An in-demand player in New Zealand long before he made the move to Australia with Dragon in 1975, Hewson started his professional career playing with bands The Marble Arch and Freedom Express before joining club band Cruise Lane with former Underdogs singer Murray Grindlay, drummer Brett Neilsen (The La De Da's), former Layabout Mike Wilson and ace guitarist Red McKelvie.
In 1966, Paul Hewson and his best mate Kevin Walden crawled under a fence and gatecrashed the farewell garden party of Kiri Te Kanawa, whose parents lived in the same street as the Hewson family.
Hewson's band The Marble Arch played at Dragon guitarist Ray Goodwin's sister's wedding in Avondale, Auckland, years before Dragon had even formed. The two musicians didn't meet though, because "None of the band mingled. They were deadset pop stars.”