Nickelback's Chad Kroeger Praised as "Not Full of S**t" by Devin Townsend

For all the band's success and the devotion of its fanbase, Nickelback has long been reviled by critics and a punching bag for music fans all over the world. 

As the band's most visible member, and one of its lead songwriters, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger often bares the brunt of the criticism. 

Devin Townsend, on the other hand, is one of the world's most prolific composers and producers. 

A longtime critical darling who's considered one of the greatest guitarists/vocalists of his generation, Townsend has released more than 20 studio albums with various bands and produced and co-written dozens more.

But for all of his success relative to the rank-and-file musician, Townsend has been open in recent years about how he actually makes only a modest living from his art and is largely unknown to the greater population.

Other than the fact that both Kroeger and Townsend are Canadian musicians, you wouldn't think they have anything in common. Nevertheless, Townsend says he considers Kroeger a friend. In a recent series of Tweets, Townsend defended the long-maligned singer as a "brilliant" man, suggesting most of the hate directed at Kroeger stems from jealousy over Nickelback's success. 

"Chad is a real person. He's exceptionally talented at what he does and he's above all a good dude who helped me when I needed help," Townsend said, after admitting he, too, was once a Nickelback hater until meeting Kroeger and "unexpectedly" becoming friends with him. 

"Over the past few months, him and I have spent some good times together, hanging out, playing guitar, and talking," Townsend continued. "He became a big help to me in that there's no competition between us, and a lot of things I was struggling with professionally — there's no real resource for advice."

Townsend, whose recent work falls into a myriad of genres outside of rock or metal, suggested the Kroeger helped him make some crucial decisions about his career. 

In January, Townsend announced he was disbanding his Devin Townsend Project band after some ten years and seven studio albums. Townsend said at the time that he was in the midst of the "most overwhelming" creative period of his career, working on four albums at the same time. 

Continuing on Kroeger, Townsend added that the Nickelback singer is one of "few brilliant people" he's met in his 20-plus-year career in the music industry. 

They even tried writing together a while back, Townsend said...but it didn't work out.

"Regardless, whatever anyone may think of the guy, he's not full of s--t in my opinion, and I'm glad to know him," Townsend concluded. "Respect."

Photos: Getty Images / Youtube - InsideOutMusicTV