Rush 35th Anniversary Interview From ‘In The Studio’

Although the program’s host sounds as if he might be just as comfortable behind the wheel of an 15th century pirate ship in the Mediterranean as he does behind the microphone for his actual job, Redbeard from “In The Studio” certainly seems to have made the right career choice. With the unmistakable sound of a classic radio announcer, he certainly contributes positively to the professional production value of the programs available for listeners on the “In The Studio” website.

This time, Redbeard welcomes two-thirds of Canadian rock trio Rush for an interview in honor of the group’s 35th anniversary. A few interesting tidbits from both frontman Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson are revealed which I was not previously aware.

Among the most interesting tidbits for this long-time fan included word that the group first started out calling themselves The Projection.

Looking back to their teen years when they first joined up to form a band, both Lee and Lifeson do not spare the self-deprecating comments, with Lee admitting that they probably considered themselves more cool than “the next guy,” and probably weren’t, while Lifeson talks about how badly they performed the dozen or so songs that they had learned to play.

As every serious Rush fan surely knows, the real breakthrough for the group resulted when they were joined by drummer and lyricist Neil Peart after original drummer John Rutsey had to leave the group due to health reasons. With only about a week before their first major U.S. performance, one can only imagine the pressure that Peart and his new band mates felt as they rehearsed to open for Uriah Heap and Manfred Mann in Pittsburgh.

Despite many years and a number of albums that were all but ignored by most U.S. radio markets and critics alike, at the same time they also cultured an extraordinarily devoted base of fans, who appreciated the way the group has always approached the way they create their music: More for their own satisfaction and less for the purposes of commercial success.

After thirty-five years, the group finally seems to be attracting the kind of attention that their fans feel they have been deserving of for far too long. With a feature story in Rolling Stone magazine and an appearance on the hit Comedy Central show The Colbert Report over the course of the last year or so, it appears that Rush has finally arrived. Many of us already knew, however,  that they had really arrived more than three decades ago.

You can listen to the interview on the “In The Studio” website.

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Tags: 35th Anniversary, Geddy Lee. Alex Lifeson, In The Studio, Interviiew, Redbeard, Rush

Rush Frontman Geddy Lee Featured In ‘Heeb’ Magazine

I would have not imagined that there was a magazine called Heeb that catered to the Jewish community, but lo and behold, there is indeed! What makes the most recent edition of the publication interesting for Rush fans who may not be Jewish is a pretty good interview with Geddy Lee.

In the interview we learn a little bit about Lee’s childhood, a “nerd” by his own admission, who tended to be somewhat socially isolated and lived in a world inside his own head. Going from suburban nerd to rock star is quite a journey indeed, and probably one that Lee still finds hard to believe today.

In a potentially controversial portion of the interview, Lee admits to being a Jewish atheist, “if that’s possible,” he adds. Something that I don’t find particularly surprising when one considers some of the lyrics that are such a big part of what shapes the group’s identity.

Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart has made no secret of his thoughts about religion, and although I cannot remember hearing anything about where guitarist Alex Lifeson stands on the issue, it appears that Lee is onboard with Peart where that subject is concerned.

Lee also spends some time talking about a 1995 trip he made to some of the Nazi concentration camps with his mother, who is a holocaust survivor. Although many Rush fans have probably already figured it out, the song “Red Sector A” was inspired by events that Lee’s mother related to him regarding her own experiences during that terrible time in history.

Although Rush has a reputation as one of the best-behaved bands in rock, Lee does admit that they were not always on their best behavior. “I can’t vouch for us being well-behaved every night,” he says. What he means by that is not clear, and he is reluctant to elaborate.

Perhaps his wife will have some questions for him when she sees the interview, if she has not already. Seriously however, I don’t imagine the guys from Rush getting into all that much trouble. After all, these are guys that are known for spending part of their downtime sampling wine from various (and probably upscale) restaurants while on tour.

