Miranda Lambert Punched That Nickelback Dude in the Face
The rumors of a drunken interlude between Miranda Lambert’s knuckles and the face of Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger have been lurking out there for a couple of years now, transferring mouth to mouth amongst the unclean masses like an unwelcome oral herpetic strain. Nothing had ever been confirmed though, leaving a few to speculate that the whole incident was mere urban myth, maybe implanted amongst the populous to perpetuate Miranda’s bad girl image. Well now the public can wonder no more.
In Rolling Stone’s country music special edition issue, Miranda’s hubby Blake Shelton spills the beans about how during Miranda Lambert’s 27th birthday party at a bar, she indeed planted a knuckle sandwich in Kroeger’s supple, Canadian cheek. “People always try to pop off or call her bluff at bars,” Shelton said in a smuggish, self-important tone (probably). “One of them—I don’t want to say the guy’s name—but he’s the lead singer of a very popular rock band. His initials are C.K.”
Despite the cowardice move by Shelton to not call Chad Kroeger by name (but make the hint so obvious we’d be idiots not to know) the quote finally confirms the long-swirling rumors.
Apparently Kroeger wanted Miranda to take a shot with him at the birthday party, and when Miranda politely refused and Kroeger wouldn’t shut the hell up about it, she punched him in the face for impinging on her special princess day. Then Blake had to step in to make sure Kroeger didn’t get roughed up any further.
Whether the Nickelback singer was there by request or his own behest was not divulged in the details. Of course Kroeger and Nickelback have special ties to country music now that the band’s long-time producer Joey Moi has moved on to Florida Georgia Line and Jake Owen to help craft only the most awful odes that have gone on to define the bro-country era.
Just wait for the Nickelback country record. We all know it’s coming.
Maybe Miranda will be willing to lend a wallop to Kroeger then. We can only hope.
June 21, 2014 @ 11:38 am
Poor Miranda, surrounded by douche bags on her birthday.
June 21, 2014 @ 2:46 pm
“The boys ’round here,
make you cry tears in your beer,
make you wanna scream,
make you wanna brawl,
make you wanna throw a jab,
right at their square jaws…”
😉
June 21, 2014 @ 2:47 pm
Douchebilly.
June 21, 2014 @ 2:43 pm
Nickelback already attempted to record a “country” single previously, anyway.
“This Afternoon” was “bro-country” before the “bro-country” wave ever really began to take effect. Yet, for whatever reason, it never got promoted to Country radio and instead became a hit on Adult Top 40 radio and a minor hit on Pop radio. The video, however, along with that for their previous mega-hit “Rockstar”, made a significant impact on CMT.
It’s also worth noting that Dallas Smith, lead singer of Canadian rock band Default (and one-hit wonder in the United States) is signed to Kroeger’s label 604 Records and, last year, released his debut solo country album “Jumped Right In”. Then, he hooked up with Joey Moi and Florida Georga Line to record his debut single for the United States: “Tippin’ Point” (which mercifully bombed)
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The whole nexus of Nickelback/Joey Moi/country radio is one utterly fascinating and I think requires a broader article to examine in detail.
Though I do predict more individual “country”-tinged Nickelback songs are coming, I’m not sure if we’re going to get a complete album of them soon. They have already announced a new album earlier this week, and the lead single is for rock radio only titled “Revolution”.
June 21, 2014 @ 3:48 pm
Oh, you guys have it easy, as a Canadian with CRTC rules, ‘This Afternoon’ – and indeed, every Nickelback single – stuck to the charts for a while, especially since rock never really went away up here as it mostly has on American radio.
Which isn’t exactly bad either, because of dumb bro-country-inspired songs, ‘This Afternoon’ is a ton of upbeat fun and does a solid job capturing the reckless hedonism that best applies to college bros.
June 21, 2014 @ 4:48 pm
That’s actually why I stressed that the song was “bro-country” before “bro-country” was ever even termed.
And Nickelback, love them or hate them, deserve a great deal of credit for that. They played a core part in setting a trend which countless acts are now Xeroxing.
I don’t particularly like “This Afternoon”, but I also don’t consider it nearly as bad as, say, “Something In Your Mouth” or the hilariously disingenuous attempt at global concerns with “If Everyone Cared”. At least the vibe “This Afternoon” gave off sounded real.
