ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 9, 1989 By Steve Newton Kevn Kinney is the lead vocalist, chief songwriter, and coguitarist for Atlanta, Georgia’s Drivin’ n’ Cryin’, but he’s as surprised as anyone that he’s even ended up in a band. As he explained to me from Oklahoma City last week, Kinney was the odd man out … Continue reading Drivin’ n’ Cryin’s Kevn Kinney took the “i” out of his name when he was a punk rocker
“Ya gotta really have intuitiveness, in your decisions, and you have to follow your heart, and you gotta trust that.”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 5, 1994 By Steve Newton It comes as somewhat of a surprise that Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde is a dyed-in-the-swamp southern-rock maniac, but the New Jersey native is at the forefront of the current trend toward repopularizing the style epitomized by the Allman Brothers Band. On its self-titled debut release, … Continue reading Album review: Pride & Glory, Pride & Glory (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 29, 1994 By Steve Newton The death of blues guitarist Albert King in December of ’92 was a real downer for anyone who had followed the stellar career of the big bulldozer operator and master of the Flying V. King’s influence on the likes of Jeff Beck, Eric … Continue reading Album review: Little Jimmy King, Something Inside of Me
At one point I brought up the topic of the Toxic Twins, the nickname bestowed on Steven Tyler and Joe Perry for their rampant drug use.
kevin statham photo By Steve Newton I interviewed Devin Townsend for the second time in September of 1993, shortly after he’d hooked up with Steve Vai and they’d recorded Vai’s Sex & Religion album. Townsend–who has since gone on to become one of the most acclaimed and prolific metal musicians in the world–was 21 at … Continue reading That time 21-year-old Devin Townsend raved to me about his new band, Noisescapes
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 7, 1984 By Steve Newton After leaving his band of four years, Rainbow, Roger Glover is back again with the original lineup of seventies supergroup Deep Purple. Glover supplied the bottom end for Purple on such powerful tunes as “Smoke On the Water” and “Highway Star”, but often had to stand … Continue reading Roger Glover plugs new solo album Mask, keeps mum about Deep Purple reunion
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MAY 25, 1984 By Steve Newton The last time the Thompson Twins played Vancouver they were a support act for the Police. But since that visit the British trio have hit it big with their Into the Gap album–which debuted on the U.K. charts at #1–and are now full-fledged headliners in their … Continue reading Alannah Currie says that the Thompson Twins want to make music for the whole world
By Steve Newton Back in November of 1983 I did the first of my two interviews with pioneering British guitarist Allan Holdsworth. At the time he was based in L.A., and about to bring his band, I.O.U., up to Vancouver for two shows at a small venue called the Soft Rock Cafe. As the interview … Continue reading That time I asked Allan Holdsworth what he’d like the future to hold for him
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 26, 1994 By Steve Newton After hearing that Canuck guitar-rock great Kim Mitchell had reunited with longtime lyricist Pye Dubois–and then recorded their new tunes with ace producer Joe Hardy (ZZ Top, Colin James, the Tragically Hip)–I had high hopes for the resulting CD, Itch. Those hopes were … Continue reading Album review: Kim Mitchell, Itch (1994)
“If we’re gonna do somethin’ we should do it quick,” says SImmonds, “because we’re not gettin’ any younger, obviously.”
By Steve Newton I’m a huge fan of Warren Haynes. I love everything he’s done, whether with Gov’t Mule, the Allman Brothers, or as a solo artist. Hey, I wouldn’t have interviewed him six times if I didn’t think he was the shit. So one time when he brought Gov’t Mule to Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom–I … Continue reading That time me ‘n’ Ferg went backstage to meet Warren Haynes but he was too tuckered to smile
By Steve Newton Back in July of 1991 the Tragically Hip played five straight sold-out nights at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver on its Road Apples Tour. The band was smokin’ hot–at least on the night that I saw them–but also impressive was the opening act, Flies on Fire, a little-known guitar-rock band from L.A. … Continue reading That time “Mess” Messal of Flies on Fire told me that the Tragically Hip were the best band in the world
