Today Was Yesterday are a music duo consisting of drummer, percussionist and programmer Ty Dennis and lead vocalist, primary songwriter, bassist, guitarist, pianist and programmer Angelo Barbera. Last month they released the track Grace from their upcoming eponymous album due out for global release on February 23rd. The album features Rush's Alex Lifeson (and The Doors' Robby Krieger) on several tracks, including Grace, which you can listen to on YouTube and other streaming services. Earlier this week the band released the official lyric video for A Louder Silence - another track featuring Lifeson - which you can listen to below or on YouTube as well. Grace and A Louder Silence are just two of the six tracks on the album that feature Lerxst; he's also included on the tracks On My Own, My Dog Is My God, Faceless Faraway Song, and My New Low. You can pre-order the album here.
The Rush Backstage Club has stocked up with a few new items, including Signals and Fly By Night desk mats and a couple new t-shirt designs. You can check out all their newest merch here.
YES bassist Billy Sherwood was recently interviewed for Rolling Stone to talk about the monumental task of taking over bass duties for the late Chris Squire, and his 3-decade relationship working with the band in different capacities. At one point he was asked about the band's 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, which featured Geddy Lee playing bass for Roundabout (thanks RushFanForever):
.. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset because Chris Squire wanted me to be there, and someone else was playing bass with them that night. Now, mind you that someone else is Geddy Lee. So I have no problem with him. He's a monster. Let me start by saying where we started, back in the day, where I learned Yes politics, those politics were alive and kicking. Things were very tense. It's no mystery. I wouldn't be sharing a state secret by letting you know that. I wanted to dodge any bullets. As soon as I heard what was going on, I retracted my own self and said, "Look, not going to do it. Figure it out another way. I don't want to be involved in that. It's too intense." So they finally resolve who's going to play bass. I find out it's Geddy Lee, and I'm like, "That's awesome, loving that." So there we are in the green room before the show, and I've never met Geddy before, but I'm a huge fan. I walk up to him and I say, "Hey, Geddy, Billy Sherwood, so nice to meet you, man. I'm a huge fan." And his first words, he says, "Why aren't you doing this?" And I looked at him and I said, "You know how bad band politics can be, don't you?" He goes, "Yeah." I said, "Nail it, bro. That's all I'm saying." ...
Adaptation is a Canadian documentary film (trailer here) from Jake Thomas released last summer which follows a group of wheelchair athletes as they converge in British Columbia for the BC Summer Race Series- the World's first downhill mountain bike race series to include an adaptive category. Towards the beginning of the film, over 2 minutes of Rush's Tom Sawyer is played during a scene which follows some of the athletes training. The film also has a couple of other Rush connections. Filmmaker Jake Thomas is the son of Canadian singer-songwriter Ian Thomas, Rush's labelmate and opener for several of their mid '70s shows. Rush's longtime manager Ray Danniels' son Samson also appears in the film; Samson was injured in a mountain bike accident several years ago and has since made a name for himself in the adaptive sports arena. Thanks to RushFanForever for the info.
Last week's edition of Rush Roundtable (#213) on the Rushfans YouTube channel featured special guest Tim Alexander of Primus, who helped the panel choose Neil Peart's top 3 drum fills.
That's all for this week. Stay warm and have a great weekend!!
