Geddy Lee recently chatted with Bass Player magazine's Joel McIver about the Rickenbacker 4001 bass - Ged's instrument of choice back in Rush's earlier days. Ged recalls the first time he ever saw a Ricky 4001 played - both on TV and live:
... "The first time I ever saw that bass was in a Beatles video - I think it was Hey Jude. I saw Paul McCartney playing it, and first of all it struck me as a great-looking bass. When you're a kid - and even today! - cool-looking basses have a particular value, ha ha! I don't know what colour it was, because our TV was black and white, but I think it was a solid colour." ... "The first time I saw someone playing one was Chris Squire, in the early days of Yes. John Entwistle played one for a short while too, but it was really Squire's use of the 4001 that made me fall in love with it. The tone he got out of it was so clear and crisp, and it had such great definition." ... "Let me say that I do love the sound of the Rickenbacker, but I will qualify that by saying that I love the sound that Chris Squire got out of it - and that's the sound that made me want to buy one. When we signed our first record deal in 1974, I got my share of our small advance and the first thing I did was buy a Rickenbacker. I think I paid about $400 for it. Much to my dismay, when I plugged it in, it didn't sound like Chris Squire!" ...
Ged has been hitting the interview circuit the past couple of weeks in support of his upcoming memoir My Effin' Life and associated spoken word tour, so we should expect more interviews to be released over the coming days/weeks. He recently chatted with Matt Cord and Steve Vassalotti of Philly's 102.9 about what fans can expect from the tour:
... "I'm trying to have a different sort of interviewer every night, every city. So we'll chat for a while and talk about Rush and talk about life. Talk about wine collecting and baseball and whatever comes up. Yeah. I'll read some excerpts from the book. Then I'm going to open it up to the audience because I really love interacting with them and hearing what their questions are. Sometimes you just can't guess what they want to ask." ...
The book is slated for release November 14th via Harper Collins, and is currently available for pre-order via Amazon and other retailers. As mentioned above, Geddy Lee will be conducting a spoken word In Conversation tour in support of the book starting next month, with the North American leg kicking off Monday, November 13th at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, followed up by another 13 dates across the US and Canada throughout late November and early December. The North American leg ends on December 7th at Massey Hall in Toronto before crossing the pond for the UK tour in Wolverhampton on Sunday, December 10th. You can get all the details and learn how to get tickets at Rush.com.
Rolling Stone magazine posted their latest list of The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time last Friday, and Rush's Alex Lifeson came close to breaking into the top 50 at #58 (thanks RushFanForever):
Even if he never progressed beyond the brain-rattling riffing of "2112" and "Xanadu," Rush's Alex Lifeson would have still exerted a huge, if unheralded, influence on Metallica and other metal acts. But he went on to fill out Rush's power-trio sound with a seamless mix of lush arpeggios and rock crunch that sounded like at least two players at once - and reinvented his sound further as the Eighties approached, finding his own take on Andy Summers' echo-and-reggae approach. "Playing in a three-piece band always seemed a little empty to me," Lifeson says, "and the guitar just had to make a broader statement." But Lifeson reserves his most daring playing for his solos, which often use wildly exotic note choices: Just try to wrap your head around the extraterrestrial lunacy of, say, his "Freewill" solo. -R.T.
American Songwriter posted their list of the 6 Top Classic Rock Bassists this past week, and Rush's Geddy Lee was included at #6:
The compositions of Rush were so inventive and potentially unwieldy that it wouldn't have taken much for them to go wildly off track. Yet through all the time signatures and sudden thematic shifts, Lee was the guy who kept things rolling inexorably forward. Rush never let the fact that they only had three members stop them from going for the gusto on every single track. Lee could be the driving force in that quest or the bedrock, and could dive down into the depths or soar with surprising runs. Along with Alex Lifeson on guitar and Neil Peart on drums, he helped to take prog rock into a new era that embraced technology without sacrificing the chemistry of a tight trio.
American Songwriter also included Geddy on their list of 8 Iconic Male Vocalists of Classic Rock at #7:
Geddy Lee, the unique voice and the intricate bassist of Rush, is celebrated for his high-register vocals that shaped the band's sound. In tracks like "Tom Sawyer," Lee's singular vocal style and complex musicianship have become the guiding stars for artists striving to embrace and project their distinctive sounds, contributing significantly to the vast and varied realm of classic rock.
In celebration of the MLB playoffs, i95rock.com posted an article this past week where they profile 21 Rock Musicians and Their Love of Baseball, one of whom is Rush's Geddy Lee:
Geddy Lee, Toronto Blue Jays
The official winter sport of Canada is, of course, ice hockey. But not for Geddy Lee of Rush. Over the years, he's regularly attended Blue Jays games in Toronto, often visible on camera not far from home plate with a scorecard in his lap. He also threw out the first pitch of their home opener in 2013, and is reportedly an enthusiastic collector of baseballs. (A cardboard cutout of Lee was placed behind the plate when the Blue Jays temporarily relocated to Buffalo during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.)
In some Rush-related industry news, Anthem Entertainment (formerly ole) - Rush's music rights and publishing company - has named Jason Klein as its permanent Chief Executive Officer amid a raft of other senior leadership appointments, including former Rush A&R man Andy Curran, who re-joins as Senior A&R Consultant. For all the details, check out this article (thanks RushFanForever).
Yesterday, October 19th was the 30th anniversary of Rush's Counterparts album, and both Glide magazine and Ultimate Classic Rock published articles celebrating the milestone anniversary. So in recognition of the occasion, for our next Ranked Choice Voting poll we'll be ranking the 11 tracks on Counterparts to determine the consensus favorite. Which of these tracks is your favorite? Rank them all here, and we'll reveal the results next week.
Rush's Power Windows album celebrated its 38th anniversary last week, and to recognize the occasion, we set up a Ranked Choice Voting poll to determine the album's best track. After nearly 800 ballots cast, and 7 runoff rounds, Marathon came out on top, along with a respectable 2nd for The Big Money. For the full results breakdown, visit this link:
Here's Marathon live from Rush's Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland concert video:
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend everybody!!
