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Rush

Канада

Hard Rock
Progressive Rock

http://www.rush.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/officialrush

29 апр 2025 :	RUSH's ALEX LIFESON: 'Moving Pictures' Was 'The Most Fun Record We Ever Made'
25 апр 2025 :	ALEX LIFESON On Possibility Of Performing With GEDDY LEE Again: 'We'll See What Happens'
16 апр 2025 :	RUSH's ALEX LIFESON On His Mindset After NEIL PEART's Death: 'I Didn't Really Wanna Play' Music
15 апр 2025 :	RUSH's ALEX LIFESON: 'I'm Just A Guy Who Loves Playing Guitar'
13 апр 2025 :	RUSH's ALEX LIFESON: NEIL PEART Was 'Amazing To Work With'
11 апр 2025 :	RUSH's ALEX LIFESON Is Open To Writing Book About His 40 Years On The Road
26 мар 2025 :	ALEX LIFESON Doesn't Mind Constantly Answering Questions About RUSH: 'I Get It. It's Okay.'
18 мар 2025 :	NEIL PEART's Brother DANNY PEART Dies Of Same Type Of Cancer That Killed RUSH Drummer
17 мар 2025 :	ALEX LIFESON Says He And GEDDY LEE Were Invited To Take Part In OZZY OSBOURNE's Final Concert
15 мар 2025 :	RUSH's ALEX LIFESON Says Drummers Reached Out To Him And GEDDY LEE Within 'Minutes' Of Finding Out About NEIL PEART's Death
28 янв 2025 :	RUSH Announces First-Ever Career Spanning Anthology 'Rush 50'
17 янв 2025 :	ALEX LIFESON Says RUSH 'Went Out On A High Note': 'I'd Rather Be Remembered For That Legacy Than Returning As The Top RUSH Tribute Band'
3 янв 2025 :	BRIAN TICHY Performs Drums Only Cover Of RUSH Classic "Tom Sawyer" - "I've Been Practicing This Since 7th Grade"; Video
21 дек 2024 :	RUSH's ALEX LIFESON Presented With 'Lifetime Achievement Award' By NATIONAL GUITAR MUSEUM
30 окт 2024 :	RUSH To Release 'The Albums: 1989-1996' Six-LP ATLANTIC Years Box Set
29 окт 2024 :	RUSH's GEDDY LEE To Release '72 Stories' Book About His Baseball Memorabilia Collection
26 окт 2024 :	RUSH Share Classic "Freewill" And "Closer To The Heart" Performance Videos From 1981
15 окт 2024 :	RUSH Share More Classic Performance Videos From Montreal, 1981
14 окт 2024 :	RUSH Share Three More Classic Performance Videos From 1981
6 окт 2024 :	RUSH - Official 1981 Performance Videos Unearthed
17 сен 2024 :	GEDDY LEE Pays Tribute To Late Bass Legend HERBIE FLOWERS - "To His Peers And Fellow Bass Folk He Was A Bright And Shining Star"
9 авг 2024 :	New Unauthorized RUSH Book 'Rush At 50' Due In September
21 июл 2024 :	Classic Solo Albums From ALEX LIFESON And GEDDY LEE To Be Reissued
28 май 2024 :	Watch: RUSH's GEDDY LEE And ALEX LIFESON Perform At GORDON LIGHTFOOT Tribute Concert In Toronto
19 май 2024 :	ALEX LIFESON: GEDDY LEE And I Get 'Substantial' Offers 'All The Time' To Perform Together Again
14 май 2024 :	ALEX LIFESON On Possibility Of RUSH Carrying On With New Drummer: 'It Would Just Be A Money Ploy'

15 мар 2025

RUSH's ALEX LIFESON Says Drummers Reached Out To Him And GEDDY LEE Within 'Minutes' Of Finding Out About NEIL PEART's Death

In a new interview with Jonathan Clarke, host of "Out Of The Box" on Q104.3, New York's classic rock station, Alex Lifeson was asked if he and his RUSH bandmate Geddy Lee have ever had "a casual conversation" about possibly finding a new drummer to play with following the passing of longtime RUSH drummer Neil Peart in January 2020. Alex, who is currently promoting the second album, "Stygian Wavz", from his ENVY OF NONE project , said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, well, yeah, of course, because we're bombarded by it all the time. After Neil passed, it didn't take more than a few minutes before we started getting e-mails from all kinds of drummers who wanted to audition for the band, thinking that we were just gonna replace somebody that we played with for 40 years who wrote all the lyrics for our music. I don't know what some of these people were thinking.

"So, yeah, we've had the conversation, because we can't avoid it," he admitted. "But honestly, Ged is my best friend. I talk to him — I must talk to him every day. We get together for dinner, we play tennis, we're doing all this charity work together. He's my best bud, so, yeah, I go over there. He plays bass, I play guitar — yeah, we'll play a little bit. I go over there ostensibly to play with him and we end up just sitting and drinking coffee and laughing the whole day. So it's not just RUSH, RUSH, RUSH, RUSH, RUSH. I have a deep loving relationship with this man, and it's not all about creating something that we did from the past. You never know what life brings you. Right now I'm super happy doing what I'm doing. I'm engaged with a lot of musical stuff. I love being a musician. I love playing guitar. I love playing guitar so much. It's not just a vehicle for making a living. It's me. It's at the core of my essence. So it doesn't have to be about RUSH or ENVY OF NONE. I mean, I do what I do."

