Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger said the band wouldn’t move away from the brand of pop rock that gave rise to their “love to hate them” status, because it wouldn’t best serve the fans who've stood by them.

He cited an attempt to diversify on the 2014 album No Fixed Address, which preceded 2017’s Feed the Machine.

“They’ve developed a taste for what we do, so we don’t want to go too far and shake them off,” Kroeger told MusicRadar in a new interview. “On the previous album, No Fixed Address, we explored more diverse territory stylistically. Some of that was received well and some of it was not – and that’s by our people – so you come to expect it when you push the envelope that far.”

He argued that while some artists are in a position where they could explore any music they wanted to, that doesn't apply to the majority. “There is the exception where every once in a while someone says, ‘Fuck that, I’m doing it my way,’ and everybody does happen to like it, but that is a rarefied event,” Kroeger said. “For the most part, if you’re out there and you’re playing for a bunch of people, you’re beholden to them. They are who put you up there, and you’ve got to respect that. Does it mean you owe them everything? No. But when it comes to you being on the stage, and you writing the songs and making the records, you’ve got to be cognizant of who you’re working for.”

Kroeger was critical of other artists who claim they’re “just in it for the music,” when, in fact, he said, they’re being “self-indulgent." “As my brother [frontman Chad Kroeger] once said, If you’re only playing for yourself, why would you ever take your amp out of your bedroom?" he explained. "Just stay home and do whatever it is. … That’s where you should be. But don’t stand in front of a stadium full of people and think, Oh, I’m just doing it for me, and all these people just happen to like it too.”