In the midst of Impeachment trials, royals renouncing their nobility and earthquakes in Puerto Rico there are other events happening in the world. One of those events was the passing of what is arguably the greatest rock drummer in the world, Neil Peart of the seminal trio Rush.
As a musician myself I’ve been a fan of the band for well over a decade; my wife has been a fan for the last 40 years or so. In addition to being fans, we both take what has occurred very personally and have been involved in the hardcore fan base of the band for quite some time. Consequently, we have some unique views on the band and Neil Peart himself.
Rush was formed in the late ’60s by best friends Gary (Geddy) Lee Weinrib and Alex Živojinović (Lifeson). Both boys became friends due to their sense of humor and love of goofing off. Geddy’s family had moved to Toronto after his Polish-born parents had met and survived the Hitler death camps of Auschwitz, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen, while Alex’s family had immigrated to Canada from the Serbian area of what was then Soviet Yugoslavia. Both boys eventually took up an acoustic guitar, with Alex moving to electric guitar and Geddy going to electric bass playing with local bands until they eventually formed a group together with drummer John Rutsey.
Eventually, the group went from playing churches and school gathering to playing local bars when the drinking age was lowered to 18, while they themselves were still only 15. They quickly grew very proficient playing blues-rock originals inspired by the British invasion bands such Led Zeppelin and Bad Company producing songs such as “Garden Road.”
Playing nonstop in the bars the band soon acquired a manager, Ray Danniels, who set about getting them a recording contract at which point they recorded their debut album, self-titled Rush using their own money and their own label Moon records in 1974.
After being rejected from just about every label in the US and Canada they eventually secured a deal with Mercury Records which re-released their original album and began looking at the prospect of touring. However, their drummer, John Rutsey, was a diabetic and due to concerns for his health during the grueling days on the road he was let go from the band, and they found themselves under the gun to find a replacement before going out to tour.
Dozens of drummers were brought in to audition, until their manager, Ray Danniels recruited a young bashful drummer from the local band J.R. Flood, who happened to work in a local hardware store owned by his parents, Neil Peart.
Peart was a shy bookish kid who was just starting to listen to rock ‘n roll and wear his hair long. He showed up to the audition in his mom’s station wagon and unpacked his drums with were setup really high and odd. Geddy and Alex thought he was really funny looking and wasn’t really cool enough to be a member of their band.
Then he started to play.
Geddy: ‘He played the crap out of those drums. He was so good. Those triplets...”
Typically Neil was kicking himself as soon as he finished thinking he could have done better, he should have done better.
They picked him.
And off to touring America and conquering the world, they began. Driving in a van around the country opening for groups such a KISS and Uriah Heep they were about to embark on a great adventure, but what they didn’t have at the time… was radio play.
That all changed when Cleveland radio DJ Donna Halper had a chance to hear their track “Working Man” which clocked in at a robust 7:10.
Halper: [In the radio business] you were always looking for a “bathroom break” song. This was one of those, plus Cleveland was a working class town and everyone in the audience listening to “Working Man” felt just like that.
This gave their tour a major boost and improved the opening slots they were able to play while on the road. They then immediately went back into the studio for their second album Fly by Night in 1975. After the success of “Working Man” they had another radio hit with the title track “Fly By Night.” This began a cycle of touring followed by recording and back to touring which would keep the band going for several years. All of them having girlfriends, and Alex himself marrying fairly young the members of Rush didn’t tend to chase skirts or do drugs. Oh, they certainly drank their fair share and played goofy pranks on each other, but that was about it. It was during this time that Geddy and Alex realized that Neil was a heavy book reader. This gave them the idea of having Neil write lyrics, and he did enthusiastically.
However, sales began to decline during the tour for their next album Caress of Steel as they had sonically begun to move away from the bluesy sound of Bad Company being more influenced by groups such as Yes and King Crimson into long progressive rock digressions. And their label was getting fed up with them.
This was what they affectionately began to call the “Down the tubes” tour with to smaller and smaller audiences to less and less enthusiasm. They faced a crisis. Should they give in to the demands of their label or stick to their guns?
