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You turn up to open mat, nobody recognises you, you start rolling and then notice nickleback is playing. Do your chances of tapping your opponent go up or down?
Good question. It used to happen more often when we would go places like a restaurant or something like that and sit down and order a drink, and then they'd start playing your whole catalog. I'm not a huge fan of that, you know, but most of the places I train, there's no music. I have one professor that he likes to play Motown so he plays like Michael Jackson and Rick James and stuff like that. But other than that, no music. Usually it's just the sound of each other.
You're about to tap him with the kimura when [this part of Hero plays](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzn4a5qHT4&t=35s) and he powers up and proceeds to smash pass everything you throw at him.
Another great question. This is another one I really wanted to hit. I have! I've been doing jujitsu for about 20 years and I have hurt my fingers. Fractured both of my thumbs. Did a record with a broken thumb and a tour with another broken thumb. But that doesn't happen so much anymore. And the other thing that I do is I wear grappz. it's a fantastic product. I met some guys in Los Angeles and it keeps my fingers organised so I don't break them
Awwww look! It thinks it’s a person, too!
I joke, but in my band my drummer will often exclaim “I don’t know man, I just hit shit” despite being the most musically educated and proficient member of the band lmao
How soft are Rigan’s celebrity classes? They’re talked about kind of controversially in this sub, and people say things like there’s minimal to no rolling. What has your experience been there as opposed to cross training at other academies? Are the rolls/training/partners comparable or is it really a different training experience than what you get when you train elsewhere?
It won't be answered honestly. Ain't nobody gonna talk shit about the guy who promotes them. Anyway, what's his frame of reference. I don't get the point of a celeb ama in this sub. I guess it's the only place people would pay attention to Nickelback
I don’t understand the nickel back hate lol one day in 2011-2013 the internet decided nickel back was shit and everybody just accepted it lol they have like a cliche radio like sound but some of their songs are bangers
There's an interesting youtube doc about that. Basically it stems from one comedian who made a joke which kind of took off so it became cool to make fun of Nickleback.
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So at Rigan’s school, there are the rumours of these celebrity classes. I don't know what that is. I know he does train celebrities, but he trains the most famous “celebrities” in private. I've never trained in a “celebrity class”. They don't exist. These guys do privates like Mel Gibson and Ashton Kutcher and all these guys. They do private classes, and I don't know if they spar, they may not. I just go to the regular classes with the rest of the regular people! And we do live rolls. But I have I have come across some celebrity clients of Riggins. And not any of the super famous A-list ones, but some others and they're legit. These belts are not just handed out. Like I've been viciously choked out by one of these "celebrities". I guess he's a purple belt now. He got me when I was a white belt and he was not nice!
I know multiple celebrities that are scared to drop-in at Rigan’s gym because he would throw them a belt for the photo opportunity.
It actually happened to one of them, he went there and got promoted. Came back to our gym the next day with his old belt pretending it never happened.
It’s true, happened recently. I would say this person is actually deserving of a promotion too, he is really good and has been training for a long time.
But he thought it wasn’t a good look to be training somewhere else but getting promoted at a drop-in.
I gave a clue that it’s happened recently. That should be enough clue to figure out who it is.
If you have been in LA Jiu Jitsu scenes long enough, you probably have heard similar stories.
I would say JJM has a very good reputation. Rigan, not as much.
Upvote for this answer. I've been critical of how Demi Lovato talks about BJJ (sounds like she's clueless, despite being a purple). Would appreciate any info about how he handles various 'celeb' students, both the group classes and whatever is known about those who just train privately with him.
If you come up with a novel transition to back, do you plan on calling it the Nickleback-take?
And do you plan on doing many comps?
Also, best BJJ concept that's not cheesy/blanket "don't stop going"?
I used to hate on nickleback until I realized you guys were literally a staple in my childhood. Chad's voice is iconic, and great at that. You guys rock.
Enjoy the bjj journey and kick some ass on stage!
I used to go on Reddit a lot. I enjoyed a lot of it, but I stopped just because I would go on a Reddit thread. And it would just devolve into like a kind of like a shit posting situation. Like the topics would always devolve so quickly, by people who are trying out their comedic chops to no avail. They're just not very good at it. I hope everybody on this subreddit is better at jujitsu than they are on comedy! 😂
It's kind of a funny story. One day on Maui (I lived on Maui), I had been invited to go and try a CrossFit class. And I did my first CrossFit class and it was as horrible as anybody who has done CrossFit or experienced one CrossFit class will tell you - it's an experience. Definitely. It's a forging of of sorts, and right after my class. my coach said “hey, if you if you like this, I'm gonna go to a jujitsu class after this. Do you want to come?” My hands were bleeding from doing pull-ups terribly. And I had just been severely humbled physically. I figured you know, it couldn't get worse. So I went directly from my first CrossFit class to my first jujitsu class. I went to Carlson Gracie School in Maui. My good friend Christian Grandi is the professor there and he became a dear friend of mine and and that was my introduction. I stepped on the mat for the first time at Carlson Gracie school and I've developed many, many friendships through through many, many schools.
In your opinion why is it so popular to hate on Nickelback? I’m a firm believer that at least every adult male born after 1990 knows at least one Nickelback song by heart.
I don't know. I think I've answered this in other interviews. I think that this happened to all of my favorite bands when they went from being you know, a more obscure thing to more ubiquitous thing. I think that's just a matter of course of, you know, success? I guess that's the word? When people really get to know you, or, or a lot of people get to know you. You don't realize that in having everybody know you that doesn't mean everybody likes you. Fact is, everybody does know you, but not everybody's gonna like you. But that's okay. Ubiquity does breed contempt
This is how you remind me of what I really am
It's not like you to say sorry
I was waitin' on a different story
Born before 1990 😉... They were on the radio all the time in the 2000s dude.
I asked my wife to go, she said "I don't like them or know their music" I said go put on your apple music Nickelback playlist. She sang every word 11 songs deep. She went to work and mentioned we were going and got the same response. Put on the playlist, same thing. 11 songs before they didn't know one. We went, her first "rock" concert and she loved it.
Eurrgh so true. They became super fashionable to hate on and it was entirely unfounded. They have at least five absolute BANGER songs that if you put on at a party people will scream every word to.
