Devin Townsend is the latest musician to sing the praises of Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, dubbing him a “functioning genius”.
The Canadian rockers are actually good m8s IRL, and in a recent chat with Consequence Of Sound, Townsend spilled the beans on both his friendship with Kroeger, and the effect it’s had on his own music.
“We met by chance, and ended up forming a friendly acquaintance,” Townsend explains.
“One thing that I would say about Chad that I think will eventually be known about him, is that he is a functioning genius, in my estimation.
“I think that people don’t realise how clever that guy is. And his success in a lot of ways, I believe — although what he’s writing is coming from a place of what he wants to write — I think is his ability to analyse the public and musical structures, and the ways that people react emotionally on a commercial level is such that he is almost more like a scientist than he is a rock musician.”
He continues: “And I’m fascinated by people who are clever, and specifically, when the cleverness of them is something that I can make mental notes, and refer back to my own work with.
“It was a godsend for me be fortunate to interact with him for a few days, because just by watching him function and by being able to ask somebody with that sort of pedigree questions that had been plaguing me about my own career, it allowed me to make decisions on [new album] Empath that I don’t know if I would have made had I not made his acquaintance.”
Turns out that, as well as giving advice on Townsend’s new LP Empath, Kroeger also contributed vocals to the track ‘Hear Me’, which you can check out below.
Meanwhile ICYMI Devin Townsend has just announced a massive Australian tour for this September and you can catch all the details here. No word on whether Kroeger will be joining him though.