As a group they made a momentous decision, if they were going to go down, they would go down swinging and eventually crafted a massive progressive magnum-opus 2112 in 1976, a science fiction concept album which had been inspired by Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” and “Anthem” with long elaborate pieces constructed with movements that took up the entire first side of the LP.
It was a story of rebellion against powerful totalitarian forces, where the only outlet was the music itself. This may be where many people gain an appreciation of Rand, but the band’s flirtations with her work ended here. The audience response to the raw chutzpah of the record was overwhelming as the album sold double platinum. (2 million copies).
Peart: No we’re not going to do it your way, and no, we don’t care.
The record label didn’t question them anymore. They continued in this progressive rock vein through A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres which featured the amazing instrumental “La Villa Strangiato” and Permanent Waves each selling platinum (1 million copies).
Eventually they reached the release of Moving Pictures in 1981 where they actually did do what the label had asked them to do 5 years previously, they started producing radio hits like “Limelight”, “Tom Sawyer”, “Red Barchetta”, the instrumental “YYZ”, “The Camera Eye” and “Witch Hunt” which ultimately sold 4 million copies.
"Limelight” used many of the shifting time signatures that the band had previously explored by manages to weave them together in a seamless way where the shifting time doesn’t come across as jarring or abrupt.
Lyrically the song expressed Peart's disaffection with being the center of attention and the “star” of the show. He was of course, an amazing drummer but his focus was ultimately to serve the song. He was personally a very humble man and never felt comfortable with adoration and people looking to his as either their hero or some type of icon, which he certainly was but he didn’t feel that way. He was just a guy, doing a job. Doing it fantastically, but it was still a job, not magic. He’s was a man, a musician, an author, a motorcycle enthusiast, not Dumbledore.
Sometimes that left fans disappointed, even annoyed, but it was what it was. The man was shy.
This was about the time my eventual wife Robin became a fan of the band, seeing them live first in the early ’80s. At the time she was a bassist playing the same white Rickenbacker 4001 brand of bass like Chris Squire and Geddy Lee in various original and cover bands often playing with her nephew Steve who was a drummer.
(Robin here. Rush hadn’t been on my radar in the ’70s, minus singles “Closer To The Heart” and “Free Will”. In the early ’80s, though, Steve and I were in a cover band, whose guitarist, Art, was more or less our leader. He was a Rush fan, and advised us to get Moving Pictures, as he wanted us to cover “Limelight” and “Tom Sawyer”. Well, we got it, and our reaction was “Holy crap! This is amazing! Wanna cover “YYZ”? “Witch Hunt”?” Before we got around to any whole-album suggestions, Art pulled the whoa-horsey on us. Some weeks later, Steve, a drummer friend of his, and I went to see Rush in concert. (Forum?) The show was mind-blowing, and I remember the three of us up in the “nosebleeds”, performing our own “air-drumline”...
(In the mid-’80s, I was attending Musicians Institute. As great fortune would have it, Neil and Geddy came by one day to visit for a Q&A. It was fun and informative, Geddy even sneaking a “ten bucks is ten bucks, eh” reference from his single with comedians Bob & Doug McKenzie. Anyway, afterward, I got to my part-time job in the MI office, where I was doing clerical work in a little side mini-office. And, would you believe it, the head honchos decided to stash my heroes there in my little work space to wait for their ride, so they wouldn’t get mobbed. When said honchos left my area, I felt awkward — I didn’t want to fangirl out, but hey — Neil Peart and Geddy Lee were standing not five feet away, and the silence was getting awkward. Finally, I said, “Hey, Geddy, I have a 4001 in my locker if you get bored...” He laughed. Neil, being more reserved, responded with a half-smile and a soft chuckle. Geddy passed on my offer since their “ride was expected soon,” but that was a moment I’ve lovingly carried with me ever since.)
During the 80’s Geddy Lee developed a fascination with, keyboards which again changed the sound of the band. Playing both them and bass the group modified itself, with Alex Lifeson’s guitar work moving more into the background and weaving itself between the keyboard sounds played by Geddy. They produced more hits such as the ode to the loner and misfits, “Subdivisions.”
And believe it or not, a disco song that described the plight of the survivors of the Holocaust, like Geddy’s own parents, “Red Sector A.”
