That time Gord Downie told me that he thought the Tragically Hip was a success from day one
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 […]
Search Results for: the tragically hip
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995, Part II: life on the road with the Tragically Hip
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 […]
The Tragically Hip’s frontman goes Fully Completely bonkers in Vancouver
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 […]
The Tragically Hip rises above poor sound in Vancouver to peak with “Nautical Disaster”
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 […]
25-year-old Gordon Downie talks “38 Years Old” on the Tragically Hip’s Up to Here tour
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 […]
The Tragically Hip to release super-deluxe edition of the Newt’s fave Hip album
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. My alltime fave […]
The Northern Pikes’ Bryan Potvin still plays air-guitar to the Tragically Hip
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 […]
Gordon Downie thanks Bruce Allen for making the Tragically Hip famous
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 […]
The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie finds humour in “The Inevitability of Death”
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 […]
Flies on Fire fell in love with Canada and the Tragically Hip
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 […]
Even Bruce Allen would have loved the Tragically Hip at the Commodore
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: […]
The Tragically Hip brings Road Apples to the Town Pump–and that’s no horseshit
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 […]
My first and last Georgia Straight cover story on the Tragically Hip
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 […]
Gordon Downie goes Fully Completely Canadian on new Tragically Hip album
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 […]
Tragically Hip box set artfully melds sound and vision
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, DEC. 8, 2005 My wife Dawn and I are big Tragically Hip fans. Heck, back in ’97 we went to see them at Thunderbird Stadium when […]
That time Gord Downie got all “cunty” when I picked his scab about the Hip’s perplexing lack of success in the States
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 that struck you […]
That time Craig Northey told me what he really thinks about the Hip not being big in the States
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1989: the Hip made Up To Here to fit its own standards
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 […]
Bruce Allen’s anti-Hip rants can’t tarnish Canada’s best band
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 […]
Gordon Downie declares Al Waxman prime minister at Hip show in Vancouver
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 […]
The Doughboys’ John Kastner is sick of hearing about the Hip
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 […]
Matt Andersen’s Weightless energized by Hip producer Berlin
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 […]
There’s not a band in the land that can touch the Hip
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 […]
Moist releases Creature, opens for Neil Young, and waits for reality to set in
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 […]
That time Gord Downie told me his original lyrics for “Ahead By a Century”
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995, Part II: “We’d love to make a record every month”
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995, Part II: “I just love meeting other musicians. Period.”
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995, Part II: “The 15 minutes or so after a show are usually my favourite time of the day”
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 […]
15 of the best quotes I ever got from Gord Downie
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995, Part II: that Saturday Night Live gig
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995, Part II: on touring with Page & Plant and the Rolling Stones
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995: “I don’t think Canadians need someone to tell them that it’s okay to like what they like”
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 […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995: raving about tourmates Change of Heart and the Odds
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. […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1995: “I like to think of [Nautical Disaster] in different ways every time I listen to it.”
By Steve Newton When I interviewed the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie in January of 1995 it was less than four months after the release of the band’s fourth full-length album, […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1992: wishing he was a Thin Lizzy freak
By Steve Newton This sixth entry in “The Gord Downie Tapes” sees me still plundering the conversation I had with the Tragically Hip frontman in November of ’92, shortly after […]
The Gord Downie Tapes, 1992: plugging Fully Completely like he’s a “get-grease-outta-your-carpet” pitchman
By Steve Newton A few weeks back I debuted “The Gord Downie Tapes”, my series of blogs in which I offer audio excerpts from the interviews I’ve done with the Tragically Hip singer […]
Gord Downie’s “Inevitability of Death”
By Steve Newton If you’re a fan of Canadian music you’ve already heard the devastating news. Yesterday the country’s greatest-ever guitar-rock band, the Tragically Hip, announced on its Facebook page that […]
Newt’s Top 10 albums of 1998
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 17, 1998 By Steve Newton Yee-hah! I managed to make it through yet another year without having to listen to anyone named DJ […]
Newt’s Top 10 albums of 1997
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 […]
Newt’s Top 10 albums of 1992
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 1992 By Steve Newton I was really hoping that I’d be able to praise 1992 as the year that rap “music” finally dried […]
Major-label horror stories led the String Cheese Incident to go indie
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 10, 2002 By Steve Newton In the early 1990s, String Cheese Incident guitarist Bill Nershi, an avowed ski bum in Telluride, Colorado, decided […]
Static in Stereo sets the controls for the heart of the seventies
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 5, 2001 A silver Keith Richards–style skull ring catches the glare of the dressing-room lights as Todd Kerns wraps his fist […]
Neil Osborne calls 54-40’s Casual Viewin’ “the band’s feel-good groove record”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 12, 2000 When it came to choosing a title for their latest album, Casual Viewin’, local guitar-rockers 54•40 didn’t follow previous procedures and […]
A killer album is the best revenge for the Headstones’ Hugh Dillon
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 […]
The Northern Pikes reunite and hit the road with Walkmans on
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JAN. 20, 2000 Fans of the Northern Pikes must have been pleasantly surprised when they picked this paper up a couple of issues back […]
13 Engines are runaway locomotives at the Town Pump in Vancouver
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 15, 1991 13 Engines once played a gig in Memphis to a total of two people, which is less of a crowd than […]
Mötley Crüe’s scuzzy antics in Vancouver make the Newt pine for Brownsville Station
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 1, 1999 So why would I want to go see Mötley Crüe when I don’t even care for its juvenile brand of exploitative […]
Ron Sexsmith’s conversational pop wins over Elvis Costello and Interscope
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JUNE 5, 1997 The night before Ron Sexsmith calls from Norway, I’m giving the TV clicker a workout when some tabloid-style show appears, updating […]
Nomadic tendencies and Jimmy Page colour Chris Whitley’s creative outlook
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 29, 1997 By Steve Newton Chris Whitley sure gets around. Born in Texas 37 years ago, the singer-songwriter-guitarist has so far taken up […]
Foghat cymbal crashes require no caffeine buzz on Odds’ new Nest
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 13, 1997 What better place to interview Odds singer-guitarist Craig Northey than at the Roxy Cabaret on Granville? Not only do they have […]
