Neil Peart guest on Vertical Horizon's "Echoes From The Underground"

As previously announced, Vertical Horizon's new album Echoes From The Underground was released October 8th.  Vertical Horizon's Matt Scannel's good friend Neil Peart performs on two tracks: "Instamatic" and "South For The Winter".  Last week Billboard.com posted an exclusive video of Neil Peart laying down the drum track for the song "Instamatic".  On recording with Neil, Matt said:

"It was an absolute blast to record. Neil's drum performance is simply stellar. Lyrically, it's just your average spy thriller/espionage/blackmail/love song.” - Matt Scannell, Billboard.com, October 2, 2013

UPDATE October 15: On Friday, Scanell spoke to the Worcester Telegram and Gazette about the new album:

"'Instamatic' is one of my absolute favorite drum tracks of all time and it's on my new record… I hear elements of all the different stages of (Peart's) career from 'Clockwork Angels,' all the way back to 'Hemisphere' and beyond," Scannell said. "It's an incredible moment for Neil as a performer. It is shocking. He is on fire on this song …"

Peart also contributes to the somber and introspective "South for the Winter," despite some initial reservations. "Are you sure you want me to play on 'South for the Winter'? It's so not what I normally do. I don't know what I'll bring to that song." Scannell recalled Peart saying. "And I said, 'Well, that's exactly why I want you to play on it, because I don't know where it will go but we'll go somewhere beautiful.'"

It was originally written for the troops overseas, but Scannell shifted the focus on "Song for Someone" to include everyone, including soldiers' respective wives, husbands, families, friends and neighbors back home.

"There's a Plato quote that actually Neil Peart told me about, 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle,' and it sort of shook me because it's so true," Scannell explained. "We do need more compassion and more kindness towards each other. So that song really was written with that in mind."

Neil also appeared on Vertical Horizon's last album, Burning The Days, performing on the tracks "Welcome To The Bottom", "Save Me From Myself" and "Even Now".

Richard Chycki on recording Dream Theater, Rush and Jagger - Musicradar.com

Musicradar has posted a new interview with producer Richard Chycki, where he tells of working with Dream Theater, Rush and Jagger.  Of Rush he says:

“I got a call from Rush’s management in 2004 when they were doing a charity event in Canada. I was asked to do the recording and mixing for the TV broadcast. We had a lot of chemistry. They’re all really funny guys. We spent the time just laughing our faces off.

"A few months later, Al Lifeson asked me to mix their new R30 DVD. In the nine years since then, we’ve had 26 platinum and gold sales awards for all of the DVDs and albums we’ve done. Their main mantra at this point is to continue putting out music for their fans – they have done everything.

“The first time I really got to know Neil [Peart] was on Snakes And Arrows. He was warming up on his kit and I was setting up microphones. When the kit is so large I measure the distance of microphones to drums with a tape measure so that we have the best phase coherence that we can have, because we have so many open mics around the kit. Neil was doing these press rolls on his snare, and I was literally putting the tape measure down on his snare as he was playing. He was looking at me like, ‘What are you doing?!’

“With those guys, if they hear something they like, they say, ‘That’s great – let's go.’ They can be hands on, but a lot of the time it is hands off because they will hear what they want and say, ‘Let's just record.’”

Vapor Trails Remixed opens at #35 on the Billboard Top 200

Vapor Trails Remixed landed on the Billboard Top 200 chart at #35.  It also debuted at #3 on Billboard's Hard Rock Albums chart, as well as #9 on both Billboard's Top Rock Albums and Tastemaker Albums charts. - Thanks to Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

When it was originally released, Vapor Trails opened at #6 and spent five weeks on the Billboard Top 100.

Vapor Trails Remixed was released September 30th, and is available on CD, Vinyl, iTunes and The Studio Albums 1989-2007.

For related news, be sure to check out:

• Lifeson: Vapor Trails Is An Important Record - Our Return After A Horrible Nightmare - ClassicRockMagazine.com, September 18, 2013
• Rush - The Studio Albums 1989-2007 - Mastered by Andy VanDette - TheMasterdiskRecord, October 1, 2013
• David Bottrill on Rush's "Vapor Trails Remixed" - Popdose.com, October 7, 2013

Geddy Lee will appear on VH1's "On Tap" Tonight

Tonight Geddy Lee will appear on VH1's "On Tap" with Nik Carter.  On Tap is a syndicated radio show, click here for a list of stations that carry it. - Thanks to John @ Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

David Bottrill on Rush’s “Vapor Trails Remixed” - Popdose.com

In a new interview with Popdose.com, producer David Botrill weighs in on Vapor Trails Remixed, now available CD, Vinyl, iTunes and The Studio Albums 1989-2007.