This was the period that I grew familiar with Rush, but at the same time, I was not exactly a fan of their new keyboard inflected sound. Although they did do some interesting tracks at this time such as “Roll the Bones” which experimented with Rap.
This was also about the time I first saw the band live at the Los Angeles Forum during their Hold Your Fire tour. Their big single at the time was “Time Stand Still” which featured former Til Tuesday singer Amy Mann on backing vocals.
Their show was, for me, a mixed bag. Not yet being a huge fan of the band, I was dragged there by my best friend fellow guitarist and eventual best man Brandon Curry who was a mad fan, it was a deep dive into specific songs that had been a long part of their profile which can be a bit of a slog. I had recently seen other shows at the Forum featuring bands such as Bon Jovi, Ratt, David Lee Roth and Van Halen. Rush was a different animal live. Most of those bands used their own physicality during the performance to propel the show forward visually, but with Rush, you had Neil behind a huge, and I do mean huge, pile of drums while by this time Geddy was behind a huge pile of keyboards. So the only active thing on stage was Alex on guitar who when he wasn’t doing backing vocals would run-up to the edge of the stage — and based on the tempo of the songs they were doing at the time — perform the bounce-at-the-knees while swaying back and forth “Molly Ringwald” dance.
To compensate for this the band had an elaborate video and lighting setup that I still think was probably the most impressive and advanced for its time and even now. They also had the best live sound I’ve ever heard from a band performing in a venue of that size. Apparently they had linked the stage sound into the local PA so that the music was playing through the more closely located speakers in the building not just coming the stage. The effect was essentially surround sound, where they could pan and shift the audio from one side of the arena to the other or swirl it around. Why most live groups don’t do this I’ve never understood, but Rush did it.
I didn’t become a real fan until Alex finally put his foot down over the keyboards saying “enough is enough” and they eventually began to become a rock band again releasing songs such as “Show Don’t Tell” which had a more of the muscle to it that they really hadn’t displayed for years.
The guitar subtleties that Alex had gained during their keyboard-heavy period allowed him to show a set of textures and layers that in his early days he wouldn’t have displayed. Now his playing was like a fine rare wine.
It was about this time that Neil began to rethink his drumming and started studying with jazz drummer Freddie Gruber. He switched to using traditional grip to hold his sticks where his left hand is turned palm upward and his internal “clock” was shifted.
After working with Gruber, the band found that things were different and they produced songs such as “Driven” with Peart’s new swing based internal clock. This became the basis for the Test for Echo album which is where I really got interested in what they were doing.
Unfortunately, after this album and tour is when tragedy struck for Neil, twice.
In 1997 not long after the tour ended, Neil’s only daughter at the time Selena Taylor was killed in a single-car accident near Brighton Ontario. 10 months later his common-law wife Jacqueline Taylor succumbed to cancer and died on June 20, 1998. Neil essentially left the music scene and went on a long two-year ride on his motorcycle through the hills and valleys of Canada, America, Mexico and Central America going all the way down to Belize.
In his book Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, Peart writes that he told his bandmates at Selena's funeral, "consider me retired".[31] Peart took a long sabbatical to mourn and reflect, and travelled extensively throughout North and Central America on his motorcycle, covering 88,000 km (55,000 mi). After his journey, Peart decided to return to the band. Peart wrote the book as a chronicle of his geographical and emotional journey.
Neil described the situation as being like a baby who is massively upset and disturbed who can only be calmed by being in motion. Only by moving, looking at the wonders of our physical world could he be called from the tragedy he had suffered. It took a long time.
In 2000 Neil was introduced to photographer Carrie Nutall in Los Angeles, they married in September of that year and in 2001 he finally contacted his bandmates and stated that he was ready to carry on.
This is when they produced the albums Vapor Trails in 2003 which featured the song “Ghost Rider” which was written about Neil’s time on the road recuperating from his loss.
These albums had a new poignancy to them. From songs like “One Little Victory”, “Secret Touch”, “Earthshine”, and “Peaceable Kingdom.” Over the years, Neil’s lyricism had matured and broadened greatly from the early days where he seemed to be doing Tolkien based mad libs to now where he could truly reach into the human soul and deliver a deep commentary in the human condition.
