'The dads are getting divorced': Three Days Grace hits new highs as Y2K-era rock surges back

Ontario’s Three Days Grace is visiting the Montreal area for the second time this year and packed Place Bell in Laval on Monday night on a double-headline bill.

At recent Three Days Grace fan events, singer Matt Walst has noticed a trend that would’ve seemed unthinkable when the band broke out in the early 2000s: three generations of listeners lining up together.

“We’ve had the grandpa, dad and the kid at the meet-and-greets. It’s nuts,” he says.

“The demographic is all over the place.”

The snapshot captures the band’s unexpected third act. The Norwood, Ont., five-piece, once synonymous with angsty millennial adolescence, is in the middle of a full-blown resurgence.

This month, Three Days Grace hit a new milestone as their tortured 2006 hit “Animal I Have Become” surpassed one billion Spotify streams, making them the first Canadian band with two songs to cross that mark. It joins their debut single, “I Hate Everything About You,” which achieved the feat last year.

They’re now up for group of the year and rock album of the year — for 2025’s “Alienation” — at this weekend’s Juno Awards.

“The crowds have never been bigger for us than they are now,” notes Walst.

“I feel like Canada loves us even more now.”

Walst points to a broader retro wave taking several bands higher.

“A lot of early 2000s music is blowing up everywhere. Creed has made a comeback. They’re selling more tickets than they ever did. Nickelback is still huge. The kids are listening to them,” he notes.

The movement has been cheekily dubbed “divorced dad rock” — shorthand for the brooding, polished, radio-dominating strain of post-grunge that defined early 2000s rock, now being rediscovered by older fans and Gen Z listeners alike.

“Maybe the dads are getting divorced and that’s what they’re listening to,” Walst laughs.

“Or maybe that’s what their dad listened to back in the day? I have no idea where that term came from. I like it, though.”

Whatever you call it, the momentum is real. Last year, Three Days Grace became the second act to ever notch 20 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, propelled by a three-song streak with recent singles “Kill Me Fast,” “Mayday” and “Apologies.”

Part of the surge comes from a full-circle moment: the return of original frontman Adam Gontier, who left in 2013 citing health issues and touring burnout. Walst stepped in at the time as his replacement, but his ties ran deep — he’s the younger brother of bassist Brad Walst and co-wrote a song on their 2003 debut.

“I watched this band start in my basement when I was like 10 years old,” says Walst, who fronted My Darkest Days before leading Three Days Grace over the past decade.

When Gontier rejoined in 2024 after a reconciliation, the band kept both singers, doubling their frontman firepower.

Walst says part of “Alienation”’s success comes from their unique chemistry — Gontier’s larynx-shredding grit balanced by his own smoother, melodic delivery.

“I grew up with Adam. We were friends before any of this ever happened, so it was pretty easy to come together and do the dual vocals,” he says.

“We trade off parts, there’s more harmonies — it’s just more energy. It’s the biggest it’s been.”

• READ MORE: Three Days Grace: Canada’s top band back on the road with original singer

How you remind me

Still, the band’s renewed popularity has left even seasoned music insiders mystified.

“When they came back, it really surprised me. I did not expect this,” says veteran Canadian music journalist Alan Cross.

“It’s very hard to explain… I just thought that they had had their day, had their time, and apparently not.”

But Three Days Grace isn’t the only Y2K-era band being welcomed back with arms wide open. Creed has been packing stadiums since reuniting two years ago; Nickelback expanded its 2023 comeback tour due to demand; and Limp Bizkit is again headlining festivals, including this year’s Ottawa Bluesfest.

Cross points to a psychological phenomenon called the “reminiscence bump,” a tendency to gravitate toward music from one’s formative years — typically ages 13 to 23.

“What we’re seeing now is gen-Xers and early millennials… finding absolutely no affinity with what’s going on today, so they’re going back to the music of their youth,” he says. “It’s musical comfort food.”

He adds timing matters.

“We’ve gone through a period where pop and R&B have dominated the charts and culture. And right now, things are anything but happy and upbeat. So maybe people are finding a bit of emotional solace in these songs — the darker lyrics, the heavy guitars.”

Life stage plays a role, too: “They’ve grown up, got jobs, lost their hair, got divorced… and they want to go back to when it was a whole lot easier.”

Younger listeners are also fuelling the surge, with parents passing down their music and platforms like TikTok resurfacing old hits in a cultural moment that feels unsettled.

Walst says “Animal I Have Become” has gone viral on TikTok.

“A lot of people are first hearing that song. It just keeps getting bigger.”

Despite all that, one thing still eludes them: a Juno win.

“If we lose, we’ll have 15 nominations that we’ve lost,” Walst chuckles. “It’d be awesome to break the curse.”

Trophies aside, Walst says the songs are hitting because they meet listeners where they are.

“A lot of people come up and say, ‘Thank you for saving my life and getting me through this difficult time,’” he says.

“That’s why we do it. It’s pretty cool to hear that music can save people.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2026.

Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press