June 21, 2014 @ 5:03 pm
Anyway, beginning with “Dark Horse”, Nickelback’s commercial decline has been unmistakable south of your border.
They got a moderate pop hit with “Gotta Be Somebody”, and two of their singles became big hits at rock radio (“Something In Your Mouth”, “Burn It To The Ground”)……….but “If Today Was Your Last Day” underperformed as did its two mainstream follow-ups, and the album only sold about a third of what “All The Right Reasons” sold.
Then “Here And Now” failed to produce a single Top Ten hit for them even on Adult Top 40 radio (where they had dominated previously) and also didn’t produce a #1 hit on Rock radio here. The album only went Gold here.
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Thus, I think it’s safe to say Nickelback’s commercial salad days beyond Canada are behind them, and I find it all but certainly unlikely they’ll have a commercial comeback.
June 21, 2014 @ 4:06 pm
Nickelback fascinates me as well, but for different reasons. They seem to universally reviled by any and everyone, yet they sell out wherever they play.
They seem to have a good deal of respect with other players in the hard rock field, yet every single critic loathes them. My relationship with Nickelback is purely through what songs I’ve heard on the radio, and while they’re not great, I just don’t get the overall disdain for them.
I’ve also heard that they are fantastic live. Guess that explains all the sellouts.
I don’t know, just interesting to me.
June 21, 2014 @ 4:56 pm
I neither love or hate Nickelback.
I do resent the fact that they’re arguably going to be remembered as the last true rock dynasty of the 00’s and eclipsed all other bands in popularity and influence. But at the same time, there are MANY bands I consider worse than Nickelback.
Theory Of A Deadman. Limp Bizkit. Hinder. Puddle of Mudd. Saving Abel. That’s just a handful there, but you see my point. Three of the five listed are inferior clones to Nickelback in that they selectively borrowed their formula……………….yet are instantaneously worse because they lack Kroeger’s penchant for consistently writing strong earworms and slick, tightly-crafted hooks. And, while I’m certainly no fan of Kroeger’s hernia-induced grunt vocal………….you have to admit that his vocal at least has a commanding boom to it. The same surely can’t be said for the lead vocalists of Hinder, Puddle of Mudd or Saving Abel: who sound even worse than him; let alone struggle to pen catchy, memorable choruses and hooks to their own songs.
June 21, 2014 @ 6:53 pm
Do the Foo Fighters not count as a 2000s rock dynasty?
June 21, 2014 @ 10:19 pm
Yes, but two points must be made clear.
Firstly, the Foo Fighters are a band that emerged in the mid-nineties, and also enjoyed their first taste of mainstream success in the mid-nineties. Nickelback emerged right at the turn of the century and enjoyed their first mainstream success in 2001. Thus, the Foo Fighters are more of a 90’s rock dynasty that continued to maintain its place throughout the 00’s, while Nickelback was exclusively a 00’s rock dynasty.
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Secondly, while there’s no question the Foo Fighters have been consistently successful, they’ve nonetheless never quite exactly dominated mainstream airwaves nor sales charts. I know, obviously, that sales, gross tour revenue and airplay are certainly not everything and the Foo Fighters definitely mop the floor with Nickelback in terms of critical appeal and likely long-term impact……………but Nickelback mop the floor with the Foo Fighters in terms of chart success and short-term influence on the broader industry.
Coldplay are the only band I can think of that can arguably rival Nickelback as the most commercially impactful dynasty of the 00’s. Yet, some rock purists would claim Coldplay are hardly a rock band anymore since their two most recent albums have been largely flavored by electronics. In my mind, however, Coldplay would be Nickelback’s stiffest competition as far as bands are concerned and net impact during the 00’s.
Green Day had a mighty start to the decade, but collapsed after the mega-hit that was “American Idiot”. U2 have remained powerful on the touring front and in some cultural conversations, but they only released three albums in the 00’s and the most recent effort greatly underachieved. Linkin Park have impressively retained relevancy since emerging in late 2000 and, to their credit, still manage to garner gold and platinum certifications for each respective release…………..but even there it has seemed as though they’ve wanted to distance themselves from the “nu-metal” tag and, despite their new album “The Hunting Party” coming across as a decided rock album, its three predecessors gave off a largely electronic and pop-leaning vibe.
