Alex Lifeson's Envy of None project with Andy Curran, guitarist Alfio Annibalini and vocalist Maiah Wynne officially release their second album Stygian Wavz TODAY via Kscope Records. Earlier this week the band released a new trailer for the Limited Edition Deluxe box set release, which you can check out below or on YouTube. They also announced that 5 random copies of the Stygian Wavz Deluxe box set will include a Golden ticket of sorts - a bonus LP on galvanized metallic blue vinyl, signed by the band! The band also revealed this morning that they are running a contest where the winner will get a signed, Stygian Wavz custom Epiphone Les Paul Special II guitar. You can enter to win for free with a free download of The Story, or simply just purchase the new record in any format on the EON website. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday, April 18th. The LE Deluxe box set is just one of the many available formats, which include colored vinyl, standard black vinyl, CD, Blu-ray, and digitally. From BraveWords:
... - Limited Edition Stygian Wavz Box Set:
Includes CD and Blu-ray (with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround & Hi-Res Stereo Mixes and 4 promo videos), plus Gatefold Green & Black Marble LP with individual band member prints. Also includes 12-page booklet featuring track-by-track notes from the band and exclusive photography
- Stygian Wavz Blu-ray edition, exclusive to Super Deluxe Edition:
Includes the album in 24/96 hi-res stereo, plus Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround mixes by Alex Gamble, packed in a Blu-ray amaray case with a 12-page lyric book. Includes promotional videos for 'That Was Then' and 'Under The Stars' (directed by Olivier Boscovitch) also included as well as promotional videos for 'Not Dead Yet' and 'Stygian Waves' (director: Mariano Biotico)
- Stygian Wavz Pink Vinyl Edition: North America Exclusive
- Stygian Wavz Blue Vinyl Edition: Kscope Store + Independent Retailers
- Stygian Wavz 'EON Purple' Vinyl Edition: Envy Of None Store Exclusive
- Stygian Wavz Black Vinyl LP Edition, mastered at half-speed
- Stygian Wavz Digipak CD with 16-page booklet ...
For more details on the various album formats and what they include, visit the official Envy of None store and watch the video trailer. Since first announcing the album back in October, the band has released several singles including the title track, Not Dead Yet, Under the Stars, and - most recently - The Story. That Was Then had also previously been released as a single back in 2023. More reviews of the album continue to roll in as well, including this one from AtTheBarrier.com. The entire tracklist is as follows:
Envy Of None - Stygian Wavz
1. Not Dead Yet [03:29]
2. The Story [04:41]
3. Under The Stars [04:32]
4. Thrill Of The Chase [03:40]
5. Handle With Care [04:14]
6. That Was Then [03:46]
7. Raindrops [03:33]
8. New Trip [03:55]
9. Clouds [04:02]
10. The End [03:58]
11. Stygian Waves [03:37]
Alex Lifeson has been hitting the interview circuit pretty hard in the past few weeks promoting the album. Some of the more interesting interviews were with CBC's Q with Tom Power, AllMusic, and Forbes Magazine. He also conducted some shorter radio interviews with Torg & Elliot, The Gator 98.7 FM and others. The big takeaways from all of Lerxst's interviews is that he is VERY excited about the project and this album, and it's sounding more and more likely that they will be doing some live shows. From his Forbes magazine interview:
... We would love to [perform]. To do both albums in a beautiful theater with a nice light show would be spectacular. I already know the other musicians I would like to bring on, just to really flesh out the sound. I think what we'll probably end up doing is just waiting out the record and see how the reaction is," Lifeson continues. "If it does well, and there's an audience where we can go into that theater and do two or three nights, and maybe do it in two or three other cities - then we would definitely consider doing it because it would be awesome." ...
This past Friday was the official release of Rush's Rush 50 career-spanning compilation anthology in celebration of the band's 50th anniversary. Rush 50 is available in five distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition ($374.98), (2) Rush Store Exclusive Super Deluxe Edition, (3) 7-LP Deluxe Edition ($249.98), (4) 4-CD Deluxe Edition ($99.98), and (5) Digital Edition ($26.49). The Rush Backstage Store exclusive edition includes an additional four bonus lithos showcasing Rush through time, newly illustrated by FANTOONS from the characters created for the graphic novel depicting the band in the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s. Classic Rock magazine posted a glowing review of the album earlier this week, giving it 5/5 stars and concluding with the following:
... R50 ends with the What You're Doing/ Working Man/Garden Road medley that closed the final show at the LA Forum in 2015, the grittiest of a dozen guitar-heavy 21st-century recordings of songs old and recent that remind us not only of how Rush began their incredible journey, but also how deeply they're embedded in our hearts.
