Respond to these rapid questions in our Rush quiz and we will tell you which Rush character you are. Play it now.
1968–1974: Early years and debut album[edit] Alex Lifeson, co-founder of Rush The band was formed in the neighbourhood of Willowdale in Toronto, Ontario, by guitarist Alex Lifeson, bassist and frontman Jeff Jones, and drummer John Rutsey, in August 1968.[1] Lifeson and Rutsey had been friends since a young age and played together in a short-lived band, The Projection (formerly known as The Lost Cause).[18][19][20] Afterward the two stuck together and brought in Jones to form a new group; their first gig was in September at the Coff-Inn, a youth centre in the basement of St. Theodore of Canterbury Anglican Church in nearby North York. They were paid CA$25.[1][21] They had not named themselves at the time of the booking; Rutsey’s brother Bill thought they needed a name that was short and to the point. He suggested Rush, and the group went with it.[22] Due to increasing difficulties in getting to Lifeson’s house for practice, Jones suggested that Lifeson get his schoolmate Gary “Geddy” Weinrib to step in on lead vocals and bass.[23] Weinrib replaced Jones as Rush’s frontman, adopting the stage name Geddy Lee. Rush rehearsed a set mainly formed of covers by various rock artists, including Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and John Mayall and underwent several line-up configurations that included Lindy Young on keyboards and various instruments, and Mitch Bossi on second guitar.[1] Shortly after becoming a four-piece band of Lee, Lifeson, Young, and Rutsey, Ray Danniels was hired to be their manager. As Lee recounted years later, “Ray came along. He had no real reputation yet as a manager or anything. He was just kind of an agent working in Toronto. So he started directing the band and he just thought I wasn’t suitable, for whatever reasons he had. I don’t know whether it was the way I looked, or my religious background – who the f— knew? Anyway, he influenced them and they went along with it, Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey, and I was out.”[24] With Lee kicked out of the band, Rutsey recruited new bassist and vocalist Joe Perna. The group of Lifeson, Rutsey, and Perna named themselves Hadrian. After a disastrous gig with Perna, Rutsey invited Lee back and the group continued as Rush.[21] Lee stated “I started a blues band and I was, frankly speaking, doing better than they were. Then I got a call from John and he said, ‘Can we get together?’ Basically, ‘Can you come back? We’re sorry.'”[24] In March 1972, the band stabilized as a trio of Lifeson, Rutsey, and Lee.[25] They kept Ray Danniels, a promoter of Rush’s early shows, as their manager with his business partner and agent Vic Wilson sharing duties.[1] Rush honed their skills with regular gigs, initially touring the Ontario high school circuit. In 1971, the legal drinking age was decreased from 21 to 18, allowing the band to play bars and clubs. Lee said it was at this point that Rush turned “from a basement garage band that played the occasional high school gig to a regular working band playing six days a week.”[21][26] A demo tape was then shipped to various record labels, but Rush was unable to secure a deal, leading to the formation of their own label, Moon Records, with Danniels.[27] Rush entered the studio in 1973 to record their first single; their cover of “Not Fade Away” by Buddy Holly was chosen as it had become a crowd favourite. “You Can’t Fight It”, an original song, was put on the B-side. Released in September, it went to No. 88 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart. In late 1973, Rush performed their first major gig, opening for the New York Dolls in Toronto, and finished putting down tracks for their first album. The initial sessions produced undesirable results over the sound quality, so tracks were recut and remixed with a new engineer, Terry Brown.[28] Danniels sold his management company to help raise funds to make the record.[29] Rutsey wrote the lyrics, but tore them up on the day Lee was to record them and would not produce a new set. Lee quickly wrote a fresh set based on earlier versions, which was used on the final takes.[30] The first Rush logo, as seen on their debut album The debut album, Rush, was released in March 1974; the initial pressing of 3,500 copies quickly sold out.[31] It went on to peak at No. 86 on the RPM Top Albums chart. Most critics considered the album highly derivative of Led Zeppelin.[32] It saw a limited release until it was picked up by Donna Halper, a music director and DJ at rock station WMMS in Cleveland, Ohio. She added “Working Man” to the station’s regular playlist and the song’s blue-collar theme resonated with hard rock fans in the predominantly working class city.[33] In June 1974, Danniels signed Rush to the American booking agency ATI, of which executive Ira Blacker sent a copy of Rush to Mercury Records. The record caught the attention of A&R man Cliff Burnstein, who signed Rush with a $75,000 advance as part of a $200,000 deal.[34][28][29] Following a series of Canadian dates, Rutsey played his last gig with the band on July 25, 1974. His preference for more straightforward rock was incompatible with the more complex music that Lifeson and Lee had written, and Lee recalled Rutsey had a general distaste for life as a touring musician.