Latyeam Beate Rush The rT) pert Bem PEM ees cy 2112 Moving Pictures | Neil Peart Bits eos tg Inside their 80s Dietetic’ Po eea sect ted masterpiece peaticyROCK PROG fei oeemememgmncs The full amazing story ‘oughly 40 years into theircareer, a weind thing happened to Rush: they became cool. After decades of being ridiculed as ci--fixated nerds making {impenetrable prog rock for geeks everywhere, they finally found themselves hailed as one ofthe greatest bands in history. Everyone from Dave Grohl and ‘members of Rage Against The Machine to Robert Downey Jrand the creators of South Park outed themselvesas fans, while Rush themselves were deservedly -ifblatedly — inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013. ‘Of course, if you're reading this, you don't need some Hollywood Alister or faceless panel of. ‘cultural gatekeepers to tell you how-brilliant the Canadian trio are. You've spentalifetime immersing yourselfin the records they made, from their Led Zeppelin-indebted debut album through to their glorious swansong Clockwork Angels. You've air Alex Lifeson: 1 The @ Prog Ir Interview apo le alton tons erates 2 Rush meet the, Manic Street Preachers rt hese ena whey wet en nm uN Gey ender On the road with, Rush atop es Epc Wn lasted sarc Clockwork Angels Noon oy conte Beng sham Mer nnd Pat est atom Neil Peart: The Professor Speaks see rn id asi Rush at 40 20 er case ces dentin on De yond Ase the (Grodno rs Sy wee kg ben The Final Show gt 20 a geeforesentrst ennen e nt 38 A tribute to Neil Peart vote fs, sands mesmeed fr an nd iapred generations of rasan passed ancy M2 The Ultimate rate Buyer's G Guide tl etc Age ney ptt.ROCK HIGH VOLTAGE 7 ROCK’N’ROLL Pont Preto SY TRU eT SLL OULDKings, hemispheres and 2112. how a bar band from Canada became prog rock royalty. SIbe-VaR Spent aleAU Ny with Geddy Lee.ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE: Toronto, Canada, the late 1960s: three kids are about to take their first | Gedy: we wanted to berebelius steps on a path that would eventually lead to superstardom. Thisisthe | ‘iitiuswstrse Auiacteanied story of the birth of Rush, by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. relly deep pasion for misc and wanting toply Almost very ds Words: Paul Elliott Picture: MMMedia/IconicPix ‘redo tohisparents'placeafier school and we'd jam fortwo hours. great things have to begin) Canada, So we were, both of us, aitle ‘Alex: For along time we were in somewhere. For Rus, bit different. dlifferent bands, but we alwaysjammed ‘that somewhere was ‘together. We loved to len all hose ‘Willowdale asubusbof | AlexsI'm frst generation Canadian. ‘great Cream songs play along to the the Canadiancityof | Both my parents were Serbian, 80 of record player, and play them better "Toronto. That vas | coursemy birth name was Serbian ~ and beter and better Iwas really alot ‘where Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee met_| Aleksandar Zivojinowi My parents of fun. Iwas just the two of us — no asschoolkds the start ofan enduring. | actually met in Canada after the drummer, We'd either ply along with friendship and musical partnership. | war. They had come over a refuges. the record, owe would both pg nto Inthisexchsive interview, the pair | My father had been married befor, Gees amp and just pay him on bass, tellthe story of the band’s formative | toa Serbian wornan. They had ‘me on guitar. We were beginningto years: their school days and early ‘married in aly, and my sister was look at music more seriously and really adventures in music the struggle to | born there. They tried to get into the trying to figure out what the musicians rmake't the difficult birth of the fist | States, but they were denied and then ‘were paving how the bands worked Rash album, the tough deciion to.” | sent to Canada [And we loved to pla. We ust couldn't fire original drummer Joba Retey, getaway fom it andhow the subsequent arrvalat’ | Geddys My parents were Polish Jews, [Neil Peart ~ drummer andiyriist - | survivors ofthe Holocaust. They Geddy The frst time Lever got high completed the classic Rush line-up | met when they were thirteen ata ‘was with Alex. He was usta terrific that survives to this day. ‘work camp and they were both in pothead, anda terible influence on “Auschoits fora time Miy mom had zm, We went to the lca public school Alex Lifeson: mt Gedy when were | sich stong Jewish accent, which rounds to smoke some pot. At that thirteen years ld, nour fist yearin | howTended upbeingknown as Geddy time Iwas payingin another band, junior high school. We were aliens in| instead of Gary, my ral mame And andafter1 go high with Al, went Aclassof conformity; and webscame | basically stack. Eventually Cover tothe guy in my band's house for best rend sry family was calling me Geddy So rehearsal Bat Iwas alittle too high to alittle ater, when I tarned sixteen bbe very fanetional, and this guy was Geddy Lee: At school wehad ablast | legally changed my name to Geddy, really mad at me. He was very straight together ~ we cracked each otherup. | because so many people were calling nde wasreslly upset with me. He ‘And weunderstood where eachother | methat anyway was threatening to ell my mothe that came from, culturally. We were sons of ‘Twas high. That was a bummer! Easter European immigrants who had_| Alex: