INTERVIEW: Mike Kroeger Says Nickelback Took Their Time + Relaxed With New Album

On Tuesday (July 28), Nickelback founding member and bassist Mike Kroeger joined Loudwire Nights to celebrate the band's latest song, "Rattle the Cage," and upcoming album, Everything Under the Sun.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

"The genesis of this thing was to kind of relax and take our time getting to it and getting it done," Kroeger shared about the album with Kat Mykals, host of the weekend edition of Loudwire Nights.

"You could say we took an extra year between albums. We just kind of wanted to leave some space. We found that we had a pretty good result of that during COVID, we went away for a little while and our people reacted really well to a little bit of a reduced diet of us."

Kroeger said when Nickelback "came back," their fans were fired up.

"We didn't do anything in a particular hurry," he explained about Everything Under the Sun.

"We just didn't feel as urgent about getting it done as maybe we have in the past. It's been a cycle, really tight for us. We make a record, go on the road, immediately as soon as we get off the road, get in the studio ... This time was a little bit different and more of a relaxed pace. Just trying to do the best work we can and not so concerned with hitting timelines."

The first taste of the new record is "Rattle the Cage," an explosive song that Kroeger is excited to finally have out in the world.

"There is a history to this track, it's been sort of a demo idea on a hard drive for a really long time," he said.

"I should have checked to see how many albums we actually brought up that track and then just decided to not make it into a song. It's been a long time, sometimes that happens where you have stuff put aside, ideas put aside and their time just isn't now. This one kind of didn't want to grow up for a few records. And now it does. And it did. And now it's become 'Rattle the Cage.'"

Though the song has been around for awhile, part of the newness of its sound is thanks to the partnership with guitarist John 5 on the track.

"Chad [Kroeger] í a really skilled guitar player and he's really perceived as being a really accomplished guitar player amongst other sort of guitar-specific musicians, they kind of see the way he plays and understand that he's really good," Kroeger explained about his brother.

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"As a result, we kind of want to push the limits and see what we can get and John 5 is a good example of reaching out and just saying, 'Hey, we like what you do a lot and we have a lot of mutual friends.' He agreed to do it and it was just a tremendous experience to be able to have him on one of our tracks and also to see him cook was pretty cool."

As for the future beyond Everything Under the Sun, Kroeger was confident telling fans they'll see a lot of the band soon.

"You're going to get some Nickelback in 2027. We're not changing that formula. Record, tour, record, tour. We love playing live and we'll be out there."

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Mike Kroeger joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, July 28; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand here.