"When I approach any mix, I will reference any rough or previous mix lightly, to find balance or tones that the client might like. But in this case, I was aware that the band weren’t happy with the final mixes they had, so I just approached it fresh with little referencing to the originals. My philosophy was that they didn’t like what they had, so I would just work with the material they gave me and do what I thought would work best for each song. The first mix took the longest to complete, but that was only a couple of days. Once we were into the groove, the band usually only had little tweaks or suggestions and went mostly with what I presented them with.  There was very little direction prior to starting. I did a test mix for them as did some other engineers and producers. They liked most of them, but I think that they had wanted to try to work with me for some time, so perhaps that swayed their opinion towards my mix as opposed to others. Andy Curran, who works with the band, is also a friend of mine and I think he was pulling for me to do the remix as well — and this may have had an influence.  Nothing new was added. The band weren’t present for the mixes as they were mostly on tour, so there would have been no opportunity to do any further recording."

Regarding the "new" guitar solo heard in Ceiling Unlimited:

"It sounded good to me. As I said, I just worked with the material they gave me. I didn’t really check the originals to see what they used or didn’t use. I liked that solo and put it in. I don’t think many people have complained about that one so far. When a record is made, often times there are things that are recorded that are left out of the final mix. I had no attachment to the older mixes or what was left in or out. I just put in all the mixes what I thought worked the best. I don’t think I left much out from the tracks they gave me. There was no really grand plan for the mixes. I just tried to make the songs all shine as much as I could. There was some talk in the fan press that the tracks were distorted in the recording process or that there have been new recordings done. Neither is true. The source recordings are top quality and we didn’t add anything new from those early recordings."

  - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Geddy Lee Dives Into Rush's Video Timeline - RollingStone.com

Yesterday RollingStone.com posted a new interview "Geddy Lee Dives Into Rush's Video Timeline", where Geddy gives his thoughts on ' 2112,' the Hall of Fame jam and bad haircuts.  You can check it out here.

Alex Lifeson on God, police brutality and more in Classic Rock, November

The November issue of Classic Rock magazine includes a one page interview with Alex Lifeson in the Heavy Load ongoing feature. The interview has the subtitle "Alex Lifeson on God, police brutality and 'disco biscuits'". You can read the full feature here. - Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

Andy VanDette Discusses Mastering "RUSH – The Studio Albums 1989-2007"

Today TheMasterdiskRecord.com posted a short Q&A with remastering engineer Andy VanDette.  Andy discusses remastering the Atlantic catalog, as well as his thoughts on the original Vapor Trails mixes.

“Vapor Trails. I remember hearing it before it came out, and thinking 'Wow, I guess this is why I will never work with Rush.' The snare and vocal were so overshadowed by low end....I see why they had a hard time remastering the original mixes. So much of their energy is in the bottom octave 20-40Hz. You can roll it off, but so much of the mixes’ punch came from that. It was just mixed that way. The David Bottrill remixes are very well balanced and musical."

You can read the entire Q&A here. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Hemispheres SACD from AudioFidelity Now Available

The AudioFidelity SACD (Super Audio CD) gold disk edition of Rush's Hemispheres has finally been released, hitting store shelves on October 1, 2013.

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, this is a limited edition release, so order now!

This is AudioFidelity's second Rush SACD release.  Counterparts was released on March 3rd of this year.

New Alex Lifeson TV spot for the Kidney Foundation of Canada

Alex Lifeson appears in a new TV commercial for the Kidney Foundation of Canada, talking about the need to get screened for kidney disease if you are at risk.  Check it out here. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

Vapor Trails Remixed Now Available

Originally scheduled for release October 1st, Vapor Trails Remixed is now available today, September 30th.   Vapor Trails Remixed is available on CD, Vinyl, iTunes and as part of Rush: The Studio Albums 1989-2007 (which contains remastered versions of the rest of the Atlantic Rush catalog). 

Alex Lifeson was recently interviewed by Classic Rock Magazine, where he discussed Vapor Trails Remixed, and explained the problems with the original release.

