Rush: Three Players, Three Decades

[sandi]

(Billboard)What keeps Rush ticking? Faced with that question, members of the trio offer a simple plan for success. In their eyes, friendship and musicianship are the keys to the group's longevity and vitality. And they want to be remembered by the emotions they stir in fans and the music they create, not by how many albums they sell.

On the eve of a 30th anniversary tour that opens May 26 outside Nashville, the members of Rush --Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart -- open up in a discussion of their three decades together. Peart, who has not given an interview in several years, responded to questions via E-mail.

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From a musical and personal standpoint, what has helped Rush endure for so long?

Geddy Lee: There's some balance between our personalities that really kind of clicked. Even when things are difficult or stressful -- and there have been a lot of times when things don't go exactly right --somehow when we sit down to work together, it's a nice rapport. We seem to be able to talk easily, laugh a lot; we've always had the same desires in terms of what we've wanted to do as musicians.

I think that a common musical vision [helps], even though our tastes are different and we argue from time to time about influences and styles and whatnot. We agree on what we want to play together 95% of the time. That's a huge advantage in staying together.

Alex Lifeson: Musically, we've always stuck to our guns, and we've compromised our music very little. We're lucky in that we've had an audience that has grown with us and stayed with us for all these years, so it didn't matter if we had radio hits or huge sales in the early days.

On the personal side, I think we're fortunate that we've got three guys in this band that love each other very much, who enjoy each other's company, have a similar sense of humor and vision and a dream that we shared when we were younger.

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Would you say that is why Rush has avoided problems or breakups that egos or even success can create?

Lee: Yeah. After the first seven records, we stopped counting who wrote what, and that took a lot of arguing away. When we first started, if I wrote a song by myself, I wanted the credit for it; as did Alex, Neil, whatever. And after a while we decided that so much of our songs are indefinable -- who contributed to what -- we just agreed that we would have co-writing [credits] on all our material. Every album since then, we haven't even thought of it.

We've tried to do that with every aspect of our life, even when practicalities force us to have business meetings and whatnot. We've tried to make sure we focus on what we're really about. And that's staying in a band together and making music.


As a band and individually, Rush's musicianship is very respected. How does it feel to know you are admired as teachers and that you have influenced others?

Lee: Well, of course, it's tremendously gratifying and a little embarrassing, because you never really view your own work as being worthy of study on any level [laughs]. I think it's just kind of human nature to always think what somebody [else is] doing is more interesting than what you're doing. I think it's surprising sometimes and hugely complimentary.

Lifeson: That's a wonderful feeling. That's the greatest reward of all. That's easy to say when you have a good life and lots of success. But honestly, to hear somebody say they were influenced by the way you did things, the way you write, the way you think; the integrity and respect is really an amazing feeling.

Neil Peart: Nothing is more rewarding than the appreciation of other musicians. Hearing someone say that I inspired them to take up the drums or work harder at it makes me feel proud.

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What are some of the most significant changes you have seen in the music business?

Lifeson: Popular music today, I just don't see a great deal of merit in it. I always feel terrible saying something like that, because I know to the artist, they're loving what they do, and it's the world to them. Even "American Idol," seeing all those kids on there, what an amazing thrill it is for them to be on something like that. But the level of mediocrity that's exposed is just amazing, and that's what they're promoting.

Before, it was a little tougher. You had to be really good to get anywhere, and you had to be willing to work really hard and tour like crazy and play every shitty gig that came your way to get exposure. I don't know if that exists to the same degree anymore.

Lee: The whole monopolization of the music industry is sad to me-the fact that one or two companies [seem to] run the whole damn thing and then buy radio stations. It just becomes again a bunch of consultants telling people what they can listen to and what they can go see.


Your albums have been released in the United States through Atlantic Records for years. What do you think of Atlantic's merging with Elektra as a result of the Warner Music Group buyout?

