Nickleback in Vancouver - Fri. Jan 20th 2006

By the summer of 2004, Nickelback had been on tour around the globe for the better part of the previous 5 years, at that point supporting their third album, The Long Road (which at the time had sold 5 million copies worldwide). The plan was to take some time off to enjoy the fruits of their labor before even thinking about new songs. But two weeks into their vacation Chad, Mike and Ryan started feeling that old familiar urge, so they gathered in Chad's studio near Vancouver to jam. "Once we got in there and started to mess around, we just didn't stop," says Chad.

Since Nickelback used Kroeger's studio and co-produced the album with their friend Joey Moi, they were not in a fevered rush to finish up. And, over the next seven months, they spent countless hours making sure every song on their fourth album, All the Right Reasons, was exactly the way they wanted it. The resulting 11 tracks are the most insistent, dynamic and diverse Nickelback has conjured to date. The first single "Photograph" is reflective and earnest, constructed on a foundation of multi-layered vocals, infectious melodies and guitars that build to a triumphant buzz. "Fight For All The Wrong Reasons" echoes with textural guitars and evolves from a moody melody into a crunchy, southern-tinged riff. And "Savin' Me" is a call for redemption that's driven by a combination of ringing and fuzzy guitars, undeniable vocals, gliding strings and delicate piano. "We were a little scared of using piano," admits Kroeger. "We just didn't think it was very rock and roll. It wasn't until we heard piano in a Nickelback song that we all said, 'Yes, we like this and we want to do more of it.' It just complimented the part so well and really showed that we shouldn't be narrow minded about any instrument, no matter what it is or what sort of stigma might be attached to it."

Nickelback's eagerness to experiment and evolve lights up All The Right Reasons like a bonfire. While the band's music has always been deeply personal, this time not only have they laid it all bare but they also searched every inch of their sonic spectrum to create an album that appeals on many different levels. "On The Long Road we went in a heavier direction, but with this album we really wanted to show our range and have songs that work for all the diverse fans that go to Nickelback shows and listen to our records," Kroeger says, giving a window into the impetus for his songwriting – making music for real music fans like him. Nickelback's all-inclusive approach has been a large part of the band's immense success. The Long Road went triple platinum in the U.S. and included the radio hits "Someday," "Figured You Out" and "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good." Their previous disc, 2001's Silver Side Up, was even more successful, selling over 6 million copies in the U.S. and containing three number one hits, "Too Bad," "Never Again" and their mega-successful breakout single, "How You Remind Me," which was the number one Most Played Song of 2002

Joining Nickelback just in time to make All the Right Reasons was new drummer, Daniel Adair. Adair's hard-hitting yet multifaceted style perfectly matched the band's new material, from the foot-to-the-floor stomp and grind of "Animals" to the "lump-in-throat sentiment of "If Everyone Cared." Adair jumped right in to the fold and his ‘audition' in Chad's studio even made its way into the finished album. "We are totally thrilled to have Daniel in the band," Chad says. "The creativity that went on with him in the studio was really inspiring. He's a totally amazing player."

Over the years, Nickelback's music has appealed to listeners of pop, hard rock, alternative and metal. A number of seemingly disparate celebrity artists have also embraced the band, including ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons and ex-Pantera members Vinnie Paul and the late Dimebag Darrell Abbott. Both Gibbons and Abbot (albeit posthumously) aided in the creation of All the Right Reasons. Nickelback met Gibbons backstage after one of their shows in Colorado and they all immediately hit it off. When a guitar solo was needed on the track "Follow You Home," they asked for Gibbons' help, then flew to Los Angeles to record the part. "I wanted a real different flavor for that solo, and Billy totally nailed it," Chad says. "After he did the guitar part, he actually sang the third verse on the song in that low, gravelly voice of his and we put this distortion effect on it. It's really cool." Gibbons' contribution did not end there, he also lent backing vocals to the track "Rock Star.

The Pantera connection was more complicated and stemmed from a darker place. Chad became friends with drummer Vinnie Paul and the late guitarist Dimebag Darrell while on tour with Jerry Cantrell, and wound up working with Dimebag on a cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting," which appeared on the "Charlie's Angels" soundtrack. After the legendary guitarist was shot and killed onstage, a devastated Kroeger wrote an aggressive song called "Side of a Bullet," as a lasting tribute to his friend. "After I put the song together, I really wanted Vinnie's blessing," Kroeger says. "So, I called him up and played the track for him over the phone. He said, 'I'd love to have you do a song about my brother.' Vinnie then sent some guitar outtakes and we pieced together a solo and put it on the song. The result is a new Dimebag Darrel solo."