So, yeah, if anyone were to argue Coldplay have eclipsed Nickelback as the most mighty rock band of the 00’s, I’d understand that. Besides Coldplay, I’m not convinced anyone paralleled Nickelback’s success, including the Foo Fighters.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:29 am
“Nickelback emerged right at the turn of the century and enjoyed their first mainstream success in 2001”
Wrong. Their debut Curb was released in 1996 and the followup The State originally came out in 1998. Afterwards, as I recall, they got picked up by a major label that re-released these two albums. Regardless, they didn’t have a popular single or record until the new millennium, which is technically what you’re saying. But the band was around and making a name for themselves long before they hit it big in 2001.
As for a “legacy” act, what about Creed? Sure, the band’s been inactive for a few years, but they sold millions upon millions of albums and sold out arenas in seconds back in the early 2000s. Plus, they share a record with the Beatles for an album with the most weeks at number 1 on the albums charts (Weathered from 2001 spent 8 weeks at the top, tying with the Fab Four’s “Anthology” release). One assumes that if the instrumental members still cared about the band that they could make something of a comeback. They released a new record in 2009 to little fanfare, but that was mostly because the label didn’t promote it and the band didn’t tour many dates. It was also much more metal-based as opposed to the poppy hooks of their older material, so with all of this I wouldn’t call that an accurate reading of the publicity that a proper album with their “classic” sound and a full-blown stadium tour would engender. Of course, on the flip side, the band is frequently viewed as a bad parody of itself in many circles and worse than burning to death in others, so that reputation might have finally caught up with them to do irreparable damage. I don’t guess we’ll ever know unless they happen to give it 100% like the old days.
(On another note, I’ve found that I like a lot of artists that get a lot of hate. Perhaps my ears are diseased, but I think I just like an underdog. FYI, I don’t count Nickelback anywhere near a “favorite” but Creed is).
June 22, 2014 @ 12:44 am
Creed were enormously popular at the height of their career, but they went on a lengthy hiatus and only released two studio albums throughout the 00’s (of which their comeback album “Full Circle” sold less than one-tenth of what its predecessor “Weathered” sold.
It’s clear Creed’s peak came right at the turn of the century and they were probably the band to beat from 1999 through 2002. After 2002, though………..they just rode off into the sunset, and when they returned, they failed to remotely capture the imagination of the listening public the same way.
I’ve rarely seen album-to-album drop-offs as staggering as Creed’s in all recent memory. Hootie & The Blowfish is the only act that comes to mind who has fared even worse than Creed has.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:42 am
It’s usually not the very worst artists that inspire the most hatred, it’s the ones that sit at the intersection of crappiness and popularity. Nickleback clones have even less value than Nickelback does, but Nickelback are more prominent and visible than other similar bands. They’re the most popular manifestation of crap-rock, so they take the most heat.
With bro-country, you have a guy like Cole Swindell who is a Luke Bryan clone without the actual talent or charisma that Bryan has. But Luke Bryan is the face of the bro-country thing.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:54 am
Much like will.i.am in generic EDM/pop/Rhythmic fare, Nickelback is above all else a brand………….a mightily successful brand.
The reason Nickelback is loathed upon umpteen times more than, say, Theory of a Deadman or Hinder………..is because Nickelback has been far more effective at selling their product, and the product is something those clamoring for even a smidgen more depth to their music or abjectly reject commerce shoving all room for artistic exploration aside…………..DESPISE.
Think about it. Where are the anti-Nickelback mantras most vociferous? On hipster-leaning sites like Sputnikmusic and The AV Club. Granted there are many fans of shamelessly commercial and disposable pop music who can’t stand Nickelback either, but often it’s just not as personal to them because they don’t care quite as much about the idea of commerce trumping artistic pursuit at most every turn. The idea that Nickelback represents the McDonald’s of mainstream rock doesn’t set off a short fuse among them like it would in the aforementioned communities among others.
