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Geddy Lee: Very humbling interview
- Thread starter Raman
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But back to Geddy.
I think Geddy Lee should view this thread. As a small gift from the largest community of bassists online. A tribute to his legacy at so many different levels: Technique, musicianship, as a band member, a band leader and as a bass brainiac. But also and maybe more so, as an all around good and humble person, a family man, an educated and principled Human Being.
Geddy: Thanks for being and having been an example.
I think Geddy Lee should view this thread. As a small gift from the largest community of bassists online. A tribute to his legacy at so many different levels: Technique, musicianship, as a band member, a band leader and as a bass brainiac. But also and maybe more so, as an all around good and humble person, a family man, an educated and principled Human Being.
Geddy: Thanks for being and having been an example.
There's a local curling club here in the DC area that practices every Saturday morning and it starts with something like a big potluck breakfast at 7am, so I'll bet you absolutely could.
They have curling in Vegas too. I need to seek it out. I spent 9 days in Whitehorse. It was great, had a great time, but I was most enthused about learning to curl. The rink opened for the season, the day we left.
They have curling in Vegas too. I need to seek it out. I spent 9 days in Whitehorse. It was great, had a great time, but I was most enthused about learning to curl. The rink opened for the season, the day we left.
I curled for eight years at the club in Columbus. I'm taking a year off right now. Believe me, food and drink are a big part of the curling culture.
I recognize that being complimentary is part of hosting guest interviews on a media program... but so is asking multiple investigative questions so that the audience walks away learning something... and that's something Trunk usually fails to do. Instead, he basically just says, "You're awesome" in various ways.
Trunk is one step away from doing this show...
The thing about Rush is that the spanned 4 decades. My Rush decade was the 80's. My first album was Power Windows, followed by Moving Pictures. Then Hold Your Fire, Roll The Bones, and Presto.
When I thought, "Hey, I'm a Rush fan" and I went back and listened to their early stuff, I was not pleased. What the hell is "ByTor the Snow Dog"? Why are the songs so damn long?? Just didn't get that early stuff.
But to see a talent like the three of them. Just incredible. That's THREE guys making all that music. Geddy singing, playing keys, and bass pedals at the same time. I can't even sing and play at the same time.
To top it off, they seem to be decent people. Neil experienced a horrible loss back to back, and the other guys were there for him. Read his book Ghost Rider. It's good!
When I thought, "Hey, I'm a Rush fan" and I went back and listened to their early stuff, I was not pleased. What the hell is "ByTor the Snow Dog"? Why are the songs so damn long?? Just didn't get that early stuff.
But to see a talent like the three of them. Just incredible. That's THREE guys making all that music. Geddy singing, playing keys, and bass pedals at the same time. I can't even sing and play at the same time.
To top it off, they seem to be decent people. Neil experienced a horrible loss back to back, and the other guys were there for him. Read his book Ghost Rider. It's good!
Since we are waxing nostalgic, I might as well throw in mine:
This one time, at band camp...actually, ALL the time at band in 198?, every break from marching we got, a bunch of us would race to the rec cabin, and within 5 minutes, you would have heard the BEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW!! of Tom Sawyer blaring through the woods.
Then Signals came out and it was ok. Interestingly, back then we'd have these assemblies in high school and they show us these weird coping/self-esteem films and Subdivisions was featured in one of them.
Our English teacher did a class on lyrics and played Billy Squire "Lonely is the Night", Eagles "Hotel California" and Rush "The Trees". The class decided Squire was pretty lame musically and lyrically, Rush the lyrics were interesting but overwhelmed by the music, and Hotel California was a great balance of music and lyrics.
Dipped out on Grace Under Fire because I'd already bought the black Rickenbacker and the Steinberger was like, betrayal man. (We didn't know about his Jazz bass. This was before internet, kids.)
Bought Power Windows but stopped caring after the novelty of the Wal sound wore off.
Bought the album that was a red cover with three balls on it, hated it, and have never bought a Rush album since.
On the Presto tour me and a friend bumped into Geddy wandering incognito at the Smithsonian art gallery and I'm embarrassed to say we acted every bit like the starstruck fools Neil complains about in Limelight. Oh well.
Finally saw them in concert for the first time when they put out that cover tunes album. Glad I went, but we left early. Too old and tired.
I would love to get my hands on his big bass book.
Wow. Feel like I'm waiting for absolution after all that.
This one time, at band camp...actually, ALL the time at band in 198?, every break from marching we got, a bunch of us would race to the rec cabin, and within 5 minutes, you would have heard the BEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW!! of Tom Sawyer blaring through the woods.
Then Signals came out and it was ok. Interestingly, back then we'd have these assemblies in high school and they show us these weird coping/self-esteem films and Subdivisions was featured in one of them.
Our English teacher did a class on lyrics and played Billy Squire "Lonely is the Night", Eagles "Hotel California" and Rush "The Trees". The class decided Squire was pretty lame musically and lyrically, Rush the lyrics were interesting but overwhelmed by the music, and Hotel California was a great balance of music and lyrics.
Dipped out on Grace Under Fire because I'd already bought the black Rickenbacker and the Steinberger was like, betrayal man. (We didn't know about his Jazz bass. This was before internet, kids.)
Bought Power Windows but stopped caring after the novelty of the Wal sound wore off.
Bought the album that was a red cover with three balls on it, hated it, and have never bought a Rush album since.
On the Presto tour me and a friend bumped into Geddy wandering incognito at the Smithsonian art gallery and I'm embarrassed to say we acted every bit like the starstruck fools Neil complains about in Limelight. Oh well.
Finally saw them in concert for the first time when they put out that cover tunes album. Glad I went, but we left early. Too old and tired.
I would love to get my hands on his big bass book.
Wow. Feel like I'm waiting for absolution after all that.