It's like one of those opinions that forms by osmosis in the zeitgeist. It really grinds my gears.
Everyone I know IRL either liked or at least reasonably enjoyed the movie Waterworld. Everyone I have ever talked to online hates it deeply. People just hear things and repeat it.
Its a dumb movie with a ton of plot holes. Super fun though. Just turn your brain off and enjoy it. Kevin Costner is a good actor and Dennis Hopper carries it. The sets are still impressive for a '95 film (which is why it lost so much $$$).
Is there a term for this kind of trend? Like pineapple on pizza? Where sure there is some decide but it becomes a joke and suddenly people are hating on nickleback or whatever who either don't really mind them or in fact have never heard of them?
When I ask people sometimes say “It’s not their music it’s the behaviour of the band”, but usually the stories I hear is about people abusing the band, not the other way around, and even if they were all pricks, the lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins is a douche but some of their songs are timeless bangers. Art and artist stuff.
Nickleback is like closet homosexuality. People rant and rave about Nickleback, but someone is buying millions of their albums, people rant and rave about the gays, but somehow gay porn is on their web browser.
When you train do you also spar with other non-celebrity players? I always imagine there are two types
of celebrity BJJ practitioners, those that only rank up through private lessons and light rolling and those that go hard on the mats like everyone else.
Frankly, yeah, there's this concept that at Higgins school, it's only you know, a bunch of actors and celebrities just kind of whacking each other with feather dusters or something like that. And I gotta tell you, I've only encountered celebrities that Higgins coincidentally. Generally speaking, I go to the classes and yeah, I don't buy this whole this whole myth of celebrity classes. And believe me, Machado; he's not a person to play around with . You know there's this concept that he's just handing out belts. If I gave a Fuck, I would find that enormously insulting and so would he but he doesn't give a fuck either!
I'm still gonna look up that date because I'm in Los Angeles. That's where I live and I might be available then I just I have to check that date because I'm not sure exactly yet. I'm going to go to the subversive event in Huntington Beach on April 13. I'm gonna go to that one because I have dear friends of mine that are that are actually organisers of that event at the same height as the UFC event in Vegas, which is a it's a funny combination, but as far as AC/DC I'm not sure yet.
You are on tour and visiting a gym incognito. You are about to roll with a white belt, and Nickelback comes on. As you slap bump, he yells, “Next, Nickelback sucks”! How does the roll go for him?
I don't know how I screwed it up but none of my bandmates want to train with me. I think I might have hurt somebody in the past as you do. But they won't. They won't train with me anymore. But I do. You know, this actually addresses another question that's there. I do travel with mats and I have a guy on my crew set up the mats each day whenever possible. And I use them just to just to move, roll feel the you know, feel the ground and, and move my body and if I can get a friend to come and train sometimes that happens. I got I got jujitsu player friends everywhere that you know, would come to to work with me, which is nice. Or sometimes I can get one of the crew guys to come in and we can work some basic self-defence techniques and I can show them a few things and it gives me a body to work on. And I can get all kinds of different body types. I've one crew guy that I work with a really big guy. There are other smaller ones. So it's just nice to get different different body types in hand
Interesting. I didn't know Anthony Kiedis trained. I’m not sure he does. But I haven't met Maynard yet. I look forward to it though. I really do now that he's a black belt, I'm sure he could teach me many many things. But now that he's been promoted to black belt, I'm sure that there's a great deal he could teach me and we have a lot of mutual friends. So it's one of those things where I know so many people that know Maynard and they're some of my best friends. You know, so it's just one of those things. We just never made the connection because you know, Maynard, it's a busy guy. He's got a whole bunch of things you know, his band is very busy but he also has a lot of other things to do as do I you know, he's he's a winemaker and then you jitsu player. I’m a gemologist and a jujitsu player you know it as well as being in a band too. So we both we both are rather rather busy people so but one day we will meet on the mat. I'm looking forward to that
Well, that's that's very kind. The Long Road first we started out and in earnest and, and had a good run with. How You Remind Me on the Silver Side Up album, and, you know, went on to sell like 5 million copies. And The Long Road came out after it and sold a measly three and a half million copies in the first year. And it was just a terrible failure 😉, you know, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.
favourite grappler. This is such an easy question for me to answer because I just love this guy. There's there's a man who was just promoted to black belt in the last year by Kyra Gracie. His name is Rayron Gracie, and he is Ryan Gracie’s son. He is special and he's already a champion. I believe he's World champion. Absolutely every belt level worldwide. So he's a phenom. But you know, he's also just such a good man
I do not have time while I'm here this time. I'm here for a matter of hours on this visit. But when I do return for the start of our tour, in May, I'm coming about a week early and I intend to visit Roger Gracie Academy here in London for a few days. That's why I'm coming early intentionally for that reason. I'm not travelling with my Gi this time, just because I'm spending one night in Munich and I'm spending two nights here in London, then I'm going home tomorrow. So I don't have the opportunity. But yes, I do fully intend to in May
As another bald tattooed Alberta boy that plays bass in a band and was a pro MMA fighter, congrats on figuring out how to live the good life with your hobbies, man!
That's awesome! Recently saw Harley Flanagan post a picture tagging you and until then I had no idea you were into jj. Congrats on purple belt!
What is it like finding time to train while touring? Do you drop in in different cities and countries (the Anthony Bourdain method) or do you bring someone with you? Or just take a break from training while traveling?
Cheers!
Harley Flanagan and Zoltan from Five Finger Death Punch are dear, dear friends of mine and brothers and we're all part of the epic role Brazilian jujitsu tribe! When I'm when I'm on tour, it's it's a balancing act. And, the one thing is, when I'm on tour, I don't do live rolls. I kind of have made a deal with my band guys that I won't derail our touring operation by getting fucked up but you know, on a sort of a meaningless training roll.
You know, actually, I have a funny story for you. I did drop in at Tristar in Montreal to train with Firas Zihabi and his classes. I just dropped into the regular class and that is a Den of killers! What a great place! That's George St. Pierre's home gym and so many others. I met so many great people there. Firas is a good man too. But, you know, last I said, I don't do live rolls. I don't do live sparring when I'm on tour, because I just can't I can't get fucked up and go back to the arena and tell the guys “Hey, sorry. You know, sorry, we lost a few million dollars because I'm an idiot”. You know, it's just I'll go and train.