[26] His type 1 diabetes caused further complications, as he required frequent hospital visits to have tests and receive insulin.[21][35] For several weeks prior to his departure Rutsey’s health was too critical for him to perform, leaving Rush to continue with a substitute drummer, Jerry Fielding.[22] 1974–1977: Arrival of definitive line-up and foray into progressive rock[edit] After auditioning five drummers, Lifeson and Lee picked Neil Peart who joined on July 29, two weeks before the group’s first US tour.[22][36] They performed their first concert together on August 14 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, opening for Uriah Heep and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band to over 11,000 people.[26] Peart assumed the role of lyricist; Lifeson and Lee had little interest in the job and recognised Peart’s wider vocabulary range from reading regularly.[34] Lifeson and Lee focused primarily on the music, with the new material displaying their influences from progressive rock bands Yes and Pink Floyd.[21] When the US tour finished in December 1974,[37] Rush had reached its peak of No. 105 on the US Billboard 200 chart.[38] Fly by Night (1975), Rush’s first album with Peart, saw the inclusion of the story song “By-Tor & the Snow Dog”, replete with complex arrangements and a multi-section format. Lyrical themes also underwent dramatic changes because of Peart’s love for fantasy and science-fiction literature.[39] Despite these new styles, some other songs on the album mirrored the simplistic blues style found on Rush’s debut.[1][39] “Fly by Night” was released as a single that reached No. 45 in Canada.[40] The album reached No. 9 in Canada,[40] where it was certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CAN) for selling 100,000 copies[41] and in the US for selling one million copies there.[42] The band followed Fly by Night quickly with Caress of Steel (1975), a five-track album featuring two extended multi-chapter songs, “The Necromancer” and “The Fountain of Lamneth”. Some critics said Caress of Steel was unfocused and an audacious move for the band because of the placement of two back-to-back protracted songs, as well as a heavier reliance on atmospherics and story-telling, a large deviation from Fly by Night.[43] Intended to be the band’s break-through album, Caress of Steel sold below expectations and the tour consisted of smaller venues and declining box office receipts, which led to the tour being nicknamed the Down the Tubes Tour.[44] The “starman” logo, created by Hugh Syme, first appeared on the back cover of 2112. In light of these events, Rush’s record label tried to pressure the members into moulding their next album in a more commercially-friendly and accessible fashion; the band ignored the requests and developed their next album 2112 with a 20-minute title track divided into seven sections. Despite this, the album was the band’s first taste of significant commercial success as it reached No. 5 in Canada,[40] becoming their first to reach double platinum certification.[41] Rush toured 2112 between February 1976 and June 1977 with concerts in Canada, the US, and for the first time Europe, with dates in the UK, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands.[26][45] The three sold-out shows at Massey Hall, Toronto in June 1976 were recorded for Rush’s debut live album, All the World’s a Stage. Released in September of that year, the double LP reached No. 6 in Canada and became Rush’s first to crack the US top 40.[46] Record World wrote: “Building its American reputation slowly but steadily Rush stands poised for breaking through all the way via this two record live set […] All the highly charged electricity is here in an explosive setting.”[29] The liner notes includes the statement: “This album to us, signifies the end of the beginning, a milestone to mark the close of chapter one, in the annals of Rush.”[47] 1977–1981: Peak progressive era[edit] After the conclusion of the 2112 tour, Rush went to Wales to record A Farewell to Kings (1977) and Hemispheres (1978) at Rockfield Studios. These albums saw the band members expanding the progressive elements in their music. “As our tastes got more obscure”, Lee said in an interview, “we discovered more progressive rock-based bands like Yes, Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson, and we were very inspired by those bands. They made us want to make our music more interesting and more complex and we tried to blend that with our own personalities to see what we could come up with that was indisputably us.”[48] Increased synthesizer use, lengthy songs, and highly dynamic playing featuring complex time signature changes became a staple of Rush’s compositions. To achieve a broader, more progressive sound, Lifeson began to experiment with classical and twelve-string guitars, and Lee added bass-pedal synthesizers and Minimoog. Likewise, Peart’s percussion became diversified in the form of triangles, glockenspiel, wood blocks, cowbells, timpani, gong, and chimes. Beyond instrument additions, the band kept in stride with the progressive rock trends by continuing to compose long, conceptual songs with science fiction and fantasy overtones. As the new decade approached, Rush gradually began to dispose of its older styles of music in favour of shorter and sometimes softer arrangements, due in part to the band’s exhaustion from recording Hemispheres. The lyrics up to this point were heavily influenced by classical poetry, fantasy literature, science fiction, and the writings of novelist Ayn Rand, as exhibited most prominently by their 1975 song “Anthem” from Fly By Night and a specifically acknowledged derivation in 2112 (1976).