By Steve Newton As you may have already heard, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2019 a couple of days ago. It includes: Stevie […]
By Steve Newton The following is the Preface from my new coffeetable book, Gord Downie, published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. of New York City and currently available at Indigo, […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 20, 1995 By Steve Newton Canadian guitar-rock heroes the Tragically Hip took all of Vancouver by surprise on July 12 when they announced […]
By Steve Newton Sad news to report today. Chris Tsangarides–who produced such albums as Thin Lizzy’s Thunder and Lightning, Gary Moore’s Back on the Streets, and the Tragically Hip’s Fully […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 20, 1998 By Steve Newton I took my wife, Dawn, to see the Tragically Hip at Thunderbird Stadium last summer when she […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JUNE 5, 1997 By Steve Newton It beats the hell outta me why the most Canadian rock band of all time had to go […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 9, 1996 By Steve Newton With this, its sixth album, the Tragically Hip appears to be taking the moody musical route favoured […]
By Steve Newton Back in 1989 I did the first of my five Georgia Straight interviews with Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip. I know a lot of my fellow Hip […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 29, 1994 Having gotten kinda used to the Hip starting off its CDs with hard-rocking tunes like “Blow at High Dough” and “Little […]
By Steve Newton As I mentioned in a blog last month, the last time I interviewed Gord Downie he got a little “cunty” (his word) when I brought up the […]
By Steve Newton On July 2, 1995, I did my fourth Georgia Straight interview with the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie. It had only been six months since our previous chat, and […]
By Steve Newton Gordon Downie is famous for his wacky stage moves and bizarre gestures, but last night (February 6) at Rogers Arena he ramped up the oddness big-time. I’ve […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 23, 2000 Are the Tragically Hip, long thought of as Canada’s best rock band, finally losing their grip on that title? The fact […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 1989 By Steve Newton What’s the most important element in a new band as far as making it in rock goes? Some might […]
By Steve Newton When you love the Tragically Hip as much as I do—or did, anyway, back in the ’90s—it’s hard to pinpoint one favourite album. But let’s try anyway. […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 23, 1990 By Steve Newton “Never judge lovers by good-looking covers,” warned Phil Lynott on “Romeo and the Lonely Girl”, a track from […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 18, 1999 By Steve Newton I’ve always been mightily impressed by the Tragically Hip’s live presentation. It didn’t matter which venue I’d see […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 16, 1995 By Steve Newton The Tragically Hip don’t always do things the way other rock groups do, and maybe that’s why folks […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JAN. 16, 1992 By Steve Newton Although Flies on Fire have already released two albums full of honest, no-frills guitar rock with major-label distribution […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 18, 1991 By Steve Newton The first time I heard Bruce Allen’s late-night talk show on CFOX, I heard the Big A comment: […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 21, 1991 By Steve Newton I wasn’t expecting such a cheery tone from Tragically Hip lead guitarist Bobby Baker when he called recently […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 7, 1996 By Steve Newton When word went out over the local airwaves one July morning last year that the Tragically Hip were […]
By Steve Newton I love a lot of Tragically Hip songs, but if you asked me which one was my all-time favourite, I’d have to say “Nautical Disaster”, off the […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 26, 1992 By Steve Newton If there were a CRTC regulation that based Canadian content on actual lyrics as opposed to the citizenship […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, DEC. 8, 2005 By Steve Newton My wife Dawn and I are big Tragically Hip fans. Heck, back in ’97 we went to see them at […]
By Steve Newton The following is an excerpt from my beer-table book, Gord Downie, published February 2018 by Sterling Books, New York. The tour’s final show at Kingston’s Rogers K-Rock […]
david bastedo photo By Steve Newton I turned 60 today, and sometimes when you reach a milestone I guess maybe you look back on things in your life or career […]
By Steve Newton I did the last of my five interviews with Gord Downie back in October of 1996, when the Tragically Hip was at its peak of popularity. At […]
By Steve Newton Last weekend, in the wake of the devastating news about Gord Downie’s terminal brain cancer, I posted a soundbite from the first interview I ever did with […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 3, 1997 By Steve Newton The last time I tuned in to Bruce Allen’s Soundoff show on CFOX, I caught the loudmouthed rock […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 14, 1996 At a private party in Yaletown last Friday (November 8), after the first of three Tragically Hip shows at the Pacific […]
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 […]
Steve Berlin first got noticed on the music scene as a saxophonist for the Blasters, and later on Los Lobos, but in recent years he’s been known just as much […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 18, 2004 Has the Tragically Hip finally lost its standing as Canada’s top rock band? There’s little doubt that Kingston, Ontario’s favourite sons have been […]
By Steve Newton The nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2019 were announced recently and, as expected, Jann Wenner and the other dimwits in charge […]
By Steve Newton I’ve interviewed hundreds of rock musicians over the past 35 years, but I’ve only been interviewed myself a few times–most of those discussions taking place earlier this […]
By Steve Newton Whenever Todd Kerns hits Vancouver–whether it’s playing bass with Slash or fronting the Age of Electric–I try to get out and cheer him on. Dude’s hugely talented […]
By Steve Newton After more than 35 years as a journalist, I’m finally moving up in the world. I’m gonna be an author! Yeah, that’s right. Shove over Stephen King, […]
By Steve Newton In celebration of the Georgia Straight turning 50 this year, I figured I’d offer a roundup of the 50 top Vancouver concerts I’ve reviewed while writing for the paper […]
Aerosmith: Honkin’ on Bobo (2004) Eric Clapton: Me and Mr. Johnson (2004) Jimi Hendrix: Axis Outtakes (2003) ZZ Top: Mescalero (2003) Nickelback: The Long Road (2003) Joe Jackson Band: Volume […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 17, 1996 By Steve Newton Whenever I feel like getting a rise out of my 16-year-old niece, all it takes is a quick […]
By Steve Newton Tomorrow is Gord Downie’s 53th birthday, and radio programmers and music fans across the land will surely celebrate the milestone with multiple spins of the Tragically Hip’s […]
By Steve Newton Here’s the last audio excerpt I’m gonna post from the fourth interview I did with Gordon Downie, back in July of ’95. As the interview wound down […]
By Steve Newton As most Canadian rock fans know, the Tragically Hip ended its final major tour last Saturday with a gig in its Kingston hometown that was broadcast (and […]
By Steve Newton If you’re a Canuck rock fan, there’s a damn good chance you watched the big Tragically Hip concert from Kingston that was aired on the CBC last […]
By Steve Newton The big Tragically Hip show in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, is happening tomorrow, broadcast live on the CBC starting at 5:30 pm Vancouver time. I might […]
By Steve Newton With the big nationwide broadcast of the Tragically Hip‘s Kingston concert just two days away, it’s time to travel back to another time when Canada as a whole […]
By Steve Newton When I interviewed Gord Downie in July of 1995 the Tragically Hip was flying high. Since I’d talked to him six months earlier, the band had won […]
By Steve Newton As we wind down to the Tragically Hip’s “last-ever show” on August 20, folks all across Canada are contemplating the legacy of the group. One subject that commonly gets […]
By Steve Newton One thing I figured out about Gord Downie during the five interviews I did with him between 1989 and 1995 was that he really, really likes musicians. […]