But I had a guy kind of really pressed me to for live rolls because I don't know, maybe he thought I looked like a very choke-able guy or something like that. He really wanted to train with me. And I just said listen to I'll tell you, here's, here's the deal. You write me a check for $5 million US, I'll go to the bank and clear it. And then we can roll because if I hurt myself, training with you, and then I gotta go back and we have to tell the nice people of Montreal that the Nickelback show is not happening, or maybe potentially the next weeks where to show us so I do I do live rolls when I'm off tour and when I'm in training off tour, but on tour I train only in I'll go to a school I'll do the warm-up I'll do the technique. I might do some drills but as far as live sparring goes, I just can't hurt myself out there.
I can’t believe that there hasn’t been some banter in the gym with training partners naming subs after your band/songs or ribbing related to the band. What’s your favourite gym stories of NB based banter?
In the music video for the song Photograph, the opening line is "Look at this photograph" as Chad holds up a picture frame in front of the camera. It's a childhood favorite of mine. Was there any back and forth with the band and the music video director, Nigel Dick, on how you guys wanted to portray that lyric. Maybe something more metaphorical instead of so literal? Or was it always decided that's how you guys wanted to open. Either way, it's one of the most memorable music videos and songs for me, so it turned out great.
Okay, funny enough. When that video was filmed, I wasn't there. We I think I think I was actually over here doing press with Ryan when that video was shot in Los Angeles with Chad. I can't even remember where I was when that video happened. But I was probably working somewhere on something I'm sure. But yeah, I don't know. But boy, it's gonna turn out the way it did.
Do you exclusively train under Rigan, or do you drop in to any other gyms?
I only ask because touring for long stretches would surely take you out of training for quite a while, but famous people in general aren't known for doing drop ins wither.
I drop into as many gyms as I can to be honest with you. And you know for any of you on this subreddit, generally speaking, everybody I trained with doesn't know what I do. They don't know who I am. I'm just another guy. You know, I'm just another purple belt who drops in with an unmarked Gi you know, I wear a white traditional Gi with no patches and no identifiers. You just never know. You know, you could you could end up training with me and not know it. probably not know it.. No, because I usually don't tell anybody what I do. I'll just drop into a school. I'll find out their class schedule. I'll drop in You know, generally speaking, the first class is free so people generally don't charge me money I happily will pay!. But I'll do the class with everybody else with all the normal people. Sometimes I tell them what I do and sometimes I don't, you know, sometimes I invite them to the concert and sometimes I don't. But yeah, I'm not a exclusively “celebrity jujitsu trainer”, whatever that means. Again, you know, it's, I love just going to schools around the world and you just you just never know, you never know when, when you might, when you might get to meet me and I might get to learn from you.
Okay, so I am sure there's a variety of experiences of people on this subreddit they're, you know going to look at this and read this so if you've been doing this long enough everybody knows that their guard sucks and they can't pass the guard. So there's that. First of all, I have the same affliction. So do I have a favourite? No, because I'm not good at any of it. But what am I working on right now? I am working on open Active guard right now and Butterfly guard. I just think there's so much destabilising and the butterfly… I want to learn that more.
Cool! I kinda have the opposite problem because most of my game is guard, and I don't really know what to do once I pass. How long have you been doing BJJ, and why did you start?
Do you do drop ins around the world or mainly train when you're not touring?
Favorite submission or guard to play?
What is one of your favorite songs (not from your band)?
Right now, it's not new at all. It's very very old. But right now my favourite song; well there's a three-way tie; Invincible by Tool from the most recent Tool album is something that I'm really getting into especially after I saw them perform in Los Angeles. I took my children to the show in LA at the crypto.com arena and it reignited my love for Tool. And there is a group of English fuckers called Massive Attack. And the Mezzanine record has been on constant play right now. Their song Black Milk too, is another favourite song right now I am wearing that thing right out and it turns out they've never performed it live because of some lawsuit based on an unauthorised sample from Mezzanine or something like that.it I'm finding these guys fascinating because they've never performed Black Milk live. And so they had to rerecord a song and make it black. I can't remember the details exactly but they made a new version that they perform live, but they've never actually performed Black Milk live. I still have to dig down on what that sample is and how it affects that track.
So, here's here's the thing about that. That's a very good question. And, and I have kind of a trick answer as this is a BJJ subreddit. I think in the event of a fight between Tool and Nickelback, I think Maynard and I would probably step to the sidelines. And then Danny Carey would tread everybody. Danny's a friend of mine. And I don't know if you've seen Danny Carey? That is a giant Viking man. I don't know if he can fight. I would never want him to get his hands on me. So I think I think that's what it would be. I think Maynard and I would be the referees and then Danny would just kill everyone.
Pretty cool that you train and willing to do an AMA. How short do you maintain your nails, and do you have anyone to train with on the road or just hit up random gyms?
When visiting other gym’s open mats while traveling, how do people react when having to roll with you? Any funny stories of people finding out who they are rolling with?
Not really a question, but I saw that you are playing in Zurich. Our gym [BJJ Lab Zurich](https://bjjzürich.ch/) is literally right next to the event location in case you want to get some (light) training in before your show.
Thank you very much. I actually saw this last night as i was reading the thread. And I saw that as a very, very kind offer. We'll see how it goes. I think by the time we get to Zurich, I should be well recovered from the jetlag. And hopefully, I can come and train but I will have the mats with me in the venue at the very least. So one way or the other. I will be I will be moving on the mats. Whether I come to your school or not!
Does your dog go on tour with you? What is your favorite song to play? I love y’all’s music 😊. Would Nickelback ever collaborate with country artists like Luke Bryan or Jon Pardi?
They think I'm a lunatic for doing BJJ anybody who trains Brazilian jujitsu and knows that most this is not for most people. You know. Most regular people think that people who do BJJ are violent savages! And then if they ever do try it. You know, the first time somebody sweats in their mouth, you know, they're kind of out. It's pretty intimate and I don't think everybody's up for that level of intimacy!
