Canada’s Nickelback in Maine

Talk about a can’t-miss proposition. Daniel Adair must have had to pinch himself back in January 2005 when he was asked to make a choice he couldn’t even dream about.

The Toronto native, who had been working with 3 Doors Down, was approached by members of Nickelback in December 2004, and asked to audition.

Even after picking up a pair of drumsticks for the first time at age 13, Adair could never have imagined ever being put in this kind of position.

“It was a pretty neat position to be coveted by two premium rock bands. I mean, I was already over the moon and on cloud nine when I got the call to 3 Doors,” said Adair in a telephone interview during some downtime between shows Friday. “I was in 3 Doors Down at the time as a hired gun. Then they offered me a permanent band position the same time Nickelback called. It was a tough choice because I was tight with the guys in 3 Doors.”

Adair eventually chose Nickelback, and one of the deciding factors was the proximity of Nickelback lead singer and guitarist Chad Kroeger’s studio to Adair’s Vancouver residence – just 30 minutes away.

That was back in January. Six months later, his decision has been affirmed more than he could have imagined as Nickelback’s 10-month concert tour is still gaining momentum.

“I think it was supposed to end in September, but then they added some dates in October so we extended it,” Adair said. “Then October went into November and November into December, so it might be January before we wind this thing up the way it is now.”

Tuesday, the Canadian rock band’s tour will reach Portland and the Cumberland County Civic Center for a nearly sold-out 7:30 p.m. show also featuring Hoobastank. Chevelle was originally part of the music card, but has since been replaced by Three Days Grace and Hinder.

“I haven’t had any experiences with Maine before,” Adair said. “But if we have a day off I wouldn’t mind having a lobster and seeing what there is to do around there.”

The 31-year-old Adair replaced Ryan Vikedal, who was forced out of the group in early January and later sued by Kroeger in November 2005.

Adair wasn’t unfamiliar to Kroeger, bassist Mike Kroeger, and guitarist-vocalist Ryan Peake as 3 Doors Down had toured with Nickelback in 2004. Despite the familiarity, Adair was amazed at how quickly he fit in with his new bandmates.

“It’s been fantastic. I’m very happy with how things have turned out,” Adair said. “The whole world sees the band a certain way, and everyone thinks it’s like a dictatorship with Chad totally in control, but everybody puts a lot of equal input into things.

“The first day I’m here I’m humming a tune and Chad hears it and says, ‘Hey, I can do that on guitar. Why don’t you go in and record it?’ So I did and here I am putting down a track on my first day.”

Misconceptions and assumptions are common when it comes to supergroups such as Nickelback, which has had four top 10 singles, including “Photograph” and “Far Away” from its latest album (“All the Right Reasons”), which debuted as the No. 1 album in America on the Billboard charts.

“When someone meets you, they’re not meeting you anymore, they’re meeting the drummer for Nickelback, and they just presume a lot of things,” the former music store drums sales clerk said.

“You know, I assume stuff about people now and they assume stuff about me, and that’s the bad thing about being in a famous band. You really have to just start trusting your gut.”

He didn’t have to worry about whether or not it was him or his band membership his fiancee was interested in when he met her.

“I met Brittany when I was in 3 Doors Down. She didn’t even know who 3 Doors Down was. She didn’t know the songs, but when I played “Kryptonite,” she knew it. She hated that song,” he said with a chuckle. The couple planned to elope in September when the tour ended, but that date, like the tour, has been pushed back.

Adair, who first started practicing with drums when he was 13 after listening to his sister’s copy of the Hemispheres album by Canadian supergroup Rush and finding himself transfixed by the ability and sound of Rush’s drummer.

“Neil Peart of Rush was the reason I wanted to learn to play drums,” he said. “I’ll never play like him, but I’ve wanted to learn all I can and practice as much as I can to be as good as I can be.”

Seems that all his practice has paid off.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205 and aneff@bangordailynews.net.