Nickelback vs print press

Nickelback is continuing its cold war with the print press as the band promotes its newly released sixth album, Dark Horse. According to Canada's Jam! Music, the Vancouver-based quartet has turned down nearly every request for a newspaper or magazine interview, agreeing only to speak with radio and television outlets. Nickelback reportedly feels that its past treatment at the hands of print journalists, who have slammed the group over and over again throughout the years, is reason enough to ignore that segment of the media now.

Ironically, Dark Horse has received some of the band's best reviews to date, with some critics pointing to the group's collaboration with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange as a positive step.

Bassist Mike Kroeger said that working with Lange, who produced such landmark albums as AC/DC's Highway to Hell and Def Leppard's Pyromania, was eye-opening: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "Working with him was a real educational experience for all of us. We all learned a great deal and he is truly a natural talent that has been honed over the years to turn into some kind of phenom. It's pretty hard to describe, the gift that he has and the abilities that he's developed over the years, you know, just so good."

Not all the reviews have been good, however. Toronto's Now magazine called Dark Horse "blatantly recycled," adding that frontman Chad Kroeger sounded "like a wounded goat." The U.K.'s Daily Mirror, meanwhile, said, "Millions of people buy Nickelback albums, but millions people once voted for George W. Bush too. Both facts are equally baffling."

Nickelback begins a North American arena tour on February 24th in Nashville.