By Steve Newton I got to interview legendary punk-rock guitarist Johnny Ramone a couple of times, once way back in 1983 and again in ’92, when the Ramones were touring […]
By Steve Newton Back in September of 1992 I did my second interview with punk-rock guitar legend Johnny Ramone. (Here’s my first one, from 1983.) At the time the Ramones […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 1, 1992 By Steve Newton The Ramones have come a long way since their ear-bustin’ brand of music first helped kick-start the late-’70s […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 13, 2013 Like the band itself, there’s nothing fancy about the new Ramones boxed set, The Sire Years: 1976-1981. The seminal NYC punks just collected their […]
By Steve Newton Whether you remember or not, May of 1983 was a great month for historic rock concerts in Vancouver. On May 9 Roxy Music played the Pacific Coliseum, […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JAN. 20, 1994 By Steve Newton After being seduced by several catchy tunes on the latest Flop album, Whenever You’re Ready, I was definitely […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 11, 1991 By Steve Newton In the rock journalism biz, it’s sometimes fun to get your interviewee a little riled. Like when Blitzspeer […]
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 […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, DEC. 13, 2012 By Steve Newton Sorry, I’m just not into the Gangnam style. Neil Young and Crazy Horse Psychedelic Pill The Can-Am rock legend gets back […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 18, 1997 By Steve Newton There were a lot of things that sucked the biggie in the world of music this year. From […]
chris cameron photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 20, 1990 By Steve Newton What do squeaky-clean teen idols Loverboy and the crude ‘n’ demented Cramps have in common? […]
By Steve Newton You had to be there. Abraxas: Santana (“Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen”, “Oye Coma Va”, “Samba Pa Ti”) 1970 A Day at the Races: Queen (“Tie Your Mother Down”, “Somebody […]
By now most everyone who follows the Vancouver music scene has heard the sad news about the passing of local concert-biz legend Drew Burns. The longtime proprietor of the Commodore Ballroom died […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 19, 1996 When Doughboys singer-guitarist John Kastner rings up and informs me that he’s calling from Kingston, Ontario, I casually comment, “Oh, the […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 17, 1995 Sweet Water singer Adam Czeisler and guitarist Rich Credo go way back—and I don’t mean just to high school or anything. […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 4, 1993 “The music you listen to becomes the soundtrack of your life.” —Mike Bloomfield Ah, the ’70s—what a great decade for rock. […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 1, 1993 By Steve Newton Recalling the televised carnage of last year’s L.A. riots, it’s hard to believe that a happy-go-lucky Canadian band […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 12, 1992 By Steve Newton It’s strange how rumours get started, sometimes. Like the one that keeps cropping up in Dash Rip Rock’s […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 15, 1991 By Steve Newton From the groovy way guitarist/vocalists Joie Mastrokalos and Granville Cleveland mesh musically, you’d expect that the two players […]
“Sound and Vision” was a pretty cool tune from a David Bowie album that made my Top 30 Rock Albums of 1977. It’s also a pretty cool name for this […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 5, 1989 By Steve Newton The long list of movies based on Stephen King’s writings range from excellent (The Dead Zone, Carrie), to […]
Cheap Trick and David Bowie led the way in ’77 with two albums each, and the blues was represented by Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters, and Roy Buchanan. Aja: Steely Dan […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 6, 1999 The teen-horror genre hits a new low with this inane chunk o’ junk from Rodman Flender, the illustrious director of Leprechaun […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 10, 2004 By Steve Newton Strolling into the living room of Todd Kerns’s Burnaby townhouse is a bit like entering a ’70s-rock museum. The first […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 10, 2005 By Steve Newton When Brant Bjork calls the Straight from a Southern California town named Joshua Tree, the first thing that comes to […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, AUG. 25, 2005 By Steve Newton Looking back, 1973 was a wicked fuckin’ year for American guitar-rock albums. It saw the release of Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 20, 2005 By Steve Newton Nashville Pussy lead guitarist Ruyter Suys was born and raised in Vancouver, but for the last six years she’s called […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 2, 2006 By Steve Newton Not only is Stephen King among the world’s most popular writers, he also has good taste in music. He’s long […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 2, 2006 BACK IN THE late ’80s, when Modelos guitarists Joe Rotundo and Mike Kenney attended high school together in Fort Erie, Ontario, they couldn’t have […]
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 […]
