NICKELBACK bassist Mike Kroeger has told Australia's Wall Of Sound that he "would love to" make a super-heavy album with his band one day. "Metal is what makes me go," he said. "It's what I listen to without fail. If we could actually sink in and do a metal album, all four of us would love it. I know that we're all — on differing scales — metalheads at our core. We all know everything about the 'Big Four' — METALLICA, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX and SLAYER. I would do a SLAYER cover album if I could. That's where my heart lies. There are just never enough hours in the day to do everything, but let's just say I wouldn't count it out."

According to Mike, the music NICKELBACK makes is "definitely not" necessarily a reflection of what he and his bandmates listen to. "I listen to bands like MESHUGGAH, GOJIRA, LAMB OF GOD… and we became friends with those guys," he said. "Daniel [Adair, drums] and I nerd out on stuff they do, and as musicians, we love to listen to it. Have you ever listened to ANIMALS AS LEADERS?... I've never seen them play live, I've only seen what I can dig up on YouTube, and their newest record, 'The Madness Of Many' (2016), is so heavy. I just cannot believe how sick it is. I love it… The freedom of expression is extraordinary, and really inspirational. There are no boundaries, and that's the kind of music I like."

In a 2015 interview with Metropolis, Mike described Adair as "a metalhead" who is "also into progressive jazz." Meanwhile, guitarist Ryan Peake "is really into things like country and western music, and pop music," the bassist said. "And Chad [Kroeger, guitar/vocals] is into classic rock songs and things of that nature; and heavy metal as well."

When asked about his own music collection, Mike revealed:"You would find things like Skrillex or MESHUGGAH. I actually have some traditional Japanese songs on my iPod — 'Sakura' and things like that. There's some Brazilian capoeira music that I listen to. I listen to all kinds of weird stuff. People don't know what to think when I start playing music for them. It goes everywhere from Bing Crosby to ANTHRAX."

NICKELBACK is continuing to tour in support of its ninth album, "Feed The Machine", which was released in June 2017 via BMG.