HomeAlex Lifeson Interview on Planet Rock
"Planet Rock spoke to Alex Lifeson in the studio where he and his Rush bandmates are currently recording their brand new studio album, Clockwork Angels. In the interview he reveals that the band are aiming to release their new album in the spring and they are hoping to tour in the summer, with European dates almost a certainty. He also reveals that the band are looking at perhaps doing some festival shows in 2013. The guitarist also gives an insight into how the new album will sound, revealing that the songs are starting to take an epic shape." Click here to hear the interview.
Andrew MacNaughtan's "Grace, Africa In Photographs"
The book, which can be purchased here (available in Canada only), includes commentary on the photos given by over 30 artists including Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. For more information visit 49st.com and artgiveshope.ca.
On November 16th, Andrew appeared on Canada's The Morning Show to discuss the book; you can watch the video here.
Related News
- Rock Photographer MacNaughtan's Art Book of Africa To Result In 500 Child Sponsors - SamaritanMag.com, November 17, 2011
Rolling Stone: "Rush Roar Back Into the Limelight With New LP"
Rush spent the past two years looking back - performing their 1981 classic Moving Pictures in its entirety. But at the same time, the Canadian prog heroes started cranking on thier 20th LP, Clockwork Angels. "We're almost finished writing," says frontman Geddy Lee. "Hopefully we'll have all of the recording done before Christmas."
Last year, Rush tested the waters, releasing two tracks from the album the Metallica-ish riff monsters "Caravan" and "BU2B" - and playing them on tour. "We figured we had nothing to lose," says Lee. "It was a lot of fun for the fans, and fun for us." The disc is shaping up to be the trio's heaviest in decades. Says Lee, "The two tracks we released point in the direction we're going."
Rush haven't scored a Top 40 hit since 1982's "New World Man," but they've maintained one of rock's biggest cult audiences. And last year's acclaimed documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage helped make them more popular than ever. "We feel invigorated," says Lee. "I think we've come to a point in our lives where we're playing the best we've ever played as a live band.
"You don't know how long that's going to go," he adds. "Rock & roll does have its limits as far as the aging process. You want to go out there and play while you're at your peak." - Andy Green- Thanks to Paul Pierson for the headsup, Ed at RushIsABand for the transcript, and RushFanForever for the scan!
"Celebrating Buck O'Neil's 100th" - Geddy Lee's Baseball Collection Mention
Here is the online version of the newspaper insert. If you click on the link "The Negro Leagues," you then have the option to visit "Five can’t-miss exhibits at NLBM". The fourth item listed is "4. Ty Cobb autographed baseball and more", which includes the following:
"Two cases each contain 200 signed Negro Leagues baseballs. All 400 baseballs were donated by Geddy Lee, the lead singer and bass guitarist from the rock group Rush. Lee is a huge baseball fan and sports memorabilia collector. Lee, who had visited the museum while stopping in Kansas City, bid on those signed baseballs at auctions for the express purpose of donating them to the museum. 'The great thing about this is you have guys who are Hall of Famers, like Cool Papa Bell ... Judy Johnson, Leon Day ... to guys who were cup of coffee guys, but they’re all important, because they're part of the story,' Kendrick said. 'You have guys like country singer Charley Pride, who a lot of people don’t know played in the Negro Leagues. You have the three women who played in the Negro Leagues - Toni Stone, Connie Morgan and Mamie Peanut Johnson...'"- Thanks To Scott McBean for the headsup!
Rush's Neil Peart takes a ride in his Ohio time machine: Exclusive
Neil Peart has written an exclusive article for Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper in support of this week's release of Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland. You can read the full article here.
Grapes For Humanity Charity - Update
The Grapes For Humanity Auction has come to a close. Check out this message from Geddy!
I would like to take a moment to thank all those fans and friends who participated in the GRAPES UNDER PRESSURE eBay auction to benefit GRAPES FOR HUMANITY CANADA. With your help we managed to raise over $50,000 dollars! When combined with monies raised in our other G.U.P. events we will be able to significantly improve the lives of disadvantaged and injured people around the globe and more immediately will aid THE HALO TRUST in establishing a pilot project in Savannakhet Province, Laos, to address the urgent problem of casualties caused by cluster bombs.
