UPDATE - 4/25@12:53PM: Buried towards the end of the Prog Report interview, Alex reveals that he jammed with Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo while they are in town to play the Rogers Centre. Metallica played last night and will also play tomorrow night. So it sounds like this mus have occurred earlier this week:
... Last night Metallica were in town, and they came in a little early. So I had dinner with Kirk and Rob and after dinner we went up to Kirk's room and we sort of sat around for a bit. And of course he had a few guitars in the room and we started playing. And I was there for a few hours we were just playing on a semi acoustic guitar - an electric guitar not plugged in - and we were lost in it and it was so fun. So we're gonna have dinner tonight again and he said, "Let's get back together again. Let's do it again." So he's gonna come here and I already re-strung a few guitars. And Rob's going to come and we're just going to jam here tonight after dinner and I'm sure we'll be here till the wee hours just doing the thing that we love to do so much ...
----- snip -----
Alex Lifeson's Envy of None project with Andy Curran, guitarist Alfio Annibalini and vocalist Maiah Wynne officially released their second album Stygian Wavz a month ago. The album is available in many formats, including the LE Deluxe box set, colored vinyl, standard black vinyl, CD, Blu-ray, and digitally. For more details on the various album formats and what they include, visit the official Envy of None store and watch the video trailer. 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]
Several new Alex Lifeson interviews popped up over the past week in promotion of the release. Both Alex and vocalist Maiah Wynne appeared on the Kscope Podcast, and Alex was a guest on 94.7 WCSX, Analog Planet, and The Prog Report. Here's Alex talking about the affect of outside influences on Envy of None's music from his Prog Report interview:
... I tend to be very cautious about what I'm listening outside of the project when I'm working on it. I was a fan of Garbage and and NiN and Soundgarden - that whole era. And there's a taste of all those sort of things in our music. And everybody else brings those little tastes as well. So I think it's quite rich in source with the stuff that we've done with 'Envy of None'. There are hints of a lot of different genres in the music and the songs' sound. There's really quite a variety in all the material. Some of it's very trippy, some of it's really soft and gentle, some of it's hard and industrial. It's just really a great pallet of sounds and and moods that is a joy to listen to ...
It looks like Alex is getting some much deserved R&R in the wake of his publicity blitz for Stygian Wavz. Lerxst is currently in Italy partaking in the local cuisine, as seen in this Instagram post:
Geddy Lee's The Lost Demos got its first physical release as a special Record Store Day exclusive vinyl edition back on April 12th, although it had already been made available for streaming back in 2023. The release did particularly well in the UK, propelling the side A single, Gone, into the UK's Top 40. From Forbes:
... Lee's newly-charting tune "Gone" opens inside the top 40 on a pair of U.K. rankings this frame. The cut appears at No. 30 on both the Official Physical Singles and Official Vinyl Singles lists. The former roster focuses exclusively on tracks sold in physical formats - like CDs, cassettes, and vinyl - while the latter tallies only sales of individual tunes (and very short collections) on wax. ... "Gone" was one of dozens of singles released as part of Record Store Day in 2025. The tune was pressed as part of a black vinyl offering titled The Lost Demos, which features two previously unreleased tracks from Lee. Side A is "Gone," while side B houses another composition titled "I Am...You Are." Despite the fact that the record includes both songs, it appears the Official Charts Company is only crediting "Gone" as the charting title. Since the collection isn't long enough to be counted as an EP, which would make it eligible for albums rankings, it's a single - and apparently the side A track is the focus. ...
Back in late 2023 in the lead up to his My Effin' Life book tour, Geddy Lee released 2 tracks from the My Favorite Headache sessions for streaming. The release was dubbed The Lost Demos and included the previously unreleased tracks Gone and I Am ... You Are. If you missed getting a copy this time around, don't fret - it will likely be made available for wide release at some point in the next few years.
Back in August of 2022, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone hosted a pair of concerts to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. The setlist included a number of South Park songs mixed in with Ween and Primus tunes, along with a surprise performance from Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Closer to the Heart with Primus and Matt Stone on drums (video here). The concert was televised and the audio can be found on streaming services, with the only physical release being a special blue vinyl release made available for Record Store Day 2022. That vinyl edition is now available in wide release via Mercury Studios, and is now available to order. You can check out all the details, including the full 22-track setlist in the original Record Store Day listing, and order your copy here.
Grapes for Humanity is an organization that helps to raise funds to benefit humanitarian causes around the world with the assistance of the international wine community, and Geddy Lee is a member of the board of directors. The organization's 5th annual Fine Wine Auction took place over the last couple of weeks, ending this past Tuesday, with proceeds going to benefit the Nature Conservancy Canada, Tree Canada and local charities. The auction included several items of interest for Rush fans including almost 50 autographed bottles of wine from Geddy Lee's personal cellar, a very unique Gibson prototype guitar signed by all 3 members of Rush in 2010, and a Booze, Bubbles and the Boys from Rush dinner for 8 at Barberian's Steak House. The final amount raised in the auction ended up being close to $700K as detailed in this Instagram post.
SLAM (Support Life and Music) is an organization that provides support and hope for musicians struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts. They regularly have guests on their YouTube channel for a SLAM Summit where they discuss the unique struggles that musicians and those in the music industry deal with on a daily basis. This past week they had on author Kevin J. Anderson and musician Cathy Rankin to discuss their personal grief journey in the wake of Neil Peart's passing. You can listen to the show at this location.
Daniel Bukszpan's Rush at 50 released this past fall, examining the history of Rush through the lens of 50 milestone events and an illustrated gatefold timeline. Bukszpan was a guest on a recent episode of the Rock History Music YouTube channel to talk about the book, and Rush's 2112 in particular. You can listen to the show at this location.
Canadian musician Ian Thomas was a recent guest on the Toronto Legends podcast, and spoke a little about Rush at around the 38:30 mark. Thomas' band opened for Rush many times in the late '70s (thanks RushFanForever):
... I've always delighted in them as human beings. They're just good lads. Goofy senses of humor. Alex - such a delightful guy ... they're just delightful guys ...
Consequence.net posted their list of The 100 Best Guitarists of All Time this past week, and Rush's Alex Lifeson made the cut at #23:
Alex Lifeson: In Rush, Alex kind of played the role a bassist would play in any other band. He let his drummer and bassist carry the flash up front while filling the sonic gaps and serving the song. There is a humility to his creative approach that is admirable, but he still always finds a moment in songs to pop through and remind everyone that he is no joke on guitar. His openness to adapt to changing guitar technologies and fresh guitar players is also unusual for a guitarist of his era. - Jeremy Sosville (Sanhedrin)
Xite Labs creative director, Greg Russell, has created a virtual environment to honor legendary Rush drummer, Neil Peart, as a demonstration for artists to consider using digital production for their promotional materials. From RedShark News:
... Russell wanted to put something together to show why bands should think of virtual production for new projects. It's an ad basically, it just happens to have a killer soundtrack. To create the environment, the Xite team drew inspiration from the cover of Rush's Moving Pictures album and also referenced an iconic 1980s poster of Peart drumming on a raft in Quebec. Hence the water and all the arches. Into this they mapped a digitally animated version of Peart's Time Machine drum riser with everything rendered out in StypeLand software. Russell performed the music live in Xite Labs' production studio with camera tracking courtesy of Stype's RedSpy, syncing the performance with the custom XR environment built in Unreal Engine. ...
On this past week's episode of Rush Roundtable on the Rushfans YouTube channel (episode #272), the panel continues with their Rush 50 theme, reimagining the Rush 50 box set with their own visions and criteria.
That's all for this week. Have a great weekend everyone!!
