In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson was asked what it was like to work with late RUSH drummer Neil Peart, both as a lyricist and as a drummer. Alex responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Neil was amazing to work with. 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.”Lifeson continued: “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.”Asked if he knew that RUSH’s August 2015 concert at the Forum in Los Angeles would be the band’s last, 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 [RUSH bassist/vocalist 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.”Asked if it’s true that he has 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.”Lifeson added: “He’s my best bud. 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 Meltdown suggested that it might be a good idea for Alex and Geddy to go out on a tour where they would do “a storyteller song thing with just the two of them”, Lifeson said: “When Ged was on his book tour for [his memoir] ‘My Effin’ Life’, I did the Toronto show and I also did London and Portsmouth in the U.K. And it was that — it was basically sitting on a couch and just talking. And the great thing, the Toronto show, the first one that he did, we just sat and we talked as if we were in his living room, sitting on a couch and talking, and just goofing around and laughing. Our life together is goofing around and laughing. So, yeah, that could probably be a fun thing to do, actually.”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.”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.[embedded content]