"The original mastering was the problem. It was poorly done. At the time we should have remastered. It bothered us forever – particularly Geddy, who had the task of remastering of the original album and feels responsible for it. It irked him for many years. The original version is hard on your ears, because the mastering was pushed so hard, there’s distortion and so much compression – I found it very difficult to listen to it...There was so much invested in that record and it just didn’t sit with us that we had this blemish on our recording history. We wanted to rectify that. I’d like to remix every record we did – maybe update some parts. But that’s crazy, you know? You don’t do that – records are moments in time, markers of these different periods of progression and growth. But this one was a very important record – our return after a horrible nightmare. And it deserved better...To me [Vapor Trails Remixed] sounds so good. It’s blossomed. It’s a really great Rush record – some great playing and great ideas. And now that it all knits together in a much more complete way, it feels right.  It’s much more pleasurable to listen to. Now, everything’s open, you can hear everything, and everything has its place. It’s so well-balanced. There’s a sort of creaminess and a smoothness to the sound of it. It’s so much more dynamic. Before, everything was just balls to the wall. Now it breathes." - Alex Lifeson, ClassicRockMagazine.com,  September 18, 2013

Also released today is Rush: The Studio Albums 1989-2007.  This 7-disc boxed set features every studio album Rush recorded for Atlantic Records presented in a wallet sleeve that faithfully reproduces the original artwork (except for Vapor Trails Remixed, which features a reinterpreted version of the original cover). Those that passed on the Atlantic Remasters when they were released in 2004 may be interested in knowing that The Studio Albums 1989-2007 box contains new CD versions of the six Atlantic albums newly remastered by Masterdisk's Chief Mastering Engineer, Andy VanDette, released last May digitally only on iTunes and HDTracks.  This boxed set is Atlantic's complement to the Sectors boxed sets, which were also remastered by VanDette in 2011.

Related Links

• Vapor Trails Remaster/Remix News Archive
• Lifeson: Vapor Trails Is An Important Record - Our Return After A Horrible Nightmare - ClassicRockMagazine.com, September 18, 2013
• Masterdisk Chief Engineer Andy VanDette On Remastering Rush for iTunes

Rush Remix Their Polarizing Album 'Vapor Trails' - Premiere

Rollingstone.com has just posted a streaming link to hear Vapor Trails Remixed now!  The link also includes Geddy's comments about Vapor Trails from Monday's story:

"It's a terrible feeling that, due to lack of objectivity, you let an imperfect piece of work get out there. But the songs are very strong and people really responded to the record and people were welcoming us back. The sonic defects of it got lost in the excitement of the band's return to functionality. It's always been a bee in my bonnet."

Acoustic Tom Sawyer Heard On "Revolution"

In the opening scene of tonight's season premier of NBC's Revolution, a man performs an acoustic guitar rendition of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", followed by Rush's "Tom Sawyer" in a bar.  Here is a video clip of the performance; the episode will eventually be online at NBC.com soon. - Thanks to Jeff Lucas for the heasdsup and John Patuto at Cygnus-X1.net for the video clip!

Rush Included in New Kiss Book "Nothin' To Lose"

Released September 10th, Nothin' to Lose: The Making of KISS (1972-1975) chronicles, for the first time, the crucial formative years of the legendary rock band KISS, culminating with the groundbreaking success of their classic 1975 album Alive! and the smash single "Rock and Roll All Nite," a song that nearly four decades later remains one of rock's most enduring anthems.

Drawing from over 200 interviews, among those included are new interviews with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, as well as Rush crew members Howard Ungerleider and Skip Gildersleeve, on touring with KISS in '74-'75.  Chapter 26, titled "Heavy Metal Masters", focuses on this touring period, and even includes quotes from KISS' roadcrew on how well they got along with Rush (you can read the pages here using the Read Instantly function).

Click here to purchase. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

"Geddy Lee On Finally Taking a Break From the Road" - RollingStone.com

In a new interview with RollingStone.com, Geddy discusses the Clockwork Angels Tour dvd, their future plans, and Vapor Trails Remixed.

Again he confirms there will be no 2014 tour, saying "There's nothing wrong with celebrating 42 years." He also discusses the upcoming live video "...this tour, we didn't make any plans originally to record it, but then after we saw that our work was paying off and we were so proud of the show, we thought, 'Okay, we have to record this.' We had a second leg planned in the new year, and at the time we didn't know whether we would change songs or not. The feeling was, 'Life is too unpredictable. Let's not record it next year. Let's record it now because at least we know what the show is.' So we quickly found a venue that was appropriate, or really a couple of venues, and that's how we did it."