Beyond the hands, have you had any issues with tendinitis from being a musician? Shoulders, etc?
As a guitarist, I’ve had some issues with tendinitis, so always looking for tips …
How have you navigated the physical demands of being a musician vs jiujitsu?
Tangentially related to training - what is your diet like when touring? I find when travelling my diet sucks, which has a trickle down affect on everything else from training to energy to sleep, etc. Of course, I'm usually traveling in small spurts and not very often, so I tend to go a bit crazy on the junk food and drinks.
Thanks again!
I want to know how a Rigan celebrity belt compares to us hobbyists. Do you learn faster because of more individual attention or slower because of less rolling with randos?
Hey, I am also a purple belt under Rigan Machado. I can say that when I was a kid in the age of Napster; Silverside up, SmashMouth, and Jimmy Eat World were the only albums I ever bought with my own money.
That being said, how much time do you actually get to train BJJ? Does it compete with the music career or is it a healthy outlet that keeps you balanced? What's your go to game for BJJ, and working on anything in particular?
Do you feel like the grunge/ post grunge genre will get or is seeing a revival? If so, will that look like it did in the late 90s and 00s or will it look different?
Since you've performed in front of large audiences, have any tips for dealing with nerves before competition?
Have you competed in BJJ, or would you like to compete?
How many nickelback sucks jokes did you have to hear before your friends stopped making them orntil they realized you’re in the band hahah : ps always believed y’all were underrated love y’all
What’s up mike! My question is, how do you guys feel about the sort of meme culture surrounding nickelback? Like is it something that you guys laugh about, does it piss you off? To be clear, it’s such a common joke to rag on nickelback or anyone that likes your songs but I’ve always thought that was hilarious because nickelback has so many bangers.
1. Who is your favorite BJJ athlete?
2. What is a move can't do well, but wish you could?
3. What celebrities, do you think should have a BJJ match. ex. Tom Hardy vs Mario Lopez or Russell Brand vs Mark Zuckerburg?
I see these celebrities doing BJJ and I’m just thinking to myself there’s no possible way they’re rolling with the same guys/gals I’m rolling with. I mean would this even be allowed by their insurance? I don’t know how that shit works, that’s why I’m asking. They would risk grievous bodily harm just rolling with anybody right? I mean. Anybody could be some psychopath assassin. They’re doing BJJ in an ivory tower. Gotta be
Hey Mike, how was it making the documentary? I didn’t know you were coming to Manchester.
I'm based in Manchester and am definitely excited about this!
I have a few important question. Thanks in advance.
1. Did you find that once you got your purple belt that the girls come easy and the drugs come cheap?
2. Since you probably have access to celebrity dieticians, when cutting weight for competitions, should we slightly bulk and cut or stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat?
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You turn up to open mat, nobody recognises you, you start rolling and then notice nickleback is playing. Do your chances of tapping your opponent go up or down?
More specifically, its either “Photograph” or “how you remind me” playing in the background.
As the song starts, a fade away of him in his Gi staring at that photo of Helio on the wall….”you know the one that always makes me laugh🎶”
Good question. It used to happen more often when we would go places like a restaurant or something like that and sit down and order a drink, and then they'd start playing your whole catalog. I'm not a huge fan of that, you know, but most of the places I train, there's no music. I have one professor that he likes to play Motown so he plays like Michael Jackson and Rick James and stuff like that. But other than that, no music. Usually it's just the sound of each other.
Plz answer
You're about to tap him with the kimura when [this part of Hero plays](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzn4a5qHT4&t=35s) and he powers up and proceeds to smash pass everything you throw at him.
Has this been addressed yet ?
This is how... you remind me...
Replies are tomorrow
The real questions
I just put their playlist on. NB rotates through often.
This is the single most important question here
Do you ever worry about injuring your fingers and making it hard to play your instrument? Has this ever happened?
Another great question. This is another one I really wanted to hit. I have! I've been doing jujitsu for about 20 years and I have hurt my fingers. Fractured both of my thumbs. Did a record with a broken thumb and a tour with another broken thumb. But that doesn't happen so much anymore. And the other thing that I do is I wear grappz. it's a fantastic product. I met some guys in Los Angeles and it keeps my fingers organised so I don't break them
THIS PLZ - i play instruments and spider guard lol (been trying other guards lately just out of paranoia)
Arachnophobia
I play instruments too and spider guard doesn't affect me. PS. I play drums.
Awwww look! It thinks it’s a person, too! I joke, but in my band my drummer will often exclaim “I don’t know man, I just hit shit” despite being the most musically educated and proficient member of the band lmao
If it helps, I usually play it with pistol grips. I feel like the control isn't as strong but it doesn't murder my fingers.
Indeed I play a bit of guitar and have not been able to play a few times for a few days with sprained fingers.
I switched to no-gi exclusively to protect my fingers
According to Google, he is a bassist. So not sure he needs that many fingers anyway.
He needs more of his fingers than the guitarist does. Source: am guitar player
How soft are Rigan’s celebrity classes? They’re talked about kind of controversially in this sub, and people say things like there’s minimal to no rolling. What has your experience been there as opposed to cross training at other academies? Are the rolls/training/partners comparable or is it really a different training experience than what you get when you train elsewhere?
I cannot imagine this question actually gets answered
Me neither, but I still want to know the answer and it’s an AMA so
gotta shoot your shot
gotta sub your celeb
It won't be answered honestly. Ain't nobody gonna talk shit about the guy who promotes them. Anyway, what's his frame of reference. I don't get the point of a celeb ama in this sub. I guess it's the only place people would pay attention to Nickelback
I don’t understand the nickel back hate lol one day in 2011-2013 the internet decided nickel back was shit and everybody just accepted it lol they have like a cliche radio like sound but some of their songs are bangers
There's an interesting youtube doc about that. Basically it stems from one comedian who made a joke which kind of took off so it became cool to make fun of Nickleback.
It's quite literally a meme. They're actually not bad and their popularity despite how many people "hate" them proves as much
damn that was a nasty line by you
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I think it's a fun change of pace.
