Producer NICK RASKULINECZ On Working With RUSH: 'Sometimes I Still Can't Believe It Happened'

Thanks to Blabbermouth.net for posting:

During a recent appearance on the "Tape Op Podcast", producer Nick Raskulinecz discussed his work on the final two RUSH albums, 2007's "Snakes & Arrows" and 2012's "Clockwork Angels".  "Sometimes I still can't believe it happened," Nick said. "We made two records together, and the first one was… it did great for them. I kind of feel they were looking for somebody to inject some energy back into them and what they were doing and tell them that it was okay to be themselves. I felt like they were looking for a direction at that point in their careers. I mean, they'd made so many records. And they had just gotten back together after Neil's [Peart, drums] hiatus and made a record [2002's 'Vapor Trails'] that was a little — it was too heavy and disjointed, and it didn't really sound like RUSH that much. And I liked it, but I didn't love it. And we got together, I was just kind of, like, 'No. More fills. And classic fills.' 'Cause as a lifelong RUSH fan, I knew what I wanted to hear. So I just kind of tried to guide them into what... I feel like the first record we made was their kind of mid-'80s, early-'90s... we kind of touched on that era of RUSH. And then the last record we made was total '70s, very early '80s-style RUSH. There's a song on there called 'Headlong Flight' that's almost nine minutes long; it has a drum solo in the middle."

For the full story including the audio interview click here.

The Making of Farewell To Kings: The Graphic Novel from Fantoons Now Available

Fantoons' The Making of Farewell To Kings: The Graphic Novel is now available.  This 144pg official RUSH graphic novel chronicling the making of the band’s classic album, hits stores today, September 10th.  Order now.

“We worked incredibly hard to create a graphic novel that celebrates the music of RUSH, and the creation of the album of ‘A Farewell to Kings’ as a work of art” says Fantoons LA-based creative director, David Calcano. “We think this book will be something for comics and music fans alike to cherish.”

This epic, fully authorized graphic novel chronicles the birth of RUSH’s classic album A Farewell to Kings. Relive the production trials and triumphs alongside Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee & Neil Peart as they create the masterpiece of progressive rock that gave birth to such tracks as “Closer to the Heart,” and the majestic “Xanadu”. The book is co-written by Fantoons’ David Calcano and Lindsay Lee, and features artwork by Juan Riera and Ittai Manero. The story was written with input from RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson and album producer Terry Brown, who also penned the foreword.