ShareWare OnLine 2/ShareWare OnLine Volume 2 (CMS Software)(1993).iso/music/rush_lyr.zip/ALIFESON.INT

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Canada's #1 Rock Act!

Rush

Special Feature by: Drew Masters

   Growing up in rural Ontario, dreaming of becoming a rock star, only one
band really mattered: Rush -- they had it all.  I may have wanted to be a
star because of Ace Frehley, but I wanted to be a guitarist -- a musician
-- because of Alex Lifeson.

   Sixteen years after hearing my first Rush record, I find myuself
standing in the middle of their dormant but ominous equipment carefully
placed in waiting at their rehearsal hall in Toronto.  Looking around this
large, warehouse like room, I just about froze: there were Alex's guitars,
Geddy Lee's basses, and Neil Peart's kit.  Though the band members weren't
there yet, their stage manager, Skip Gildersleeve, graciously let me look
at their stuff up close.  And there it was: I touched Alex's guitar; I
touched Neil's kit; I touched Geddy's bass and keyboard.  I touched my
childhood dream.

  Alex came in nonchalantly and immediately began joking with me, and his
crew, about some crazy driver he had encountered on the way to rehearsal.  He
never dropped his smile as we went from their sacred rehearsal room to a
nearby production office.  Closing the door behind us, Alex lit up a smoke
as I poured myself a coffee.  Here I was in awe sixteen years later -- in
the private presence of my greatest guitar hero of all time.

   What transpired was a 60-minute conversation with Alex done last October
before the beginning of their Canadian/world tour in support of their most
successful album to date, Roll The Bones.  Though quite relaxed on the
outside, I was falling apart inwardly.  Seven years a jounalist, over 300
interviews with every major star, and I was freaking out inside.  But
still I feel I got a good interview -- not the best, as I left out some
important questions I should have asked, but you try this!  And, now,
enough from me -- may I proudly present to you Alex Lifeson, and the life'
and times of Canada's greatest ever rock band, Rush:

--- I heard rumours that the band was once close to folding?

   "That's not quite true.  Right after recording Hold Your Fire we did the
tour, which was a longish tour -- not as long as the early days -- but long
in our more recent terms.  During it, Geddy got sore in his throat often,
and I got the flu...it was one thing after another.  It was a very tense,
stressful tour.  We didn't feel very positive about our touring  future as
a band after that tour.  We still wanted to record -- we weren't looking at
the breakup on the band or anything -- but it was a serious question mark
after the word 'tour'.  So we decided to take seven months off, which was
by far the longest break we'd ever had.  And the seven months really gave
us a chance to separate ourselves from Rush, from the whole scene, and we
pursued other interests -- most importantly, we touched base with our
families.  We'd only had three months before, which wasn't enough 'cause
it takes you a month just to unwind, and then it takes you a month to wind
up again, so that middle month is just not enough.  It's not really a
break.  And after 15 years of doing this, we needed to get away from it.

   "When we went in to do Presto, everybody was fired up.  There was a whole
new enthusiasm.  Then, while we were at dinner one night, Neil said,
'Well, I guess we have to talk about doing a tour,' and we all thought,
'Oh, No!'  We all enjoy playing live, but it's the touring that becomes
boring and tedious, and it seems harder with every year.  But that tour
went great for us -- it was by far the best tour we'd ever done.  We had a
really good time -- the pacing was great, and the personnel were great --
everything was fun again.  We did a little shorter run that on some other
tours, which left us wanting to do more.  We could have done another month
or so, but we felt the wanting to doing more and carrying that into our
next record was more important than squeezing in more dates.

   "When we went in to write Roll The Bones, everybody was fired up again,
and we had the additional step along in our enthusiasm.  We really regard
this record as a rebirth for Rush.  Now, we don't look at just the next
record -- we're looking at three, four, or five records into the future.  I
think, we're going to be around along time."

--- I'm told this record came about quickly?

   "Now that we've had a chance to record a lot of records, it's become an
art for us really.  We're learning to do it better in terns of songwriting,
pre-production, preparation...everything.  We took two months less on this
record than we did on the past few records -- definitely since Grace Under
Pressure.  I mean, we're happy if we finish a couple of days early, or
we're on time that's a relief.  But to finish two months ahead is just
unheard of for us.  I take pride in our pre-production for how efficient
it's become, so our recording has become a very positive thing.

   "With this record, we went straight into recording after writing and
rehearsing it, instead of talking the time off.  It wasn't supposed to come
out until January, but since we finished early we moved everything up a
couple of months.  Now that we feel rejuvenated and better about
everything, we're looking forward to this tour, which will probably go on
until July, and then we'll take the summer off and start writing again in
September or October of '92, with our next record out in the spring of '93.
That's not bad for us."

--- Overall, is Rush still the most important thing?

