ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 1, 1994 By Steve Newton When famous rock guitarists reminisce about their first instruments, the talk tends toward dirt-cheap acoustics with heavy strings set so high off the fretboard that it hurts just to look at them. Not with Billy Gibbons, though. The incomparable guitarman for ZZ Top got an atypical … Continue reading ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons tells me “them low-down blues ain’t bad”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 14, 1999 By Steve Newton Guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan had a profound effect on a lot of people, and 21-year-old blues-rock whiz kid Kenny Wayne Shepherd is one of them. As the story goes, Shepherd developed his Stevie Ray obsession at the age of seven when the Texas Strat-strangler sat … Continue reading Texas Strat-strangler Kenny Wayne Shepherd goes all Stevie Ray on Vancouver’s ass
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MAY 18, 2000 By Steve Newton I’ve yet to be bitten by the techno bug. You won’t find any discs by the Chemical Brothers or Crystal Method in my collection, or any stashes of Ecstasy in my dresser drawer. But after listening to the new Joe Satriani CD, Engines of Creation, I’m … Continue reading Joe Satriani takes a techno turn on new Engines of Creation
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 3, 1998 By Steve Newton When Susan Tedeschi’s cell phone rings in an L.A. hotel room, a female voice answers, but it isn’t the one I’m looking for. It’s actually Tedeschi’s mom, who, in a very motherly way, explains that her daughter’s in the bathtub. Sounding concerned that her child might … Continue reading Susan Tedeschi just enjoys being a musician, pretty much
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 22, 1999 By Steve Newton “Kick him in the throat!” isn’t quite the phrase you expect to hear from a guy who’s just exchanged wedding vows, but that’s what my brother-in-law Cam was yelling scant hours after tying the knot on a beach in Powell River last month. You see, his … Continue reading Growing up in Buffalo, the Goo Goo Dolls are almost Canadian
Like many Canadian music fans whose rock mentality was shaped in the ’70s, I have distinct recollections of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s heyday.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 22, 1994 By Steve Newton What better way to get primed for a Metallica gig than to take a four-hour cruise around the harbour with a smokin’ blues-rock band and 75 beer-crazed party animals? None, thought I, so I hopped on board the Boomtown at noon on Sunday (July 17) and we motored off … Continue reading Metallica are mighty masters of metal wherever they may roam, including Vancouver
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 12, 1998 By Steve Newton Bluesman Luther Allison, folk-pop troubadour Jeff Buckley, fingerstyle-guitar innovator Michael Hedges, and jazz drummer Tony Williams might seem unlikely heroes for a southern-rock band, but they’re who Gov’t Mule’s new CD, Dose, is dedicated to. Between the time the band started recording Dose and the deadline … Continue reading Talking Ry Cooder, Ronnie Montrose, and the Allmans with Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes
me ‘n ferg backstage with john ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 28, 1997 By Steve Newton Most of the folks attending John Fogerty’s first Vancouver concert in 12 years last Friday (August 22) must have been aware that he had returned to playing some of his old Creedence Clearwater Revival hits, but nobody knew for sure … Continue reading John Fogerty reveals the full meaning of the mystical phrase yee-haw! in Vancouver
By Steve Newton Back in 2014 I had a nice little chat with Swedish guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen, in advance of a Guitar Gods show in Vancouver. I mentioned that the last time I saw him live was on the G3 Tour at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre in 2003 or something. We got to talking about his … Continue reading Yngwie Malmsteen calls Ibanez guitars “a bad copy” of the Strat and says Les Pauls are “furniture”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 30, 1997 By Steve Newton At the climax of Aerosmith’s two-hour-plus concert at the Coliseum last Saturday (October 25), muscular skin-basher Joey Kramer emerged from behind his rotating drum kit, trotted to the front of the stage, and jubilantly hurled one of his drumsticks into the roaring, near-capacity crowd. Seeing as … Continue reading That time at Aerosmith in Vancouver when Joey Kramer’s hallowed drumstick got snatched away
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 13, 1997 By Steve Newton When the time came for California guitar great Robben Ford to record his latest CD, Tiger Walk, he had a pretty good idea which rhythm section he wanted backing him up. He’d heard it on a Keith Richards album. “I’m not really a Stones fan,” says … Continue reading Robben Ford scoops up Keith Richards’ rhythm section for Tiger Walk
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 11, 1997 By Steve Newton My reviewer’s copy of the long-overdue AC/DC box set was labelled with a warning that it was not for sale and “must be returned on demand of recording company”. Yeah, right—I’d like to see Warner Brothers just try to get this prized package back. They’d have … Continue reading Bonfire box a godsend for fans of AC/DC’s ear-bustin’ boogie blues