Back in January 2024, Geddy reflected on the number of musicians who reached out to him in the days after Neil's passing. He said during an appearance on "Strombo's Lit", Apple's book club curated by Canadian media personality and Apple Music Hits host George "Strombo" Stroumboulopoulos: "Oh, yeah, I heard from all kinds [of people]. That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly." When Stroumboulopoulos noted that these were "people you thought were friends," Lee said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, like, 'Whoa, that's just so inappropriate right now. Dude, wait two months. At least two months — if ever.' It still happens, now that the clickbait freaks are out there talking about Alex and I getting a new drummer and starting RUSH again."

This past January, Alex confirmed to U.K.'s Classic Rock magazine that he had been jamming with Geddy at the bassist/vocalist's house in Toronto.

"It's good to jam with friends as you get older," the guitarist said. "I need to play. Once a week I go to Ged's — it's in the calendar — keep my fingers moving, play RUSH stuff, new jams. We do record it, but I couldn't even begin to tell you where it'll go."

Lifeson also spoke about reuniting with Lee for 2022's star-studded tribute concerts — one in London, one in Los Angeles — to pay tribute to late FOO FIGHTERS drummer Taylor Hawkins. They enlisted a few drummers — TOOL's Danny Carey, Omar Hakim, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' Chad Smith and FOO FIGHTERS' Dave Grohl — to join them at the gigs, the second of which took place at L.A.'s Forum, the same venue where RUSH played its final concert in August 2015.

"The energy was fantastic around that show, I know, and some days I wake up wanting to go out and tour again and some days I don't," Lifeson said. "For forty years RUSH included Neil [Peart, late RUSH drummer], and I don't think putting some new version together would have the same magic.

"After those two gigs and the months of prep Ged and I went through, I was excited by the response and to be in the dressing room again with so many fellow artists in Wembley and L.A. I respected and felt a kinship towards. But after a few weeks that wore off and it occurred to me that despite all the pain of loss, RUSH went out on a high note playing as well as ever with one of our best stage shows on 'R40'. I guess I'd rather be remembered for that legacy than returning as the top RUSH tribute band."

Last May, Lifeson told Rolling Stone that he had been "playing a lot of RUSH songs" with Lee at the bassist/vocalist's house. "We're together in a room like we've always been," the guitarist said. "That's been really good, but there's no chance that we're going to get a drummer and go back on the road as the rebirth of RUSH or something like that. And if we wanted to write new material, nobody cares about new material anymore. They just want to hear the old stuff from guys like us."

When the interviewer noted that RUSH fans "would care", Lifeson clarified: "Maybe the feeling is that it's just really about taking people back to an earlier time in their lives that they have very fond and vivid memories of, and I get it and that's great. And then you do it for the money. And that's not what we were ever about or what we would want to do. Offers come in all the time, but I don't know. I don't think that's something that we're really interested in."

Elaborating on why he is opposed to the idea of performing RUSH music with a new drummer, Lifeson said: "I just don't know if doing something like that would wreck it. Or wreck the legacy that RUSH has left. When it happened, it was disappointing for us. And then Neil got sick and all of that stuff, but our legacy is intact that we went out on a high note. That tour was great. It looked great. We played really well. We bonded even more so with our audience. I'd rather have that and the sadness of not doing it again, than doing it again and sitting on a chair on stage because I can't stand. [Laughs] I'd rather be remembered for that than something that's more current."

Alex went on to say that he and Geddy are continuing to have conversations about the possibility of performing together again. "We talk about it, but at the same time, he's my best friend and he loves me and he cares for me," he said. "He knows that I do have issues both physical and emotional with this whole idea. And he respects that we have so much respect and love for each other. I would do something like that, that he wanted to do, because I love him and I want to make him happy. But he knows that I wouldn't be happy. It's the bond that we have."

He added: "I don't think I would be happy in my heart if we were to do something like that. I really would feel like we were doing an injustice to our fans and that would be just a money grab.

"We get offers all the time, and they're pretty substantial, but I don't know. It's not enough for me. How much do you need? I'm trying to get rid of stuff. I sold the bulk of my guitars. I had some cars. I sold those. I had a house in the country that I sold. I want to be slimmer and a little tighter in, in my life with fewer anchors around my neck."

In January 2024, Lifeson didn't rule out the possibility of playing with Lee again, telling Greg Prato of Ultimate Guitar: "There's certainly a lot of interest in us doing something. I think for a lot of RUSH fans, they've been hoping for… Geddy had his book tour. I went out on a few of those dates with him. I think that's kind of sparked more interest in us working together.

"Ged's a very busy guy," Alex continued. "He's written a couple of books over the years. He has a lot of stuff that he's into. This is my studio in my apartment. I've been working on the ENVY OF NONE stuff as well as a few other projects. So I've been playing and recording for all these years.

