Unlike some, Chad Kroeger would prefer audience members to smoke pot

Chad Kroeger onstage ands a smoking cannibis cigarette

(Image credit: Chad Kroeger: Gary Miller | Pot: Peter Dazeley)

Back in September, Bruce Dickinson admonished some pot-smoking fans during an Iron Maiden show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

"It fucks me up," boomed Dickinson. "I'm a singer, alright? So duh. I would just ask for a tiny bit of respect. If you want to go get completely stoned out of your fucking mind, go out the back and do it. Alright?"

Now Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger has revealed that he takes a much more relaxed approach to pot-smoking fans. In an interview with Loudwire, Kroeger revealed why musicians should embrace such audience activity.

"I usually say, 'Blow it this way,'" said Kroeger. "You can see, if I'm walking across the stage and I've got the microphone, I turn around and go, 'Whoa, something smells really good right around here!' I mean yeah, that's what rock concerts are supposed to be. You're supposed to get a little bit of that."

Kroeger went on to reveal how musicians face much bigger dangers onstage than off.

"We've shot off so much pyro, and the chemicals I've inhaled from that..." he said, possibly reflecting on all the potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal that forms the basis of many pyrotechnic displays. "That's far worse than somebody exhaling a little bit of pot smoke toward me, that's not a big deal. It's only gonna make the show better!"

In another recent interview, with the BBC's Johnnie Walker, Kroeger revealed that he views Metallica's James Hetfield as his personal 'Rock God'. Nickelback's new album Get Rollin' – whose title may present further evidence for the band's stance on the recreational use of marijuana – is out now.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.