By Steve Newton Way back in October of 1991 I did an interview with bassist Stu Hamm, a giant of the four-string who was best known for his work with guitar heroes Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. He had recently released his album The Urge, and was headed to Vancouver for a club gig. At … Continue reading Bass god Stu Hamm compares Joe Satriani to Steve Vai and raves about Jaco Pastorius
By Steve Newton Back in 2016 I interviewed Uli Jon Roth for the first time ever, and made sure to ask him one of the more burning questions guitar-freaks might have for the legendary picker. I knew he’d played with some of the world’s greatest guitarists over the years–heck, at the time he was touring … Continue reading That time Uli Jon Roth told me that he’d most like to jam with David Gilmour, Ritchie Blackmore, and Jeff Beck
By Steve Newton Back in 2016 I had a nice chat with German guitar maestro Uli Jon Roth. As we were talking about Uli Jon Roth’s Ultimate Guitar Experience–the tour he was on with Jennifer Batten and Andy Timmons–I mentioned a previous guitar tour he was part of, the G3 European Tour of 1998. That … Continue reading Uli Jon Roth recalls the friction between Joe Satriani and Michael Schenker on the 1998 G3 European tour
By Steve Newton When Uli Jon Roth called me up in 2016 to promote his Ultimate Guitar Experience show in Vancouver, we ended up chatting about some of the other guitar tours he’s been on, like the G3 European Tour back in 1998, when he shared the stage with Joe Satriani and Michael Schenker, who … Continue reading That time Uli Jon Roth told me that Yngwie Malmsteen was “one of the alltime greats”, but that he wasn’t impressed by speed
By Steve Newton Back in June of 1983 I did a phone interview with Bruce Dickinson in advance of Iron Maiden’s show in Vancouver on the Piece of Mind tour. During the course of our conversation Dickinson claimed that it would be “unthinkable” for Iron Maiden to make an album without producer Martin Birch, who … Continue reading Bruce Dickinson in ’83: “It would be unthinkable to make an Iron Maiden album without Martin Birch”
Skynyrd photo by Kevin Statham, all other photos by the Newt By Steve Newton Lynyrd Skynyrd at Hard Rock Casino Vancouver on March 20. “When you’ve got three shit-hot guitarists tearing up the place on deathless southern-rock songs you can’t really go wrong, in my book.” U2 (above) at Rogers Arena on May 14: “The encore … Continue reading Newt’s top 5 Vancouver concerts of 2015: U2, Foos, Skynyrd, Alvins, Emmanuel
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 15, 1983 By Steve Newton Next Wednesday (July 20) at the Pacific Coliseum original Heepsters Mick Box and Lee Kerslake on guitar and drums will be joined by bassist Trevor Bolder, keyboardist John Sinclair, and singer Peter Goalby to give us Uriah Heep ’80s-style. Performing material from their new album Head … Continue reading Even the kids in Def Leppard can’t make Uriah Heep feel old
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 7, 1986 By Steve Newton Yessongs. Brain Salad Surgery. Selling England By the Pound. Do those album titles ring a bell? They should if you remember back to 1973. At that time, ‘progressive’ rock was big around the world and its foremost practitioners were British bands such as Yes, Emerson, Lake … Continue reading Marillion moves beyond cult status with Misplaced Childhood and “Kayleigh”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 21, 1987 By Steve Newton Old rockers never die, they just play guitar for David Bowie. At least, that’s what Peter Frampton was doing at B.C. Place last Saturday. But Frampton and Bowie actually go back a long way–all the way back to the art school they used to attend in … Continue reading David Bowie’s Glass Spider tour helps Frampton come alive again
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 15, 2016 By Steve Newton When Sonny Landreth connects his glass slide to the strings of his Strat, there’s always a good chance a blues-drenched tone will emerge—perhaps blended with zydeco strains befitting the guitarist’s home state of Louisiana. A blues freak since day one, Landreth composed a love letter to … Continue reading Sonny Landreth on first hearing Johnny Winter: “Holy shit, man, this is awesome!”
Notice how Scotty Bad’s left hand is just about to land on Angus’s wee shoulder in a blatant attempt to have some of that coolness rub off.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 3, 1986 By Steve Newton Heavy metal veteran Ronnie James Dio played his own game of Dungeons & Dragons at the Pacific Coliseum last Saturday (December 28)–and 5,000 or so of his young fans came out winners. The show started when curtains surrounding the stage were pulled to reveal a 60-by-40-foot … Continue reading Dio brings medieval fantasy and better-than-Ozzy vocals to Vancouver, Yngwie just shows off
“I love groupies. Without groupies, God, I probably wouldn’t have been a musician. Probably go home and be a farmer or somethin’.”
