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.