Look, I don't totally get the hate for Nickelback. Dudes write super catchy songs and very successful at their craft. Good for them! In a recent interview with Talkin' Rock with Meltdown, bassist Mike Kroeger discussed Nickelback's 2005 song "Side of a Bullet" and the band's relationship with the Pantera guys. Or specifically, how insane they were and how Mike simply could not keep up… but his brother and vocalist Chad Kroeger could!
For those unaware, song was a tribute to the late Dimebag Darrell. Shout out to Ultimate Guitar for the transcription as well!
"Oh yeah, they were closest with Chad because, to be honest with you, Chad was willing to run with them and tried to keep up the alcohol consumption pace, which if you are partying with those guys, you know what that means.
"It's essentially a death march, and that's not an exaggeration. I only had the misfortune once of getting mixed up in a ‘party situation' with them where Dime was bartending, and oh boy… Honestly, I ran away like a coward.
"I got to the point where my legs didn't work anymore, I couldn't see, and I just did the Irish goodbye, and I just never came back. I was like, ‘These guys are gonna kill me, man.'
"And they were having a great time too. They had, both brothers — Dime especially — had this magnificent tolerance. They could just drink this stuff like water and they just kept getting funnier and funnier – or maybe I got more and more drunk.
"Then you would start to notice that your motor skills are going, and that's when they really pull it on to really get you over the finish line, so to speak.
"And I remember reaching that threshold where I was like, ‘This is gonna be bad.' I was thinking I was gonna make one of their home videos or something, and I got the hell out of there.
"My wife was actually on my bus with the kids and everything, and I would not want to see a video of me getting on that bus and kind of stumbling and crashing into stuff on the way to bed, crawling into the bed with my wife.
"She indicated that I had an odor of a distillery, that I should probably stay on my side of the bed or else I should go sleep someplace else, and it was pretty rough.
"I'm not gonna tell Chad's story, but let's just say he reached the target zone that Dimebag and Vinnie were looking for. They finished him off really good."