Geddy also talks about health issues over the last two tours including "Well, I've been lucky. I've never gotten a voice polyp. I've never gotten nodes. But I do get sick, usually every tour, and to varying degrees. Sometimes it's a sinusitis. In the previous tour, I had a really bad strep throat. And I had to do a gig that night in Hamilton, Ontario. I did it and I woke up the next day and my ear was so infected, the whole thing had gone into my ear. I had to fly to Montreal. This is kind of gross, but I had to go to a doctor and he had to puncture my ear. This was on the day of a show. I did the show, and I spent the next three days in absolute hell. I got through the show, but it was a nightmare. My worst memory ever on tour."

Rush Mentioned On The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Rush has been popping up recently in regards to Ron Howard's new movie Rush.  Besides this brief Huffington Post item yesterday, "Is This A Line From 'Rush' Or A Lyric From Rush?", during his monologue on the Late Late Show last night, Craig Ferguson also brought up the film.  Craig said he was disappointed that the new film Rush was not about the band, or as he puts it..."You know that Canadian Progressive Jazz Pop Rock Power Trio or whatever". He then went on to compliment them on how fast they move their fingers..."And then they pick up their Instruments".  You can watch the monologue here, the Rush mention begins after the 1:40 mark. - Thanks to Andrew Weiss for the headsup!

Neil Peart Update: “Drummer With a Singletrack Mind" - September 2013

Back in June, during that month's edition of "News Weather & Sports" ("Shunpikers in the Shadowlands"), Neil Peart wrote "“Drummer With a Singletrack Mind” will appear in this department shortly after its print debut."  That time has come, as tonight Neil has updated his website with the expanded edition of  "Drummer With a Singletrack Mind", adding:

"This story was written during our Clockwork Angels European tour in May, 2013, for a British motorcycling weekly. They asked for about 700 words and a photo or two, and I gave them 1,700 words, and eight photos. They said they would run it like that, but took a few liberties...So I decided to present it here in its original form, which would also fill a gap in the tour’s documentation, before the 'Shunpikers in the Shadowlands' story about Continental Europe."

Another great read from the Professor, you can check it out here!

Longtime Rush Roadie Skip Gildersleeve Passes Away at 57

Skip Gildersleeve (Slider) and
Tony Geranios (Jack Secret) in 2012

On Wednesday the Rush world learned of the tragic loss of long time roadie and bass tech Russell "Skip" Gildersleeve.  Skip joined the Rush roadcrew in 1975 for the Caress of Steel tour, after meeting the band at their appearance at Detoit's Michigan Palace on the Fly By Night tour.  Nicknamed "Slider" by the band, Skip was a member of the road crew for 22 years, through the Test For Echo tour.

Skip is forever immortalized on the All The World's A Stage and Different Stages: Hammersmith Odeon live recordings; it is Skip who you hear saying "Oh won't you please welcome home, RUSH!"  Our thoughts go with his friends and family.

“The news of Russell ‘Skip’ Gildersleeve's passing is shocking and very, very sad. He was one of our original crew members from the mid-70s and we all have many great memories of his friendship, his sense of humour and his association with us over all those years. Our hearts and thoughts go out to his family and close friends. He will be missed.” - Geddy, Alex and Neil, Rush.com, September 19, 2013

Robert Scovill, who served as Rush's sound engineer in the 90's and served on the road crew Skip, posted a touching eulogy for his friend which you can read here.

"Skip was also a very caring and giving guy and his way of showing it was often times seen through his sense of humor and his willingness to play practical jokes and “punk” his tour mates, friends and family. He was Ashton Kutcher way before it was fashionable to be such. I’ve bore witness to many samples of his work and they will remain hidden away with me as cherished possessions, available to be pulled out to make me giggle and smile upon reflection, until my time comes to exit this planet.  Skip had a devious but infectious laugh that was perfectly coupled with his diminutive stature, always framed with a witty cool tee shirt and transported around by feet that displayed the largest and most varied collection of Converse tennis shoes one could ever imagine...Skip Gildersleeve, my touring brother, the man with the huge name and the small frame passed away quietly on September 17th 2013."  Robert Scovill, splnetwork.com, September 19, 2013

"How Morse Code has made its mark in music" - Grand Junction Post Indepent

"YYZ", or should I say "- . - -   - . - -   - - . .", is mentioned in today's Post Independent story, "How Morse Code has made its mark in music". - Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

ESPN's Monday Night Football Commercial Featuring Rush's "Tom Sawyer"

I've been hearing about it all week, and here it is!  ESPN's Monday Night Football commercial for this Monday's game where the Oakland Raiders face off against the Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos is now online.  The commercial features Rush's "Tom Sawyer".