[49] The first single from A Farewell to Kings, “Closer to the Heart”, was the band’s first successful song in the UK, peaking at No. 36,[50] while reaching No. 76 in the US and No. 45 in Canada. A Farewell to Kings did not sell as well as 2112, but still went platinum in both Canada[41] and the United States[42] By this time, Rush’s record deal allowed them a CA$250,000 advance on each album and a 16% royalty rate.[51] Permanent Waves (1980) shifted Rush’s style of music with the introduction of reggae and new wave elements.[52] Although a hard rock style was still evident, more synthesizers were introduced. Because of the limited airplay Rush’s previous extended-length songs received, Permanent Waves contained shorter, more radio-friendly songs, such as “The Spirit of Radio” and “Freewill”, which helped the album become Rush’s highest-charting album to date.[53][54] “The Spirit of Radio” became the group’s biggest hit single to date, peaking at No. 22 in Canada, No. 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100,[54] and No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart.[50] Peart’s lyrics on Permanent Waves shifted toward an expository tone with subject matter that dwelled less on fantastical or allegorical story-telling and more heavily on topics that explored humanistic, social, and emotional elements. Rush toured Permanent Waves for six months through 1980 to over 650,000 people across 96 shows, becoming their first to make a profit.[55] After the tour, Rush joined fellow Toronto-based rock band Max Webster to record “Battle Scar” for their 1980 release, Universal Juveniles.[56] Their lyricist, Pye Dubois, offered the band the lyrics to a song he had written. The band accepted; the song went on, after reworking by Peart, to become “Tom Sawyer”.[56]Editor’s Picks
Rush Quiz
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Rush quiz. “Dreamline” (1991) 0:21 Sample of “Dreamline” from the album Roll the Bones. This song is notable for demonstrating the band’s return to a more standard three piece instrument style, where synthesizers are used more sparingly and the guitar returning to the forefront of the sound. Problems playing this file? See media help. Rush started to deviate from its 1980s style with the albums Presto and Roll the Bones. Produced by record engineer and musician Rupert Hine, these two albums saw Rush shedding much of its keyboard-saturated sound. Beginning with Presto (1989), the band opted for arrangements notably more guitar-centric than the previous two studio albums. Although synthesizers were still used, the instrument was no longer featured as the centrepiece of Rush’s compositions.[78] Continuing this trend, Roll the Bones (1991) extended the use of the standard three-instrument approach with even less focus on synthesizers than its predecessor. While musically these albums do not deviate significantly from a general pop-rock sound, Rush incorporated other musical styles such as funk and hip hop in “Roll the Bones” and jazz in the instrumental track “Where’s My Thing?”.[79] “Show Don’t Tell” from Presto was a No. 1 hit on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart, and while the album reached the Top 10 in Canada, it was less successful in the US (No. 16) and the UK (No. 27). From Roll the Bones, “Dreamline (No. 1) and “Ghost of a Chance” (No. 2) were successful on US Mainstream Rock Radio stations marking a resurgence of Rush’s album sales in the US (No. 3 and platinum), the UK (No. 10) and some other parts of northern Europe. The transition from synthesizers to more guitar-oriented and organic instrumentation continued with Counterparts (1993)[80] and its follow-up, Test for Echo (1996), both produced in collaboration with Peter Collins. Up to this point, Counterparts[80] and Test for Echo were two of Rush’s most guitar-driven albums. The latter album also includes elements of jazz- and swing-style drumming by Peart, that he had learned from drum coach Freddie Gruber during the interim between Counterparts and Test for Echo.[81] “Stick It Out” from Counterparts reached the summit of the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart with the album peaking at No. 2 in the US and No. 6 in Canada. Test for Echo reached the Top 5 in both countries, with the title track again topping the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart. In October 1996, in support of Test For Echo, the band embarked on a North American tour, the band’s first without an opening act and dubbed “An Evening with Rush”. The tour was broken up into two segments spanning October through December 1996 and May through July 1997.[82] After the conclusion of the Test for Echo tour in 1997, the band entered a five-year hiatus primarily due to personal tragedies in Peart’s life. Peart’s daughter Selena died in a car crash in August 1997, followed by the death of his wife Jacqueline from cancer in June 1998. Peart took a hiatus to mourn and reflect, during which he travelled extensively throughout North America on his BMW motorcycle, covering 88,000 km (55,000 mi). In his book, Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, Peart writes of how he had told his bandmates at Selena’s funeral, “consider me retired.”