ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 24, 2022 By Steve Newton On the phone from her home in Santa Monica, Chaka Khan ponders the question of when she first discovered her love of music. It doesn’t take her long to decide that she can’t remember, exactly. “I must have been born with that,” she says. “I think … Continue reading Chaka Khan says you have to follow your heart, and trust it
By Steve Newton I interviewed legendary soul-funk vocalist Chaka Khan last year before she played the PNE in Vancouver, on a double bill with Patti LaBelle. As the conversation wound down I asked Chaka what she’d been listening to in her spare time lately, a question she seemed to have some trouble with. At first … Continue reading That time Chaka Khan sang me a bit of Emily King’s “Georgia” because she couldn’t remember her name
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 1, 1983 By Steve Newton With the help of such fine session musicians as drummers Steve Gadd and Steve Ferrone, bassists Will Lee and Marcus Miller, keyboardists David Paich and Jorge Dalto, and saxman David Sanborn, George Benson has come up with another tantalizing collection of funk and … Continue reading Album review: George Benson, In Your Eyes (1983)
By Steve Newton You may have heard that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recently announced the nominees for its class of 2021. And man does the list suck in spots. The Go-Go’s? Dionne Warwick? That’s what passes for rock and roll these days? Here’s the full list of 15 nominees: Mary J. Blige, Kate … Continue reading Halfwits at Rock Hall again ignore Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter, and Link Wray, instead nominate the Go-Go’s and Dionne Warwick
By Steve Newton Back in May of 1989 I interviewed British guitar great John Sykes, who was promoting the debut album by his power trio Blue Murder. Six years earlier Sykes had played on Thunder and Lightning, the final studio album by Thin Lizzy. So at one point in the conversation I asked him rather … Continue reading That time I asked John Sykes if he thought Thunder and Lightning ranked among the best of the Thin Lizzy albums
photo by the newt By Steve Newton I did the first of my six interviews with Canadian rock great Kim Mitchell back in July of 1984, when he was promoting his new Akimbo Alogo LP. That was a wicked album, containing as it did the singles “Go For Soda”, “All We Are”, “Feel It Burn”, … Continue reading That time I told Kim Mitchell that I’d like to see “Lager and Ale” as his next single
By Steve Newton Back in November of 2001 I interviewed an 18-year-old guitarist from Saskatoon named Jordan Cook. Nowadays Cook is making sizeable waves in the blues-rock world as rowdy, sweat-soaked performer Reignwolf, but back in ’01 he was just touring around Canada with two teenage bandmates trying to make a name for himself. Near … Continue reading Before he morphed into Reignwolf I asked teenaged guitarist Jordan Cook how he got into the blues
By Steve Newton Back in October of 1992 I interviewed Trouble founder and guitarist Rick Wartell when the Chicago hard-rock quintet was touring with Pantera and heading to Vancouver for a show at the Commodore Ballroom. At the start of the conversation I mentioned how much I liked his band’s current album, Manic Frustration, and … Continue reading That time Rick Wartell told me that Trouble was going over really well with the thrash-loving Pantera fans
By Steve Newton I did my first interview with slide-guitar legend Derek Trucks in March of 1998, when he was still just 18 years old. I called him up at his home in Jacksonville, Florida, the day before he was due in Texas to kick off a tour with Joe Satriani. He mentioned the possibility … Continue reading That time I called up 18-year-old Derek Trucks just before he headed out on tour with Joe Satriani
By Steve Newton I interviewed Canadian guitar virtuoso Don Ross for the first time back in 2001, when he was touring behind his Huron Street album. Ross is the only person to win the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice (1988 and 1996), so yeah, he’s shit-hot. At one point in the conversation I asked him … Continue reading That time I asked Canadian fingerstyle-guitar virtuoso Don Ross how he got so good
By Steve Newton I interviewed Rickey Medlocke in 1997, the year after he’d joined Gary Rossington and Hughie Thomasson in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s three-guitar lineup. While Rossington was a founding Skynyrd guitarist, and Medlocke had played drums for them in their early days, Medlocke and Thomasson had made their names in two of my other fave … Continue reading That time I asked Rickey Medlocke if he and Hughie Thomasson might get to sneak a Blackfoot or Outlaws tune into Skynyrd’s set
By Steve Newton Back in January of 1992 I interviewed Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson. At the time Rush was touring behind its latest album, Roll the Bones, and was headed to Vancouver for a show at the Pacific Coliseum. At one point in the conversation I asked the 38-year-old Lifeson if the band had ever … Continue reading That time Alex Lifeson told me that Rush had considered expanding to a four-piece in the ’70s
By Steve Newton When I interviewed Alex Van Halen on August 9, 1995, Van Halen was in the midst of a North American tour in support of its tenth album, the Bruce Fairbairn-produced Balance. As on all Van Halen albums, the songwriting credits on Balance were shared between all four members. At one point in … Continue reading That time Alex Van Halen told me how ideas for Van Halen songs sprang from Eddie just noodling around