June 22, 2014 @ 1:13 am
“Creed were enormously popular at the height of their career, but they went on a lengthy hiatus and only released two studio albums throughout the 00”²s (of which their comeback album “Full Circle” sold less than one-tenth of what its predecessor “Weathered” sold. It”™s clear Creed”™s peak came right at the turn of the century and they were probably the band to beat from 1999 through 2002. After 2002, though”¦”¦”¦..they just rode off into the sunset, and when they returned, they failed to remotely capture the imagination of the listening public the same way. I”™ve rarely seen album-to-album drop-offs as staggering as Creed”™s in all recent memory. Hootie & The Blowfish is the only act that comes to mind who has fared even worse than Creed has.”
Again, I think this has more to do with several factors that are related but not limited to popularity. Wind-Up records was in the midst of a sale when Full Circle was slated to be released. As a result, those that sought to buy the label put a hold on about 95% of the promotional material, not wanting the stock value (and thus price) of the label to rise. As a result, the record hit with little fanfare, despite getting to number 2 on the charts. I can’t tell you how many Creed fans I’ve talked with that said they didn’t even know the band was back together until they saw a copy of the album sitting on a shelf at a store. Adding to this was the fact that the band didn’t extensively tour, and that the tour was also mostly duped by the label in terms of promotion. Not only did the word not spread of the band’s reunion, it hardly started to begin with. Also important but completely different is the fact that the album had a much harder edge to it without a poppy single to accompany the release for major airplay. There was no “With Arms Wide Open” or “One Last Breath” to dominate the pop airwaves. It was all intense, raw riff-driven material that was sure to turn off all but the most metal-minded fans. You’re also talking comparing a record that was released just before legal/illegal track downloads came to fruition with one that was released in the digital age. The case isn’t as simple as you’re trying to make it.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:07 am
“Nickelback fascinates me as well, but for different reasons. They seem to universally reviled by any and everyone, yet they sell out wherever they play.”
You’ve been spending too much time on the internet. Unfortunately, the world wide web is simply an outlet for negativity and little else when it comes to human interaction. And at a certain point, it just becomes “cool” to hate a certain musical act, be it warranted or not (if I had a nickel for every “why does Justin Bieber have more views than this song” comment on YouTube…). I, like you, have never found Nickelback to be horrible, just not great. Chad Kroeger’s sexist and misogynist lyrics tend to be what turns me off to the band’s songs for the most part; the riffs, however, are killer (regardless of how repetitive they might be). I’ve not met a whole lot of Nickelback haters in person but if you seek them out in the autonomous online world you’ll be lost in a sea of them.
June 22, 2014 @ 1:00 am
I think you hit the nail on the head as to why Chris Brown is also continuing to successfully garner hit singles despite all the negative press surrounding his physical assault of Rihanna, brawls with other recording artists and other scrapes with the law.
Because when you really take three steps back from message boards and YouTube comment sections…………..we’re nonetheless mostly a passive bunch that really doesn’t care nearly as much as we indicate we do digitally. At the end of the day, Chris Brown’s image may have changed dramatically over these past five years and I personally think he’s a scumbag……………..but his powerful label is still backing him and he somehow got the mind-boggling misogynistic “Loyal” into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100.
June 22, 2014 @ 1:25 am
Well, you have to think of statements and comments almost as New Year’s resolutions: people typically mean well, it’s just a lot easier to say than do. Talking and typing some profound dissertation takes a lot less effort than going out and joining PETA or, in the case you mentioned, boycotting Chris Brown. It requires absolutely no commitment nor gumption. At the end of the day statements are nothing but a lot of fluff; such is the reason for why songs and fans have to save country music, not bloggers or criticism. The natural disconnect between the online and physical worlds is also at play. When we’re online, most of us assume a persona of sorts, even if it’s 95% accurate to who we really are. Take for instance this site: most of us have handles that aren’t our names, even Trigger. As he himself says, he would treat any artist no matter who they are with the level of respect they deserve as a human being, not matter what type of venom or vitriol that he might spit at their work or image. I myself try to remain faceless because of my age, and I don’t want my opinions to be discounted because of it (that said, I’ve loosened up with that and since I’m a self-admitted fan of Creed, you could probably get in the ballpark of my years).
June 23, 2014 @ 3:58 pm
Because Nickleback couldn’t fit the jockstraps of legendary rock and rollers. Years from now nobody will remember or care about their songs. Classic songs like Sympathy for the Devil, Good Times Bad Times, All Along the Watchtower will live on and be revered forever.
