By Steve Newton I’ve interviewed a lot of incredible bluesmen over the years, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King, Albert Collins, and Roy Buchanan. But far and away the nicest was B.B. King. Famed Vancouver punk-rock photographer Bev Davies snapped this shot of me ‘n’ B.B. in his hotel room at the Plazazz Showroom in … Continue reading B.B. King: The nicest bluesman I ever met
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 28, 2004 By Steve Newton Much has been made of the Sam & Dave controversy in regard to American hard-rock legends Van Halen. There are those who scoff at the idea of the band existing without original vocalist David Lee Roth, while others feel that his replacement, Sammy Hagar, has … Continue reading Van Halen still brings the dynamite in both hands
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 5, 2008 By Steve Newton It’s been 17 years since the grunge revolution blasted full-throttle out of Seattle, but Chris Cornell remembers it well. As the frontman for Soundgarden, Cornell was a chief architect of the genre, which formed as a backlash to the stagnating commercial rock of the day. “At … Continue reading Chris Cornell on the rise of grunge and the job of the rock icon
photo by the Newt ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 17, 2010 Thursday (September 16) was a big night in Vancouver for legendary guitar acts from the ’70s. Over on the North Shore you had Johnny Winter at the Centennial Theatre, while, downtown, Aerosmith was packing them in at Rogers Arena. I don’t know how the albino blues-rocker … Continue reading Aerosmith shows Vancouver it can still make it through anything
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 12, 2008 By Steve Newton When Kiss played the Commodore Ballroom back in early 1975, the band had just released its second album, Hotter Than Hell, and was about to embark on a rocket ride to untold riches and fame. Thirty-three crazy years later and KISS guitarist Ace Frehley is heading … Continue reading Ace Frehley talks smokin’ guitars, Kiss money, sex videos, and “teddy bear” Gene Simmons
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 20, 2006 By Steve Newton What an awesome heavy-metal band Queen used to be. What, you didn’t know Queen used to be an awesome heavy-metal band? Maybe it’s not common knowledge. It guess it helps if you were a hard rock-crazed, Circus-reading teen back in ’73 when the British quartet’s self-titled … Continue reading Headbangers and pop idols alike get blown way by Queen and Paul Rodgers in Vancouver
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 28, 2005 By Steve Newton Most rock bands from the ’70s aren’t making waves on the sales charts these days, but not every musician who thrived 30 years ago has been barred from Billboard in recent years. Edgar Winter had the chorus from his 1971 song “Dying to Live” used in … Continue reading Edgar Winter strives to break down senseless musical barriers
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 25, 2007 By Steve Newton When I hook up with former Drive-By Truckers guitarist-vocalist Jason Isbell on his cellphone, he and his backing band are trying to escape from Manhattan, searching for the Holland Tunnel en route to a gig at Pennsylvania State College. A casual query about the type of … Continue reading Jason Isbell splits from Drive-By Truckers and hits the road in a Ford Econoline E-350
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 10, 2007 By Steve Newton When I call Black Stone Cherry drummer John Fred Young’s cellphone, he’s at a gas station in his hometown of Edmonton, a small town in south-central Kentucky. When the phone rings, John Fred is busy purchasing some bottled water, so his dad, Richard, picks up. That’s … Continue reading Black Stone Cherry updates the glorious noise of Zeppelin, Skynyrd, and AC/DC on debut album
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 14, 2007 By Steve Newton As a kid growing up in Long Island, New York, standup bassist Lee Rocker would marvel at Earl Slick’s razor-edged guitar work on the 1974 David Bowie concert album, David Live. He never expected that 10 years later he’d be playing with Slick in a band … Continue reading Lee Rocker goes solo after Stray Cats and Phantom, Rocker and Slick
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, performing tunes from its final studio album, Avalon. Then on the 25th a little band from Ireland named U2 played the Queen E., blasting out political … Continue reading Johnny Ramone says being in the Ramones “beats working”
photo by rebecca blissett ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 8, 2011 By Steve Newton I should have known that I’d run into Metal Ron—the long-time cohost of CiTR Radio’s popular heavy-metal show Powerchord—at Motörhead on Monday (February 7) at the Vogue. I should have also known that he’d still be reeling from the shocking news … Continue reading “We are Motörhead, we play rock ’n’ roll,” declares Lemmy Kilmister in Vancouver
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 27, 2008 By Steve Newton In their recent autobiographies, famed British rockers Ronnie Wood and Eric Clapton hazily recall how one of their main pastimes while on tour—apart from getting wasted and rattling groupies—was cruising pawnshops and secondhand stores for cool guitars. When blues-rock virtuoso Joe Bonamassa calls from a tour … Continue reading Joe Bonamassa has 200 guitars, says he’s “okay for guitars”