[83] This left the band’s future uncertain, and Lee and Lifeson prepared an archival album, Different Stages, for release during the hiatus. Mixed by producer Paul Northfield and engineered by Terry Brown, it is a three-disc live album featuring recorded performances from the band’s Counterparts, Test For Echo, and A Farewell to Kings tours, dedicated to the memory of Selena and Jacqueline.[84] After a time of grief and recovery, and while visiting long-time Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan in Los Angeles, Peart was introduced to his future wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall, whom he married on September 9, 2000. By the following year, Peart had decided to return to Rush. 2001–2009: Comeback, Vapor Trails and Snakes & Arrows[edit] “One Little Victory” (2002) 0:33 Sample of “One Little Victory” from the album Vapor Trails. This song’s rapid tempo and heavy double bass drumming was done intentionally to herald the comeback of the band after their hiatus. Problems playing this file? See media help. In January 2001, Lee, Lifeson, and Peart came together to see if they could reassemble the band. According to Peart, “We laid out no parameters, no goals, no limitations, only that we would take a relaxed, civilized approach to the project.” With the help of producer Paul Northfield, the band produced seventy-four minutes of music for their new album Vapor Trails, which was written and recorded in Toronto.[85] Vapor Trails marked the first Rush studio recording to not include any keyboards or synthesizers since Caress of Steel. According to the band, the album’s developmental process was extremely taxing and took approximately 14 months to finish, the longest they had ever spent writing and recording a studio album.[86] Vapor Trails was released on May 14, 2002; to herald the band’s comeback, the single and lead track from the album, “One Little Victory”, was designed to grab the attention of listeners with its rapid guitar and drum tempos.[86] The album was supported by the band’s first tour in six years, including first-ever concerts in Brazil and Mexico City, where they played to some of the largest crowds of their career. The largest was a capacity of 60,000 in São Paulo.[87] Vapour Trails peaked at No. 3 in Canada and No. 6 in the US, while selling disappointingly in the UK where it peaked at No.38. Rush performing in September 2004 A live album and DVD, Rush in Rio, was released in October 2003 featuring the last performance of the band’s Vapor Trails Tour on November 23, 2002, at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary, June 2004 saw the release of Feedback, an extended play recorded in suburban Toronto featuring eight covers of such artists as Cream, The Who and The Yardbirds, bands the members of Rush cite as inspiration around the time of their inception.[88] To help support Feedback and continue celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band, Rush launched the 30th Anniversary Tour in the summer of 2004, playing dates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. On September 24, 2004, the concert at The Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany was filmed for a DVD titled R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour, which was released on November 22, 2005. This release omitted eight songs also included on Rush in Rio; the complete concert was released on Blu-ray on December 8, 2009.[89] During promotional interviews for the R30 DVD, the band members revealed their intention to begin writing new material in early 2006. While in Toronto, Lifeson and Lee began the songwriting process in January 2006. During this time, Peart assumed his role of lyric writing while residing in Southern California. The following September, Rush chose to hire American producer Nick Raskulinecz to co-produce the album. The band officially entered Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York in November 2006 to record the bulk of the material. Taking the band five weeks, the sessions ended in December. On February 14, 2007, an announcement was made on the official Rush website that the title of the new album would be Snakes & Arrows. The first single, entitled “Far Cry”, was released to North American radio stations on March 12, 2007, and reached No. 2 on the Mediabase Mainstream and Radio and Records Charts.[90] “Far Cry” (2007) 0:31 Sample of “Far Cry”, first single from the album Snakes & Arrows. Problems playing this file? See media help.About the quiz
