Search Results for: buddy guy

AC/DC’s highly anticipated 2024 tour announcement wasn’t made today, so here’s five of my Acca Dacca concert reviews

from the newt’s collection By Steve Newton When it comes to starting rumours about AC/DC, I’m the king. Back in August of 2018 I was the first to report that Phil Rudd and Stevie Young had been spotted in Vancouver, leading to speculation that Rudd has rejoined the band to record another album. Shortly after … Continue reading AC/DC’s highly anticipated 2024 tour announcement wasn’t made today, so here’s five of my Acca Dacca concert reviews

God bless Scott Gorham’s 60-second guitar solo on Thin Lizzy’s “Romeo and the Lonely Girl”

By Steve Newton I freakin’ love guitar solos, where some talented artist carefully chooses the perfect notes and uses vibrato and tremolo and all that other technical shit to come up with something that’ll stick with me for decades and be there whenever I want to retrieve it, replay it in my head, and holler: … Continue reading God bless Scott Gorham’s 60-second guitar solo on Thin Lizzy’s “Romeo and the Lonely Girl”

That time Stevie Ray Vaughan told me that he gets most nervous playing in front of just one person

By Steve Newton When you play guitar as stunningly well as Stevie Ray Vaughan did, a lot of people see you. Countless numbers of music fans have watched the Texas blues-rock legend tear up the frets since he blasted onto the scene with the Texas Flood album in 1983. When I interviewed Stevie for the … Continue reading That time Stevie Ray Vaughan told me that he gets most nervous playing in front of just one person

That time I asked Michael Schenker which UFO album he was most impressed with himself

By Steve Newton In March of 1992 I did an interview with Michael Schenker, one of my favourite hard-rock guitarists of all time, whose work with Scorpions, UFO, and MSG totally blew me away. Especially the UFO stuff. When the Phenomenon album came out in 1974 I had just turned 17, and tunes like “Doctor … Continue reading That time I asked Michael Schenker which UFO album he was most impressed with himself

That time 20-year-old Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach sang me a line from his Schooner beer commercial

By Steve Newton Way the hell back in 1989 I did an interview with Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach. That was less than a month after the release of the band’s self-titled debut album, which would go on to sell five-million copies and spawn the hits “Youth Gone Wild”, “18 and Life”, and “I Remember You”. … Continue reading That time 20-year-old Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach sang me a line from his Schooner beer commercial

That time I asked Poison Ivy what inspired the Cramps’ “Bikini Girls with Machine Guns”

By Steve Newton Back in April of 1990 I did my first interview with Cramps guitarist Poison Ivy Rorschach, in advance of a show at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. At the time the band was touring behind its new Stay Sick album, which she produced herself, and which included the song “Bikini Girls with Machine Guns”, … Continue reading That time I asked Poison Ivy what inspired the Cramps’ “Bikini Girls with Machine Guns”

That time Joan Jett told me she couldn’t picture herself slinging a guitar at 60

By Steve Newton Back in January of 1992 I interviewed Joan Jett, who was heading to Vancouver on a tour promoting her eighth album with the Blackhearts, Notorious. You may recall how that disc opened with a pretty cool tune she cowrote with the Replacements’ Paul Westerberg called “Backlash”. At one point in the conversation … Continue reading That time Joan Jett told me she couldn’t picture herself slinging a guitar at 60

That time I asked Billy Gibbons what the glue was that kept ZZ Top together for so long

By Steve Newton Being a teenaged devotee of guitar-driven boogie in the seventies put me directly in line with what was required to be a hardcore ZZ Top fan. I have vivid memories of the band, like that time I walked into the Chilliwack Second Hand Store and found a near-mint copy of the Tres … Continue reading That time I asked Billy Gibbons what the glue was that kept ZZ Top together for so long

That time I asked Mick Mars if Mötley Crüe were softening on Theatre of Pain, then told him that I liked their debut album best

By Steve Newton Way the hell back in November of 1985 I interviewed Mick Mars at his Vancouver hotel before a show on Mötley Crüe‘s Theatre of Pain tour. I was quite the little metalhead back then, and I liked my tunes with a bit of bite, so at one point in the conversation I … Continue reading That time I asked Mick Mars if Mötley Crüe were softening on Theatre of Pain, then told him that I liked their debut album best

That time Tommy Aldridge told me that he “wasn’t a fan” of Brian Downey’s drum parts with Thin Lizzy

By Steve Newton As far as seeing concerts goes, I’ve been very lucky to have been situated in Vancouver since the early ’80s. It’s a major stopping point for bands touring North America–just a quick scoot across the border from Seattle–and being a music writer meant most of the shows were free. Only a few … Continue reading That time Tommy Aldridge told me that he “wasn’t a fan” of Brian Downey’s drum parts with Thin Lizzy

That time Dickey Betts asked me to mention all the guys in the Allmans, including the “piece of dynamite”

By Steve Newton Yesterday I went and dug up the old cassette with my first Buddy Guy interview on it, the one from 1991, because I wanted to digitize it for my Patreon page. Cool thing was, I noticed that the interview before it on the tape was the one I did the previous month … Continue reading That time Dickey Betts asked me to mention all the guys in the Allmans, including the “piece of dynamite”

That time Mike Fraser told me what it was like recording AC/DC without Malcolm Young

By Steve Newton There were a lot of rumours circulating back in 2018–some started by yours truly–about AC/DC making a new album in Vancouver with Mike Fraser. And those rumours were proven true with the release in November 2020 of Power Up. The band’s previous album, 2014’s Rock or Bust, was the first one not … Continue reading That time Mike Fraser told me what it was like recording AC/DC without Malcolm Young