Banter 1

07.17.2006

Hey, My name's Gordini and I work for Nickelback. Welcome to Gordini's backstage banter. 
I'm excited to be writing in here and I hope you will all feel a little closer to the band as I give you an inside perspective on some of the things that go on behind the scene. 

Let's see, today is July 8th 2006 and we are in Buffalo, NY.
It's a killer day outside and I can already tell tonight is going to be a great show.
For all who didn't know, we have some friends along with us while on tour - Hinder, Three Days Grace and Hoobastank. They're all great and we couldn't ask for a better set of opening bands.
Right now the road crew is building the stage and I'll be setting up my audio rig within the next hour. So for now I'm gonna head over to the production area and see if I can find Mike or Daniel, we've gotta work out a couple little details for tonight's show.

Until next time,.........Ciao for now.

Gordini


 

Banter 2

08.01.2006

Hey, what up everybody, it's that time again, where we hang out, shoot the shit, and we are in...ah yes today is Fri. Jul. 21. We're in Chicago, IL.  The venue is Soldiers Field. I've gotta admit, this day started out kinda rainy and windy, but now the rain has stopped and it's totally rad. The wind is blowing, the arena is totally packed of srecaming fans- what a cool night. Tonight Nickelback is the main support act for Bon Jovi. We just did five weeks in Europe with these guys so there are a lot of friendly faces backstage.

Hey let me take you guys back to a few shows ago, OK it all started like this. "Hey Blower, (gtr player for Hinder) for 100 bucks would you let Mike (other gtr player in Hinder) staple your balls to the wall?" Blower- "I don't know...100 bucks? Ok, ok, how about 160 bucks each to staple your balls to mikes ass!!! Whata ya say???"

It was on!! Both guys nodded and the rest of us were gonna get a show!!!

So the next day we're all in the dressing room after the show and there they were, all primed up and ready to go.
The first thing that I remember was hearing Austin (singer) say "Alright here.. hand it to me.. where's that stapler." 
And before we new it, Austin had his fist in the air like as if Thor him self was bringing down the hammer of the gods. Waaaaackkkk, aaahh, waaackkkk, oooohhhhh, waccckkkk... You get the idea. Low and behold Blower's balls were stapled to Mike's ass, 4 staples to be exact.  At that momment all I could think of was, man that's gotta hurt and these guys are totally out of there freaking minds!!!

After it was all said and done, Blower and I were hanging out in the parking lot, having a drink, I turned looked at him and said- "hey man, are you alright?" His response was- "besides the extreme blood loss, the burning peroxide and gaving to pull each staple out, I feel pretty damn good."

Ah just another day at the office...

Gordini.

Banter 3

08.20.2006

Well hello again my friends, I believe that it's the 13th of Aug and we just pulled up to Reno Nevada, the sun is blazing and the view is incredible. Let me tell you this is a really cool place.

Today is one of our days off- so people are rolling in whenever they sort of wake up. I've gotta tell you, a lot of us out here are poker players so it was only a matter of time before the poker tables were packed with Nickelback and crew members.
The day consisted of people shuffling in and out, people winning, people re-buying and others getting busted out.
The night game was the best, it was Mike, Chad, Ryan, Laura, Chris, Ross, Timmy, myself and a few people we didn't know. This game was hot!!! There were a bunch of big chip stacks and a fairly loose agressive 1-2 no-limit game. There's this one hand that I remember in particular because one of the maniacs was trying to throw his stack around again but this time he ran straight into Mike.

So check this out; I believe the pot wasn't raised pre-flop, and there was 5 way action. The flop came out K, A, 9 rainbow and it was checked around.
The turn card was 10 so some one could potentially have a straight.
Mike comes out betting$40 and everybody folds but this one guy.
He thinks about it and calls. The river card comes out and it was a 2 (remember that there is no flush showing, only a straight).

Mike bets another $40 and then this other guy comes over the top and pushes "All In" for like - $500 Mike instantly calls him.
The other player gets this bizzare look on his face and Mike started smiling.
Mike looked straight at him and said, “I don't think you have it buddy.” So both guys flip them over.
Mike confidently made a set of Kings(3 of a kind) and the other guy was totally bluffing - trying to buy the pot, woops!!

He ended up not even showing his hand and just threw it away. Now that's what happens when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar hahahahaha... Mike's a rad poker player, so he had the perfect read on this guy.
For the rest of the night we hung out, played, had some drinks and had a great time full of good laughs.

So hey until next time, be cool and we'll see you at the show.

Gordini.