The Rush website, newly redesigned on March 12, 2007, to support the new album, also announced the band would embark on a tour to begin in the summer. Snakes & Arrows was released on May 1, 2007, in North America, where it debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 93,000 units sold in its first week.[91] It also peaked at No. 3 in Canada and No. 13 in the UK, selling an estimated 611,000 copies worldwide. To coincide with the beginning of Atlantic Ocean hurricane season, “Spindrift” was released as the official second radio single on June 1, 2007, while “The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)” saw single status on June 25, 2007. “The Larger Bowl” peaked within the top 20 of both the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Mediabase Mainstream charts, but “Spindrift” failed to appear on any commercial chart.[92] The planned intercontinental tour in support of Snakes & Arrows began on June 13, 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia, coming to a close on October 29, 2007, at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.[93] Also, you must try to play this Rush quiz. The 2008 portion of the Snakes & Arrows tour began on April 11, 2008, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, and concluded on July 24, 2008, in Noblesville, Indiana at the Verizon Wireless Music Center.[94] On April 15, 2008, the band released Snakes & Arrows Live, a double live album documenting the first leg of the tour, recorded at the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands on October 16 and 17, 2007.[95] A DVD and Blu-ray recording of the same concerts was released on November 24, 2008.[96][97][98] As Rush neared the conclusion of the Snakes & Arrows tour, they announced their first appearance on American television in over 30 years. They appeared on The Colbert Report on July 16, 2008, where they were interviewed by Stephen Colbert and performed “Tom Sawyer”.[99] Continuing to ride what film critic Manohla Dargis called a “pop cultural wave”, the band appeared as themselves in the 2009 comedy film I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.[100] 2009–2013: Time Machine Tour and Clockwork Angels[edit] On February 16, 2009, Lifeson remarked that the band might begin working on a new album in the Fall of 2009 with American producer Nick Raskulinecz once again producing.[101] In November 2009, Lee, Lifeson and Peart were awarded the International Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards in Toronto.[15] On March 19, 2010, the CBC posted a video interview with Lee and Lifeson where they discussed Rush’s induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts’ George Weston Recital Hall. The band was recognized for the songs “Limelight”, “Closer to the Heart”, “The Spirit of Radio”, “Tom Sawyer” and “Subdivisions”. In addition to discussing their induction, Lee and Lifeson touched on future material with Lee saying, “Just about a month and a half ago we had no songs. And now we’ve been writing and now we’ve got about 6 songs that we just love …”[102] On March 26, 2010, in an interview with The Globe and Mail, Lifeson remarked that there was even the potential for two supporting tours.[103] Soon after, Peart confirmed Nick Raskulinecz had returned as co-producer.[104] In April 2010, Rush entered Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with Raskulinecz to record “Caravan” and “BU2B”, two new songs to be featured on the band’s studio album Clockwork Angels. “Caravan” and “BU2B” were released together on June 1, 2010, and made available for digital download.[105] The Time Machine Tour’s first leg began on June 29 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finished on October 17 in Santiago, Chile, at the National Stadium. It featured the album Moving Pictures played in its entirety, as well as “Caravan” and “BU2B”.[106] It was suggested Rush would return to the studio after the completion of the Time Machine Tour with plans to release Clockwork Angels in 2011.[107] However, Rush announced on November 19, 2010, that they would be extending the Time Machine Tour. The second leg began on March 30, 2011, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and came to an end on July 2, 2011, in Seattle, Washington.[106] On November 8, 2011, the band released Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland, a concert DVD, Blu-ray and double CD documenting the April 15, 2011, concert at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. After the tour’s second leg was finished, Rush entered Revolution Recording studios in Toronto, Ontario to finalize the recording of Clockwork Angels.[108] The second single, “Headlong Flight”, was released on April 19, 2012. Peart and author Kevin J. Anderson collaborated on a novelization of Clockwork Angels that was released in September 2012.[109] Clockwork Angels was released in the United States and Canada on June 12, 2012,[110] reaching No. 1 in Canada, No. 2 in the US, No. 21 in the UK and entering the Top 10 in most of Rush’s traditional northern European markets. The supporting Clockwork Angels Tour began on September 7, 2012, with the performances on November 25, 2012, in Phoenix, Arizona and November 28, 2012, in Dallas, Texas recorded to make a live CD/DVD/Blu-ray that was released on November 19, 2013.[111] During Rush’s European leg of the Clockwork Angels Tour, the June 8, 2013, show at the Sweden Rock Festival was the group’s first festival appearance in 30 years.[112] On August 31, 2011, Rush switched their American distribution from Atlantic Records to the Warner Brothers majority-owned metal label, Roadrunner Records. Roadrunner handled American distribution of Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland and Clockwork Angels. Anthem/Universal Music would continue to release their music in Canada.