Guitar

Art Rock, Bass, Canada, Drums, Guitar, Literary, Piano, Rock, Rush, Synthesizer, Toronto, Voice July 8, 2023

The band Max Webster, almost Canada’s Next Big Thing in the 1970s and ’80s, gets the coffee table book treatment

From 1972 until 1981, the band created five wonderfully idiosyncratic studio albums and toured incessantly — even headlining Maple Leaf Gardens three times within 18 months. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Up until very recently, Kim Mitchell had forgotten that day in Indianapolis in 1981 when he performed “Battle Scar” with his Toronto rockers Max Webster and a man wearing a mask of ex-U.S. president Richard Nixon snuck…

Garage Rock, Grammy, Grunge, Guitar, Guns N' Roses, Hard Rock/Heavy Metal, Los Angeles, Metallica, Rock, Songwriter, United States April 13, 2023

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett loves Toronto – but he won’t be playing here anytime soon

Hammett and his metal band mates are limiting their time on the road but not the music itself. New album 72 Seasons is out Friday. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Metallica fans, there is some good news and some bad news. First, the positive stuff: to support 72 Seasons, the San Francisco heavy rock band’s 11th studio album and first since 2016’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, the tandem of singer…

Alt. Rock, Arranger, Beatles, British Columbia, Business, Canada, Composer, Experimental, Guitar, JUNO, Music Industry (Trade), Pink Floyd, Rock, Songwriter, Voice January 18, 2023

With a new sound and a new venture, an Airbnb network for concerts: Dan Mangan is keeping busy

Dan Mangan performs two shows in the GTA this week: a sold out solo affair at the Great Hall’s Longboat Hall on Jan.19 and a free performance with his band in Stouffville at the Wintersong Music Festival on Jan. 20. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star When you hear Being Somewhere, Dan Mangan’s sixth and latest album, you may notice something a little different about his voice. You’re not…

Bob Dylan, Canada, Country, Country Rock, Emmylou Harris, Guitar, Producer, Songwriter, Toronto, Voice, Willie Nelson January 14, 2023

Why Whitehorse’s new album turns up the twang: the pandemic was so apocalyptic, ‘only country music seemed appropriate’

New release I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying sees Toronto duo exploring a part of their musical tastes that Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland say has always been a part of what they do. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Well, this is an interesting turn. For the newest Whitehorse effort, the Toronto-based husband-wife duo of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland has switched gears from the hip volcanic mélange of…

Guitar, Indie, Rock, Songwriter, Soul, Toronto February 23, 2022

Brampton singer/songwriter AHI talks influences and the winding path that led him to music

His third album, Prospect, released late last year, with singles “Danger” and “Coldest Fire,” is an extraordinary folk-rooted effort. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star February 23, 2022 From a stranger outside Thunder Bay to Prospect Cemetery, to Bob Marley: Ahkinoah Habah Izarh — AHI for short — finds inspiration in all kinds of places and people. The Brampton-born singer and songwriter’s third album Prospect displays 10 songs of…