"Side of a Bullet" is just one of the many tracks on All The Right Reasons that's rife with compelling narrative. Ever since Kroeger started writing about his personal trials on "Never Again" and "How You Remind Me" he has strived to tell stories his fans could simultaneously relate to and be transported by. "Animals" is about a nice girl and a bad boy who get caught in the act by the girl's dad, and "Savin' Me" addresses a man in prison who wants to be saved and a fallen angel who must return to earth to be forgiven for his sins. "I really like to tell a story that comes off like a movie inside the listener's head," Kroeger says. "And I try to put myself in the scene when I'm writing it. That makes it easier for me to look around and see what I can sing about. Otherwise you don't get any details and it doesn't play out very well."

One of the most personal songs on All the Right Reasons, "Photograph," is a glimpse back at Kroeger's teenage years in which he recalls his first kiss, the friends he used to hang out with and the time he got busted for breaking into his high school. "I think I just wanted to take a trip down memory lane, and I wanted to see if I had enough ideas that would make other people take that trip, too," Kroeger says. "It's so funny throughout the course of a day how many times you look back and think, "I wonder whatever happened to that one girl or I wonder if the house I grew up in is still standing.' And after people started listening to it, I was amazed how many of them thought the same thing."

Like all of Nickelback's albums, All the Right Reasons was born of sincerity, emotional revelation and a genuine love for music, but this time the music also stemmed from necessity – not the necessity of making deadlines or getting albums on the shelf. Rather the necessity of an artist to create, explore and try to understand more about the world around him. Hence the album title, which was a play off the track "Fight For All the Wrong Reasons."

"I really want to make music for the right reasons," Kroeger says. "The most important reason is to make music because you love it. And I think that's why we spend so much time on it. On this record, we didn't want to overlook any small detail." Throughout the creation of All the Right Reasons, the band tweaked verses, changed choruses and altered arrangements until the songs passed the band's own litmus test- no song was deemed "done" until it made the hair on the back of their necks stand up. "We're perfectionists," he says. "If you finish a song and it's not stuck in your head, then how will it stick in someone else's head when they've only heard it once or twice?"

- www.nickelback.com

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Canadiens @ Flames - Tonight!

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GAME: Montreal Canadiens (21-16-6) at Calgary Flames (26-14-5).

TIME: Thursday, 9 p.m. EST.

The Montreal Canadiens seem to be regaining their early-season form with Bob Gainey as coach. They'll need to be at the top of their game over the next 10 days.

The Canadiens, who are 2-0 under Gainey, open a daunting six-game road trip as they visit the Calgary Flames.

After facing the Flames, Montreal will travel to Vancouver, Carolina, Philadelphia, Ottawa, and Toronto between now and Jan. 28. Of the six opponents, five are either division leaders or tied for their division lead. The six clubs are a combined 97-28-12 at home.

"We're hot, and it's good that we are," said Gainey.

Montreal opened the season 12-3-1, then won only seven of its next 25 games, leading general manager Gainey to fire coach Claude Julien last Saturday. Gainey will be interim coach for the rest of the season.

The Canadiens are 7-for-12 on the power play in Gainey's two games as coach. They scored on their first three opportunities with the man advantage in Monday night's 4-2 victory over Dallas.

Mike Ribeiro has three power-play goals in the last two games, including two on Monday. He had scored just once in 29 games before Gainey took over.

"The power play is just moving the puck, and when we get our chances we're scoring right now," Ribeiro said.

The Flames return home, where they have won four straight games, after a 1-2-1 road trip. Calgary salvaged its lone win Saturday, 4-1 win over Minnesota.

Jarome Iginla snapped a 1-1 tie with a goal at 1:17 of the third period. Kristian Huselius added an insurance goal six minutes later, and Tony Amonte finished the scoring with an empty-netter.

"The third period was probably the best we've played in a long time," Iginla said. "It was a very big game for us as far as momentum. We all knew the importance of it."

Calgary is 8-1-2 against other teams from Canada this season. The home team has won each of the last three meetings between the Flames and Canadiens.

STANDINGS: Canadiens - 48 points, 4th place, 17 PB, Northeast Division. Flames - 57 points, 1st place (tied), Northwest Division.

TEAM LEADERS: Canadiens - Michael Ryder, 19 goals; Andrei Markov, 23 assists; Saku Koivu, 32 points; Steve Begin, 93 PIM. Flames - Iginla, 19 goals and 35 points; Daymond Langkow and Andrew Ference, 18 assists; Darren McCarty, 71 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Canadiens - Power play: 19.1 percent (49 for 256), 10th in NHL. Penalty killing: 81.8 percent (221 for 270), 17th. Flames - Power play: 16.7 percent (45 for 269), 19th. Penalty killing: 81.7 percent (228 for 279), 18th.