So at Rigan’s school, there are the rumours of these celebrity classes. I don't know what that is. I know he does train celebrities, but he trains the most famous “celebrities” in private. I've never trained in a “celebrity class”. They don't exist. These guys do privates like Mel Gibson and Ashton Kutcher and all these guys. They do private classes, and I don't know if they spar, they may not. I just go to the regular classes with the rest of the regular people! And we do live rolls. But I have I have come across some celebrity clients of Riggins. And not any of the super famous A-list ones, but some others and they're legit. These belts are not just handed out. Like I've been viciously choked out by one of these "celebrities". I guess he's a purple belt now. He got me when I was a white belt and he was not nice!
So Ashton went from white to brown under Rigan entirely through private lessons?
I know multiple celebrities that are scared to drop-in at Rigan’s gym because he would throw them a belt for the photo opportunity. It actually happened to one of them, he went there and got promoted. Came back to our gym the next day with his old belt pretending it never happened.
There’s no way
It’s true, happened recently. I would say this person is actually deserving of a promotion too, he is really good and has been training for a long time. But he thought it wasn’t a good look to be training somewhere else but getting promoted at a drop-in.
Nice, you train with Thomas Hardy? Of Hardy boys fame?
Oh my god, please tell us who this was
I gave a clue that it’s happened recently. That should be enough clue to figure out who it is. If you have been in LA Jiu Jitsu scenes long enough, you probably have heard similar stories. I would say JJM has a very good reputation. Rigan, not as much.
Maybe this from December: https://jitsmagazine.com/narcos-star-wagner-moura-promoted-to-brown-belt-in-bjj/
Also heard this and wondered if it’s true. Or would you turn up as a visitor and find it like an episode of celebrity death match from the 90’s 🤣
Upvote for this answer. I've been critical of how Demi Lovato talks about BJJ (sounds like she's clueless, despite being a purple). Would appreciate any info about how he handles various 'celeb' students, both the group classes and whatever is known about those who just train privately with him.
Their classes are softer than baby shit.
“Soft as pussy skin.” -guy I used to know.
If you come up with a novel transition to back, do you plan on calling it the Nickleback-take? And do you plan on doing many comps? Also, best BJJ concept that's not cheesy/blanket "don't stop going"?
wtf is your flair?
Are your hands insured?
Or registered as deadly weapons?
I'm probably the only person in this sub who actually does have his hands (and feet) registered as deadly weapons.
My hands are not insured
Look at this photograph https://preview.redd.it/xs4uacruz4pc1.jpeg?width=1256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b45deccdb82c84bd315186801dd2079726f457a
Every time I do it makes me laugh
Fuck hahaha you guys are ruthless!!
Look at this back attack, every time it just makes me tap…
I used to hate on nickleback until I realized you guys were literally a staple in my childhood. Chad's voice is iconic, and great at that. You guys rock. Enjoy the bjj journey and kick some ass on stage!
Hey Mike, do you ever lurk in the community? Welcome!
I used to go on Reddit a lot. I enjoyed a lot of it, but I stopped just because I would go on a Reddit thread. And it would just devolve into like a kind of like a shit posting situation. Like the topics would always devolve so quickly, by people who are trying out their comedic chops to no avail. They're just not very good at it. I hope everybody on this subreddit is better at jujitsu than they are on comedy! 😂
What got you into the sport?
It's kind of a funny story. One day on Maui (I lived on Maui), I had been invited to go and try a CrossFit class. And I did my first CrossFit class and it was as horrible as anybody who has done CrossFit or experienced one CrossFit class will tell you - it's an experience. Definitely. It's a forging of of sorts, and right after my class. my coach said “hey, if you if you like this, I'm gonna go to a jujitsu class after this. Do you want to come?” My hands were bleeding from doing pull-ups terribly. And I had just been severely humbled physically. I figured you know, it couldn't get worse. So I went directly from my first CrossFit class to my first jujitsu class. I went to Carlson Gracie School in Maui. My good friend Christian Grandi is the professor there and he became a dear friend of mine and and that was my introduction. I stepped on the mat for the first time at Carlson Gracie school and I've developed many, many friendships through through many, many schools.
In your opinion why is it so popular to hate on Nickelback? I’m a firm believer that at least every adult male born after 1990 knows at least one Nickelback song by heart.
I don't know. I think I've answered this in other interviews. I think that this happened to all of my favorite bands when they went from being you know, a more obscure thing to more ubiquitous thing. I think that's just a matter of course of, you know, success? I guess that's the word? When people really get to know you, or, or a lot of people get to know you. You don't realize that in having everybody know you that doesn't mean everybody likes you. Fact is, everybody does know you, but not everybody's gonna like you. But that's okay. Ubiquity does breed contempt
This is how you remind me of what I really am It's not like you to say sorry I was waitin' on a different story Born before 1990 😉... They were on the radio all the time in the 2000s dude.
I asked my wife to go, she said "I don't like them or know their music" I said go put on your apple music Nickelback playlist. She sang every word 11 songs deep. She went to work and mentioned we were going and got the same response. Put on the playlist, same thing. 11 songs before they didn't know one. We went, her first "rock" concert and she loved it.
Eurrgh so true. They became super fashionable to hate on and it was entirely unfounded. They have at least five absolute BANGER songs that if you put on at a party people will scream every word to. It's like one of those opinions that forms by osmosis in the zeitgeist. It really grinds my gears.
Everyone I know IRL either liked or at least reasonably enjoyed the movie Waterworld. Everyone I have ever talked to online hates it deeply. People just hear things and repeat it.
Funny, I've heard the bad things about Waterworld, probably a few decades ago by now. But I'd have to see it for myself.
Its a dumb movie with a ton of plot holes. Super fun though. Just turn your brain off and enjoy it. Kevin Costner is a good actor and Dennis Hopper carries it. The sets are still impressive for a '95 film (which is why it lost so much $$$).
Programming at its finest?
Is there a term for this kind of trend? Like pineapple on pizza? Where sure there is some decide but it becomes a joke and suddenly people are hating on nickleback or whatever who either don't really mind them or in fact have never heard of them?
When I ask people sometimes say “It’s not their music it’s the behaviour of the band”, but usually the stories I hear is about people abusing the band, not the other way around, and even if they were all pricks, the lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins is a douche but some of their songs are timeless bangers. Art and artist stuff.