It was about this time that Rush went out on the R30 Tour for their 30th anniversary including doing a special set of nights in Rio de Janeiro featuring over 100,000 fans which they videoed and released as “Rush in Rio.”
This was followed by the album Snakes and Arrows which features songs like “Far Cry”, “Working Them Angels”, “Spindrift" and “Malignant Narcissism.”
Following this Rush prepared for their final record by doing a special “Time Machine” tour which as intended as a retrospective of their entire career, highlighting each of their various periods from the early days through their 80’s and 90’s styles in reverse order.
Years ago Geddy had begun using rack mounted gear for his sound as eventually did Alex so they usual backline of giant amps were now completely superfluous. For a while Geddy would have a set of broilers for rotisserie chicken behind him where his amps would have been, then he switched to a series of washing machines. Alex would also have mock amps that during the Time Machine tour were designed with a steam punk influence. During the set these amps were replaced as they moved backward through their history until they were left with a pair of small amps sitting on a pair of chairs like when they were playing high school dances back in 1969.
In 2010 Rush received the gift of their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame where they were inducted by Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins who explained how much of his own career had been directly influenced by Rush. He had ended up being the singer in his band and he had a rather thigh somewhat annoying voice much like Geddy in his early days, but he had kept going after bonding with a drummer, particularly over their mutual love of Rush.
My wife Robin and I were there for this induction having spent the entire previous night on Hollywood Blvd waiting for the ceremony to start with a small cadre of other Rush fans whom we now consider life-long friends. On the right in the purple and blue dress behind the stage was Donna Halper he Cleveland DJ who had first “discovered” the bands first single “Working Man” back in 1974.
Not long after this the documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage was released first in theaters for one performance. Again, Robin and I saw this in the Chinese theater in Hollywood and I will tell you the sound was concert level loud. It was great.
The band eventually went back into the studio and did their second concept album since 2112, releasing Clockwork Angels in 2012. During the tour for this album, they cut their set into two distinct parts, the first highlighting their 80’s work, but in the second half of the show they performed the entire Clockwork Angels album from beginning to end and I have to see both sonically and visually it was truly stunning. The advanced video and lighting show that I had seen them perform over 20 years previously had been seriously updated, using a combined rig that featured moving video screens. They also brought a string section for this tour which added yet another level of depth to the show.
I have to stay quite honestly this show was stunning. Absolutely brilliant. I had never seen anything like it and I dare say I never will again.
Later that year Rush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which Robin and I also attended after we were just able to acquire tickets, we were walking in just Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner began to announce “And from Toronto...” and the crowd went completely nuts for several minutes.
This was no small thing, the fans had been lobbying for their induction for years — the band had reached a point where they had given up on the idea and felt they didn’t care anymore. They were fine with it if the fans were fine with it, then the above moment happened as Wenner was about to say their name and they realized, “This is a big deal.”
Yes, it was a big deal.
Then they gave their speeches. Sorta. After being inducted by Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters.
Goofballs to the very end particularly with Alex’s now-infamous “Blah Blah Blah” speech.
Rush went out on one more final tour in 2015 after Neil announced that he was retiring from playing drums. Robin and I were able to attend the next to last show in Irvine CA, where the last show took place at the venue I’d seen them at so many years before — the Forum.
The reports are that Neil eventually succumbed to brain cancer which struck him 3 years ago, right after the end of that tour. Perhaps his condition was a factor of his retirement, being as private a person as he was I suspect we’ll never really know for sure.
At any rate, an era has ended. Just as the band continually moved forward so must we all. Times change. This seems like a marked ending to me, not just of the band which technically ended 3 years ago but of an entire epoch of rock music. Rock doesn’t get played on the radio anymore. New bands are not replenishing the stream. Word is that even Guitar Center is going bankrupt. The days that spawned Rush have passed us all by, and their drummer has passed into the goodnight.
It would be good if we remembered the music they and Neil created, that we remembered the books and blogs that he authored and the joy and enlightenment that he inspired throughout his career and his life. They say that there is always a Rush lyric for every occasion.
May that always be true.