GOALTENDERS: Canadiens - Jose Theodore (16-11-5, 0 SO, 3.15 GAA); Cristobal Huet (2-3-1, 0, 2.97). Flames - Miikka Kiprusoff (23-12-5, 6, 2.32); Philippe Sauve (3-2-0, 0, 2.62).

2003-04 SEASON SERIES: Tied 1-1.

LAST MEETING: Feb. 19, 2004; Canadiens, 4-1. At Montreal, Pierre Dagenais scored two goals, and Mathieu Garon stopped 19 of 20 shots for the Canadiens.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Canadiens - 7-10-4 on the road; Flames - 16-4-2 at home.


— Associated Press

Canucks vs. Sabres Tonight

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Sabres-Canucks Preview
GAME: Buffalo Sabres (29-13-3) at Vancouver Canucks (26-15-5).

TIME: Thursday, 10 p.m. EST.

The Buffalo Sabres look to continue their surprisingly dominant play this season when they visit the Vancouver Canucks in the second game of a six-game road trip.

The Sabres followed up a 10-1 pounding of Los Angeles on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Edmonton on Monday to open their longest trip of the season.

"Everybody was waiting to see how we would react after the big win at home," said Teppo Numminen, who had two assists against the Oilers. "This was huge for us."

It was the first time Buffalo earned a victory in Edmonton since March 27, 1998. Now the Sabres will try to win in Vancouver for the first time since Feb. 28, 1999.

"I don't know what the record is, but it feels like forever since we won here," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said after Monday's game.

The Sabres had 11 power-play chances, their highest total since they had 11 in the season opener against the New York Islanders. Tim Connolly and Maxim Afinogenov converted two of those chances for Buffalo, which has the league's second-ranked power play at 22.2 percent.

"We're in Canada, so I might get to see it on TV," Connolly said of his goal. "We get a clutch goal when we need it, and that's what happened."

Buffalo, 14-6-1 on the road, is 6-1-1 against Western Conference opponents.

The Canucks continued their strong play Monday, beating Pittsburgh 4-2 for their fifth win in six games.

The game was penalty filled, and Vancouver sealed the victory with a power-play goal from Henrik Sedin in the third period.

"It was a fairly physical game," said Brendan Morrison, who had a goal and an assist. "But that's the way we have to play to be successful."

The Canucks scored two goals on the power play and improved to 10-for-34 with the man advantage over the last five games.

"We're starting to build a little consistency and that was our goal coming into the second half (of the season) here," Morrison said. "We seem to be rolling here a bit. The key is to play good defensively."

Todd Bertuzzi scored a goal, and has four in his last two games after being held without one in his previous 10 contests.

Vancouver is 8-1 against the Eastern Conference. The Canucks host Montreal on Saturday before leaving on a season-high seven-game trip.

STANDINGS: Sabres - 61 points, 2nd place, 4 PB, Northeast Division. Canucks - 57 points, 1st place (tied), Northwest Division.

TEAM LEADERS: Sabres - Ales Kotalik, 18 goals; Connolly, 28 assists; Chris Drury and Connolly, 37 points; Andrew Peters, 53 PIM. Canucks - Markus Naslund, 22 goals and 50 points; H. Sedin, 30 assists; Bertuzzi, 76 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Sabres - Power play: 22.2 percent (60 for 270), 2nd in NHL. Penalty killing: 86.2 percent (207 for 240), 2nd. Canucks - Power play: 19.5 percent (60 for 307), 7th. Penalty killing: 81.6 percent (231 for 283), 19th.

GOALTENDERS: Sabres - Ryan Miller (13-6-0, 2.19 GAA); Martin Biron (15-5-3, 2.97). Canucks - Alex Auld (18-11-3, 2.78); Maxime Ouellet (0-1-1, 4.39).

2003-04 SEASON SERIES: Canucks, 1-0.

LAST MEETING: Oct. 20, 2003; Canucks, 6-1. At Vancouver, British Columbia, six Canucks scored, and Trevor Linden had the game-winner.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Sabres - 14-6-1 on the road; Canucks - 16-3-3 at home.


— Associated Press

Bryan Adams Hits The West Coast - Vancouver & Victoria

See Bryan Adams Live
- Wednesday January 18th, 2006 : Vancouver, B.C.
- Thursday, Friday January 19th & 20th, 2006 : Victoria, B.C.

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Aged around 15, Bryan had been in garageband Shock and was living in Vancouver. He was often driven by his mother to gigs and appointments. He frequently used to show up at other peoples gigs wanting to sing and jam with them! This must have been something that would get on some people's nerves. But his 'obnoxious' behaviour at the time is probably why he made it, though.

