“An Afternoon with Rush”
By Yarzo Spätzflute
As a kid growing up in the suburbs- a kid with a penchant for Math and fantasy novels- Rush was right up my alley. They were loud. They were amazing musicians. And though I loved Led Zeppelin, I found it impossible to relate to the actual members of the band on a personal level. The brazen confidence of Robert Plant strutting shirtless across the stage, the drunken excesses of John Bonham, the dark mysticism of Jimmy Page… these just weren’t characteristics I could easily relate to as a gangly, awkward teenager.
But Rush… they seemed like regular guys. Guys with incredible musical skills and lots of long hair, but still regular guys. I could picture sitting down for a burger with them. And everybody loved Led Zeppelin, but being into Rush made you feel… different. Zeppelin fed my visceral instincts, but Rush made me feel like being an intellectual geek could be pretty cool, too. And they could rock just as hard.
So now that I’m older- and they’re older- I recently got to make a dream come true: sit down for a burger with Rush. And a couple of beers. They are Canadian, after all… With Rush coming to Portland on their recent tour, I got in touch with their management and set up a meeting at the Deschutes Brewery Portland Public House. Bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson were able to attend; the ever-shy Neil Peart was going to be touring the Columbia Gorge on his motorcycle and wouldn’t be able to join us. The following is a transcript of our conversation.
YARZO SPÄTZFLUTE: Welcome, readers. Let me set the scene for you: I’m here with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from Rush, who have graciously agreed to meet for a couple of beers and conversation about rock and roll. Good afternoon, gentlemen, and welcome to Portland!
ALEX LIFESON: Wait… a couple of beers? You said as many as we wanted…
GEDDY LEE: That’s it, Alex… let’s go…
YS: (laughs) Wait, wait… consider the tab bottomless. You might want to try the fries, too… they’re pretty amazing. But we don’t put mayonnaise on them like you guys do.
GL: I believe you’re thinking of Belgium…
AL: Yeah, we put gravy on them, not mayo. It’s called poutine.
YS: Yeah, ‘cause that’s a MUCH healthier alternative. How do you guys stay so thin?
GL: By not eating poutine. Beer, though… that’s another issue. And this stuff is pretty darned good. Hope your magazine has a deep expense account…
YS: Deep like the ocean. So. Let’s get down to business. First, let me congratulate you on your recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, followed closely by the release of The Complete Mercury Years, a re-release of your first 15 albums up through A Show of Hands.
GL: Thanks… we had pretty much given up on the whole Hall of Fame thing. It wasn’t going to change what we were doing as a band anyway, but I guess they finally came to the realization that we were cool enough.
AL: …and the Complete Mercury Years release is nice. Established fans probably already have most of the albums, but it’s a great way in for people who are giving us a listen for the first time.
YS: So, let’s say I’m one of those new listeners, someone who’s decided to give Rush a chance, and I’m putting on your first self-titled album from 1974. What song would you recommend they listen to first to get a good idea of who you were at that time?
AL: 1974… Holy crap, that was 40 years ago. Geddy, we’re old…
GL: (laughs) I was thinking the same thing. That’s a good question, Yarzo… because what I really wouldn’t want them to go to first is one of the better-known songs. Too many people know only our “hits”, if that’s even the right term for a band like us, and they never get to hear the other songs that never achieved that status. So I’m going to go with “Here Again”.
AL: I like that choice… John Rutsey, our first drummer who only appeared on that album, had a real nice groove on that song.
GL: But I’ll admit my vocals were pretty over the top. God, I wish I could still sing that high. Getting old is depressing… where’s the waitress? I could use another Red Chair. This beer is really good… can we move here?
YS: I don’t think anyone would complain. And that’s a really interesting song choice. A pretty un-representative song if someone were to ask, “What does Rush sound like?”.
GL: Yeah, the whole first album sounds separate from the rest of our catalog. When Neil arrived for Fly By Night, his lyrical prowess- and of course his drumming- allowed us to go in directions we wouldn’t have considered before.
AL: You know, I kind of like that question- what would I want a new listener to hear first off a particular album. Can we do that for each album? I don’t want to hijack your questions…
YS: I’m flattered that you would assume I prepared questions in advance. Sure, let’s do it. So, Alex, since it piqued your interest, what song would you choose for Fly By Night?
AL: “By-Tor & the Snow Dog”, for sure. One of our most un-self-consciously geeky songs. If they can dig that, they’ll like us across the board. If it turns them off, then maybe we aren’t for them.
GL: …and at this point in our careers we can say that. It’s not that we don’t want people to like our music; it’s just that we’ve been through enough- and know ourselves well enough- to know that not everything we do is for everybody.
YS: …which provides us a perfect segue into the third album, the oft-vilified Caress of Steel.
AL: Now I need another beer…
GL: Yeah, every stage of that album… writing, recording, release, touring… it was just crap. Not the album itself; I still have a strange fondness for it.
YS: A face only a mother could love?
