Alex Lifeson's Envy of None project with Andy Curran, guitarist Alfio Annibalini and vocalist Maiah Wynne released their self-titled, debut album last April, and it's currently available for purchase and streaming worldwide via several different online retailers and services, including Amazon and the official Envy of None merch store. Last Friday the band officially released their new EP That Was Then, This Is Now via Kscope Records. The EP includes one newly-recorded track titled That Was Then, remixes of Dumkoptf and Dog's Life, Lethe River, and You'll Be Sorry, which was previously released as part of the deluxe edition of their 2022 self-titled debut. Earlier this week, the band released an official, animated music video for the EP's new track That Was Then. The video features a wild motorcycle ride with stunning visuals, and was directed by Olivier Boscovitch, known for his amazing visual work for electronic artist David Guetta. You can watch the video below or on YouTube at this location. More reviews of the EP came in this past week, including this one from 100percentrock.com that gives it a 90% score:
... Disc closer "That Was Then" is the perfect bookend to close this EP out. The song structure is close to what the band has offered up on the other tracks here, but there are hints of Lifeson's influence, especially on the backing vocals and bridge. You cannot deny the history of the members, but damn this is a great extension and addition to any and all of their legacies.
The EP is available digitally and on vinyl, and can be ordered via the Envy of None website and other online retailers. The vinyl edition can also be ordered via Amazon here.
Rush's Alex Lifeson has a small role in the new Canadian horror film The Breach, which is based on a book by horror novelist Nick Cutter (aka Craig Davidson) with the screenplay co-written by him and Ian Weir. The film was directed by Mexican-Canadian Rodrigo Gudiño, and produced by Toronto's Hangar 18 Media with Guns 'N Roses guitarist Slash as an executive producer. It was filmed in Parry Sound, ON during September 2020 with an all-Canadian cast and crew, and starring Allan Hawco, Natalie Brown, Emily Alatalo and Wesley French, and Rush's Alex Lifeson. The film is set in the tiny Northern Ontario town of Lone Crow and follows Police Chief John Hawkins as he tries to solve a mysterious murder case. Alex Lifeson plays the role of conspiracy theorist named Alex and appears briefly in the film's trailer starting around the 1:05 mark. Alex is on a Zoom call explaining the origins of the mystery to someone, and says:
Black magic rituals. They are opening the gates of hell here. And I'm telling you - Parsons - he's at the center of it!
The Breach had its world premiere at the Fantasia international film festival in Montreal last year, and is now available in the US digitally and on-demand as of this week. No information on which streaming services will carry the film was given, so keep an eye out. The filmmakers have released a new US trailer for the film which you can watch on YouTube here.
A new book from author Pete Brown titled Ultimate Heavy Metal Guitars: The Guitarists Who Rocked the World is slated to release on September 12. The book is "an authoritative and photo-filled survey of metal's greatest and most influential axe-slingers, from the 1970s to the present", and one of the guitarists profiled is Rush's Alex Lifeson. You can pre-order Ultimate Heavy Metal Guitars via Amazon here.
One of Neil Peart's closest friends in his latter years was Vertical Horizon frontman Matt Scannell, whom he became friends with after moving to LA in the early 2000s. The pair collaborated musically on several tracks that appeared on the Vertical Horizon's 2009 album Burning the Days, and 2014's Echoes From the Underground. The band played a show in Toronto last week, and they performed Instamatic off Echoes From the Underground - one of the Neil Peart collaborations. Scannell introduced the track by talking about his friendship with Neil and dedicated the performance to him. Reader Bruce L was at the show and posted a short video of Scannell's intro which you can watch on TikTok.
Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci was recently interviewed for CBS New York to discuss the band's upcoming show at MSG. As he usually does, Petrucci mentions Rush and their profound influence in the interview starting around the 4:30 mark (thanks Phil Simon). You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
YouTuber Rick Beato posted an episode to his channel this past week on the Music Explosion of 1978, and he mentions Rush's Hemispheres at about the 7:30 mark (thanks RushFanForever).
MuseByCl.io recently posted an article featuring 10 Great Album Covers as Chosen by David Calcano of Fantoons Animation Studios, and one of the album's he mentions is Rush's Moving Pictures:
Hugh Syme is one of the greatest album cover artists of the past 50 years. This is Rush's most successful album, both critically and commercially. The album cover is essentially a very funny pun done exquisitely. It's impossible not to chuckle a little once you know the title of the album. Hugh did something that I admire to this day, he changed Rush's logo on every single album he worked on! I absolutely love that. He kept the canvas open on every single album cover, which is very ballsy for both the band and him. In this case, the lettering was inspired by Coppola's Zoetrope type, keeping a very limited color scheme that became synonymous for the band's identity for the remainder of their existence. I had the opportunity to write and direct a Fantoons produced animated documentary for Universal and Rush, where Hugh Syme talks about his process and inspiration of the making of this album cover. To say I was "geeking out" would be an understatement.
In this week's episode of Rush Roundtable (#186) on the Rushfans YouTube channel, the panel continues their Roll the Bones song discussions, focusing on Ghost of a Chance:
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!!