   "Hey, I mean there are other things to life than playing in a rock band.
Not that it's not any less important than it was, it's just that you have
to find a balance in your life between what you do for a living, and some of
the other things that maybe you never had the opportunity to do and would
like to catch up on.

   "Being home, in your environment, is important.  Sure, you'd like to have
more time off to go on vacation and do stuff.  When you're on the road, you
are so separated from the really important things in your life, like
family and friends, and, to some degree, you're in a prison -- sitting in
a hotel, then sitting in a dressing room, then sitting on a bus --- while
working for two hours where you have to pack in everything, then repeating
the same ritual over and over again.  I mean, you're whole life is just
that for months on months, and the price you pay for that, over a long
period of time, is quite great.  Although it sounds very luxurious to have
three months off, I really do believe it's warranted."

--- What has age done to you?

   "I think it has tempered us.  I think there's a trade off -- you're a
little wiser, but a little less spirited.  You look at things in a broader
sense.  I spend a little more time pursuing other things I like.  In terms
of the band, I think it may have tempered our music a little."

--- It doesn't seem to have affected your popularity.  Actually, you seem
to be getting larger with this record, and appealing to more types of fans.

   "Just the fact that we've been around for so long will mean that our
audience is quite broad, from older guys to kids of 15.  There's quite a
big spread.  It's because our audience tends to be quite interested in what
the band is doing -- they look at us as a long term thing, and keep up on
the growth and development of the band.  I think, for a lot of our audience
today, they may agree with some things, and disagree with some things, but
they buy each record 'cause they want to see what Rush is doing.  It's a
really great kind of evolution to see that we get this kind of response.
I did an interview with a guy, and, and the end of it, he asked for an
autographed picture, saying, "It's for my Dad -- he's a really big fan of
yours.' [laughs].  I think, we wrote something like, 'Grow up...leave us
alone.' [laughs].  This interviewer was in his mid-20's, so it's just an
indication as to the wide spectrum of our audience.  We have fans who have
been with us all the way.

   "On the other hand, there were fans that after 2112, or Hemispheres,
decided or perceived that we were moving into a much more commercial or
poppy vein -- something less hard -- and they kinda dropped the band at the
point.  Well...that's the way it goes.  All I can say is that we're happy
with our progression and change, and that progression is important to us.
We're not going to keep one segment of our audience happy by just playing
what they want to hear -- that's not what we're all about.  If we make a
record that we love, and everyone hates, we're going to stand by that
record.  It doesn't matter to us.  It may be the end of the band as far as
making a living [laughs], but we'll feel we've done the right thing, and
that's what we've always done.  I feel that's part of the appeal of Rush."

--- Roll The Bones entered Billboard at #3, your highest ever.  What do you
attribute this to?

   "It comes in strongly because or audience is waiting for our record to be
released, and they all go out and buy it.  After about a month or six
weeks, we've sold the majority of our records.  Then, it's important for us
to get out on the road and support it live.  It's great to know our base is
so strong."

--- Radio seems to be a major player in your rising popularity (their
latest single, "Gost Of A Chance", hit #1 on US rock radio).

   "I'm not sure why this is.  Either our songs are more radio playable, or
else we've entered that stage where we're considered a living legend kind
of band.  We haven't made any changes in the band, and we still do the
things we've always done, and we're not a high profile act -- there's no
image to the band per se -- so maybe, grudgingly [laughs], a lot of these
radio stations are feeling sorry for us, like 'They've slugged it out all
these years, so we'll give them a break' [laughs]."

--- Your band is one of the first rock acts to utilize technology.  How,
from your point of view, has it affected Rush?

   "I think that we've always been on the leading edge of technology.
Anything new that comes out we've always been first to try to get into it,
or utilize it in the band.  For us, it goes back to a long time ago when
we thought about adding a fourth member to the band to give us texture.  But
we decided we had a couple of feet that weren't too busy, so we opted for
that.  Now, of course, with the advent of samplers, it's expanded our
ability to reproduce our records live much more accurately.  Since we've
taken some steps in the past to develop our sound utilizing keyboards, I
think it's impotant for us to be able to bring it to the fans live.  It's a
disappointment to me to see a band live and not see them do their songs as
close as possible to their record."

--- Do you feel you, as the guitarist, got lost in the technology,
especially the heavy introduction of keyboards?

   "Yeah.  Signals was a disappointing record from the aspect of my role in
the band.  We tried to bring in the keyboards to a more predominant
position, and I feel the guitar on that record suffered in some places.
With Power Windows that was difficult, too.  I'd worked out guitar parts,
but, unfortunately, when we got down to recording it they keyboards were all
done first, and they took up so much of the space that my guitar had no
room.  It was really a struggle.  With Hold Your Fire, we didn't want to
take that same route.  But, unfortunately again, the keyboards were
recorded again first due to scheduling, but this time out we were able to
eliminate some of it and whn we got to mixing it my guitar came though.
I'd made sure that I was better prepared for that record.  When we put
Presto and Roll The Bones together, espcially Roll The Bones, we knew that
the keyboards were definitely going to be in the back picture.  When we
wrote those records, we did everything on the guitar and bass, and then we
used the keyboards to enhance everything."