Alex, Neil, myself and the entire G.U.P. Team, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
~Geddy
Alex Lifeson to perform at 7th Annual Andy Kim Christmas Concert
Alex Lifeson will be one of the featured musicians at the 7th annual
Andy Kim Christmas Show in Toronto next month. The event happens
Wednesday, December 14 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. Lifeson joins
the list of first performers confirmed for the benefit, including Kevin
Drew and Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene, members of Finger
Eleven and Ron Sexsmith. Montreal-born Kim has sold more than 33
million albums and is the man behind such massive hits as “Sugar Sugar”
(The Archies) and “Rock Me Gently.” To date, the annual event has
raised more than $60,000 for select charities. - Andy Kim Music,
November 8, 2011 - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!
Guitar Aficionado Winter 2011
Win A Sectors Press Sheet from Consequence of Sound
To commemorate the release of Rush's Sectors boxed sets, Consequence of Sound is giving away a limited edition print featuring the album covers of Caress of Steel, Exit…Stage Left, and A Show of Hands straight from the printer. For a chance to win, visit ConsequenceOfSound.net.
Alex Lifeson on Humble And Fred Radio Podcast
Win An Autographed "Moving Pictures" Lithograph
Roadrunner Records' Mastadon and Machine Head discuss Rush Influence
With the release of Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland just around the corner, Roadrunner Records recently caught up with Mastadon's Troy and Brann and Machine Head's Robb Flynn to discuss how Rush influenced them as individuals and the impact they have had on their careers. Click here for more. - Thanks to Frank Ray for the headsup!
"Rush Over Brooklyn" Samples "Tom Sawyer"
A Brush Of Hope 2011 - Lifeson's Painting Sells for $7,000
"Neil Peart talks about Taking Center Stage"
Hudson Music has posted a new video "Neil Peart talks about 'Taking Center Stage'"; check it out here.MusicRadar.com has posted "Neil Peart talks the inspiration behind Taking Center Stage" - October 26, 2011
In addition, Rhythm Magazine is giving away a 14" Remo Time Machine drum head and three copies of Neil Peart's new DVD Taking Center Stage, all signed by Neil Peart himself. For a chance to win visit MusicRadar.com.
Neil Peart's third instructional video, Taking Center Stage: A Lifetime of Live Performance, was released October 14th and is available here.
- Over 6 hours of footage
- Neil’s personal drum rehearsals
- Set-up and soundcheck footage
- Backstage interview as Neil warms up for a Rush concert
- Detailed discussion of classic Rush drum parts, with slow-motion, drums-only demonstrations and e-Book with transcriptions
- Live, drum-camera performances of every song on the Time Machine tour
- One-hour interview, explanation, and demonstration of new Rush song, “Caravan”
Neil Peart first announced the video in the February edition of "News Weather and Sports". Click here for the official press release from Hudson Music.
Check out takingcenterstage.net, for the preview trailer, the videos "Choosing The Setlist" and "Time Stand Still", as well as "The Making of Taking Center Stage" written by Hudson Music's lead editor and co-producer of Taking Center Stage, Joe Bergamini.
Filmed in various locations over the course of a year, Neil Peart takes you on a behind-the-scenes look at Rush's 2010-11 Time Machine tour. This includes rare and exclusive footage of Neil's personal pre-tour rehearsals and backstage events at a Rush concert (including a visit to the soundcheck, and an unprecedented backstage interview as Neil warms up for the show). Neil also presents a detailed look at every single song in the tour's set list. Each song features analysis and demonstrations by Neil, which are coupled with a detailed PDF eBook containing transcription of his parts. At the end of each song discussion, the viewer is transported onstage to a Rush concert to see the actual live performance of the song from the perspective of the drum cameras only. 6 hours, 40 minutes."