The Heeb Interview is interesting since it is not so focused on the whole rock star thing and seems more about Geddy Lee the human being rather than Geddy Lee the rock star. It’s an interesting perspective, and one that Rush fans will surely want to check out. Don’t forget to click on “Heeb Web exclusive: Click here for the extended Geddy Lee interview” at the bottom of the page  to see the rest of the interview.

You can check out the Heeb interview on their website.

Tags: Geddy Lee, Heeb Magazine, interview, Rush

Neil Peart Stares Down The ‘Eye of Satan’

No matter how busy I am or how many tasks I have ahead of me, news of an update on Neil Peart’s personal website always stops me in my tracks and enthralls me as I sit and digest his discourse in one sitting. Granted, this is not War And Peace we are talking about here, but Peart is quite generous with his prose and it may take me 30 minutes or perhaps even more to digest it all.

This most recent update on Peart’s site is a bit more amusing than others, though I won’t spoil it for my fellow followers of his site. Suffice to say that the final photograph actually made me laugh out loud as I sat here alone in my home office.

Winter sunset as viewed from my back deck

Like Peart, I am also a lover of nature, although I don’t indulge myself as enthusiastically with as many solitary journeys through the woods as he obviously does. I live in the woods as well – a very deliberate and conscious decision on my part, one that my wife has happily come to appreciate as well. Although as any married man would know, the decision to live here was not mine alone, and I’m happy to have an understanding and generous partner in life.

My isolation does not compare with Peart’s cabin on the lake in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec but I’m happy to be shrouded among the trees with no view of neighboring homes during the summer months when the trees provide a welcome curtain of green that affords us the privacy that the vast majority of the modern population does not seem to crave.

Peart’s latest update chronicles his determined quest to track down an unwelcome intrusion that has made itself well known in a landscape that is otherwise dominated by the creations of mother nature. In the words of a famous (should be infamous – sorry, Neil!) U.S. President, “I feel your pain.”

We enjoy dark skies here as well, despite the dim glow of the more populated areas to the south in Massachusetts. The view of the Milky Way and other heavenly bodies from our property on particularly clear nights can be awe-inspiring, however, to my northwest, I also endure my own “eye of Satan,” in the form of a neighbor who insists on illuminating that area of the horizon with a bright white light – the kind you might see in a shopping center parking lot.

Although he does have some equipment related to his business on his property, our experience in this neighborhood suggests that crime is virtually non-existent, so I am at somewhat of a loss regarding what he fears that inspires him to spoil a nearly perfectly dark night sky every night of every year.

In fact, the previous owner of our home had installed his very own “eye of Satan” at the end of our long driveway nearest the house. It is more of an orange color, but no less obnoxious and intrusive on an otherwise dark night here in the woods. One of my very first acts upon moving in was to hit the “Off” switch on that evil eye, which was set to come on automatically at nightfall. I don’t know what inspired the original owner to install it. We have not had a single problem with any vandalism or other crimes in the 10-plus years we have lived here. Perhaps he wished to light the way for the local critters who do not enjoy the superior nighttime vision of the owl or the red fox.

I too have contemplated various ways to re-darken our sky, but beyond the fact that my unwitting antagonist would most likely replace the light easily, civilized behavior does not really allow me to indulge my occasional fantasies about how the eternal white light might be extinguished. And what little I know about my neighbor’s personality has convinced me that he’s not really the type one would consider “approachable,” so any polite requests to turn off the light would most likely be met with a terse denial, with a few profanities added for emphasis.

Recognizing that my own writing does not hold a proverbial candle to Neil Peart’s, I readily acknowledge that readers who have paused here may be losing interest, so I will sum it up by directing fellow fans, and just about anyone else who appreciates nature and fine writing to visit Peart’s site for his most recent update.

Tags: Eye of Satan, Neil Peart, Update

Boatload of Rush Video From ‘Retrospective 3’ on VH1 Classic Site

This past weekend, VH1 Classic aired a special program featuring the latest release from Canadian rock trio Rush. The show, entitled Rush: Retrospective 3 Box Set Special, appropriately enough, aired on Saturday night at 10:00 PM.

