By Steve Newton Back in April of 1997 I did my first interview with Geddy Lee of Rush, while the band was touring behind its Test for Echo album. The year before Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson had released his debut solo album, Victor, so at one point in the conversation I asked Geddy what he … Continue reading That time Geddy Lee told me that he was proud of Alex Lifeson for making his solo album
By Steve Newton I haven’t interviewed that many drummers over the years, mainly because when I cover a band I shoot for the guitarist, since that’s the instrument I’m most drawn to. But after interviewing Alex Van Halen in advance of a Van Hagar show on the 1995 Balance Tour, I should probably chat with … Continue reading 10 minutes on the phone with Alex Van Halen in 1995
By Steve Newton Back in May of 1985 I interviewed Supertramp drummer Bob Siebenberg. The conversation took place nine days before the official release of Brother Where You Bound, Supertramp’s first album without Roger Hodgson. This was an unusual interview for me, because most of them are done over the phone with musicians while they’re … Continue reading That time I asked Supertramp’s Bob Siebenberg what the band was like without Roger Hodgson
By Steve Newton Back in May of 1989 I interviewed British guitar great John Sykes, who was promoting the debut album by his power trio Blue Murder. Six years earlier Sykes had played on Thunder and Lightning, the final studio album by Thin Lizzy. So at one point in the conversation I asked him rather … Continue reading That time I asked John Sykes if he thought Thunder and Lightning ranked among the best of the Thin Lizzy albums
By Steve Newton I was playing some of my old interview cassettes from the ’80s a while back and came across a short conversation I had in 1984 with David DeFeis, the singer and main songwriter for New York metal band Virgin Steele. At the time he was promoting the band’s second album, 1983’s Guardians … Continue reading That time back in ’84 when I asked Virgin Steele singer David DeFeis what the metal scene was like in New York
By Steve Newton Back in January of 1992 I interviewed the Cult vocalist Ian Astbury while his band was touring behind its fifth studio album, Ceremony. That LP–and the one before it, the Bob Rock-produced Sonic Temple–had featured American session drummer Mickey Curry, who is best known for his work recording and touring with Bryan … Continue reading That time the Cult’s Ian Astbury told me that he thought session drummer Mickey Curry was “totally wasted” with Bryan Adams
By Steve Newton Back in April of ’97 I did my first interview with Rush bassist-vocalist Geddy Lee, while the band was touring behind its Test for Echo album. For that disc the band had brought in studio ace Andy Wallace to mix, a process that Lee had referred to in the latest Rush bio … Continue reading That time Geddy Lee told me how Rush views the mixing process
photo by the newt By Steve Newton I did the first of my six interviews with Canadian rock great Kim Mitchell back in July of 1984, when he was promoting his new Akimbo Alogo LP. That was a wicked album, containing as it did the singles “Go For Soda”, “All We Are”, “Feel It Burn”, … Continue reading That time I told Kim Mitchell that I’d like to see “Lager and Ale” as his next single
By Steve Newton Back in April of 1997 I did my first interview with Rush bassist-vocalist Geddy Lee. At the time the group was touring behind its Test for Echo album, and that tour marked the first time Rush had taken the “An Evening With” approach, where there is no opening act and it’s just … Continue reading That time Geddy Lee told me that Rush had 4,000 albums
By Steve Newton Way back in January of 1984 I did my first interview with heavy-metal master Tony Iommi, famous for creating the most powerful hard-rock riffs known to man. At the time Iommi was touring behind Black Sabbath’s much-maligned Born Again, which is quite possibly the raunchiest Sabbath album ever recorded. At one point … Continue reading That time heavy-metal god Tony Iommi told me that he wasn’t into new-wave, but he liked the music from Flashdance
By Steve Newton Back in July of 1991 I did the second of my four interviews with American guitar legend Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band. Two weeks earlier the band had released its tenth studio album, Shades of Two Worlds, which Dickey had written most of the material for. Here’s the first ten minutes … Continue reading 10 minutes on the phone with Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers in 1991
By Steve Newton When I interviewed Alex Van Halen on August 9, 1995, Van Halen was in the midst of a North American tour in support of its tenth album, the Bruce Fairbairn-produced Balance. As on all Van Halen albums, the songwriting credits on Balance were shared between all four members. At one point in … Continue reading That time Alex Van Halen told me how ideas for Van Halen songs sprang from Eddie just noodling around
By Steve Newton Back in November of 1990 I did an interview with Nigel Mogg, bassist for the Quireboys (who were known in North America as the London Quireboys.) At the time the band was touring behind its debut album, A Bit of What You Fancy, which was a rollicking platter full of Faces-style boogie … Continue reading That time Nigel Mogg of the Quireboys told me about being the nephew of Phil Mogg from UFO