Lee: Well, that's what happens. There's going to be -- what, two, three record companies left in the world? I think it sucks. I don't think it's good for anybody except for shareholders. It's not good for the culture. It's the Disneyfication of the universe.

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The lyrics to "The Spirit of Radio" decry the commercialization of the medium. Did you find it ironic that when it was released, it got the most mainstream airplay of any previous Rush song?

Peart: "The Spirit of Radio" was actually written as a tribute to all that was good about radio, celebrating my appreciation of magical moments I'd had since childhood, of hearing "the right song at the right time." However, [the song's] celebration of the ideals of radio necessarily seemed like an attack on the reality -- on the formulaic, mercenary programming of most radio stations, with music the last of anyone's concerns.

And yes, it was really ironic that such a song became popular on radio, though it was a kind of litmus test. Some radio guys who "got it" could hear the song and think, "That's the way it ought to be," while others -- the shallow, swaggering salesmen-of-the-air -- could be oblivious to the song's meaning and proudly applaud themselves, "That's about me!"


The book "Rush Visions: The Official Biography" notes that your 1978 album "Hemispheres" was a transitional one for the band. Why?

Lee: "Hemispheres" represents more of an end of a period, if anything. From my point of view, it was one more stab at this idea of a concept album in the form that we had been doing [them], the long pieces interconnected as a very overt concept. We've continued to do concept records, but they've been less overt and more just a kind of overall concept instead of a ramming-it-down-your-throat kind of idea [laughs].

Lifeson: By the time we got to "Hemispheres," we just felt that we had played that out. We had gone through that whole sword-and-sorcery thing, science-fiction sort of thing, and I think we just felt like we needed to go into kind of a new direction. We needed to shorten the songs a little bit and carry a little more punch.

With [the 1980 album] "Permanent Waves," there were still a number of long songs, but there were quite a few shorter songs, and we condensed them more. We were more economical with them, and that sort of set the tone at least for the next 10 years.

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What Rush tour or album or song are you particularly proud of?

Lifeson: On the last tour, it was a very emotional thing. I don't know how many times I looked out at the audience and people were crying. They were so happy that we were there, and I'll never forget that. Particularly the first gig that we did in Hartford [Conn.]. There was a high level of anxiety before we went on, and so much stuff was going through our heads, having been out of the picture for so many years and everything that happened to Neil and making the record, how emotional that was, and to be there and see people in the audience crying, I can remember getting choked up a few times during the show.

I think we just left something with our fans that night, and just about every night on that tour, that will last for all of us for the rest of our lives and particularly for them.

Peart: I am most proud that for 30 years the three of us have remained the best of friends and have always done the best work we could, in the studio or onstage. We are not alike, really, as people. But we are like-minded as musicians, and we share values like pursuing "goodness" in all we do. As a band, we have never compromised or accepted any limitations other than our own.

The three of us have shared the best of times, and the worst, and I feel very fortunate to have spent such a large part of my life working with two such talented, dedicated, funny, big-hearted, supportive, stimulating and entertaining guys. They make me work harder at my job, they make me feel better about my life, and most of all, they make me laugh.


How would you like Rush to be remembered?

Lee: Gee, I don't know. A band of good players that did some wacky material. Just a band that worked hard at trying to create their own piece of music.

Lifeson: I think the way I saw it in our fans' eyes, how they remember us, and that was there before we did that [most recent] tour. I'm sure that with so many of our fans, they'll grow into their 60s and 70s being Rush fans. That's amazing.

There's something about a Rush fan that sets them apart from anybody else. It's really their dedication and their understanding. When I read the mail that Rush fans write generally and the kind of dialogue they have with other Rush fans, it's very impressive. We have a real thinking audience and really have a lot of respect for them. That's what it has always been with us. It has always been about the relationship.

[Scott]

I don't think one could find three people in a band that have more "class" than these guys. RUSH has earned every once of respect they recieve.

[JaminJim]

The only concert I ever went to where there was more people playing "airdrums" then "airguitar"