--- What was different in the past from now in Rush's sound?

   "Our sound was more open before, and our attitude was different too.  If
there was a solo, there wasn't a rhythm guitar under it; if there was a
keyboard part, there was never bass.  So there was a much more open feel.
You have to take into consideration the differences in the recording
techniques of the mid-70's compared to now.  Things are much more produced
now -- we look for a bigger, more lush sound now -- which in some ways we
got away from with this new record."

--- Being that you're basically a guitar / bass / drums band with keys
added, would you consider yourself a metal band?

   "It's tough to categorize us.  We've never considered ourselves a metal
band, but we were influenced a lot by the first metal bands from the '60's
and '70's, like Deep Purple and Zeppelin, of course.  Of couse now, with
bands like Guns 'n Roses, metal is the current thing."

--- You did receive the 1991 Juno for "Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Band" (and
are nominated for the '92 Junos in the same category, one they'll likely
win).

   "I'm not sure why we were on that list for the Junos.  I guess that
category was brought in to cover a certain spectrum of music, and maybe
that's where we may more closely fit in, but we're not really the type of
band that fits into any typecast criteria category.  It's also weird 'cause
we don't spend 90 percent of our time south of the border."

--- One thing I've always condered Rush to be is truly unique, and your
playing style one of a kind.  Is this a conscious effort?

   "My aim has always been to be unique.  Playing in this band, as a three
piece, my role has always been to fill in a lot of space, so I try to
structure my chords into chords which are quite broad or suspended, so that
they take up a little more room, so that's how my style developed.  There
are a lot of other guitarists who are copied all the time 'cause they're
the big thing, but I think the guitarists of the '80's and '90's have swung
into that technological way of playing, like Eddie Van Halen began.  In
most ways that's good.  There's always the argument that there's less
feeling in this, but I don't know about this."

--- Do you feel you have a large musician following?

   "Sure.  A lot of our audience are musicians.  It's rewarding to know
that you've influenced people to the point where they'd like to play lile
you play, wanting to be like you.  In those terms, it's rewarding.  But I
don't give it much thought -- it's kinda embarrassing."

--- Do you miss ripping out like you used to?

   "I figure I rip now on albums like I want to rip on them.  There's a lot
of guitar work on this album -- a lot of it was taken off our 8-track from
the writing stage and just flown in.  Two of the solos, from 'Ghost Of A
Chance' and 'Bravado', are among my top all time favourite solos I've ever
done on all our recoreds, and they were just done on one take on the
8-track.  There's a spontaneity and feel to them that, even if I could
play them 10 times over, it wouldn't have mattered.  Stuff like this I feel
really good about.  I don't feel I have to show off.  I can't possibly
compete with these guys who are 100 times faster than me.  It makes no
sense.  There's a great joke here -- 'How many guys does it take to screw
in a lightbulb?  Six: one to screw in the light bulb and five others
watching saying, 'I can do that.'  It's so true -- most guitarists are like
that."

---  Live your guitar sounds just like in the studio.

   "That's part of being spoiled by recording alot.  In the studio, you get
to play with everything, and it's right here.  So live I try to capture the
way I sound in the studio though the use of effects.  I've developed my
sound so that live it's quite similar to what's on the record."

--- Because you're respected musicians, you seem to attract mostly guys to
your shows.

   "Our audience is mostly male, and 99 percent of the girls in the audience
were forced into going there because their boyfriend dragged them along.
With Presto, there was a larger female audience, and this was something
very strange to us.  Maybe it was the amount of airplay we got.  Maybe
we'll get the same with this record.  We're not an appealing band to look at
-- we're all older guys.  We're not cute.  But because the emphasis has
always been on the music for us, I would guess that most of the female
audience that comes to see us is mostly because of the music."

--- How fanatic are your fans?

   "Very!  We often read mail from people who are very keen and into the
music and lyrics, and the there's a whole other faction who think that we
wrote every song for them, and that's unfortunate [laughs] -- 'Hey, buddy,
get a life!  It's only a song and music.'  It's very strange.  There's a
surprising number of crazy people."

--- Maybe they analyse your lyrics so much because you, Geddy, and Neil
come off as very mysterious to many people 'cause little is known about
your private life?