For those who do not have access to the VH1 Classic channel (like myself), content from the special has been posted on the VH1 Classic website.

The bulk of the content is footage of Rush performances and accompanying commentary from Geddy Lee which fills in some interesting details on some well-known Rush favorites.

Lee provides some interesting background on some of their material and what inspired them to do it and also talks a little about some of the technical aspects of working in the studio and getting the sound that they want.

Considering all the albums they have done, Lee does an impressive job of recalling the details of the group’s experiences creating, recording and performing. After that many albums and tour dates, one might think it would all be a blur by now.

If, for whatever reason, you are a dedicated Rush fan who does not have your own copy of the new box set, it’s well worth your time to check out this special online.

Thanks to the Rush Is A Band blog for calling attention to this.

Tags: Geddy Lee, Retrospective 3, Rush, Special, VH1 Classic, Video

Rush’s Geddy Lee And Alex Lifeson In New Interview and Magazine Piece

These days it seems like Rush is coming out of the closet. No, I don’t mean that closet. What I’m saying is that they seem to be garnering more acceptance in the mainstream. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is likely to be a touchy subject amongst the Canadian trio’s dedicated fans.

Recalling my early days as a Rush fan in the late 70’s, there was a certain air of “coolness” that myself and my Rush-adoring friends enjoyed by feeling that we were members of a somewhat exclusive club – those who understood at the time how cool Rush was, and appreciated how unique they were among their rock star peers. To say nothing of their amazing ability as musicians.

With Rush showing up in U.S. television for the first time in 30 years, being featured not long ago in Rolling Stone magazine after decades of being snubbed, being interviewed for Entertainment Weekly and appearing in the new comedy movie I Love You Man, it appears that the perceived exclusivity of being a Rush fan may be something that’s slowly slipping away. The real world, it seems, has begun to notice Rush.

Now it appears that the lack of attention the group received from the mainstream may have been due in part to choices that they themselves had made. In the Entertainment Weekly interview, Geddy Lee is quoted as saying: “We’re so ass-backwards sometimes. We don’t do the things we should do, from a practical point of view. As we’ve gotten older we’ve lightened up about a lot of things. What used to be such a big deal is maybe not such a big deal to us anymore.”

That was in response to a question about why it was that they had decided to appear on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report last summer. Lee attributes the tragic events in drummer Neil Peart’s life that nearly led to the groups break-up for giving them a fresh perspective on things and adopting that “lighter attitude.”

Asked about the possibility of appearing in other movies, Lee, in his trademark tongue-in-cheek style responds: “Any movie. We’re all available. We’re putting ourselves out there. We all want to be character actors now. “We’re ready to be in any movie anybody wants to put us into.”

Yes, fellow Rush fans, our favorite Canadian trio does appear to have lightened up significantly of late, but perhaps the opportunity to grow their fans base and introduce a younger generation of fans to their music outweighs that little thrill some of us enjoyed by feeling like we were members of an exclusive club or secret society. I am still a little disappointed that I was never quite able to master the secret handshake, however.

More Rush News comes to us by way of Power Windows where they link to a feature piece in Premier Guitar on Alex Lifeson. Although there is some discussion of general interest to Rush fans, the bulk of it, as one might expect, is best enjoyed by guitar geeks, as Lifeson talks about the kinds of things guitar geeks like to know about.

Although they insist that they are now enjoying a nice rest after their grueling two-part Snakes & Arrows tour, it seems like it might be hard for these guys to sit still for very long. Lee and Lifeson has been showing up in both radio and print interviews of late, and it appears that Neil Peart may actually be enjoying some personal pursuits, although it’s hard to be sure since he’s known to be the most reclusive of the three. He does however, dedicate some of his time periodically to update fans with posts to his personal website. Always and interesting read in this fan’s opinion.

Tags: Alex Lifeson, Entertainment Weekly, Geddy Lee, interview, Premier Guitar, Rush