Nickelback releases first singles off new CD

Canadian rock band switches up style on new album

9/22/2011
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — If Nickelback’s upcoming album sounds like the band is suffering from multiple personality disorder, frontman Chad Kroeger says that’s by design.

“When you listen to this record, it sounds like it could be from four different artists,” Kroeger said in a phone interview on Thursday. “We always try and do the same thing: We try to do something heavier than we’ve ever done, more melodic than we’ve ever done, every single time we do this, and I think we’ve achieved it again.”

Nickelback’s seventh album, “Here and Now,” is due out Nov. 21. The first two singles, “When We Stand Together” and “Bottoms Up,” will debut digitally on the band’s website on Thursday at 7 p.m. EDT; the songs will be available at online retailers on Monday, the same day the album will be available to pre-order on iTunes.

The multiplatinum, Canadian-based act is known for hits like “You Remind Me” and “Photograph.” But while Kroeger says there is stuff on the album that’s “very Nickelback,” there are some songs will surprise their fans.

“I think we’ve tried new things and explored new ideas, and I like it when people hear the songs and people say, ‘This doesn’t sound like Nickelback, this sounds like something different for you guys,’” he said.

Nickelback’s last album, the triple platinum “Dark Horse,” was released in 2008, and the band went on tour for about two years to support it. Kroeger said he spent the last year decompressing: “I spent a lot of time in Mexico and I kind of cut loose for a few months there and went a little nuts, blowing off steam.”

Kroeger spent much of Thursday in the studio; the band is still finishing the record. It comes out the same day his friend and collaborator Chris Daughtry’s band, Daughtry, releases their new album.

Kroeger says there’s no competition between the two, though.

“I want them to do very well, I hope they come out and beat everybody, so that way we can tour together and have a very successful tour,” he said.