   "We try to be very private -- we cherish it.  When we're on the road and
someone is in the hotel lobby and they want an autograph, or to talk to
you, I'll take the time.  But, at home, it's a different world.  We're very
protective about our privacy, unless you want to live that rock n' roll
lifestyle.  We don't hang out at clubs -- we're not into posing [laughs] --
were never much wilder than now, but you can bounce back from that.  It's a
different would for us now.  Music has always been the important factor for
us -- it's not the fact that we're in a large band, or that we want to be
'rock stars'.  It's always been the music that has fed us all these years.
We take this very seiously, and sometimes I feel the band has the image of
being super serious.  But we're not -- I mean, we spend 80 percent of our
time together laughing, joking, and goofing around, like most people.  But
when it comes to our writing, recording, producing, and staging we take
that very, very seriously.  We set a standard for ourselves and we try to
live up to that.  Everything outside of that is off limits.

   "We're not darlings of the industry either for this.  We're not easy to
get along with.  We don't go out and do things for the press, or to pose --
we're very low profile.  It's more attactive to the industry to have a band
or artist with a more high profile."

--- Since you're famous you must get to meet your heroes, especially other
guitarists?

   "I don't like meeting the people who influenced me as a guitarist 'cause
sometimes they're really nice, but, other times, they're not, and it
shatters my image of what I though they were.  Sometimes, it's better not
to meet people who you look up to in that respect.  I've had my times too
where I was rude and felt really bad about it.  On the Hold Your Fire tour,
I was at a club, and I'd drunk too much, and I started insulting a guy who
was really into the band, and really respected me.  The next day I felt bad
-- so much so that I phoned and left an apologetic message for him.  To
this day, its huanted me, 'cuase I think of houw I shattered his image of
me or us.  I'm sure he went, 'Fuck them,' after that.  I'm not a rude
person, but this night I was.  I've never done that before, or since.  I
was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and the alcohol took over."

--- Let's get to another topic that is interesting with your band, and
that's videos.  You began at a time when video wasn't used for marketing
a band.  How do you feel about the now?

   "Your videos have almost always been performance orientated.  It's a
difficult thing, to be honest with you, and, this is a personal opinion, I
don't like them.  I don't like doing them, or the idea of them.  I find
them annoying.  I don't like what video has done to music, and what it's
done to the whole industry.  It's suffocated so many bands that have
talent.  You have to do them now -- record companies rely of them to do
most of their advertising.  For many, it costs hundreds of thousands of
dollars to do a video, and if someone at Much or MTV finds it not to their
liking, then they can prevent it from being played, which means your money
and time is down the drain.  I don't like it at all."

--- Is it fair to say that Rush 'made it' the old fashioned way?

   "Yeah [laughs].  We had to benefit of playing on three or four act
shows, getting 20-minutes to show our stuff, and then come back and getting
a better spot for more time, until we moved up to headline status.  We also
grew from doing clubs to 3,500 seat halls, to 7,000 seat halls, to 15,000
plus arenas.  We were able to devlop slowly and steadily, which really
doesn't exist nowadays.  The bills going out have to be monster, or else
people would rather sit at home and watch a video.  A lot of these bands
that open up shows, like Skid Row, are opening acts despite selling
millions of records.  I mean, we opened up shows in order to sell records
-- that's how we got our sales.  And that kind of fertile ground doesn't
exist for young bands, and that has a lot to do with video.  You get a band
with very little talent or interest in the way of music, but they look good
and they get a good video director and budget, and girls with big tits, and
they're going to be big stars.  Where's the justice in that?"

--- Would you ever want to return to your roots and play again in a club?

   "No, not particularly.  I know everyone says, 'I'd like to get back to
my roots,' but my memories were that the roots wer tough [laughs].  Now
everyting is very organized, and there's more to chew on at a Rush show now,
and, I think, it matched the music better.   I don't think I'd want to
return to a small show...maybe once, but it's not an overwhelming desire."

--- Rock bands from Canada are now getting record deals, some based in the
US.  How do you feel about the chances for a Canadian rock act today?

   "They may be getting record deals now, but where they go from there is a
tough one.  Canada's a small country and it really doesn't get behind its
artists, so the US is important.  For six years, we played clubs and we
released our first records independently, and we had really good local
success from it, but we would have gotten nowhere if we hadn't gotten
recognition in the US.  Once we got that the whole perception by our
country on the band changed -- suddenly we were big international stars.
Some good opportunities and luck came our way.  We were 'discovered' by our
first record being sent down to a US radio station, where we got big phone
ins, so the DJ turned it on to a US company, and, within days, we had a US
deal and an American tour.  And when this door came open, we took
advantage of it and worked very hard.  It's a very, very tough border to
cross, but you have to get support from that market."

--- So, what can you, as a successful veteran of this business, tell a young
act today trying to 'make it'?

   "All you can do is persevere, hone your skills, and go for it and try.
And maybe with a lucky break, and with someone who's willing to put a lot
of time and effort into your band to get you known, and get a good deal, you
may get a chance.  It's not easy."