ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 28, 2002 By Steve Newton There are a ton of rowdy, punk-edged rock tunes on the latest Headstones CD, The Oracle of Hi-Fi, but the one that really stands out on first listen is “Tiny Teddy”. A rollicking, three-minute tale of shady characters, cocaine, and revenge, it’s reminiscent … Continue reading The Headstones’ Hugh Dillon on great Canadian rock bands and having a gun to his head
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 20, 2000 By Steve Newton Technical difficulties have been gnawing away at me lately. First, the automatic garage door at our house doesn’t feel like opening; next thing our freaky cat, Toonces, sets off the burglar alarm we just got. Now, 20 minutes into an interview with Headstones … Continue reading A killer album is the best revenge for the Headstones’ Hugh Dillon
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 2, 1997 The Granville Mall proved a pretty functional location for the stag party I took part in a few months back. After getting the obligatory eyeful at the Cecil strip bar, the toga-clad hubby-to-be was paraded down to the Commodore Lanes, where, amazingly, yours truly decimated all … Continue reading Headstones frontman Hugh Dillon says he’s not as dumb as he can be
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JAN. 20, 1994 By Steve Newton Some hard-rock bands just don’t do justice to the tunes they cover. Great White had a huge hit with its 1989 rendition of Ian Hunter’s classic “Once Bitten Twice Shy”, but the revamped version sucked, for lack of a better word. The mighty … Continue reading Headstones debut with kick-ass Dylan cover while workin’ for MCA
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 26, 2004 By Steve Newton Hugh Dillon turned a few heads when he laid his popular guitar-rock band, the Headstones, to rest last year. The Toronto-based outfit had been making well-received music for a decade, but that didn’t stop the singer, songwriter, and guitarist–also noted for his acting work in … Continue reading Headstones Leader Resurrected As Lumberjack, Actor
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 12, 2009 By Steve Newton Hugh Dillon has gone through a lot of changes since those days in the ’90s when he was portraying self-destructive punk rocker Joe Dick in the movie Hard Core Logo and fronting Toronto hard-rock act the Headstones. Nowadays you’re more likely to see the former … Continue reading Album review: Hugh Dillon, Works Well With Others (2009)
By Steve Newton The fifth and last time I interviewed Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie–on October 24, 1996–Bruce McDonald’s mockumentary Hard Core Logo had just been released. Downie’s buddy since high school, Hugh Dillon, starred as Joe Dick, the self-destructive frontman of the rock ‘n’ roll road movie’s titular punk-rock quartet. Knowing that Gord had recently … Continue reading That time Gord Downie raved to me about his buddy Hugh Dillon’s performance in Hard Core Logo
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 16, 2003 By Steve Newton Danny Michel is a DIY kinda guy. For the most part, the Ontario tunesmith wrote, produced, recorded, engineered, edited, programmed, and mixed his new CD, Tales From the Invisible Man. He did it at his home studio and played guitar, bass, drums, and … Continue reading Danny Michel sticks with the DIY route on Tales From the Invisible Man
I’ve seen Tom Petty in concert a bunch of times, and two of those gigs are worthy of my Top 10 Concerts of All Time. Or they would be if I actually compiled my Top 10 Concerts of All Time. I’m saving that one for a rainy day. The first time I saw Petty and … Continue reading Tom Petty will play some of the Newt’s fave tunes in Vancouver
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 4, 2006 Helix isn’t normally a band that comes to mind as one of Canada’s finest musical exports. But as director Mike Clattenburg proved in Trailer Park Boys: The Movie, its song “Heavy Metal Love” is the ideal backdrop for slow-mo footage of a skanky trailer-park chick descending from a … Continue reading Trailer Park Boys director Mike Clattenburg revels in Canuck rock
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 4, 2006 By Steve Newton When the Trailer Park Boys debuted on the Showcase channel in 2001, I couldn’t get enough of it. A mockumentary-style series about the day-to-day exploits of three pot-loving trailer-trash buddies and their assorted idiot friends and rivals, it was a raucous, taboo-blasting gas. The sight … Continue reading The Trailer Park Boys: The Movie is freakin’ hilarious
Some of my interviews, arranged alphabetically, from AC/DC to ZZ Top AC/DC Malcolm Young & Brian Johnson, 1983 AEROSMITH Joe Perry, Sept. 2010 AEROSMITH Steven Tyler, 1997 AEROSMITH Joe Perry, 1997 AEROSMITH Tom Hamilton, 1994 AEROSMITH Joe Perry, 1988 AEROSMITH Tom Hamilton, 1983 TOMMY ALDRIDGE 2001 ALICE IN CHAINS Jerry Cantrell, 1991 ALL Bill Stevenson, 1993 … Continue reading interviews
