During a recent interview on Detroit’s WRIF radio station with Meltdown, RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson discussed his experience working with the late RUSH drummer Neil Peart, both in his capacity as a lyricist and drummer.
“Neil was amazing to work with,” Alex said. “He was very, very bright, very, very intelligent. He was a great observer of things, and he had that skill or that ability, or whatever you wanna call it, talent to put things in words that everyone can relate to. He was very descriptive in a certain way that you could immediately relate to what it is that he’s talking about. And it was always multi-purpose; there were other layers to his observations.”
“As a drummer, obviously, [Neil] was amazing. I mean, I was lucky to stand in front of him for 40 years, and I can tell you that that guy could play like no one else could.”
When asked if he knew RUSH‘s August 2015 show at the Forum in Los Angeles would be their final performance, Alex said: “Yeah… Well, when we played the last show, Neil was done with touring. He just didn’t wanna tour anymore. He felt like he was not able to play a hundred percent. It was getting more difficult. Playing a three-hour set the way he played, yeah, I get it, for sure. And he was just tired of it. And in his mind, that was it. So we did that last show and Ged [Geddy Lee] and I felt probably like it wasn’t quite over for us. We still had gas in the tank, but what are you gonna do? We fully understood what Neil was on about. If he couldn’t play a hundred percent, it just wasn’t worth it to him to play. So that was it. And I remember the gig and I remember the Forum and looking at the wall at the clock on the back wall that I saw 23 other times that we played there and I looked at faces that I knew I wouldn’t see again that followed us for decades. It was a very, very powerful moment. Yeah, it was quite sad, really.”
When asked if he’s known Geddy since 1968, Alex said: “Yeah, a little earlier than that, ’cause we were in high school, we were in junior high school together. So I think we’ve known each other since 1965, in fact. So we’ve been best friends for all those years. I had dinner with him the other night. We had some friends in town that were touring with another band, tech guys. We had a lovely dinner together, all three of us. I’m gonna go over to his place today. We’re gonna drink coffee and talk and shoot the crap.”
“He’s my best bud,” Lifeson added. “And we all have best buds that you like to hang around with and do stuff with. And I just happened to be playing in a band with my best bud for 40 years. So, it’s a little outside, I guess. But yeah, we’re just very, very good friends.”
After a private three-year battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, Neil Peart passed away in January 2020 at the age of 67. RUSH‘s decision to wait three days before announcing his death sent shockwaves through the music world, triggering widespread grief among fans and fellow musicians.
Source: metaladdicts.com
