Alex Lifeson and his new line of signature gear at Lerxst Amps is the focus of new article and interview in the latest edition of Guitar World magazine. Alex talks extensively about all the new gear he's offering including the Omega Chi amp, By-tor overdrive pedal, and his Lerxst Limelight signature guitar. He was also asked about what he thought was the Alex Lifeson tone:
Wow, that's hard for me to answer. I don't know how people hear my sound or my tone. I strongly believe that if you give a guitar to five different players - same guitar, same amp - each one of them is going to sound different, just because of the way they play. The attack, how their fingers move, all of that. A lot of it is your own personal mojo that goes into your playing. To try and be a little objective. I guess when people think of my tone, they think of clean arpeggios, so that needs to be addressed. And they think of a solid, crunchy sound. I'm not overly heavy, not metal-y in that sense. I like to have definition and clarity in whatever it is I'm doing, whether it's a heavy, dirty sound or it's a clean sound with body. And I want the gear I'm using to respond and speak well to that. Those are maybe the types of things people hear when they listen to my playing.
The interviewer also didn't let Alex go without asking him about whether he has plans to work with Geddy again:
Umm... Don't know. [Laughs] Really, there's so much stuff in the airwaves these days about Geddy and I getting back together and doing something. And I think it's partly because of the way things went nine years ago, when we finished touring. We were at a high point, and we were playing really well. The show looked great. I think a lot of our fans felt, you know, why now? But we broke up the band basically for Neil. And he had valid reasons. He was tired. He couldn't play at the level he demanded from himself. So he felt it was time. But I think that for a lot of Rush fans there wasn't a feeling of closure. So there's a hope that we'd get back together. I will say that doing this book tour with Geddy [for Lee's 2023 memoir, My Effin' Life], I did a few of the stops with him, and it's kind of reignited interest in us getting out and playing. And the shows that we did last year for Taylor Hawkins [at the 2022 Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts] were inspiring, too. So for a little while I thought, you know, it'd be kind of good to get back out. And then I thought... nah, not really. [Laughs] I mean, we toured for 40 years. I'm not interested in going back out on tour. I don't wanna sit in a hotel room for hours and hours and hours to work for a couple of hours. Been there, done it, loved it. But that's in the past. So whether Ged and I get back together again and write or do any-thing, we'll see. Until then, there's plenty to work on, you know?
The issue also includes a 2-page spread on pages 60-1 on Rush's Grace Under Pressure album as part of the magazine's feature on albums from 1984. The article includes a few quotes from Lifeson where he recalls recording the album. You can check out the issue online here with the Alex interview on pages 32-6. Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.
