Former Nickelback drummer Ryan Vikedal would like to set the record
straight: his departure from the band was no "departure." He was fired,
reports The Sun. "I still don't know the reason," he says during a
phone call to the Sun. "We met with producer Bob Rock before Christmas
holidays and everything seemed fine, but when I got back from the
holidays, I was told I was fired."
Vikedal says he was taken completely by surprise and had been ready to start work on the next album when he got the news. He says he wasn't impressed by how singer Chad Kroeger and the other musicians handled it - summoning him to the tour manager's house for a meeting on Jan. 3 only to be told "my heart wasn't in it," the 29-year-old drummer says. "And then they went on to say that I'm not quite the rock drummer that they were looking for - and this after three albums and 17 million records sold.
"I had to direct the meeting because they kept blabbing about my playing and that I wasn't happy with the band. It was just a bunch of lame excuses because no one could tell me the deal. I had to tell them to cut the s--- and get to the point. And even then they couldn't bring themselves to tell me I was done."
Vikedal says his replacement will be Three Doors Down drummer Daniel Adair, who is from Vancouver. Nickelback and Three Doors Down toured together last year and Vikedal says he figures the change was in the works even back then. On the prospect of Three Doors Down now needing a drummer, he shoots back, "No, thanks. I'm done with them."
Now, he says, "I feel like there's a weight off my shoulders but I'd like the honest truth to come out. "I feel pretty betrayed by what was once called a family."
A spokesman at Nickelback's Los Angeles management company denied that Vikedal has been replaced, saying he and the band have just "parted ways." The band itself was not available for comment.
***Ryan has recently done some work for a band called soundevice you can find soundivese's latest website on myspace!***
And Just to have my input on all of these quotes and everything that everyone had done, I think that Ryan is or at least seems to be somewhat of a shy guy (which is cool cause that's kinda the way I am in my band) but after being told by their manager that he was being fired, Id of been pissed off the the extreme, I would have found a way to somehow co-exist after all of this, Ryan is a fast drummer, and yea sure Daniel is to, but I have to tell ya, after listening to some of the work that Ryan did for soundevice, and being at his concerts, and seeing him play metallica songs (which aren't easy and require tons of fills which critics say he didn't have? but indeed did) he was fully capable of doing all that was done on all the right reasons, and to be told that "he wasn't quite the rock drummer that they were looking for" is complete bullshit. He can use double bass very well, he can do fills, hes fast, to me all these excuses that the band as a whole (management included) used just didn't hold any water, and made no sense. and still after all of this, Ryan still found a way to start from the bottom literally all over again, playing with soundevice, a band that cant hold a candle to Nickelback, to me..personally that shows HEART something that the band claimed that wasn't in the right place, a god that played arenas all over the world 30,000 to 50,000 even to 70,000 and more, he had that taken from him, and now has to start all over again. now he plays with a band that can barely hold a record company, so for Nickelback to say that Ryan's heart was not in the right place, and to tell him that he wasn't quite the rock drummer they were looking for, is nothing but a bunch of poor excuses.
Vikedal says he was taken completely by surprise and had been ready to start work on the next album when he got the news. He says he wasn't impressed by how singer Chad Kroeger and the other musicians handled it - summoning him to the tour manager's house for a meeting on Jan. 3 only to be told "my heart wasn't in it," the 29-year-old drummer says. "And then they went on to say that I'm not quite the rock drummer that they were looking for - and this after three albums and 17 million records sold.
"I had to direct the meeting because they kept blabbing about my playing and that I wasn't happy with the band. It was just a bunch of lame excuses because no one could tell me the deal. I had to tell them to cut the s--- and get to the point. And even then they couldn't bring themselves to tell me I was done."
Vikedal says his replacement will be Three Doors Down drummer Daniel Adair, who is from Vancouver. Nickelback and Three Doors Down toured together last year and Vikedal says he figures the change was in the works even back then. On the prospect of Three Doors Down now needing a drummer, he shoots back, "No, thanks. I'm done with them."
Now, he says, "I feel like there's a weight off my shoulders but I'd like the honest truth to come out. "I feel pretty betrayed by what was once called a family."
A spokesman at Nickelback's Los Angeles management company denied that Vikedal has been replaced, saying he and the band have just "parted ways." The band itself was not available for comment.
***Ryan has recently done some work for a band called soundevice you can find soundivese's latest website on myspace!***
And Just to have my input on all of these quotes and everything that everyone had done, I think that Ryan is or at least seems to be somewhat of a shy guy (which is cool cause that's kinda the way I am in my band) but after being told by their manager that he was being fired, Id of been pissed off the the extreme, I would have found a way to somehow co-exist after all of this, Ryan is a fast drummer, and yea sure Daniel is to, but I have to tell ya, after listening to some of the work that Ryan did for soundevice, and being at his concerts, and seeing him play metallica songs (which aren't easy and require tons of fills which critics say he didn't have? but indeed did) he was fully capable of doing all that was done on all the right reasons, and to be told that "he wasn't quite the rock drummer that they were looking for" is complete bullshit. He can use double bass very well, he can do fills, hes fast, to me all these excuses that the band as a whole (management included) used just didn't hold any water, and made no sense. and still after all of this, Ryan still found a way to start from the bottom literally all over again, playing with soundevice, a band that cant hold a candle to Nickelback, to me..personally that shows HEART something that the band claimed that wasn't in the right place, a god that played arenas all over the world 30,000 to 50,000 even to 70,000 and more, he had that taken from him, and now has to start all over again. now he plays with a band that can barely hold a record company, so for Nickelback to say that Ryan's heart was not in the right place, and to tell him that he wasn't quite the rock drummer they were looking for, is nothing but a bunch of poor excuses.