Sweeney Todd was a "glam" or "glitz" rock band on the Vancouver scene at the time. They had released one album. The band was founded by singer Nick Gilder and guitarist Jim MacCullough. In 1976 they both left for L.A. to work on a solo album for Gilder, and Bryan managed to become the replacement for Gilder.

At first, however, Sweeney Todd "signed" up a guy name Clark Perry for the job, but he didn't really fit in all that well with the other band members, and Sweeney Todd's new guitarist Skip Priest had his eyes on Bryan, whom he had noticed while doing some work together with another local band called Slan. Consequently Bryan started to hang around Sweeney Todd, eventually was tested and got the job at the expense of Perry (who actually was with ST for about nine months).

The single "Roxy Roller" sometime in '76 started to receive quite an amount of airplay in Canada. By this time, Sweeney Todd already was "broken up" or "almost broken-up" - meaning that Gilder and McCullough were leaving the group. "Roxy Roller" however ended up receiving a Juno Award for 'Single of the Year' in Canada. The single was, of course, in its original version sung by Gilder, but a version with Bryan as lead singer was also made (as well as one with Perry), being his very first record-release.

In the US, Bryan's version was released shortly after Gilder's version, confusing radio list programmers. They both hit the hot 100 shortly after another. Bryan's version spent one week at #99. Check discography for a little more info about "Roxy".

In 1977 a full-length album; "If Wishes Were Horses", which does not feature Bryan's version of "Roxy", was released. Sweeney Todd, however, never came close to such a huge hit again (Roxy was their only hit single), and after their manager suddenly died in a heart attack, they split up. Bryan has said that his career in Sweeney Todd made him realize he needed to do his own material. He had been out on the road with Sweeney Todd playing clubs, but now decided to stop playing gigs until he "had enough own material to put something more original together"

At age 17, he accidently met Jim Vallance in a Vancouver music -store called Long & McQuade. They both happened to be there at the same time, looking at guitars. Bryan and the classicaly trained Vallance, (who also was the drummer in the quite succesful Vancouver rock band "Prism", soon found they were compatible with each other, and started a long-lasting and very successful song-writing partnership. In fact they started to write music together the very day they met. The first song they wrote was Bryan's first solo single; "Let me Take You Dancing". Some of their other early songs were soon being covered by other artists.

Bryan of course needed assistance from someoone who knew the business, and it is told that Bryan just went to the prominent Vancouver-based manager Bruce Allen saying: "I'm your man". At first Bruce, who was managing Bachman-Turner-Overdrive and Loverboy didn't want anything at all to do with him! Bryan did manage to be signed to the record company A&M as a writer, after they'd heard some of his and Jim's material - but only for the nominal payment of one dollar. His first solo single - disco (!) song "Let Me Take You Dancing" acheived limited success in Canada, and became a hit record, especially in New York where it climbed the disco charts. I have information that it ended up selling 250.000 copies worldwide, most of which was in the US. However it did not enter the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at #62 in the canadian magazine RPM, which had a combined airplay/sales chart. I have information that indicates that it's most succesful province in Canada was British Columbia. The success of "Dancing" also resulted that Bryan now (Dec. '79) could sign an agreement with Bruce Allen - who still is his manager. A "funny" thing about "Dancing" is that Bryan could never sing the song live in the same key as the studio recording, since A&M had speeded it up to make his voice sound less gravelly and deep. If you have heard the song, you now know why Bryan's voice is so 'light'. Guess he had to adjust, after all this was when disco was big...

The year after (1980), his self-titled debut album came out (with no disco songs included). Two singles were released from it; "Hidin' From Love" and "Give Me Your Love". Both singles did reach positions in the lower region of the RPM, but the album was not succesful, which is why Bryan originally wanted to call the next album "Bryan Adams Hasn't Heard Of You Either". That name was however abandonded for "You Want It You Got It", which was released in early 1981. Like "Bryan Adams" (or 'The Purple Album'), it was not succesful at first, but Bryan kept touring vigoursely hoping something would happen. Finally in late '81 or early '82 some "key guys from upstate New York" (radio stations), to use Bryan's own quote, saw a gig in Toronto, and liked what they saw. They started to play songs from "You Want It", which lead to the songs getting played on other stations, first in the rest of New York state, then across the country in the US, and finally in Canada. "Lonely Nights" spent two weeks in the hot 100 in March '82, peaking at #84, but went as high as to #3 on the genre chart Album Rock Tracks.

Still Bryan wasn't exactly a major star, but had made a name for him among programmers. Then the album; "Cuts Like A Knife" was released a year later the title track climbed the singles chart in Canada, peaking at #15 at the same time as "Straight From The Heart" paved it's way up to #10 in the US. The rest is history.