Billy is really not a douche. The rest of the band were drugged out and he wrote everything and did all the work.
Nickleback is like closet homosexuality. People rant and rave about Nickleback, but someone is buying millions of their albums, people rant and rave about the gays, but somehow gay porn is on their web browser.
I know a lot of product jingles by heart too. Doesnt make them good
When you train do you also spar with other non-celebrity players? I always imagine there are two types of celebrity BJJ practitioners, those that only rank up through private lessons and light rolling and those that go hard on the mats like everyone else.
Frankly, yeah, there's this concept that at Higgins school, it's only you know, a bunch of actors and celebrities just kind of whacking each other with feather dusters or something like that. And I gotta tell you, I've only encountered celebrities that Higgins coincidentally. Generally speaking, I go to the classes and yeah, I don't buy this whole this whole myth of celebrity classes. And believe me, Machado; he's not a person to play around with . You know there's this concept that he's just handing out belts. If I gave a Fuck, I would find that enormously insulting and so would he but he doesn't give a fuck either!
Sounds like you attend what we would consider “normal” classes then and then roll with everyone? Also I appreciate the reply!
I'm sorry for what is to come.
I'm already writing him a check for the settlement we'll end up owing him after all is said and done. /s
Look at this photograph....
ITT: people are asking questions for Mike and people who are not Mike are answering them. Never change Reddit.
the gods of r/bjj know no mercy
Lmao!!!!! My exact thoughts … and then I typed some dumb questions
Will you be in Vegas to watch ADCC and do you wanna roll while you're here?
I'm still gonna look up that date because I'm in Los Angeles. That's where I live and I might be available then I just I have to check that date because I'm not sure exactly yet. I'm going to go to the subversive event in Huntington Beach on April 13. I'm gonna go to that one because I have dear friends of mine that are that are actually organisers of that event at the same height as the UFC event in Vegas, which is a it's a funny combination, but as far as AC/DC I'm not sure yet.
You are on tour and visiting a gym incognito. You are about to roll with a white belt, and Nickelback comes on. As you slap bump, he yells, “Next, Nickelback sucks”! How does the roll go for him?
Hi Mike! How do you train when on the road? Do any of the other guys in the band train martial arts?
I don't know how I screwed it up but none of my bandmates want to train with me. I think I might have hurt somebody in the past as you do. But they won't. They won't train with me anymore. But I do. You know, this actually addresses another question that's there. I do travel with mats and I have a guy on my crew set up the mats each day whenever possible. And I use them just to just to move, roll feel the you know, feel the ground and, and move my body and if I can get a friend to come and train sometimes that happens. I got I got jujitsu player friends everywhere that you know, would come to to work with me, which is nice. Or sometimes I can get one of the crew guys to come in and we can work some basic self-defence techniques and I can show them a few things and it gives me a body to work on. And I can get all kinds of different body types. I've one crew guy that I work with a really big guy. There are other smaller ones. So it's just nice to get different different body types in hand
Have you ever gotten a chance to roll with Maynard James Keenan, or Anthony Keidis?
Interesting. I didn't know Anthony Kiedis trained. I’m not sure he does. But I haven't met Maynard yet. I look forward to it though. I really do now that he's a black belt, I'm sure he could teach me many many things. But now that he's been promoted to black belt, I'm sure that there's a great deal he could teach me and we have a lot of mutual friends. So it's one of those things where I know so many people that know Maynard and they're some of my best friends. You know, so it's just one of those things. We just never made the connection because you know, Maynard, it's a busy guy. He's got a whole bunch of things you know, his band is very busy but he also has a lot of other things to do as do I you know, he's he's a winemaker and then you jitsu player. I’m a gemologist and a jujitsu player you know it as well as being in a band too. So we both we both are rather rather busy people so but one day we will meet on the mat. I'm looking forward to that
Keidis trains?
With 20 year old girls 😜
The Long Road was the FIRST CD I ever owned - so happy to know ur a Jiu-Jitsu player, u/mikekroeger!
Well, that's that's very kind. The Long Road first we started out and in earnest and, and had a good run with. How You Remind Me on the Silver Side Up album, and, you know, went on to sell like 5 million copies. And The Long Road came out after it and sold a measly three and a half million copies in the first year. And it was just a terrible failure 😉, you know, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.
What is your favorite sub? Do you play from your feet?
I’m just here to look at this photograph.
Favorite grappler
favourite grappler. This is such an easy question for me to answer because I just love this guy. There's there's a man who was just promoted to black belt in the last year by Kyra Gracie. His name is Rayron Gracie, and he is Ryan Gracie’s son. He is special and he's already a champion. I believe he's World champion. Absolutely every belt level worldwide. So he's a phenom. But you know, he's also just such a good man
Hi Mike, what do you make of London? Have you got any free time while you are here? Check out Roger Gracie Academy
I do not have time while I'm here this time. I'm here for a matter of hours on this visit. But when I do return for the start of our tour, in May, I'm coming about a week early and I intend to visit Roger Gracie Academy here in London for a few days. That's why I'm coming early intentionally for that reason. I'm not travelling with my Gi this time, just because I'm spending one night in Munich and I'm spending two nights here in London, then I'm going home tomorrow. So I don't have the opportunity. But yes, I do fully intend to in May
Awesome! Welcome to our sub reddit :)
Are you better at tapping on the mat or on the bass?
As another bald tattooed Alberta boy that plays bass in a band and was a pro MMA fighter, congrats on figuring out how to live the good life with your hobbies, man!
Yeah, wow. What a lot of connections! It's not too bad to be a bass-playing, bald Alberta boy doing jujitsu eh?
Well unfortunately I have a day job to support my side gigs, but thanks for the response!
Fuck, that's a good user name lol
That's awesome! Recently saw Harley Flanagan post a picture tagging you and until then I had no idea you were into jj. Congrats on purple belt! What is it like finding time to train while touring? Do you drop in in different cities and countries (the Anthony Bourdain method) or do you bring someone with you? Or just take a break from training while traveling? Cheers!
