Prog rocker Devin Townsend has high praise for Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger in a new interview, calling his fellow Canadian “a phenomenally intelligent human being.”
Kroeger previously made a surprising guest spot on Townsend’s Empath album in 2019. When asked by Ultimate Guitar about the collaboration, Townsend was quick to speak highly of Kroeger, who has faced an exaggerated amount of criticism over the years for his work in Nickelback (Townsend had previously called Kroeger a “functioning genius” back in 2019). That said, Townsend admitted in the new interview that the two lead a different lifestyle.
“Chad’s brilliant,” Townsend said. “Chad is a phenomenally intelligent human being. But he’s a rockstar, too, on levels that you and I will never participate in. And so there’s gonna be a disconnect just based on that. You only have a few things in common, and then, after a while you run out of things to talk about.”
Townsend continued: “I think it was flattering for me at first, too. But again, guy’s got a very complex life, and I can’t understand a lot of it. How could I? it’s not within the realm of my world. But I think he’s exceptionally talented. I think he’s phenomenally intelligent. And I think that there’s a certain degree of intensity to his life that I just can’t hang with, man. It’s too much for me. For every hour of social activity, I need two hours on my own to recover.”
He added, “Even if I respect and care for people, after a certain amount of time, again, I have to tap out. I’m like, ‘Dude, I can’t hang with this.’ I’m in bed by nine, usually. I don’t want to listen to Pantera at four in the morning, you know?”
Specifically, Townsend couldn’t quite keep up with Kroeger during a few late-night hangs. “I remember being at his house a couple times, and just being, ‘Wow, this is so intense, man.’ He had a stage set up, and it’s metal all night,” Townsend said. “And I’m thinking like, ‘Man, you are so much more of a metalhead than I am.’ But I do care for him. And I think he’s brilliant.”
Townsend is coming off the November release of Lightwork, a collection of softer and dreamier tunes as opposed to the intense prog-rock found on Empath and prior records. He supported the release of Lightwork with a string of self-directed music videos that form a loose narrative.
Revisit Devin Townsend’s collaboration with Chad Kroeger, who screams on the song “Hear Me,” below.