Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger has said the band has no plans to stop making music, speaking on Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk.
Kroeger discussed the band’s three decades together and whether they might take a break or end soon. He reflected on how long Nickelback has been active and what keeps him and his half brother, singer Chad Kroeger, motivated to continue.
“The thing that’s kind of funny is, is when I meet people who, they’re usually younger people who heard the ‘All The Right Reasons’ album [Nickelback’s fifth LP] when they were young kids and stuff, a lot of people don’t think we did anything since ’05,” Mike Kroeger said. “And the truth of the matter is we’ve been releasing albums and going on tour the whole time. COVID was the first time we ever really took a break. And we didn’t really want to. We had a tour booked, and we had to cancel it all for that.”
“But, yeah, we started this about 30 years ago, and I don’t know why we would stop,” he continued. “This is too much fun. And we’ve had the conversations. It’s, like, yeah, okay, it may be inconvenient or whatever to leave home for six, eight months at a stretch, but what else are you gonna do? Are you gonna sit around and watch your stock portfolio or what? You gotta do something in this life.”
“I believe one of the leading causes of death is retirement… I really do believe that creating things, learning new things, finding new challenges, I think it keeps you young,” Kroeger added. “I think the instant you stop learning new stuff, challenging yourself, I think it’s bad for you. I don’t think you should ever do it.”
“And when it comes to music, it’s always evolving and changing, and we can always find some new things to learn and listen to and enjoy,” he said. “And for us, creating it, I think, is keeping us younger. And I do a lot of other things that make me learn new things on the daily. I’m deeply into martial arts, and there’s a concept in martial arts called the white-belt mentality, which is you go into every class as a beginner.”
“No matter how long you’ve been doing it, no matter how much you know, you go into every class with an open mind and the assurance that you’re gonna learn something you don’t know,” Kroeger concluded. “I think it’s good for you, man. I think it keeps you young.”
Kroeger made these comments during a discussion about the band’s longevity and future plans. His remarks show why Nickelback continues to tour and record after more than 30 years together.
Kroeger’s commitment to creating and touring aligns with Nickelback’s steady output since 2005. The band released their tenth studio album, Get Rollin’, on November 18, 2022, and followed it with the 2023 Get Rollin’ Tour that covered 38 cities in the United States and Canada before moving to Europe in 2024. They released a live album, Live from Nashville, on November 15, 2024, recorded from their sold-out show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
In 2023, Nickelback was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the JUNO Awards, cementing their status as one of rock’s most enduring acts. The band has completed more than twelve consecutive sold-out world tours, playing to well over 10 million fans.
All the Right Reasons, released on October 4, 2005, became one of the most successful rock albums of its era. The album topped both the Canadian Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200 and has sold 11 million copies worldwide. The singles “Photograph,” “Far Away,” and “Rockstar” all reached the top ten on the Hot 100, making Nickelback the first rock band of the 2000s to achieve three top-ten hits from the same album.
In May 2020, the band cancelled their All the Right Reasons 15th anniversary tour due to COVID-19 concerns. The trek with Stone Temple Pilots, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown and Switchfoot had been scheduled to start on June 19 in Raleigh and visit amphitheatres and arenas across the U.S. and Canada before concluding on October 3 in Mountain View, California. This cancellation marked the first time in the band’s history that they were forced to take a significant break from touring.
