By Steve Newton Back in 2001 I did my first (and hopefully not last) interview with Jeff Beck, who I've long championed as the world's greatest living rock guitarist. At the time Beck's touring band included American picker Jennifer Batten, who'd also played on his new album You Had It Coming, and written its pummeling … Continue reading Jeff Beck on Jennifer Batten: “I don’t know why she’d want to waste her life with me”
That time Warren Zevon called me from Alabama and said that the Odds had “pretty big feet”
By Steve Newton Back on January 28, 1992, Warren Zevon called me up from a soundcheck in Alabama. I know what you're thinkin': how cool was that? Pretty damn cool. At the time Zevon was touring behind his Waddy Wachtel-produced Mr. Bad Example album, and his road band was the Odds, the Vancouver power-pop quartet who'd … Continue reading That time Warren Zevon called me from Alabama and said that the Odds had “pretty big feet”
That time Greg Lake told me that what attracted diehard Emerson, Lake & Palmer fans to the band was “music”
By Steve Newton I was a big Emerson, Lake & Palmer fan back in the day. Actually, I was mostly a big Brain Salad Surgery fan back in the day, that day being sometime back in 1973. I didn't own a lot of other ELP albums, mainly because I was too busy buying albums with … Continue reading That time Greg Lake told me that what attracted diehard Emerson, Lake & Palmer fans to the band was “music”
David Lee Roth comes out of his shell in Vancouver on the Eat ‘Em and Smile tour
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 12, 1986 By Steve Newton David Lee Roth's concert at the Pacific Coliseum last Sunday (December 7) should go down as one of the loudest gigs the old hockey rink has ever hosted. We're talking precautionary Kleenex in the ears, no less. Luckily, for those tough enough to handle … Continue reading David Lee Roth comes out of his shell in Vancouver on the Eat ‘Em and Smile tour
Tosin Abasi doesn’t think Yngwie Malmsteen is a pompous ass: “It’s just his clarity of vision”
By Steve Newton When I interviewed guitar hero Tosin Abasi before the Animals as Leaders concert in Vancouver in 2016, I asked him a few questions about the pickers he'd performed with earlier that year on the Generation Axe tour. As well as Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, and Nuno Bettencourt, Abasi was in the company … Continue reading Tosin Abasi doesn’t think Yngwie Malmsteen is a pompous ass: “It’s just his clarity of vision”
Paul Rodgers on the creation of “All Right Now”, the mystique of Paul Kossoff, and the awesomeness of Jimi Hendrix
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 of all time, you can bet that there'd be more than a few votes for Free's "All Right Now". That ultimate ode to chasing chicks … Continue reading Paul Rodgers on the creation of “All Right Now”, the mystique of Paul Kossoff, and the awesomeness of Jimi Hendrix
That time I asked Dickey Betts what song Duane Allman and the Skynyrd boys might be playing in heaven
By Steve Newton If you think I got into journalism at the age of 23--first at my hometown's Chilliwack Progress and then, for the last 34 years, at Vancouver's Georgia Straight--mainly so I could interview guitar heroes like Dickey Betts, you're damn rights. I've loved Dickey ever since I heard him and Duane on Eat a … Continue reading That time I asked Dickey Betts what song Duane Allman and the Skynyrd boys might be playing in heaven
That time J.J. Cale told me that Eric Clapton had paid his rent for the last 30 years
By Steve Newton J.J. Cale is the coolest musician I've ever interviewed, and I've interviewed quite a few. Talk about laid back and down to earth. And what a wicked guitar player, as if being one of the world's finest songwriters weren't enough. I did my first interview with him in 1990, and my second … Continue reading That time J.J. Cale told me that Eric Clapton had paid his rent for the last 30 years
That time 23-year-old James Hetfield told me that Metallica’s new bassist was “fairly goofy”
By Steve Newton Back in 1986 I interviewed Metallica's James Hetfield in his messy Vancouver hotel room. The band had just hired Jason Newsted, who had beaten out a barrage of hopefuls for the prized role of bassist, taking over from the deceased Cliff Burton. At one point Hetfield explained how Metallica had found Newsted, how … Continue reading That time 23-year-old James Hetfield told me that Metallica’s new bassist was “fairly goofy”
That time Ronnie Montrose told me that the Montrose LP marked his “kindergarten days” as a guitarist
By Steve Newton Very few albums that I bought as a teen in the seventies had as huge an effect on me as Montrose. I mean, from the very first riff of the very first track of the very first Montrose album, I was like "Holy shit!" It was 1973, I was 17 years old, … Continue reading That time Ronnie Montrose told me that the Montrose LP marked his “kindergarten days” as a guitarist
Tobin Abasi’s Generation Axe dream team includes Derek Trucks, Eric Gales, Jimmy Herring, and…Gilad Hekselman?
By Steve Newton When I interviewed Animals As Leaders guitarist Tosin Abasi last month I told him that I'd seen him six months earlier on the Generation Axe tour, when he was in the company of Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, and Nuno Bettencourt. Then I asked him, if we were able to pick … Continue reading Tobin Abasi’s Generation Axe dream team includes Derek Trucks, Eric Gales, Jimmy Herring, and…Gilad Hekselman?
That time Jeff Beck told me that Grammys mean nothing to him–especially when he loses to Santana
By Steve Newton When I interviewed Jeck Beck back in January of 2001, just before the release of his You Had It Coming album, I asked the world's greatest living rock guitarist if the 2000 Grammy nomination for a track from his previous album, Who Else!, meant anything to him. In typically modest Beck style he … Continue reading That time Jeff Beck told me that Grammys mean nothing to him–especially when he loses to Santana
HIM’s Ville Valo discovered the dark side of rock through Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 7, 2007 By Steve Newton According to Ville Valo, lead vocalist for Finnish rockers HIM, "It's very hard to sing about sunshine and ice cream and birds in fast cars." So he doesn't even try. Instead, song titles like "Cyanide Sun", "Dead Lovers' Lane", and "Song or Suicide" … Continue reading HIM’s Ville Valo discovered the dark side of rock through Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”