Indie pop

John Mayer wages a shock and awe battle

John Mayer stepped on the Sound Academy stage last night secure in the knowledge that Battle Studies , his first full-fledged studio album since 2006’s Continuum , will be the No.1 when the Billboard charts are updated on Thursday on the strength of over 300,000 copies sold in the U.S. Nick Krewen  Special To The Star, Wed Nov 25 2009 John Mayer stepped on the Sound Academy stage last night…


Shania Tours!

AS PUBLISHED IN KNIX MAGAZINE, PHOENIX, ARIZONA,  MARCH 1998   By Nick Krewen   The lights dim. The crowd erupts in screams and whistles. And from somewhere within the bowels of a small, sweltering hockey arena in Northern Ontario, concealed by the twilight of promise, hope and anticipation, a sweetly familiar voice asks a big sultry question: “Are you ready for me, Sudbury?” The crowd is confused at first, as…


A Sip of The Refreshments

  NICK KREWEN Hamilton Spectator August 22, 1996   You’ve gotta admire a band that can rhyme the word “guard” with the name Captain Jean-Luc Picard,  whom Trekkers know as the captain of the most powerful Starship in the United Federation Of Planets, the Enterprise. And you’ve gotta admire a band who tried to contact Patrick Stewart, the classy actor who immortalized the role of Picard in the classic cult…


Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall On…

As appeared in the late, lamented on-line magazine Magnet, 1996   Stardust, Baked Beans, Orgasms and The Meaning Of Life   NICK KREWEN   The Bowery Boy of blue-eyed soul is back, and man is he stylin’. Although the only reason Mick Hucknall, singer and architect of Simply Red, Britain’s most astoundingly successful R&B export at 26 million records sold and counting, is in Toronto in the first place is…


Michael Scott: Lone Waterboy

  NICK KREWEN Hamilton Spectator Thursday, February 29, 1996 As founder of Scottish rock group The Waterboys, singer and songwriter Mike Scott gained worldly insight and experience during their 12 year, six-album existence. So it’s surprising when the 37-year-old Scott, wearing a bright red shirt and matching red cap, divulges an unlikely source of inspiration for Bring ‘Em All In, his first post-Waterboys solo album: Dr. Seuss. “I was renting…