You can secure your copy of Rush 50 via Amazon and other retailers, and get all the details regarding the different configurations and what they include, along with the full tracklist at Rush.com. John at Cygnus-X1.net has also transcribed/scanned the liner notes and made them available online here.
Rush's Alex Lifeson is one of the many artists included on an upcoming star-studded tribute to Canadian rockers Triumph. Magic Power: All Star Tribute to Triumph is due out on June 6th with pre-orders available here. In addition to Alex Lifeson, some other artists performing on the album are Heart's Nancy Wilson, Slash, Sebastian Bach, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, Anthrax's Joey Belladonna, Mickey Thomas of Starship, Styx keyboardist/singer Lawrence Gowan, Journey drummer/vocalist Deen Castronovo, Tesla's Jeff Keith, former Chicago bassist/singer Jason Scheff, Night Ranger's Jack Blades, and Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X. Alex Lifeson along with Envy of None's Andy Curran and Maiah Wynne contribute a rendition of Triumph's Blinding Light Show off Triumph's self-titled 1976 debut album. Here's the complete 15-song tracklist:
Magic Power: All Star Tribute to Triumph Track List:
"24 Hours a Day" - Sebastian Bach
"Rock & Roll Machine" - Sebastian Bach
"Magic Power" - Joey Belladonna of Anthrax
"Spellbound" - Mickey Thomas of Starship
"Lay It on the Line" - Dee Snider
"Somebody's Out There" - Lawrence Gowan of Styx
"Never Surrender" - Deen Castronovo of Journey
"Hold On" - Jeff Keith of Tesla
"Just One Night" - Jason Scheff
"I Live for the Weekend" - Slash, Dorothy, Tyler Connolly, and Nita Strauss
"Fight the Good Fight" - Nancy Wilson
"Follow Your Heart" - Jack Blades of Night ranger
"Allied Forces" - Phil X
"Blinding Light Show" - Envy of None
"Fight the Good Fight (Encore)" - Dino Jelusick
The album will be available June 6th on CD, Double vinyl and on digital streaming.
Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson along with Gibson guitars have donated a signed Gibson Les Paul guitar to a Make Music Matter charity auction. The organization's mission is to leverage the power of music to help survivors of trauma. The auction will run through April 8th, and you can make your bid online at charitybuzz.com. The current bid is already close to $9000, so if you want a shot at it, place your bid today and support a great cause.
Last Thursday night, March 20th, the 2,112th episode of The Tonight Show aired on NBC. After the intro music for each show, drummer and Roots band leader Questlove announces the episode number. Questlove is a big Rush and Neil Peart fan, so fans were hoping for some kind of shout-out, and Questlove did not disappoint. Right after Jimmy's monologue, the band played a 15-second clip of Rush's 2112: Overture as seen in this clip at about the 9:15 mark.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is a Canadian police TV drama series set in Toronto, and based on the American series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In one scene of a recent episode that aired March 13th (Season 2, Episode 3 - Fool's Gold), the character Karina (played by Katelyn McCulloch) is wearing a Rush t-shirt as seen in this screenshot.
There was a Rush reference in this past Monday, March 24 New York Times Strands puzzle, as seen in this screenshot (thanks Mike S).
Longtime Rush friend and collaborator, Ben Mink, was recently interviewed by Steve Westman and Grover Biery for Because Sound Matters. At one point he was asked about his experience working with Rush on the Signals album, where he played electric violin on Losing It. You can listen to the Rush part of the interview at this location at around the 51-minute mark (thanks RushFanForever).
Yesterday was opening day for baseball in North America, and the Toronto Blue Jays opened their season yesterday at the Rogers Centre against the Baltimore Orioles. Rush's Geddy Lee was in attendance in his premium seats behind home plate, as he is most years, and posted this photo of himself at the game, enjoying a nice, cold Rush beer. The announcers even quipped, "the season can't start unless Geddy Lee is in the house." Unfortunately for Geddy and all the other home crowd fans, the Jays lost 2-12... 21-12 would have been a better outcome. ;)
On this past week's episode of Rush Roundtable on the Rushfans YouTube channel (episode #269), the panel celebrates R50 by creating a 50-song playlist of Rush songs that have a deep, personal meaning to them:
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend!!