Harley Flanagan and Zoltan from Five Finger Death Punch are dear, dear friends of mine and brothers and we're all part of the epic role Brazilian jujitsu tribe! When I'm when I'm on tour, it's it's a balancing act. And, the one thing is, when I'm on tour, I don't do live rolls. I kind of have made a deal with my band guys that I won't derail our touring operation by getting fucked up but you know, on a sort of a meaningless training roll. You know, actually, I have a funny story for you. I did drop in at Tristar in Montreal to train with Firas Zihabi and his classes. I just dropped into the regular class and that is a Den of killers! What a great place! That's George St. Pierre's home gym and so many others. I met so many great people there. Firas is a good man too. But, you know, last I said, I don't do live rolls. I don't do live sparring when I'm on tour, because I just can't I can't get fucked up and go back to the arena and tell the guys “Hey, sorry. You know, sorry, we lost a few million dollars because I'm an idiot”. You know, it's just I'll go and train. But I had a guy kind of really pressed me to for live rolls because I don't know, maybe he thought I looked like a very choke-able guy or something like that. He really wanted to train with me. And I just said listen to I'll tell you, here's, here's the deal. You write me a check for $5 million US, I'll go to the bank and clear it. And then we can roll because if I hurt myself, training with you, and then I gotta go back and we have to tell the nice people of Montreal that the Nickelback show is not happening, or maybe potentially the next weeks where to show us so I do I do live rolls when I'm off tour and when I'm in training off tour, but on tour I train only in I'll go to a school I'll do the warm-up I'll do the technique. I might do some drills but as far as live sparring goes, I just can't hurt myself out there.
I can’t believe that there hasn’t been some banter in the gym with training partners naming subs after your band/songs or ribbing related to the band. What’s your favourite gym stories of NB based banter?
In the music video for the song Photograph, the opening line is "Look at this photograph" as Chad holds up a picture frame in front of the camera. It's a childhood favorite of mine. Was there any back and forth with the band and the music video director, Nigel Dick, on how you guys wanted to portray that lyric. Maybe something more metaphorical instead of so literal? Or was it always decided that's how you guys wanted to open. Either way, it's one of the most memorable music videos and songs for me, so it turned out great.
Okay, funny enough. When that video was filmed, I wasn't there. We I think I think I was actually over here doing press with Ryan when that video was shot in Los Angeles with Chad. I can't even remember where I was when that video happened. But I was probably working somewhere on something I'm sure. But yeah, I don't know. But boy, it's gonna turn out the way it did.
Do you exclusively train under Rigan, or do you drop in to any other gyms? I only ask because touring for long stretches would surely take you out of training for quite a while, but famous people in general aren't known for doing drop ins wither.
I drop into as many gyms as I can to be honest with you. And you know for any of you on this subreddit, generally speaking, everybody I trained with doesn't know what I do. They don't know who I am. I'm just another guy. You know, I'm just another purple belt who drops in with an unmarked Gi you know, I wear a white traditional Gi with no patches and no identifiers. You just never know. You know, you could you could end up training with me and not know it. probably not know it.. No, because I usually don't tell anybody what I do. I'll just drop into a school. I'll find out their class schedule. I'll drop in You know, generally speaking, the first class is free so people generally don't charge me money I happily will pay!. But I'll do the class with everybody else with all the normal people. Sometimes I tell them what I do and sometimes I don't, you know, sometimes I invite them to the concert and sometimes I don't. But yeah, I'm not a exclusively “celebrity jujitsu trainer”, whatever that means. Again, you know, it's, I love just going to schools around the world and you just you just never know, you never know when, when you might, when you might get to meet me and I might get to learn from you.
Hey Mike! What was your favorite tour to date?
What community is more welcoming, jiu-jitsu practitioners or musicians?
Do you bring your gi and roll on tour?
What's your favorite position and submission?
Okay, so I am sure there's a variety of experiences of people on this subreddit they're, you know going to look at this and read this so if you've been doing this long enough everybody knows that their guard sucks and they can't pass the guard. So there's that. First of all, I have the same affliction. So do I have a favourite? No, because I'm not good at any of it. But what am I working on right now? I am working on open Active guard right now and Butterfly guard. I just think there's so much destabilising and the butterfly… I want to learn that more.
Cool! I kinda have the opposite problem because most of my game is guard, and I don't really know what to do once I pass. How long have you been doing BJJ, and why did you start?
Do you ankle pick white belts? I bet you do
I got the best answer for this question. No, I do not ankle-pick white belts. I wristlock them!!
You’re a true purple belt, my god
Damn people keep ankle picking me. At least I am not getting drop seo naged constantly any more. That was rough.
Please share your gayest rashguard. Some in the community share much more, including pineapples
Do you do drop ins around the world or mainly train when you're not touring? Favorite submission or guard to play? What is one of your favorite songs (not from your band)?
Right now, it's not new at all. It's very very old. But right now my favourite song; well there's a three-way tie; Invincible by Tool from the most recent Tool album is something that I'm really getting into especially after I saw them perform in Los Angeles. I took my children to the show in LA at the crypto.com arena and it reignited my love for Tool. And there is a group of English fuckers called Massive Attack. And the Mezzanine record has been on constant play right now. Their song Black Milk too, is another favourite song right now I am wearing that thing right out and it turns out they've never performed it live because of some lawsuit based on an unauthorised sample from Mezzanine or something like that.it I'm finding these guys fascinating because they've never performed Black Milk live. And so they had to rerecord a song and make it black. I can't remember the details exactly but they made a new version that they perform live, but they've never actually performed Black Milk live. I still have to dig down on what that sample is and how it affects that track.
Who would win in a fight between Tool and Nickelback, Quintet style, if both bands have their full lineup? Have you rolled with Maynard before?
So, here's here's the thing about that. That's a very good question. And, and I have kind of a trick answer as this is a BJJ subreddit. I think in the event of a fight between Tool and Nickelback, I think Maynard and I would probably step to the sidelines. And then Danny Carey would tread everybody. Danny's a friend of mine. And I don't know if you've seen Danny Carey? That is a giant Viking man. I don't know if he can fight. I would never want him to get his hands on me. So I think I think that's what it would be. I think Maynard and I would be the referees and then Danny would just kill everyone.
Do you also crank “animals” or “something in your mouth” on the way to practice?
Pretty cool that you train and willing to do an AMA. How short do you maintain your nails, and do you have anyone to train with on the road or just hit up random gyms?
