ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 4, 1982 By Steve Newton The cover art of Scorpions‘ new album Blackout is really quite shocking. Created by Austrian painter Gottfried Helnwein, it shows a mustachioed young man with his head completely bandaged and two steel forks protruding from the white cloth at his temples, curling menacingly into his eyes. The … Continue reading Album review: Scorpions, Blackout (1982)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 30, 1987 By Steve Newton If there was one band I would have killed (well, maimed anyway) to see in its original lineup, that band would have been Lynryd Skynryd, the pride of Jacksonville, Florida, and arguably the best southern rock band to come along. That wish was shattered forever with the death … Continue reading Album review: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Legend (1987)
By Steve Newton The hard-rock world lost one of its most beloved artists on November 18, 2017, when AC/DC rhythm-guitarist Malcolm Young passed away at the age of 64. Ill health had forced him to leave the band in 2014, and to be confined to a nursing home, where he suffered from dementia. I only met … Continue reading Malcolm Young: the five best quotes I ever got from AC/DC’s rhythm master
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 16, 1998 By Steve Newton Ever since Sammy Hagar replaced David Lee Roth as Van Halen’s frontman on 1986’s 5150, the band’s legions of followers have been split into the Sam and Dave camps. Roth proponents feel his macho bravado and hog-in-heat performing style suited the group’s early music; Sammy … Continue reading Album review: Van Halen, Van Halen 3 (1998)
By Steve Newton Gather ’round all you Dickey Betts fans. It’s time for the Newt to post another one of those audio excerpts you Allman Brothers freaks seem to love so much. This one’s from my third interview with Dickey, back in ’92 when the band was touring behind An Evening With the Allman Brothers Band: … Continue reading That time Dickey Betts told me why there were eight guys on the cover of the Allman Brothers’ new live album
By Steve Newton Interviewing amazing guitar players is one of my favourite things to do, and Yes guitarist Steve Howe has always been one of the best in my books. I’ve chatted with him three times, in 1998, 2001, and then 2017, before the latest version of Yes played Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Steve’s always … Continue reading Yes guitarist Steve Howe says that the respect he has for classical musicians is above all others
charles campbell photo By Steve Newton It’s been 10 days since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its nominees for induction in 2018, choosing a whopping 19 bands and artists this time around. They include, in alphabetical order: Bon Jovi, Kate Bush, the Cars, Depeche Mode, Dire Straits, Eurythmics, J. Geils Band, Judas Priest, LL Cool J, MC5, … Continue reading Rock Hall ignores Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher yet again, proves its head is still lodged firmly up its ass
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 11, 1987 By Steve Newton Remember that neat movie from 1970, The Magic Christian, which starred Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr and was a cutting farce on the lengths people would go to to get money? And remember that film’s nifty theme song, “Come and Get It”, which sounded like the Beatles but … Continue reading Badfinger’s Joey Molland on working with the Beatles and dealing with the fallout of suicide
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 6, 1987 By Steve Newton John Mayall knows blues guitarists. And it’s no wonder since he’s played with the best of them–guys like Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor. But the two lead players he brought with him to the Commodore last Thursday (October 29) were so hot that they literally stole the show from … Continue reading John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers slay Vancouver with smokin’ guitarists Montoya and Trout
By Steve Newton I interviewed guitar legend Steve Howe for the third time in 2017, in advance of a Yes show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver. Near the end of the conversation I asked the 70-year-old fretmaster who he’d been listening to in his spare time, which led to him naming some of his … Continue reading Steve Howe lists his favourite guitarists, calls Steve Morse “phenomenal!”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 23, 1990 By Steve Newton When Swedish guitar whiz Yngwie Malmsteen burst onto the hard-rock scene in ’84 with the Rising Force album, he took a lot of people by surprise—and it wasn’t just his funny name (pronounced “Ing-vay”) that did it. Malmsteen was a classically influenced speed-demon, … Continue reading Album review: Yngwie Malmsteen, Eclipse (1990)
chris cameron photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 23, 1987 By Steve Newton A healthy-sized crowd of 12,000 packed the Pacific Coliseum last Friday (October 16) for a Motley Crue concert, but for a lot of people the main attraction was Whitesnake, the group that has lately taken over from Bon Jovi as the most popular hard … Continue reading Wicked Whitesnake blows corny Crue off the stage in Vancouver
By Steve Newton Hey, how about another audio excerpt from an old interview I did with one of my fave guitarists, Dickey Betts? Back in 1992 I was talkin’ to Dickey about the Allmans’ latest album, An Evening With the Allman Brothers Band: First Set. The disc’s cover photo, taken by the inimitable Kirk West, … Continue reading That time Dickey Betts told me how sweet the buses were that the Allman Brothers toured in