It was at junior high, in that Jefe Europe ater the Second ‘geting to know you stage that Geddy Alex: hada fiend name John Ratsey ‘World War to start anew ie and got heavily into music ‘who played drums, and wehada litle, ©Geddy Leebasement band called The Projection ‘The guy that lived next door tome, Gary Cooper, was the bass player. Gary lida’ stick around fr long. But out of The Projection came the frst gigas Rush, John's brother Bill had sad, ‘You need etter name for the band — how bout Rush And we liked it We were Offered this gig ata drop-in centre, so 1 called this guy [been jamming with, JeffJones, who played bass and sane. ‘We di that gig. Twenty people showed up. The following week we wore offered another gig at the same place but Jeff Suid he couldn't doit — he was already ‘nanother band at the time. So that’s ‘when [called Geddy. Godly: Iwas apretty shy kid. didn't really want tobe frontman, Iwas jst the ane with the best voice — oF the most appropriate voice! So stepping ‘out in front was not a natural thing for sme, John was the leader ofthe ban, 10 all intents and purposes. He wasa very ‘opinionated guy ~ about musi, about ‘what he thought the band should be, how we should look, Alex: For a couple of years we just needed to learn ou trade. At that time you played maybe three times a month ifyou were realy ucky, at high school ances and drop-in centres, After a year playing cls, the shows were packed, We were malsing thousand Sollars.a week, Back then, that was good money. Gedy: The problem was that when itcame to making an album, nobody had even the slightest interest in signing us There was no big rock label in Canada. Realy, there were just distributor outposts for the American ‘companies, And nobody cared anything about Canadian musi. Alex: We made a single, cover of [Not Fade Away ~ based more on the ‘Stones version than the Buddy Holly ‘original. The feling from management ‘was: let's do something that people ‘ill ge as an introduction. I think that was bad advice. laying that song live was great. We played it quite heavy. It sounded really ood. But the recorded version was terrible Gedy: Iwas so excited about doing record and having our name on the «lsc, the whole deal. But to be hanes, 1 ‘was embarrassed by how it came out It was so. dinky. ‘Alex: We were a ara rock band. We had some powerful songs ~ Working ‘Maa, What You'e Doing But that record sounded so tame. Gedy twas so disappointing. But ‘our manager Ray Daniels put up the “The first time I ever got high was with Alex. fe was just a terrific pothead, and a terrible influence on me.” Gecciy Lee ‘money for sto make an album, We had todo it cheap recording late at night, after hours "The problem was that our producer, David Stock, was just not that reat. So we had to record that album twice. The fist version had [Not Fade Away on it, and the whole thing sounded as tinny and shitty as the single did. So we had to redo the entire allum, and that’s when Terry Brovn came inas producer. ‘Alex: Terry hada studio, Toronto Sound. An once we got in there with him, I think we spent another three days recording, so that whole album ‘was done in about a week. Geddy twas pretty straightforward ~ itwas only eight-tack recording. And atthe time, we were playing these songs a million times over and over, so it wasnt a big deal togo inand re-record them, Terry really fixed that record. It sounded great. We were very prouulofit. ‘Alex: The album came out on Moon Records the label that our manager set up. The big turning point was when Working Man got picked up ona radio station in Cleveland, Ohio — WMS. "That was atime, 1974, when FM radio ‘was stilllbased on the DJs tastes. Geddy: twas a very diferent time, before the consultants took over F i i H | American radio. So you hear a song like ‘Working Mon, seven minutes long, on the radio, nd that led tous singing with Mercury Records. Whether that deal woul have come some other way, ‘who knows? But certainly that was the breakout ‘Alex: We knew early on that John hnad problems with his health. He had diabetes, and he was very concerned about whether it would be manageable {or him on the road, In 2974, John got illand missed out afew months of sigs, We used anather drummer, Jerry Fielding, and then John came back for amonth of club shows. But that was it for John. We had to fire him. (Geddy: That was hard. Tt was clear ‘that there was going to bea break «with John sooner or later. What he ‘wanted todo asa musician and what ‘we wanted todo as musicians was not the same, and eventually that ‘would have caused the band to break. We were guilt-ridden a first, ut we realised that it’s just the way it had to bbe. He wasn't happy and we weren't happy. He had personal issues Te was 3 complicated time. We were discussing ‘future and not knowing what that ‘meant. The rchearsals were becoming ‘not much fun, There were definitely ‘two different views inthe band, Alex: Ged and I were listening to more progressive music ~ Yes and Pink Floyd, We wanted to work that into ‘our music. John was more of straight rocker. So we were kindof relieved that John was gone but it felt weird without hhim there as we started auditioning new drummers (Geddy: On the day that Neil Peart) auditioned, we had five guys in — three before Neil andl one after. The last