Banter 4

09.18.2006

Hey guys, get a load of this. Ok… so where in Kansas City, MO and it's the last show on the tour. You can already feel the crazyness all around.
It feels like unpredictability. So, let's put aside the fact that Chad paid Blower $100 and then lit the poor boy's balls on fire with a can of Lysol - and the fact that his only savior at that point was Mr. Ryan Peake (armed with a half bottle of water as his defending weapon). Wait a min… that was last night. Tonight was even better! 


It all started when I walked into the venue. The first person that I saw was Daniel and he said- “hey dude are you gonna watch this go down or what?” I had no idea what Daniel was talking about... anyway he motioned for me to follow so I did.

Hinder was in mid set, playing their song "Room 21" and out of no where Steve J hits this huge concussion bomb in the first chorus. (fuckin’ whhaaaaaam) Totally throwing all of us - the band glares over with this really unsuspecting look on there faces... But that's just the beginning. Not even 10 sec. later four male stripers, dressed in beaming white sailor suits, approached the main stage and started dancing and taking there close off. You can only imagine the looks on the band members faces. hahahahha.

The stripers ended the song by mooning the audience and the band repeatedly. Ok that's pretty funny and we all have to thank Peake for his creative ways in embarrassing these guys.



But that's not all – during "lips of an angel" Freddy (Nickelback pyro tech) walked out in a full toilet bowl costume and wrapped toilet paper on all the boys...
And to top it all off, about 16 of us ran up during the last song and covered the entire stage and band with silly string. I remember running out to the stage and just blasting Blower from head to toe. His only defense was to turn and laugh while he was still playing the song.
After the show we all hugged and said our good byes. Tis was our last show together on the summer tour, let me tell you it's been absolutely amazing for everyone, bands and crew people.


Oh and they got me as well - check this out. I was busy finishing up for the night and out of no where comes Marty (Nickelback's accountant). “Gordini- Chad needs you right away!!!" I'm like WTF! I was a little suspicious, but regardless I rushed into the dressing room and was like “Chad, what up bro.” The whole band and production people were glaring at me with this look. I felt like a zebra that accidentally walked into a den of Lions, whoops!! Chad walked towards me wide eyed and smiling and the next thing I felt was freezing cold beer and champagne all over my body. These guy's soaked me in booze. There were bottles and cans in my pockets and down my pants.
 




Hahahahaha, I bursted out laughing, and then called up more people and did the same to Donnie Floyed (Nickelback's stage manager) and the rest of the backline guys.



All I can say is that this has been one of the most memorable times of my life - being out here with everyone for the past 8 months. My hat is off to all of the bands and crew people for making this experience the coolest ever. I honestly felt like we’re one big family. Thanx for all the memories and we'll see you next tour.

Gordini.



 

Banter 5

03.02.2007

Hey everybody how's it going?  It's been a long time since we last caught up. Everyone has been really good for the last few months, some of us took time off and others kept on working. It’s been just over a week now back on the road - kicking off the tour in Tacoma, WA. I'm glad to see our friends 3 Days Grace are back with us (they totally kick ass) and opening the show we have Breaking Benjamin.
Boys and girls let me tell you something totally hilarious that happened tonight. It's March 1st 2007, were in Cedar Rapids-Iowa and it just so happens that today is Mr. Ryan Peake's Birthday. Before I start the b-day story, I'd like to inform you that the set has changed slightly. The new songs that we've added are “Saturday's alright for fighting”, “Flat on the Floor” and “If Everyone Cared.”

Ok, so just as they started Saturday night's alright- I saw this woman proceed to get on stage in efforts to get the crowd going.  Now I started to think to myself, “What's the deal with that?”  “They never allow audience members to take the stage and show their dance skils.”  I'll admit from behind, she looked pretty cute. So now, as I'm looking around, I see some people giggling and I see our new stage manager motion towards me. I'm like "Yo Andy, what's with the chick on stage?" and he's like… “Hey bro, that ain't no chick, it's a dude!” I'm like "WHAT" and started laughing out loud with a hint of embarrassment.  Obviously, I assumed he was a girl.

The guys all had a playful laugh and thanked the cross-dressing male for coming up and entertaining us for that song. And for those of you who don't find this funny, sorry but you had to be there; it was just one of those things. Let's just say that Ryan wore a nice set of lip stick marks on his cheek for the rest of the show. Man oh man, good times.  Happy Birthday Ryan!!!! It was one to remember.

Oh, and by the way, the loudest crowd so far has been Billings, MT and the runner up is Omaha, NE... So I challenge all you hard-core fans out there, what city is going to win loudest crowd on this tour? Is it going to be yours?  I guess we will see.

Talk to guys later...

Gordini

Thank you for the pictures, they belong to the Nickelbackfanclub and to Nickelback.com