The Tragically Hip

Ron Sexsmith’s lean machine of music is on the move

Acclaimed singer-songwriter settles into new home and new duties in studio for latest album Nick Krewen Music, Thurs. April 27, 2017 There’s a first for everything. In Ron Sexsmith’s case, his 13th album, The Last Rider, marks several debuts, including the first time he’s recorded an album with his touring band and the first time he’s assigned himself the producer’s chair, although he’s co-helmed this one with his longtime drummer…


Dan Kanter on mad life at Bieber’s side

Toronto guitarist and pop megastar’s right-hand man has had best seat to watch his rise. Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Fri Jun 15 2012 Life with Justin Bieber is never boring. Just ask Dan Kanter, the Toronto guitarist, producer and musical tour director who has been the Stratford pop phenom’s right-hand man since The Bieb’s meteoric rise to the top began three years ago. “It’s been quite…


Toronto’s transit of venues (or, weep not for the bop)

Veteran rock writer Nick Krewen takes a tour through defunct Toronto concert venue history – from the ’60s in Yorkville, to the subsequent decades when the action was mostly around Yonge St., to the rise and apparent decline of Queen St. W.  Nick Krewen and Garnet Fraser Published on Sun Jan 03 2010 On Queen St. W., the concert scene is changing, and it’s leaving some fretful. Hard-rock hangout the Big…


Tragically Hip – In Violent Light

PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Thursday, December 5, 1997 NEED TO KNOW: THE TRAGICALLY HIP with Rheostatics, Copps Coliseum, Wednesday, December 11. Sold Out.   BY NICK KREWEN   Suppose you gave a performance and nobody came? According to Rob Baker, guitarist for Canadian rock icons The Tragically Hip, a Hamilton strip-and-rock club was the host for just such an astonishing occasion, much to the band’s chagrin. The era was…


Matthew Sweet

  NICK KREWEN Hamilton Spectator Thursday, July 13, 1995     Somewhere deep inside Matthew Sweet, there’s a young filmmaker just waiting to escape. “It’s something I’m thinking more and more about,” concede the singing and songwriting native of Lincoln, Nebraska over the phone from Los Angeles digs. “I’m thinking of getting involved in making a movie, some way some day. I haven’t really figured out what my place is…