"I Definitely Crank it up."

Bryan Adams on guitar heroes, stage fright, and how he maintains his youthful looks

- Marcel Anders

THE EARLY BIRD catches the worm: It's a sunny Tuesday morning in Berlin, and Bryan Adams is in high spirits.

Between two stops of his ‘Rolling With The Punches’ tour, the 65-year-old music-veteran (with an estimated 100 million albums sold) was in the German capital, one of his favourite places in the world, he says. Before attending his photo-exhibition at the Reichstag, he takes time out of his busy schedule to talk to Reader's Digest about things that bother him, move him, and inspire him.

READER'S DIGEST: Your new album Roll With The Punches sounds like a return to your early work—to Reckless and Cuts Like A Knife. On purpose?

BRYAN ADAMS: [chuckles]: That's such a funny thing. People always say that when you put out an album: “Wow, it sounds like your early stuff.” Well, it's going to sound like me no matter what happens, you know what I mean? It's me. That's what I sound like. But there are fewer ballads for sure.

Well, yeah, but if you listen to the albums that all those songs came from, they're full of rock and roll. The ballad in some cases is just an easier thing to play on radio.

Does that bother you?

No. Great songs.

What's it like listening to one of your own songs being played on the radio?