ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 25, 1993 By Steve Newton Ever since Wayne’s World came out, I’ve been considering legal action against writer/star Mike Myers. You know that […]
By Steve Newton I was interviewing Todd Kerns a couple weeks ago in advance of the Age of Electric show at the Commodore tonight (April 30), and had an evil thought. Since […]
By Steve Newton “Rock and roll’s a loser’s game,” Ian Hunter once sang, and today I get what he was talkin’ about in that line from “The Ballad of Mott […]
By Steve Newton Ha! Here’s a good one. Today I was listening to an old interview I did with Vince Neil back in October of 1991 when Motley Crue was […]
If the setlist from Slash‘s show in San Francisco two nights ago is any indication, his Vancouver fans are in for a whole lotta GN’R action tonight. During his show at […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 1, 1993 The first time I saw Guns N’ Roses perform, the band was opening for Iron Maiden at the Pacific Coliseum, shortly […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 13, 1992 By Steve Newton Some hard-rock bands like to boast about not using keyboards; they take pride in sticking with the trusty […]
By Steve Newton Twenty years ago tomorrow–on January 28, 1994–Slash called me up to talk about Guns N’ Roses’ then-new album, The Spaghetti Incident? Though it wasn’t no Appetite for […]
By Steve Newton Guns N’ Roses were probably the biggest rock band in the world–or was fighting it out with U2 for that title–when this telling photo was snapped backstage […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 11, 2005 By Steve Newton The last time Philadelphia hard-rockers CKY were set to play Vancouver, they were just minutes from warming up for Guns […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 1991 By Steve Newton Rap and dance music made strong inroads in 1991, but the year wasn’t a total write-off. The sacred power […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 1990 By Steve Newton A good portion of my album picks for the year turned out to be from ageing rock veterans. Maybe […]
By Steve Newton Google “100 greatest guitarists” these days and what shows up at the top is a total joke. It’s the high ‘n’ mighty Rolling Stone‘s list of the […]
By Steve Newton One of my alltime fave Canadian bands, the Age of Electric, is playing Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom tomorrow (March 24). They played the Commodore 11 months ago as […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN EXPERIENCE HENDRIX MAGAZINE, WINTER 2000 By Steve Newton If you polled all the music fans in the world and asked them to name their fave party tune […]
By Steve Newton Some rock bands from decades past really push it when it comes to authenticity. Often you’ll see a group that’s touring under its old moniker with only […]
By Steve Newton I was interviewing Todd Kerns a few days ago in advance of his gig with the Age of Electric in Vancouver next weekend, and naturally–since he’s the […]
By Steve Newton Yesterday I posted a blog claiming that AC/DC had “f***ed up” by making Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose their singer instead of Aussie rock legend (and […]
By Steve Newton By now the rock world is fully abuzz with the official announcement from AC/DC that Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses will be the new singer for […]
By Steve Newton Queen freaks who couldn’t quite afford the massive Queen Studio Collection that was released a couple of months ago should know that the legendary British rockers are issuing another […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 5, 1983 By Steve Newton Formed in 1975 by Kevin DuBrow and the late Randy Rhoads (who died in a plane crash last […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 16, 2003 By Steve Newton Up until a few weeks ago, my knowledge of popular music in Japan was pretty slim. About all […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 9, 2003 By Steve Newton I was a tad taken aback when the press release came in announcing the lineup for Joe Satriani’s […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 4, 2003 Here’s a happy little comeback story for ya. Back in 1989, singer-guitarist Bryan Small led a rowdy, punk-inspired L.A. rock act […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 29, 2003 By Steve Newton L.A. soul-rock quintet Maroon 5 named its debut CD Songs About Jane because that’s exactly what the album […]
me and the Coop. I’ve still got that ’80s leather jacket if anybody wants to buy it. the arms come off so it turns into a funky vest. kevin statham […]
DBT photo by the Newt For me, it’s always a good year for concerts when the Drive-By Truckers can be included in the year-end wrap-up, and their performance at […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 20, 2001 By Steve Newton Sometimes I feel like I’m the only guy around who still goes nuts for southern-fried guitar boogie, the […]
The first time he ever saw AC/DC, Mike Fraser had no idea what band he was seeing. He’d gone to an Aerosmith show at the Pacific Coliseum back in ’78 […]
By Steve Newton Twenty-five years ago today–on November 5, 1989–the Hoodoo Gurus played the first of two shows at Vancouver’s 86 Street Music Hall. I’d been a fan of the […]
Todd Kerns, recently declared to be “the Most Rockin’ Canadian Bassist of the 21st Century“, performed with his band SMK&C (Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators) on the Howard […]
photos by Jet Sutherland By Steve Newton As I write this it’s been over 12 hours since Slash left the stage at Hard Rock Casino Vancouver, and my ears are still […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 25, 1999 By Steve Newton When Eric Erlandson cofounded Hole with Courtney Love in L.A. 10 years ago, the two rockers had one […]
There’s a ton of incredible musicians who make appearances in B.B. King: The Life of Riley, a documentary about the Mississippi blues legend released on DVD and Blu-ray today (July […]
photos by “Jet” Sutherland ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JUNE 26, 2014 By Steve Newton Freddie Mercury is a hard act to follow, there’s no doubt about that. The Queen frontman […]
By Steve Newton Yngwie Malmsteen likes to wear all black on-stage and play fast as hell on a Fender Strat through a wall of cranked Marshall amps, so you might […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 5, 1996 By Steve Newton Most hard-rock fans know Zakk Wylde as the young musician who helped rejuvenate metal veteran Ozzy Osbourne’s career […]
By Steve Newton Twenty-five years ago tomorrow–on Wednesday, May 31, 1989–the Cult opened for Metallica at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. A month earlier the band had released its fourth […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 4, 1995 BY STEVE NEWTON While more than 40 singers auditioned for the lead-vocalist job in Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash’s solo band, […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 27, 1995 By Steve Newton When you’re guitar god Slash from Guns N’ Roses and you’re looking for a singer, you get to […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 27, 1994 By Steve Newton With a volatile dude like Axl Rose at the helm, it’s no wonder Guns N’ Roses breeds fast-flying […]
Last month I did a blog about how a lot of amazing rock guitarists—Pat Travers, Jake E. Lee, Yngwie Malmsteen, Slash, et cetera—were playing Stateside gigs this year but weren’t crossing […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JUNE 17, 1993 By Steve Newton When I first heard the title of the debut Bash & Pop release, Friday Night Is Killing Me, […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 23, 1992 By Steve Newton When he was a headline-making member of the infamous Sex Pistols, John Lydon went to extremes to make […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 6, 1992 By Steve Newton Once in a blue moon, I’ll come across an album by a band that I’d never heard of […]
For some reason a lotta old-school rock-guitar heroes don’t play in Vancouver. They head on up for gigs in Washington State, but then turn around and cruise back down to […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JAN. 9, 1992 By Steve Newton Some folks might have been surprised to hear that the Cult is touring with Lenny Kravitz. After all, […]
By Steve Newton Back in November of 1996 the Tragically Hip was at its peak popularity-wise, and I got the chance to do a cover story on them for the Georgia […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 8, 2011 The Georgia Straight has its fair share of zombie-movie fans on the payroll. There’s one guy in particular, our editorial administrator, who just can’t get […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 21, 2010 When superstar humanitarian Sir Bob Geldof was the music editor of the Georgia Straight back in the ’70s he had no qualms about assigning himself […]