AL: Yeah, but it really isn't that bad of an album in retrospect, it’s just that the critics and the record industry people HATED it. Like, with a really out-of-proportion sense of cruelty. I mean, we were just kids then…
GL: Yeah, now we now it was pretty decent, but back then, we were devastated. We just thought we sucked after we saw how people received it. It also had the misfortune of being preceded by a really incredible album. Sort of the middle child syndrome…
YS: So, here, you’re probably wanting to choose a song that will let people see the album you thought you had released, before the backlash.
AL: Exactly. I think I’d choose… well, I know Geddy pointed out the benefit of lesser-known songs, but I’ve gotta say “Bastille Day”. Where else in rock and roll can you hear a line like, “La Guillotine will claim her bloody prize!”?
GL: That’ll work. I’ll freely admit neither of the long tracks on that album was pulled off as well as they would be in later albums.
YS: Like on 2112, where you basically told the record company, “Screw off! You don’t like long tracks? Well, here’s one that’s a whole album side!!”.
AL: That was such a risky maneuver. But we basically thought we were dead as a band, so we might as well be true to ourselves and go down in flames.
GL: Which makes it sort of ironic that the same record company that told us we were idiots is now enthusiastically releasing our first 15 albums…
YS: I would say ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’, but they’re not your record company anymore, so who cares? On this one, you’ve got to pick the title track, right? I mean, I know you said you wanted to direct attention to some less-appreciated tracks, but… “2112” is one of the most classic tracks in hard prog rock ever released.
AL: Yeah, I’m sure Geddy feels like I do, but I’m intensely proud of that track, looking back from the vantage point I have now. And it’s really aged well- not all of our older stuff has.
GL: Very much so. That was the beginning of a great period for us musically. Except for those embarrassing robes and kimonos we wore for a couple of years. I’d like to forget that part…
YS: OK, we’re up to the fifth album… not your fifth studio album, but your first live one, All the World’s a Stage. Not a lot of musicians throwing around Shakespeare references in 1976…
GL: And some people- our detractors- see that as an affectation, like we’re trying to make ourselves look literate. Look… Neil was our idea guy- IS our idea guy- lyrically and in terms of titles, and he wasn’t trying to appear literate. He just WAS literate. That’s the way he talked, constantly making references that Alex and I were too dim to understand until he explained them to us. And it really is the perfect title for a live album…
AL: We were really nervous to release a live album, but at the time, it was exactly what we needed to do. We had just had our first monstrously successful album, and this made a nice division between our earlier material and what followed.
YS: And the song you choose here should be pretty interesting. They’d all been released before, so I’m guessing your choice will be based more on the performance than the song itself.
GL: Exactly. I’m thinking… (looks at Alex) I’ve got to go with the third track, where we do a medley of “Fly By Night” and "In the Mood". Two really different songs that shouldn't have worked well together, but did. Alex is getting a really filthy sound from his guitar, and it all seems more pure without all the overdubs.
AL: And it’s great for showing people, “Yeah, Geddy really can sing and play those incredibly complex bass lines at the same time, live.”
GL: Thanks, buddy… here, have a fry. Are their burgers good here?
YS: Oh, absolutely. I need something to balance my next pint, anyway.
AL: OK, let’s turn the tables for a second. Now that we’ve got you loosened up with a couple of IPAs, what song would you pick from A Farewell to Kings?
YS: OK…(long sip) I’m going to say “Closer to the Heart”.
GL: C’mon, I thought you didn't like the obvious choices? We've actually gotten a bit tired of playing that song, but people always want to hear it.
YS: Which is exactly why I'm picking it. If you listen to it with the ears of someone who had never heard Rush before, it’s a really unique song. It's got a little bit of everything that you were doing at that time, wrapped up in the package of a really enjoyable song. Along with the positive message in the lyrics- some of Neil's best- it provides a perfect example of who Rush was at that time.
AL: Man, you know our music better than we do. Will you write our band history?
YS: Yes. Yes, I will.
GL: OK, I see where you’re coming from. It’s always interesting to hear others explain their appreciation for one of your songs that you’ve stopped appreciating.
AL: What album are we on now… Hemispheres?
YS: God, I love that album… sorry, I shouldn’t be such a fanboy when I’m interviewing you, but it’s hard for me to remain objective about this one.
GL: Yeah, we get people telling us this is their favorite fairly often. It’s a difficult album to love, but those who love it do so pretty strongly.
AL: But holy hell, it was a stressful album to make. I really don’t remember that one being a fun process. Perhaps the only song on there that doesn't succumb to our desire for excess is "The Trees".
YS: Is that song what you’d want someone to hear first?
GL: Oh, yeah. I like what we did there; it’s really an impressive piece of work.
AL: If he does say so himself…
GL: Hey, you wrote it, too…
YS: So do the difficulty and the excess of that album explain the significantly more accessible sounds on Permanent Waves?
AL: Very much so. We really wanted to retreat from the bloated, over-worked tracks we had just completed and do something more direct.
GL: And that choice really seems to have been a good one. It seems like most people consider Permanent Waves our first “great” album.
AL: …and I’ve got to break the rules again and choose a popular song.