[113] On April 18, 2013, Rush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[114] 2013–2020: R40 Tour, disbandment and Peart’s death[edit] On November 18, 2013, Lifeson said the band had committed to taking a year off, following the completion of the world tour in support of Clockwork Angels. “We’ve committed to taking about a year off”, Lifeson said. “We all agreed when we finished this [Clockwork Angels] tour [in early August] we were going to take this time off and we weren’t going to talk about band stuff or make any plans. We committed to a year, so that’s going to take us through to the end of next summer, for sure. That’s the minimum. We haven’t stopped or quit. Right now we’re just relaxing. We’re taking it easy and just enjoying our current employment.”[115] In September 2014, the Rush R40 box set was announced to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the release of the band’s self-titled debut album. It included five previously released live video albums, and various previously unreleased footage from across the band’s career.[116] On January 22, 2015, the band announced the Rush R40 Tour, celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Peart’s membership in the band. The tour started on May 8 in Tulsa, Oklahoma,[117] and wrapped up on August 1 in Los Angeles.[118] On April 29, 2015, Lifeson stated in an interview that R40 might be the final large-scale Rush tour due to his psoriatic arthritis and Peart’s chronic tendinitis.[119] He noted that it didn’t necessarily mean an end to the band, suggesting the possibility of smaller tours and limited performances. He also said he would like to work on soundtracks with Lee.[120] On December 7, 2015, Peart stated in an interview he was retiring. The following day, Lee insisted that Peart’s remarks had been taken out of context, and suggested he was “simply taking a break”.[121][122] Lifeson confirmed in 2016 that the R40 tour was the band’s last large-scale tour.[123] The band’s latest documentary, Time Stand Still, was announced in November 2016.[124] On January 16, 2018, Lifeson told The Globe and Mail that it was unlikely that Rush would play any more shows or record new material. He said, “We have no plans to tour or record anymore. We’re basically done. After 41 years, we felt it was enough.”[10][9] In October 2018, Rolling Stone published an interview with Lee, who stated, “I’d say I can’t really tell you much other than that there are zero plans to tour again. As I said earlier, we’re very close and talk all the time, but we don’t talk about work. We’re friends, and we talk about life as friends. I can’t really tell you more than that, I’m afraid. I would say there’s no chance of seeing Rush on tour again as Alex, Geddy, Neil. But would you see one of us or two of us or three of us? That’s possible.”[125] On January 7, 2020, Peart died at the age of 67 following a 3½-year battle with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.[11][126][127] A year later, Lee confirmed to Rolling Stone that Rush was “over” and expressed the impossibility of the band continuing without Peart: “That’s finished, right? That’s over. I still am very proud of what we did. I don’t know what I will do again in music. And I’m sure Al doesn’t, whether its together, apart, or whatever. But the music of Rush is always part of us. And I would never hesitate to play one of those songs in the right context. But at the same time, you have to give respect to what the three of us with Neil did together.”[128] 2021–present: Aftermath[edit] In a January 2021 interview with Make Weird Music, Lifeson revealed that he and Lee were in talks of working together on new music: “We’re both eager to get back together and kind of get back into that thing that we’ve done since we were 14 years old that we love to do. And we work really, really well together. So we’ll see what happens with that.”[129][130] Lifeson reiterated the status of Rush and the possibility of continuing to work with Lee in a June 2021 interview with Eddie Trunk: “There’s no way Rush will ever exist again because Neil’s not here to be a part of it. And that’s not to say that we can’t do other things and we can’t do things that benefit our communities and all of that. I have lots of plans for that sort of thing that don’t necessarily include Geddy. I get asked this all the time — are we gonna do this, or are we gonna do that? Who knows? All I know is we still love each other and we’re still very, very good friends, and we always will be.”[131] In August 2022, Lee and Lifeson returned to the stage at the South Park 25th anniversary concert in Colorado, with South Park’s co-creator Matt Stone on drums to perform “Closer to the Heart” alongside the members of Primus, their first performance since the death of Peart.[132] In September 2022, Lee and Lifeson performed at the London Taylor Hawkins tribute concert with Dave Grohl and Omar Hakim on drums. They performed “2112: Overture”, “Working Man”, and “YYZ”, the latter of which was Hawkins’ favourite Rush song.[133] Later that month, Lee and Lifeson played the same set at the second Taylor Hawkins Tribute show in Los Angeles. Grohl once again drummed on “2112”, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers joined them for “Working Man”, and Danny Carey from Tool drummed for “YYZ”.For more personality quizzes check this: Dead Poets Society Quiz.