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I think you mean Grace Under Pressure. You’d need nerves of steel to have grace under fire.
... and please tell me you got Ged’s autograph.
Pressure, yes. I'm mixing the title with Hold Your Fire.
And sadly, no autograph. Had no pen and paper and we were clearly bothering him on a probably well-deserved day off from being a rock icon, so we just said glad to meet you and sorry for bothering and left him in peace without (thankfully) drawing a crowd of gawkers.
It's seems many of the posts are regarding the later Rush years, Nothing wrong with that.
I wonder how many may not realize Neil Peart wasn't their first Drummer. The 1st album had John Rutsy drumming.
So, why not a 3rd replacement?
I don't believe we've seen the last of Geddy Lee but maybe not in Rush as a band.
I wonder how many may not realize Neil Peart wasn't their first Drummer. The 1st album had John Rutsy drumming.
So, why not a 3rd replacement?
I don't believe we've seen the last of Geddy Lee but maybe not in Rush as a band.
Geezer is as good a lyric-writer as Peart in my opinion. And they are both known for science fiction themes, too, albeit from different perspectives.
Now that you mention it, me and my friends often discussed bands we'd like to see cover other bands, and I always wanted to see Rush cover a Black Sabbath tune. Lots to pick from. Maybe that should be a new thread idea...
It's been made very clear in interviews that if Rush isn't the same three guys it's been for 40 years, then Rush is finished. One quits; band is done, period.
John Rutsey was replaced before the band even went on their first tour; at that point they were young nobodies in a Zeppelin/Cream wannabe band. Peart's arrival transformed them into a heavy prog rock band where everyone was expected to continue to push the limits of their talent and get better, and to maintain a standard of always giving 100% in live shows. They kept that up right to the very end, never phoned it in, never had a "good enough" attitude.
Besides, after Peart, where do you go from there? Rush ended on top of their game. They did it right.
Geddy and Alex are still playing and will probably put out new material in some form, maybe even together, but Rush has reached the bookend.
Personally I am still coming to grips with this. Rush has been a constant presence in my musical life since I was old enough to care about music. They never got stale or stopped experimenting with new styles, they're latest albums didn't always go over well with fans but they never sounded dated, the band never tried to pretend it was still 1978 or 1981. Their last album was a solid effort and it's been as influential to me and some of my bandmates as anything they put out in years past. I'm just really happy that me and my brother got to see them on their last tour, and witness them playing old prog rock songs live one last time.
Love that band.
It is kind of surreal that they're done. When you get into a band as a teenager, you might understand on an intellectual level that your idols will one day grow old and retire as you yourself will some time after that, but it seems like such a far-off prospect as to not quite be real. "Immortal for a limited time" really says it, doesn't it?
Rush were the first band to make somewhat harder rock palatable to me. I admit I never cared for straight-up rock music as a teen - if it was all about partying and booze and sex and was lacking any sort of sophistication in its approach, it wasn't for me. Reading an interview with Geddy in Keyboard Magazine was what piqued my interest in Rush. His discussion of the synth and (early) sampling technology employed on Grace Under Pressure was a good read...his answers were very articulate and suggested quite a bit of thought and work went into what they were doing. I suppose I came at them from an atypical angle in that it was the synth work that first caught my attention and then the things the band had actually traditionally been known for followed.
In hindsight, I probably was exposed to them at the right point in their history. I don't think Counterparts or Test for Echo would have appealed to me as a first exposure to the band nearly as much as Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows did. The oft-maligned Hold Your Fire is also more up my alley than a lot of what came after. But I guess I enjoyed their work in the '80s so much that they sort of got a lifetime pass...whatever they did, I'd always end up buying their albums because I'd be curious to see what they'd do next. And even if things were (for my taste) more hit/miss from the '90s onward, I still found a lot to enjoy.
I should've been in bed by now, I'm half-asleep, I'm rambling. I liked them a lot, it's too bad it's over, hopefully Geddy will do something interesting and new in the near future. Good night!
Rush were the first band to make somewhat harder rock palatable to me. I admit I never cared for straight-up rock music as a teen - if it was all about partying and booze and sex and was lacking any sort of sophistication in its approach, it wasn't for me. Reading an interview with Geddy in Keyboard Magazine was what piqued my interest in Rush. His discussion of the synth and (early) sampling technology employed on Grace Under Pressure was a good read...his answers were very articulate and suggested quite a bit of thought and work went into what they were doing. I suppose I came at them from an atypical angle in that it was the synth work that first caught my attention and then the things the band had actually traditionally been known for followed.
In hindsight, I probably was exposed to them at the right point in their history. I don't think Counterparts or Test for Echo would have appealed to me as a first exposure to the band nearly as much as Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows did. The oft-maligned Hold Your Fire is also more up my alley than a lot of what came after. But I guess I enjoyed their work in the '80s so much that they sort of got a lifetime pass...whatever they did, I'd always end up buying their albums because I'd be curious to see what they'd do next. And even if things were (for my taste) more hit/miss from the '90s onward, I still found a lot to enjoy.
I should've been in bed by now, I'm half-asleep, I'm rambling. I liked them a lot, it's too bad it's over, hopefully Geddy will do something interesting and new in the near future. Good night!
When I saw Rush on the Clockwork Angels tour, only Geddy seemed to be really enjoying himself. I doubt we'll see Neil or Alex on stage anymore. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Geddy playing bass for another group, as he did playing with Yes for the induction. His bass playing is right on point and he's got plenty of energy. But he really can't (shouldn't) sing the old Rush tunes anymore, no matter who is drumming. And I say that as a life long fan who has always enjoyed his voice.
I saw that, that was great!
He would be a perfect fit to fill Chris Squire's shoes as a permanent member. Maybe he would consider it.
