Alex Lifeson to appear in Randy Bachman Documentary "Bachman"

Winnipeg singer-songwriter Randy Bachman (The Guess Who/Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is the focus of a new documentary showcasing his life as an iconic Canadian musician.  “Bachman” will premiere at the upcoming 2018 Hot Docs Festival in Toronto May 2-4, is produced for CBC’s Documentary Channel in Canada and features archival footage and new interviews with friends, family and fans including Neil Young, Alex Lifeson, Chris Jericho, Peter Frampton, Buffy Saint-Marie, Tal Bachman, Fred Turner, Paul Shaffer and others. Click here for more.

Ian Thornley of Big Wreck talks about covering "Closer To The Heart" on the A Farewell to Kings 40th Anniversary Edition

Here's something that passed under the radar....   In January Ian Thornley of Big Wreck spoke to MusicLifeMagazine.net about their cover of "Closer To The Heart" for the A Farewell to Kings 40th Anniversary Edition.

"I knew going in that I am probably going to piss off Rush fans because it’s not hard to do. Rush fans are some of the most rabid on the planet, as you know. And I get that because I am kind of the same way with certain bands too. The list pretty long of bands that I could pick that have iconic songs that I would probably get two bars into a cover and turn it off. At the same time, I wanted to keep it close enough to the original so that it’s recognizable. To me it sounds exactly like how I wanted it to and am happy because it sounds like Big Wreck covering a Rush song."

 For more, check out the full feature musiclifemagazine.net. - Thanks Darren for the headsup!

Anthrax's Scott Ian talks Rush in Prog issue #85

The new issue of PROG magazine (#85) went on sale yesterday, and includes an interview with Anthrax's Scott Ian, where he talks about his his prog heroes, RUSH. Check it out on page 20 here. - Thanks to RushFanForever for the headsup!

2112 Comic Series by Matan Kohn

2112 Sighting!  Yesterday saw the release of issue number one of the comic book series "2112" by Matan Kohn.  Details of this series are unknown, and the title may be the only Rush relation in this post-apocalyptic series.  In "Genesis", issue #1, "a person awakens from a coma after about a hundred years, and discovers that everything around him has changed." You can get it here. - Thanks to Chad Saylor for the headsup!

Alex Lifeson performing at Phoenix Rising March 29

Alex Lifeson will be performing March 29 at Phoenix Rising, a fundraiser for West End Phoenix in Toronto to be held in the Great Hall 1087 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H3.   Performers including Rheostatics, Alex Lifeson, Whitehorse, Nasim Asgari and Special Guests. Hosted by Tom Wilson (Lee Harvey Osmond).  Click here for more.

Fu Manchu: How SoCal Stoner Crew Enlisted Alex Lifeson for Epic Space Jam

Revolvermag.com has posted a new interview with Fu Manchu frontman Scott Hill, where he talks about enlisting Alex Lifeson on their latest album Clone of the Universe, set for release on Feb. 9.

"Our manager is friends with his manager, and they were talking. Without asking us, our manager was like, "Hey, would Alex want to play on their new record?" His manager asked him and got back to our manager, like, "Oh yeah, he totally will. Send him a song!" When he told us, we were all like, "Holy shit!" We immediately reverted back to the Rush fans we were in seventh grade! [Laughs] So we sent him the four-track, which was a little lower than normal demo quality and he was like, "This is great. What do you want me to do on it?" We were like, "Holy shit, he's asking us?!? Dude, do whatever you want, wherever you want!  So we got in the studio and recorded the song, and then we sent it to him in Canada; he sent us back a bunch of stuff, and it all just sounded insane. He was like, "Use whatever you want," so we picked this one section of stuff that he did; it's in the first part where the band drops out — he's playing a really effected guitar riff along with the bass and drums, and then the bass and drums drop out. He's doing stuff with a bunch of different effects, all these sci-fi sounds and pick slides, and we were just flipping out listening to it. We still can't believe it! [Laughs]"

 Click here for the full story.