June 23, 2014 @ 9:09 pm
I haven’t even heard a single Nickelback song on the radio in two and a half years.
The last time I heard a Nickelback song anywhere was when “Photograph” was played over the intercom while grocery shopping
Granted I don’t listen to rock radio often. But I do listen to Adult Top 40 radio here and there out of curiosity, and Nickelback have more chart entries on that format compared to any other artist besides Maroon 5, Train and matchbox twenty to name several. Now, I never hear them at all. Not even the once ubiquitary “How You Remind Me”.
June 21, 2014 @ 7:16 pm
Blake Shelton has just turned into a douche. What does that mean “people try to call her bluff at bars”, like she’s out there throwing down all the time. I guess she must be hanging around Eric Church a lot and they are just kicking peoples asses non stop. If she did put her hands on Chad Kroeger, I guarantee you it was way more playful and less serious than he is trying to make it sound. I have seen Miranda at a small bar before with Blake and I’ll say this, she is so busy following Blake around and trying to keep his attention that she barely had time for anything else. She is like a puppy dog following him around. I guess this is Blake trying to somehow connect himself to being an outlaw.
June 21, 2014 @ 7:34 pm
Oh schnikes….
June 21, 2014 @ 8:22 pm
I would rather listen to ANY Nickelback song once a day for the rest of my life over “Mama’s Broken Heart” or “Gunpowder and Lead” or “White Liar” or “Baggage Claim” or any other bitch fest faux sassy song Miranda ever releases for the rest of her career.
June 21, 2014 @ 11:03 pm
Oh, really?
EVEN “Something In Your Mouth” or “Next Go Round”? 😉
June 22, 2014 @ 6:21 am
Indeed, even those two.
And of course Miranda’s a much better artist, overall, but as long as she keeps throwing these rehashes of Gunpowder and Lead out there, she’s going to irritate the shit out of me.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:47 am
Woah, hoss. Those Miranda songs are way better than Nickelback. Yeah, the sassy girl stuff is a tired trope, but still.
November 21, 2014 @ 10:28 pm
I’m going to be honest, I enjoy “White Liar” and I’d argue that it actually has some degree of substantive depth to it, even on its own. And certainly more than most of what Nickelback has.
June 21, 2014 @ 8:43 pm
Damn tell us how you really feel BwareDWare! I think it’s all bullshit myself,like they’re trying to perserve her bad girl image,which is beyond old and played out at this point.Her and Eric Church are trying to out faux-badass one another..
June 21, 2014 @ 8:57 pm
Fascinating. Somehow I am not surprised that Chad Kroeger eventually got a punch.
I don’t hate Nickelback like I do some other bands I could name. Songs like “Something In Your Mouth” make me cringe, and they can’t do ballads for shit, but that tribute to Dimebag Darrell (“Side of a Bullet”) was pretty awesome. I wish they’d do more songs like that.
June 21, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
I’m willing to admit, not caring how pervasive anti-Nickelback-everything screeds are, that “Side Of A Bullet” was decent. “Never Again” was a solid song. “Too Bad” sounded sincere and came from a heartfelt place. The non-single “Throw Yourself Away” is strong. And though the lyrics were lame and lunkheaded, “Burn It To The Ground” had a nice stomp and groove to it.
I’d confidently say they’ve had more misses than hits, but I’ll fairly give credit where credit is due regardless of how vociferously an act in general is being torn apart, just as I’ll honestly dispute tracks that seem critically deified when I feel the need to.
I’ve even given Luke Bryan “Tackle Box” and “All My Friends Say”. You might say Nickelback have a better track record to date than Luke Bryan! 😉
June 22, 2014 @ 9:01 am
I don’t care for women who take shots at guys knowing full well they can’t do anything about it. Even if they are douchey like Kroeger. I think what most people hate about Nickelback is their incistance on playing half-assed poprock even though they have displayed the chops for something more. Also, the copycat bands that they inspired and often nurtured brings about a good deal of hatred.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:10 pm
Completely, 100% agree with you. While I never have and never will strike a woman, and of course I will never condone striking women, I find it incredibly offensive that some women knowingly strike men knowing that they’ll be able to point the finger if he retaliates. It’s not a double standard–men shouldn’t strike women, but to me those kinds of women undermine the movement for equality that has made such major strides over the years. It’s so damn pointless to do something to somebody knowing they can’t retaliate. Miranda’s painted as a badass for hitting Chad. If he’d thrown one back his career would be over.