YS: You’re going to choose “Spirit of Radio”, aren’t you?
GL: “Rush does reggae” still sounds like such a horrible idea on paper…
YS: …but it’s not like the whole song is reggae. And it works! Not to mention the beautiful lyrics by Neil. Such a powerful message about the power of music.
AL: Yeah, I remember being pretty blown away by that the first time he shared the lyrics with us. I was thinking, “Man, we have to write some pretty incredible music to stand up to those words.”
GL: And with Moving Pictures, we just kinda continued in the same vein. Usually, we don’t like to have two consecutive albums that tread the same territory.
AL: But it was new territory for us, with lots of room in it. We felt excited at what we were doing.
YS: …and it showed. I’m eager to hear what you pick from this one…
AL: Ooh, boy. Tough one. This is probably where your readers will disagree with us most. Fans have pretty strong opinions about the tracks on this album.
GL: How about “Red Barchetta”?
AL: Yeah, that’s a good choice. If someone hears that and doesn’t like us, I don’t think there’s anything we can do to win them over.
YS: Which brings us to the second live album, Exit…Stage Left… a more sophisticated approach to a live album this time?
AL: Indeed, both in terms of our popularity and the technology of presenting and recording a live performance.
YS: From smaller Canadian venues to hard rock arena gods…
GL: If I called myself a “hard rock arena god” at home, my children would laugh their heads off…
AL: Ooh, let me choose the song this time: “Spirit of Radio”. Not to duplicate again, but I just love how this one opens the album. I think it’s our best opening song from our entire catalog. And the live performance has a different approach than the album version. More relaxed, almost. Geddy’s vocal sounds like he’s talking to you over a beer.
YS: He IS talking to me over a beer. And I totally get your point. It’s somehow less aggressive than the studio version, and that seems like it shouldn’t work, but it does. And I love how the crowd cheers when you sing “Concert Hall!”, just like on the album.
AL: OK, here’s where the choices are going to get more interesting…
GL: Or totally uninteresting…
YS: Are you referring to your “Hey, we’ve got lots of keyboards!” period?
GL: Well, it wasn’t too bad yet on Signals.
YS: Agreed. That was the first Rush album I bought when I was a kid.
AL: OK, so you pick the song this time.
YS: Too easy to say “Subdivisions”, so I’m going to choose “Analog Kid”. The guitar riff, the power of the drum line, the great sound on Geddy’s Rickenbacker. The whole song just fits together perfectly. You can hear the influence of the 80’s and new wave starting to creep in, but it’s still undeniably Rush.
GL: I’m finding your answers to these questions a lot more interesting than ours…
AL: Agreed. When Grace Under Pressure came out, did you still like it as much?
YS: Well, you remember this was a time when an album release was a big deal, going to Tower Records and trying to pick it up on the first day. I really liked this album. In retrospect, I hear the keyboards a lot more now than I did at the time. Back then, I just heard a really good Rush album. And I’ve got to pick “Kid Gloves”. One of the most underrated Rush tracks, in my opinion.
AL: I’m always curious when talking to fans from that period when they started to grow less excited about our albums…
YS: I’d say that Power Windows is still a strong album. But a bit of a slip- for me, as a kid- from what I was used to. Not what I was used to in terms of sound, but how it made me feel.
GL: “Territories” is the song I’d choose to represent that album. Not necessarily the best song, but I really liked how that one has lasted over the years. The synthesizers aren't overbearing, and it's got some great bass and guitar parts. Still very fun to play.
YS: Yeah, I've always been partial to that one as well. And that brings us to your last studio album for Mercury, Hold Your Fire.
AL: …which you don’t like.
YS: (winces) No, I’m sorry. I really don’t.
GL: We get that a lot. And we totally agree. It’s easily our worst album. I really let my fascination with the keyboard sounds get away from me. And it was covering up Alex’s guitar in the mix. I don’t know to this day why Neil and Alex didn’t leave, or at least give me a swift kick in the rear.
YS: So what song would you choose from here?
AL: Well, none of them. If someone had never heard us, I certainly wouldn’t want them to start here. But if I had to, I'd pick the opener, "Force Ten". That song had a good grove and chord sequence; I’d love to hear it clean with just drums, guitar and bass, played a bit more dirty and aggressive. And it's the one from that album that fans seem to want to hear still more than any other.
GL: The same is true of the next live album, and the last in this new Mercury release, A Show of Hands. There are so many songs on there I’d like to play again with a different approach. When I listen to how we did “Turn the Page”, for example, it just makes me cringe. Better than the album track, but so much untapped potential.
YS: That’d make an interesting album concept- ‘80’s Rush songs the way we wish we’d played them’.
AL: (looks at Geddy) I think he’s onto something there…
GL: Yeah, we’ll come back for another interview so you can help us suss out the track list. If you’ll buy us more beer…
YS: Deal! Gentlemen, it really has been a pleasure. Thank you so much for being so gracious with your time, and good luck on the rest of your tour.
AL: Thank you. We’ll have to talk about the rest of our albums next time.
