ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 19, 1990 By Steve Newton Just as almost everyone can recall where they were when news broke of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, a lot of rock fans can vividly remember that day in 1970 when the news of Jimi Hendrix’s death came down. Joe Satriani was in high school at the … Continue reading Joe Satriani explains how he overcame pain and suffering to fulfill his new Blue Dream
kevin statham photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 5, 1990 By Steve Newton When it comes to combining the finer elements of horror and hard rock, Alice Cooper rules. For more than 20 years the King of Nasty Rock has been sating his lust for the macabre and love of heavy music while wreaking havoc on … Continue reading Alice Cooper tours with Trash, talks songwriting, horror, and ’70s rock
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 26, 2001 By Steve Newton There are three things that are inevitable in this world: death, taxes, and a ringing in your ears after seeing AC/DC. As I write this review, it’s been two hours since the Aussie rockers left the Coliseum stage in a flurry of golden confetti, and the … Continue reading Malcolm Young calls Powerage his favourite AC/DC album backstage in Vancouver
By Steve Newton On December 19, 1989, Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson played the 86 Street Music Hall in Vancouver. For me, it didn’t get any better than that. I’d been a huge fan of Hunter ever since I first heard his old band, Mott the Hoople, and Ronson…well, if you liked David Bowie in … Continue reading Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson tour behind YUI Orta, so the Newt talks to Ronno
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 19, 2001 By Steve Newton Rock stars don’t always call on time. Sometimes they don’t even call at all. And it’s a rare occasion when they actually call early. So when Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen rings up from Phoenix a good 10 minutes before our scheduled interview time, I’m caught … Continue reading Rick Nielsen calls early to talk Cheap Trick and Vancouver’s “cannabis people”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 25, 2001 By Steve Newton Tommy Aldridge is one of the most recognizable hard-rock drummers in the world. His name may not be a household word along the lines of Moon or Bonham, but anyone who’s followed the careers of Pat Travers, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, and latter-day Thin Lizzy … Continue reading From Black Oak to Thin Lizzy, Tommy Aldridge has been a monster on the kit
kevin statham photos ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 1, 2000 By Steve Newton Nobody rocks like Flea. As soon as the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ hyperkinetic bassist stepped on the GM Place stage last Sunday (May 28), he started churning out monstrous hard-funk licks, and he didn’t slow down until the gig was over. And when … Continue reading Chili Peppers bring heat to Vancouver with pogoing Flea after Dave Grohl gets his nipple pinched
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. When they were seven years old, the future rock mates met on a bus coming back from a YMCA summer camp in the San Juan … Continue reading Producer Dave Jerden heard a lot of Mott in Seattle’s Sweet Water
For some reason a lotta old-school rock-guitar heroes don’t play in Vancouver. They head on up for gigs in Washington State, but then turn around and cruise back down to keep on feeding those riff-starved Americans. Are the border guards at Canada Customs really that daunting? Take Pat Travers, for instance. He’s half Canadian, but … Continue reading Stateside guitar frenzy: Pat Travers, Jeff Beck, Slash, Jake E. Lee & Yngwie-fucking-Malmsteen!
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 24, 1999 By Steve Newton Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater chose a good guy to hang with when he moved to Chicago’s West Side in 1950. As a budding, 15-year-old bluesman, Clearwater became close friends with Magic Sam, the legendary West Side guitarist who died of a heart attack at the age … Continue reading Eddy Clearwater took Magic lessons on Chicago’s West Side
kevin statham photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEB. 22, 2001 By Steve Newton Jeff Beck is my favourite rock guitarist of all time, so I didn’t think twice about doing the necessary groveling to secure a couple of backstage passes for his sold-out show at the Commodore. Because my Beck-loving buddy Bones was celebrating a birthday … Continue reading Jeff Beck at the Commodore: the world’s greatest rock guitarist plays the world’s best bar
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 10, 1989 By Steve Newton In what was surely the biggest Vancouver concert event of the ’80s, the Rolling Stones hit Vancouver for two nights last week amid a flurry of hype and much groveling for tickets. Now that Jagger and the boys have gathered up their money-bags (they play the … Continue reading The Rolling Stones deliver like legends as the Steel Wheels Tour hits Vancouver
By Steve Newton On December 9, 1984, Iron Maiden played the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver–with Twisted Sister opening up! Not only that, but the paper put my interview with the British metal legends on the front page, featuring a totally rockin’ live photo by famed Vancouver photographer Bev Davies. I hadn’t been so proud of … Continue reading Iron Maiden plays Vancouver on the Powerslave tour, Dave Murray talks to the Newt
