Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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Rush took that idea one step further.
Low-key theyre goofy dudes!
Do we need to remind you of thelaundryandrotisserie chickens?
And yes, hereallyknew how toslap that bass.
We really didnt believe our careers would go very far because ofthe failure ofCaress of Steel.
No one was more surprised than us after2112was so well-received by fans more than the radio, for example.
We were a band that didnt really ever know how to stay in one place.
Improvement doesnt happen in a straight line.
That idea continued intoMoving Pictures.
You could sayMoving Pictureswas more satisfying from that perspective, but I thinkPermanent Waveswas a turning point.
Song that will always remind you of Neil
The Garden fromClockwork Angels.
The statement of that song talked so much about where he had found himself in life.
I remember Alex and I had been throwing some ideas around in my home studio here in Toronto.
The Garden just came out.
Alex came in the next day and it also made perfect sense to him.
The song very quickly gelled based on these different stanzas of lyrics we had in front of us.
It was really beautiful to write.
Some songs are torture, right?
You sweat over it and you tear your hair up.
The whole experience of making The Garden from the beginning through the end was a real joy for us.
I think the setting of it would lend itself to visual interpretation.
Whether thats been done too much, I dont know.
Youve got generations ofStar Warsfilms.
Its not new territory, but theres something in that story that would translate into the genre.
That really would lend itself to a fantasy story, but not necessarily a sci-fi fantasy story.
Yet the story at the heart ofClockwork Angelsis a full circle of life.
I know Neil always wanted to bring theClockwork Angelsstory to the screen in some way or another.
Most epic song
We did tend to go on a bit.
At first, a lot of our instrumental factions were indulgences.
This song was the indulgence of all indulgences.
It was an exercise in self-indulgence.
La Villa Strangiato is a song that has quite a few moods.
I was really pleased with that.
Not having a lyric was like a holiday.
The sentiment of Dreamline is that were only immortal for a limited time.
My curiosity and appetite for life is huge.
When youre young, you dont think anythings going to stop you.
Bravado fits in because of the nature of knowing and learning what the cost is.
Theres a difference between being willing to pay the price and counting the cost of that.
The things you do and the actions you take have a price.
Those two songs go hand in hand with my lifes view.
Favorite spontaneous studio track
The Twilight Zone was the first time we attempted something like that.
We had five more minutes worth of vinyl we couldve used and didnt have a song.
Wed been slaving over every detail of side one of2112.
When I hear it today, its still really satisfying.
I really like that song, even if its one of the lesser songs in the Rush catalogue.
It sparked an idea that we came back to.
Vital Signs and New World Man were other examples of those types of songs.
But The Twilight Zone remained my favorite moment of spontaneity.
Red Barchetta for me was an establishment of that tone.
A bass player is supposed to provide the bottom end it makes you rumble and makes you move.
I had to check that I had enough of that going on.
At the same time, Im a kind of obnoxious player.
I want to be heard.
I dont want to just be satisfied with tickling the bottom of people who are listening.
Im happy to tickle your bottom, but I want to crunch at the top.
I want to make a statement.
It led to a lot of experimenting.
We tried to share the spotlight.
We both came out of a bluesy background of music.
I had an abrasive, raspy soprano that over time was tamed and pushed into a more melodic context.
So the struggle happens during the writing session and then you have to get that performance.
Certainly parts of La Villa Strangiato were difficult.
Mostly the instrumental bits are the ones that are challenging.
But when it came to being able to play and sing it live, it was almost impossible.
It gave it this really broad soundscape that moves that chorus.
I was subconsciously channeling James Jamersons beautiful basslines.
Ive always admired how its the bass in Motown songs that really move the song along.
James Jamerson knew how to take a part of a song and make it move in a beautiful way.
The chorus of The Anarchist is that kind of bass part and my subtle tribute to him.
He disappeared from view for quite some time and found himself living in California and starting a new life.
He came back to us, as he put it, seeking gainful employment.
The whole idea of makingVapor Trailshad to be very considerate.
We had to push ourselves and discard the bad ideas.
We were nervous that we wouldnt be able to reproduce it if we started rerecording everything from scratch.
There was so much emotional static and fear that the whole process became very long and imbued with paranoia.
Some of them were jam sessions that we kept on tape and never fine-tuned sonically.
It became an impossible journey to get the record made and get it sounding the way we wanted to.
It was just a fucker to make.
Like, Wheres the fire, guys?
I always knew and appreciated that we were hyperactive, especially as a rhythm section.
A few songs may have also been a little naive in their original intent.
The nasty little tale called The Trees, of course a comment on forced equality.
I put a lot more importance on social responsibility now than I ever did.
I talk about that, of course, when Im referring to free will.
There were a few things we sang about in our early twenties that seemed very important.
Laziest misconceptions youve encountered about Rush
Oh God, there are so many.
There was a time where the religious-rights were trying to stomp out progressive and metal bands of our ilk.
Neilwrote a rebuttalthat actually got published in the same newspaper, which I thought,Bravo for him.
It was a completely absurd interpretation.
We were music written by players.
That was our essence.
But theres been a revolution in terms of gender.
The narrowness of our fan base started to expand with more universal lyrics.
For instance, we never wanted to do television shows.
If somebody came up and said to me, I have a movie pitch.
Do you guys want to be in this comedy film with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel?
I would now say, Yeah, sure, well do it.
The same thing forThe Colbert Report.
Were fans of Stephen Colbert and we knew it was a comedy, so why not?
That means a lot.
It really does mean a lot.
Saying yes to things we normally wouldve dismissed made us happier as a result.
We were doing fun things and everything seemed like a new adventure.
It didnt feel like we were repeating the program of Rush 1.0.
We started behaving out of our previous characters.
We were looser on stage our onstage persona became much more fun.
We started adding humor to every aspect of what we did.
I love when a Rush audience is smiling and laughing.
That was the motivation.