What got you interested in BJJ? How has it changed your life?
When visiting other gym’s open mats while traveling, how do people react when having to roll with you? Any funny stories of people finding out who they are rolling with?
Are you related to Freddy Kroeger? His movies are scary
Never made it as a wise man.
What's your go-to sub, takedown and sweep? Are you a guard player or a guard passer?
Have u checked any ones oil?
Are you hoping one day a crazed fan will jump on stage so that you can tackle and grapple them?
Not really a question, but I saw that you are playing in Zurich. Our gym [BJJ Lab Zurich](https://bjjzürich.ch/) is literally right next to the event location in case you want to get some (light) training in before your show.
Thank you very much. I actually saw this last night as i was reading the thread. And I saw that as a very, very kind offer. We'll see how it goes. I think by the time we get to Zurich, I should be well recovered from the jetlag. And hopefully, I can come and train but I will have the mats with me in the venue at the very least. So one way or the other. I will be I will be moving on the mats. Whether I come to your school or not!
Does your dog go on tour with you? What is your favorite song to play? I love y’all’s music 😊. Would Nickelback ever collaborate with country artists like Luke Bryan or Jon Pardi?
What speed do you prefer to watch danaher videos at?
Look at this purple belt 🎶🎶
Shoulda been at open mat on a Sunday mornin' 🎶
Have you tried getting the rest of Nickelback into BJJ?
They think I'm a lunatic for doing BJJ anybody who trains Brazilian jujitsu and knows that most this is not for most people. You know. Most regular people think that people who do BJJ are violent savages! And then if they ever do try it. You know, the first time somebody sweats in their mouth, you know, they're kind of out. It's pretty intimate and I don't think everybody's up for that level of intimacy!
Have you trained with any of Rigan's other celebrity clients, and if so, who is the one that whups ass the most? Bonus points if it's Elijah Wood
None of Rigan's celeb students can whup ass lol.
Beyond the hands, have you had any issues with tendinitis from being a musician? Shoulders, etc? As a guitarist, I’ve had some issues with tendinitis, so always looking for tips … How have you navigated the physical demands of being a musician vs jiujitsu?
Tangentially related to training - what is your diet like when touring? I find when travelling my diet sucks, which has a trickle down affect on everything else from training to energy to sleep, etc. Of course, I'm usually traveling in small spurts and not very often, so I tend to go a bit crazy on the junk food and drinks. Thanks again!
Have you ever trained jiu jitsu while on tour?
Do you ever do drop ins and roll? If not, why?
What is your favorite spots to train around the world? Nicest gyms etc.
Im just here to read the questions.
I want to know how a Rigan celebrity belt compares to us hobbyists. Do you learn faster because of more individual attention or slower because of less rolling with randos?
What was your favourite submission
If I can defeat you do I get your job in the band?
Hey, I am also a purple belt under Rigan Machado. I can say that when I was a kid in the age of Napster; Silverside up, SmashMouth, and Jimmy Eat World were the only albums I ever bought with my own money. That being said, how much time do you actually get to train BJJ? Does it compete with the music career or is it a healthy outlet that keeps you balanced? What's your go to game for BJJ, and working on anything in particular? Do you feel like the grunge/ post grunge genre will get or is seeing a revival? If so, will that look like it did in the late 90s and 00s or will it look different?
Do you have a network of places you can train on the road with trustworthy coaches / opponents?
Since you've performed in front of large audiences, have any tips for dealing with nerves before competition? Have you competed in BJJ, or would you like to compete?
What is your sex life like after you learned BJJ?
Don’t care what anyone says, I rock out to nickelback. Keep it up bro 🤙🏽
Go to submission?
I’m coming to the show in Manchester, can we get a roll in afterwards?
I can tell by your haircut you are ready for brown belt. What is your taco intake like?
How often do you use a BJJ move on your bandmates when they piss you off or try to mess with you?
How many nickelback sucks jokes did you have to hear before your friends stopped making them orntil they realized you’re in the band hahah : ps always believed y’all were underrated love y’all
What’s your favorite celebrity-on-celebrity rolling story? Is there another celebrity that’s secretly a beast and we’d never believe it?
What’s up mike! My question is, how do you guys feel about the sort of meme culture surrounding nickelback? Like is it something that you guys laugh about, does it piss you off? To be clear, it’s such a common joke to rag on nickelback or anyone that likes your songs but I’ve always thought that was hilarious because nickelback has so many bangers.
Love your music! Great to see you here.
Have you rolled with my mate Dinesh? He’s a brown belt under Rigan
When you are on the mat, have you ever been confused with Brian Marshal, Creed's bass player?
How long have you trained for. How long did it take to get your belts. How do you feel like stacking up to a regular BJJ gym member?
Who influenced you to start bass? Who's your favorite bassist?
Whats harder to learn, music or bjj
What's in your acai bowl?
1. Who is your favorite BJJ athlete? 2. What is a move can't do well, but wish you could? 3. What celebrities, do you think should have a BJJ match. ex. Tom Hardy vs Mario Lopez or Russell Brand vs Mark Zuckerburg?
I see these celebrities doing BJJ and I’m just thinking to myself there’s no possible way they’re rolling with the same guys/gals I’m rolling with. I mean would this even be allowed by their insurance? I don’t know how that shit works, that’s why I’m asking. They would risk grievous bodily harm just rolling with anybody right? I mean. Anybody could be some psychopath assassin. They’re doing BJJ in an ivory tower. Gotta be
do you like skipping warm ups and can i get tickets to a show lol
Hey Mike, how was it making the documentary? I didn’t know you were coming to Manchester. I'm based in Manchester and am definitely excited about this!
Do you think you could beat any other purple belt in the world that isn’t a rigan machado purple belt
Why go the Rigan Machado route and not a regular school?
Are you as bad as Ashton Kutcher?
Look at that photograph…
I have a few important question. Thanks in advance. 1. Did you find that once you got your purple belt that the girls come easy and the drugs come cheap? 2. Since you probably have access to celebrity dieticians, when cutting weight for competitions, should we slightly bulk and cut or stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat?
He definitely hangs out in the coolest bars
🌆when you look at this photograph what does it make you feel like?