Nickelback isn’t nearly as bad as some people make them out to be. Overplayed or not, we all know we’d be proud if we’d written songs like Photograph or Feelin’ Way too Damn Good.
It’ll never happen, but the Rock band from this time period that should go down in history is Alter Bridge, not Nickelback, not the Foo Fighters. Alter Bridge.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:38 pm
Alter Bridge would definitely rate up there on my short list.
Bet all those who bashed Creed until the cows came home, who actually have given Alter Bridge (who ARE Creed – Scott Stapp + Myles Kennedy) a fair listen ever since, are now eating most of their previous words, eh? 😉
June 22, 2014 @ 12:48 pm
Oh, absolutely, and here’s the funny thing about Creed–they’re actually pretty damn good, too. At the very least, their first two albums are fantastic, and I wouldn’t hesitate to argue that “My Own Prison” was pretty easily the best mainstream post grunge album that was released when post grunge was the definitive mainstream rock genre.
Scott Stapp, I don’t know if he’s actually more tolerable and easier to work with, now, but the hatred for Creed was definitely fueled by his personality. I don’t think a lot of Creed haters even take into account that Mark, Brian, and Scott Phillips even exist.
June 22, 2014 @ 6:09 pm
I realize we’ve digressed heavily here, but I’ll go ahead and say this about Creed.
While I wouldn’t laud them as ardently as you are, per se, I did feel “My Own Prison” was one of the most consistent and effective mainstream post-grunge albums released. The hooks felt towering. The riffs felt dynamic and meaty. And say what you will about Scott Stapp as a person (I will admit during the “Weathered” era on since after their initial hiatus, Stapp honestly got on my nerves a lot regardless of how sincere his battling of demons were at the time)……………..but as a vocalist he has a commanding boom much like Chad Kroeger does that immediately sets the band above all their C-grade imposters and chart rivals.
“Human Clay” wasn’t as good, but it was still a remarkably consistent, cohesive set. And while I didn’t like “Weathered” overall in that it was marred by filler in a way its two predecessors didn’t have, there are dozens of albums of that sub-genre I would consider markedly worse than that and I did like the lead single “My Sacrifice”.
“Full Circle” is the only Creed album I can say I strongly disliked. Aside from “A Thousand Faces” and “Time”, it was a messy, “loudness wars”-marred release that I felt didn’t emphasize the best qualities of the group despite the welcome attempt at ramping up the aggression that was lacking often on “Weathered”.
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So, yeah, I think most of the flack Creed received was unfair and, mostly, unwarranted. But what’s also certain is that Alter Bridge blow Creed out of the water in terms of ferocity, musicianship and innovation.
June 22, 2014 @ 12:43 pm
i guess the pickup line worked on avril lavigne 🙂
June 22, 2014 @ 3:45 pm
funny if she actually punched the guy. He’s from rural Alberta. I’d be surprised if he hasn’t been in a few scraps. Likewise Blake.
Nickelback worked their way up the hard way, touring on the road, playing dives, like one where I live, and wrote great, catchy tunes. When they first became stars, they were getting standing ovations from the music heavyweights at the grammies and so on.
Good band.
June 23, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
I know she went with sort of a hard ass image after she won her reality show and married Shelton, but does nobody else remember sometime in the early or mid aughts when she’d open for Pat Green or Jack Ingram at festivals in Texas and wear a goofy straw hat covered with bottle caps? The image she was going for back then was basically drunken sorority girl.
June 25, 2014 @ 2:06 pm
Ok, I know im jumping in on this late, but i never have understood the huge hate for Nickelback. As a previous poster said, it seems the only ones that truly hate them are people that are too “cool” for that type of music, and are into the whole “indie” music scene. I’ve seen them live and they put on a great show. They play a lot harder and lot louder in person then they do on any of their records. Hell, they even had their drummer do a 5-7 minute solo
November 19, 2014 @ 9:06 pm
No she tossed the shot at him. He kept telling her to take a shot and she said not now. Chad called her a bitch and so she poured it on him. No punching, sorry guys.