"The theme for our next collaboration seemed obvious: live performance, preparing for it and surviving it. In early 2010 we began collecting material...In April, 2010, the Hudson Music crew joined me at Drum Channel in Oxnard, California, and filmed several days of my rehearsals for the Time Machine tour. In July they filmed an entire Rush show, in Saratoga Springs, New York, with supplementary 'drum-cams' on me. They also captured the soundcheck and pre-show warmup, when I did a bit of talking to the camera, as I had during the Drum Channel filming in April. However, we would need to shoot some more 'talkie bits' to go before each of the songs from the live show, explaining about special problems or challenges in a particular song, and technical highlights. So, I thought, why not go somewhere really nice to shoot those?...I suggested Death Valley. Being the driest place in North America, averaging less than two inches of rain a year-and sometimes none-the chances of clear weather were good." - Neil Peart, NeilPeart.net, February 4, 2011
Rolling Stone: "Geddy Lee Says New Album Will Be Ready By Early 2012"
RollingStone.com has posted a new interview, "Rush's Geddy Lee Says New Album Will Be Ready By Early 2012". Geddy talks about the Time Machine tour, choosing a setlist to satisfy 'mainstream fans' versus 'core fans', the possibility of performing another album all the way through on tour, mainstream awareness and more. He also answers one question many fans have asked, regarding changing the setlist from night to night:"...it's a three-hour show, and it's really hard to remember as it is. There were a couple of tours where we did multiple days and we would switch off. I think we had three or four songs we were switching from night to night. And it kind of wreaks havoc from show to show, because so much of the lighting rig and choreography and films and everything are computer programmed. It definitely keeps everyone on their toes to switch up from night to night. For us, the amount of work that goes into one of our shows is kind of challenging enough without making it even harder on us."Regarding the status of Clockwork Angels, he said:
"We're almost finished writing. We wound the machine back up about three weeks ago. After a sluggish start, we've had a very fruitful couple of weeks in terms of writing. I'm very pleased with the direction that the material has taken. And I think we have one or two more songs that we'd like to write, and then we'll start recording in earnest. Hopefully we'll have all of the recording done before Christmas. Then we'll mix it some time in the next year, and then get it out...I hope it'll be out by the spring anyway."
Lullaby Versions Of Rush
Lullaby Versions of Rush holds 11 tracks of blissfully sleepy renditions of Rush. What's that you say? "The Spirit of Radio fills me with adrenaline, how can it put me to sleep?" Trust me, these tracks are dripping with snooze. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!
Tracklist: The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, Closer To The Heart, Freewill, Limelight, Working Man, Fly By Night, The Trees, Red Barchetta, Subdivisions, YYZFor other Rush cover albums, check here.
Five Albums That Changed My Life: Matthew Rudzinski of Killwhitneydead
"Think back to 1981 when MTV was in its infantile stages and seemed to be starved for content to broadcast. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure almost every song from Rush's 'Exit Stage Left' concert video were extracted and a different song was played every hour. Being 9-years-old at the time and seeing three guys play the likes of 'Red Barchetta (one of my favorite songs of all time), 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Limelight' on my television hourly instantly catapulted them to the status of "Godlike" in my eyes. This is possibly the most perfect album in my collection. Sonically, lyrically and thematically 'Moving Pictures' had it all for a 9 year old kid seeking guidance in the world and now at age 39 it remains, in my opinion, one of the best albums ever released." - Matthew Rudzinski, Noiscreep.com, October 28, 2011 Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!
Geddy Lee Options Dave Bidini's Baseballissimo
"Geddy Lee, lead singer of Rush, has optioned the film and TV rights to Dave Bidini's Baseballissimo. Published in 2005 by McClelland & Stewart, Baseballissimo is the writer's story of his travels to the small town of Nettuno, the baseball capital of Italy since 1944." - Quill & Quire, June 24, 2010 - Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!Update #1: "'Goon' co-writer and star Jay Baruchel is warming up to co-script sports comedy 'Baseballissimo' with writing partner Jesse Chabot." - Variety.com, September 11, 2011
Update #2: "Jay Baruchel and his writing partner Jesse are working the script now. They’ll have the script delivered to us by Christmas. It’s great. We’ve had tons of interest in terms of getting the film made without actually having a working script. So it looks really positive. Those guys did a 10 page treatment of the film and I feel like they really get it. And Geddy [Lee, as in, of Rush, who is connected to the film] has run a band for 25 years, so he’s a natural producer. He’s a great communicator, and he’s great at gathering people together. We’re hoping for TIFF in 2013, which probably means shooting around the end of next fall. When Baseballissimo came out, it wasn’t that well promoted, but the people who liked the book really liked the book. It’s so neat that it’s had this second life 12 years after it came out. It just goes to show that if you have a good story and you believe in a good story, you never know where it’s going to lead." - Dave Bidini, Aux.tv, October 27, 2011
Macrographs - Fine Art Digital Paintings Inspired by Rush
Graham has recently completed his latest masterpiece based on Rush's "Red Barchetta", featuring the Ferrari 166MM Barchetta in its final resting place, available in a limited edition of 200 prints. For more information, visit Macrographs.com.Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!"I wanted to paint the car not during the chase but after, in it's quiet, rural setting. This painting is about the heady smell of old oil and dust and leather and the memory of the chase in the droning lazy scent of a late country afternoon, a brief snapshot of a calm place between the lyrics. I can hear muted water running in the kitchen somewhere off to the left and the comforting chime of unintelligible words as somebody washes up for dinner, full of excitement and spent adrenaline and tales to be told." - Graham Whieldon, Macrographs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)