel back."

By ’97 the guys had recorded a seven-song demo titled Hesher and started playing live shows. They released their indie debut album, Curb, months later and supported it with and endless stream of live shows. During this time, they went through a slew of drummers before settling on Ryan Vikedal.

In 1999, Nickelback issued their sophomore effort, The State, which was distributed by EMI in Canada and released in the U.S. the next year. They scored a Top 20 hit with the song “Leader of Men,” and soon had a gold album under their belt. The band signed with Roadrunner Records, who released their third album, Silver Side Up, which became their breakthrough smash. The first single, “How You Remind Me,” became a huge hit across North America and made it to #1 on both the U.S. and Canadian rock charts and went on to rack up four Grammy Award nominations, four Billboard Awards, four Juno awards, and numerous radio accreditations. Two #1 Rock singles followed, "Too Bad" and "Never Again." The album went on to sell over nine million copies to date worldwide and achieved Gold, Platinum, or multi-Platinum status in the U.S. (5x Platinum), UK (3x platinum) the band's native Canada (8x platinum), Australia (2x Platinum), Germany (Platinum), Holland (Platinum), and ten other territories worldwide. They was named #1 Most Played Rock Artist of 2002 Across All Radio Formats. Not shabby for a coupla kids out of Canada, eh?

And what was the secret of their success? Well, Chad’s lyrics, for one.

"One thing Nickelback loves to do is sing about topics that most bands don't like to sing about,” Chad once told www.VH1.com. “Most bands like to sing about love or normal song material kinds of things, and we like to sort of address issues. And that feels good. When someone identifies with something you are singing about in a song, besides just clichés, that feels great."

In 2002, Chad teamed up with long-time business associate and friend Jonathan Simkin to launch their own record label, 604 Records. Chad had experience helping out new bands, as he co-wrote and produced many of the songs on Default's debut album, The Fallout, and gave the band the opening slot on most of Nickelback's North American tour that year. 

In 2003, after contributing to Santana’s Shaman album and the Spider-Man soundtrack, Nickelback released The Long Road, which they self-produced at Greenhouse studios and Chad's home studio both in Vancouver. 

"It was great that the four of us had to be our own referees and work together to make the record we really wanted to make," Chad told www.nickleback.com. "There was no one looking over our shoulder and we never felt inhibited.  We wouldn't have had it any other way."

"I think we all feel like we've already captured the brass ring and accomplished more than we could have ever hoped for when we were first starting out," Chad continued. 

"We're just doing what we do the best way we know how,” Mike Kroeger added. “We don't concern ourselves with what everyone else is doing.  We're just interested in making rock-solid and honest Nickelback records."

But after making four back-to-back “rock-solid and honest Nickelback records,” it’s time for a well-deserved break, something Chad has been looking forward to for a long time.

"Right now, I'm really interested in enjoying where I'm at in life,” Chad told www.MTVNews.com earlier this year. “I don't ever want to look back on this and go, 'Geez, when I was 29 and we were having such a ball, why didn't I just take off to some island somewhere and grow a beard and lay low?' I'm having a blast right now touring and making music, and I don't ever want to be standing onstage going, 'God, I hate this f**ing song. What am I doing here?'"
 
Amen, brother!