"When he's ready, he always says, 'Come over for a coffee and we'll go down to the studio and bash around a few notes.' Yeah, call me. And so far he's been so busy, but I think maybe in the new year — or this is the new year — maybe soon we'll find the time to sit down and see what happens," Lifeson added. "Maybe nothing happens. Maybe it's not there anymore. Maybe it's gonna be amazing. I don't know. We'll see. Honestly, it's not a priority for us. We're happy in our lives. So, it's not like we need to go back to something. And that's my fear. That if we — that would be the expectation, this is like RUSH 2. But by necessity it has to be something different. And it can never be RUSH. Without Neil, it can never be RUSH. That's it. It's over. But you never know what can happen. So we'll see."

For the past couple of decades, Lifeson has been suffering from psoriatic arthritis, a chronic, autoimmune form of arthritis that causes joint inflammation and occurs with the skin condition psoriasis. During an appearance on the January 10 episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", the now-71-year-old Canadian musician opened up about the severity of longtime physical ailments, saying: "I would say that's slowly getting worse, as to be expected. I have psoriatic arthritis, and I've been dealing with it for quite a while — for almost 20 years. I'm on two biologics [biologic drugs for the treatment of arthritis], so sort of like a double whammy in dealing with it. And it's been very, very effective. Despite the side effects and all of that, it's been a really effective regimen for me, and it's really helped my hands. I have times where the inflammation has its own mind, and that's when you'll see me shaking my hands [while I am playing]. But it is what it is, and I can still get by, and I'm so used to it, I don't really even think about it that much anymore. "

Lifeson also talked about the possibility of him returning to the road, either with Lee or with another project. He said: "[After] 40 years of touring, I'm not interested in touring anymore. I enjoyed it when we did it. There were lots of ups and downs. The gig is great, the show is great, and for the other 21 hours in a day, you're just waiting for those three hours. And it gets tiring, especially when you have a family and you have loved ones at home that you're estranged from for months and months and months at a time. I don't miss that aspect of it. Do I like playing in front of people? Yeah. I still like that — maybe not to the point where I have to do it. But when [Geddy and I] did the Taylor Hawkins benefits and we did the 'South Park' thing in Denver, and I do these Christmas shows with Andy Kim and lots of great musicians that I get to play with, then it's fun. I really enjoy that, and it's controlled, and it's great. To make a big deal and do a tour and get back into that thing, I don't really have an interest in that. I know Ged would like to play again and he would like to spend some time writing. But beyond that, honestly, we haven't talked about anything beyond just getting together and having a coffee and just bashing out a few notes."

Alex continued: "[Geddy] has a lot of stuff in his life. He's a very busy person. He's really enjoying this phase of being [a book] author. He's on the go, go, go, go all the time. And I'm here, and I'm playing on all these different projects. So, in a way, I've continued being that musician, and he's gone off to do other things. So, whenever he's ready, like usual, I only live five minutes away from him, like we have all our lives. I go over and hang out and we'll turn the recorder on and do some stuff, but there's no plan for a tour. There's no plan for anything. And I know rumors get started and people have their desires and lots of people would love to see us get back and play again. Well, I don't know. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe if we're together, we're messing around and we get excited… Certainly after we did those gigs, it was quite heady and very exciting. But I really love my life right now, and I don't know if I'm gonna disrupt it by being away from the things that I'm really enjoying, for any reason."

Lifeson also reflected on RUSH's final tour, which concluded in August 2015 in Los Angeles. According to Rolling Stone, the trek took the novel approach of presenting the band's music in reverse chronological order, meaning Alex and his bandmates — Lee and drummer Neil Peart — began the show with songs from their most recent albums and slowly worked back to their earliest material. As time went backwards, stagehands would swap out the backdrop to match the period they were visiting. That meant by the time they reached the encores, it looked like they were playing in the high school gyms of their youth.

"The last tour I thought was a terrific tour for RUSH," Alex said. "I thought we played really well. I thought the show was really fun. Going back in time to the beginning was a great way to celebrate the end of the band. I don't know if, at 70 years old, 10 years later, if I can play like I played back then. I haven't played that material in nine years. And if I can't play it like I played it nine years ago, then I really have no interest in doing it. I think RUSH has a strong legacy because of the way things ended. We ended on a high note, and that's the way people remember us. And I think that that also is partly the reason why so many people would love to see us back out, because that's the memory they have of us. We were dedicated to what we were doing. We practiced a lot. We were passionate. We played our hearts out. Physically, ten years later, at this stage, [after] these ten years, I don't know if we can do that. I don't know, can Ged sing like he did? Can I play guitar? Can he play bass like he did? I don't know. Unless we did a big rehearsal and tried to do all that stuff, we'll never know. But just thinking intellectually how this would work, I'm not keen on doing it, really."

Peart died on January 7, 2020, after quietly battling brain cancer for three and a half years. RUSH waited three days to announce Peart's passing, setting off shockwaves and an outpouring of grief from fans and musicians all over the world.

In 2022, Geddy revealed that Neil wanted to keep his cancer diagnosis a secret prior to his death.

Lee went on to say that he and Lifeson had to be "dishonest" to fans in order to protect Peart's privacy.

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