ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 5, 1994 By Steve Newton Sometimes I wonder if guitarists join Guns N’ Roses just so they can get in the position to release their own solo recordings of punk-inspired garage-rock and blues-based boogie. (I doubt if they do it so they can bask in the positive vibes … Continue reading Album review: Gilby Clarke, Pawnshop Guitars (1994)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 15, 1994 By Steve Newton Like a hearty handshake from a rarely seen high-school buddy, every new Allman Brothers release is a hazy reminder of my teenage glory days, when the purchase of a southern-rock LP such as the Allmans’ Eat A Peach made everything right in my small-town world. Nowadays … Continue reading Album review: the Allman Brothers Band, Where It All Begins (1994)
By Steve Newton I’ve interviewed Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford four times, and he’s always been a very amicable, well-spoken chap. The second time was back in October of 1990, one month after the release of Priest’s Painkiller album. At one point in the conversation I asked Halford what his personal favourite tune was on … Continue reading That time I asked Rob Halford what his personal fave tune was on the new Judas Priest album Painkiller
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 15, 1994 By Steve Newton Talk about cutting out the fat. John Mellencamp just keeps making his instrumentation leaner as the years go by; now he’s gotten to the point where he’ll pass up bass and go with drums and guitars only, and the effect–on bare-bones tunes like “Brothers” and “Too … Continue reading Album review: John Mellencamp, Dance Naked (1994)
Paul, Ace, and Newt on the set of Millennium. Would it have killed them to smile? ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 1, 1998 By Steve Newton A rocking Halloween came early for a couple of hundred lucky Vancouverites at the Rage nightclub last Tuesday (September 29). American glam-metal kings Kiss were in town, … Continue reading Kiss lip-synchs and air-guitars its way through “Psycho Circus” for a Halloween episode of Millennium
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 4, 1987 By Steve Newton First they were in a band called Bauhaus. Then a couple of them formed Tones on Tail. And now they’re known as Love and Rockets. About the only thing that has remained constant for the British trio of Daniel Ash, David J., and Kevin Haskins has … Continue reading Love and Rockets moves on from Tones on Tail and Bauhaus
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEB. 1, 1985 By Steve Newton Swiss heavy-metalists Krokus were scheduled to play the Commodore Ballroom late last year, but touring commitments with Sammy Hagar forced cancellation of the gig. And it’s too bad, because–since the band is touring behind their strongest LP yet–the show promised to be an exciting one for … Continue reading Krokus guitarist Fernando von Arb says that The Blitz producer Bruce Fairbairn is a very normal human being
By Steve Newton Over the last 40 years I’ve been fortunate enough to have done one-on-one interviews with four members of Iron Maiden: Clive Burr, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, and Bruce Dickinson. I interviewed Dickinson back in June of 1983, when Maiden was touring behind its fourth studio album, Piece of Mind, which had been … Continue reading That time I asked Bruce Dickinson what his favourite tune was on Iron Maiden’s new album Piece of Mind
By Steve Newton The sad news about Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton passing away on July 5 inspired me to compile my list of the band’s best songs. Not surprisingly, they’re almost all from the ’70s. 20. “Just to Get Into It” (No Mean City, 1979) 19. “Silver Dollar Forger (Parts 1 & 2)” (Rampant, 1974) … Continue reading Nazareth’s 20 best songs, from wicked to freakin’ awesome
me ‘n Jack after the show ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 30, 1989 By Steve Newton They turned away several hundred rock-hungry fans at the doors but it was still Sardine City inside Club Soda when L.A.’s popular mainstream metallists, Great White, took the stage Monday night (June 26). People started lining up at one in … Continue reading Great White packs ’em in like sardines in Vancouver
By Steve Newton Back in January of 1992 I interviewed Joan Jett while she was promoting her latest album, Notorious. At one point in the conversation we started talking about potential singles on the album, which led to her explaining the inspiration for her latest video/single, “Don’t Surrender”. Turns out it was inspired by British … Continue reading That time Joan Jett told me how she was inspired to write “Don’t Surrender” by actress Jill Ireland
doug kretchmer photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON APRIL 2, 1998 By Steve Newton Life’s full of memorable little firsts, and sometimes they even come in pairs. I can still recall one such double-whammy from my mid-70s high school days. A few pals had convened in a schoolmate’s basement one night, and before you could say “Let’s … Continue reading Roger Hodgson recalls his split from Supertramp after the “miserable” Famous Last Words
By Steve Newton Forty years ago, around this time, I was livin’ the dream–if the dream was to be a journalist specializing in heavy metal. I’d recently found work as a freelance music writer/proofreader with the Georgia Straight, a weekly Vancouver newspaper. The cool thing was, within a span of six weeks, I got to … Continue reading Metal mayhem in the summer of ’82: scoring cover stories on Ozzy, Maiden, and Scorps
