In a new interview with The Prog Report, RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson was asked how close he and his longtime RUSH bandmate Geddy Lee have come to accepting a concert promoter’s offer to play a show together. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, that [being approached by concert promoters] happens all the time, and it has been consistent for 10 years. And I would say that it’s happening even more lately, and I think it’s because after COVID, everybody’s on the road and there’s excitement for live shows, people getting out. So all those old promoters are quite excited to get something from us.”
He continued: “But Geddy‘s been writing quite a bit lately. He’s written four books. He’s been super busy with all of that stuff. I’m working on ENVY OF NONE, two albums, some soundtrack work, a couple of other, smaller artists that I’m producing. So I’ve been super, super, super busy.
“Ged and I get together,” Alex explained. “We’re best friends, so we get together all the time. We talk to each other almost every day. We live 10 minutes from each other, like we have for the last 35 years, so we’re connected. I go over there. Sometimes we just sit around drinking coffee and laughing and talking. Sometimes we go down to his little room and play whatever — maybe some bluesy stuff or, like I said, we’ve been playing some RUSH songs for the fun of it… But that’s fun, ’cause we haven’t really played that stuff in a long time. And that’s our history.”
Circling back to the possibility of performing with Geddy again, Alex said: “I don’t know. Anything could happen in the world. I mean, so many things are changing, so many things are happening that we never would’ve expected. We see that every day, particularly politically. So, who knows? Right now we’re still busy living life and doing so much, but — well, we’ll see what happens.”
ENVY OF NONE, the band featuring Lifeson, Andy Curran (CONEY HATCH),Alfio Annibalini and singer Maiah Wynne, released its second album, “Stygian Wavz”, on March 14 via Kscope.
RUSH‘s final tour concluded in August 2015 in Los Angeles.
As one of the most successful Canadian music group in history, RUSH has performed before millions of fans around the world.
RUSH drummer Neil Peart died in January 2020 after a three-year battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 67 years old.
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.
Since Peart‘s death, Lifeson and Lee have not recorded any new music or performed live under the RUSH name, although both of them confirmed that several drummers reached out to them in the days after the legendary drummer’s passing about the possibility of stepping in for Neil.
Lifeson made his mark on the music industry over 50 years ago, redefining the boundaries of progressive rock guitar. His signature riffing, copious use of effects processing and unorthodox chord structures befitted him the title by his RUSH bandmates as “The Musical Scientist.” While the bulk of Lifeson‘s work in music has been with RUSH, he has contributed to a body of work outside of the band as a guitarist, producer and with the release of his 1996 solo album “Victor”. Lifeson ranks third overall in the Guitar World readers’ poll of “100 Greatest Guitarists” and is also included in Rolling Stone‘s “100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time.”
Source: blabbermouth.net
