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Much-Travelled Mike Watt Gets Help From Famous Friends

PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR APRIL 27, 1995   BY NICK KREWEN Ball-hog or Tugboat? Mike Watt, the legendary the bass-playing linchpin who anchored San Pedro underground collage masters Minutemen for six years and followed it up with flannel rocking fIREHOSE for seven, has named his first solo album after one of his favorite armchair hobbies: wrestling. “It’s the only TV I watch, besides Soul Train,” said Watt, recently in…


Weird Al Yankovic – The Loneliest Guy in the Room

   NICK KREWEN The Hamilton Spectator March 30, 1995 Al Yankovic is a lonely guy. No wonder he’s turned Weird. Who’d expect an individual with an enviable collection of loud Hawaiian shirts and a pathetically sick sense of humor to be the musical equivalent of the Maytag repairman? Who’d figure that a guy who uses the accordion to provide such parodies of public pleasure as Jurassic Park — a claymation…


Big in Europe, dance band tries to get Sparks flying at home

Sparks talks Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins   NICK KREWEN Hamilton Spectator March 30, 1995 Credited as the inspiration for British electronic dance pop combos Depeche Mode, Erasure and Pet Shop Boys, Sparks is a modern music anomaly: a California duo that is revered in Europe, but ignored in their own backyard. With the release tomorrow of their 16 th album, Gratuitous Sax And Senseless Violins, Sparks linchpins Ron and…


A little TLC is going a long way

PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR     BY NICK KREWEN   If you want a record deal, try your local hairdresser. It worked for TLC, the hot Atlanta baby faced pop trio whose month-long reign at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 with the song “Creep” ended last week. Four years ago, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins was a struggling singer looking for the right connection. When she met Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes during…


Slash jumps into the Snakepit

  BY NICK KREWEN Hamilton Spectator January 26, 1995   First there was Izzy Stradlin’s Ju Ju Hounds. Then Duff McKagan released his punk ‘n’ roll album, Believe In Me, followed by Gilby Clarke‘s Pawnshop Guitars. Now, add guitarist Saul Hudson — better known to the world as Slash — and drummer Matt Sorum to the list of Guns N’ Roses members past and present who have taken time to pursue…