Rush wraps up Clockwork Angels recording, begins mixing. Neil Peart update on the recording at NeilPeart.net. Plans on track for Spring 2012 release. Geddy talks about Taurus pedals on the album in this video interview with Moog Music.
New Neil Peart news update at NeilPeart.net! Neil updates us on what he's been up to over the last several months, including some details on the Clockwork Angels recording sessions. Read the update here.
Rush Sector box sets NOW AVAILABLE. Details & preview video here. Interview with Masterdisk chief engineer Andy VanDette here. In the Studio Sectors special here. Message from Rush.com on technical flaws here.
Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland DVD/BD/CD/Vinyl now available. Video debuts at #1 in US & Canada, #2 in UK. CD debuts at #54 in US, #59 in Canada, #70 in UK. Details here. Neil Peart essay here.
Instrumental progressive rock band 4Front will be releasing their third albumMalice in Wonderland on March 1st. 4Front's drummer is Hudson Music's senior drum editor Joe Bergamini. Bergamini co-produced and conducted the interviews on Neil Peart's Taking Center Stage: A Lifetime of Live Performance instructional DVD. The band is heavily influenced by Rush and other progressive rock acts and the new album includes a tribute track to Rush titled Many Places in a Rush. Rush album artist Hugh Syme also did the cover art for Malice in Wonderland. You can pre-order the album at Bergamini's website here, and it will also eventually be made available for digital download via iTunes, Amazon and other outlets. You can follow 4Front on Facebook here and watch this video of the band performing Blur from their 1998 album Gravity. Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the heads up.
The Rush community suffered a terrible blow last week with the untimely passing of longtime Rush friend and photographer Andrew MacNaughtan, so it was very timely that we all were able to come together to celebrate a spontaneous National Rush Holiday this past Wednesday, February 1st - 2.1.12 - to lift our spirits a bit. The Interwebs were all abuzz on Wednesday with fans proclaiming their love of Rush and wishing everyone a Happy 2.1.12 Day, and several rock news sites covered the event. UltimateClassicRock.com acknowledged the day with this article; metal Historian Jeff Wagner penned an article for NoiseCreep.com in celebration of Rush Day; the Cleveland Plain Dealer declared It's 2-1-12, or National Rush Day: Some of your friends and family will shortly lose their minds; the OC Weekly posted a story titled Rush Fans, Rejoice: Today is 2112; GeeksOfDoom.com declared that It's 2-1-12 So Crank Up '2112' For Rush Day!; the Cards That Never Were blog created a set of 2.1.12 baseball cards; Reverb Music compiled a list of the 11 best songs for 2.1.12 in an article titled These Go To Eleven: The 11 best Rush songs for 2.1.12; and MediaPost's Cory Treffiletti wrote an article where he talked Rush, '2112,' And My Missed Mobile Interaction. To help facilitate the celebration, the folks at RushCon teamed up with the Rush Radio website to sponsor a 2112 listening party Wednesday evening at 9:12PM - 2/1/12 21:12. In a weird but completely unplanned (I assume) coincidence, on Wednesday evening's episode of American Idol contestant David Weed attempted to sing Rush's Tom Sawyer for his audition. David gave it his best effort but the judges weren't impressed and he was dismissed. They also played Tom Sawyer as he walked out of the audition. It was the first (and likely the last) time any Rush had ever been heard or even mentioned on American Idol. You can watch David's audition on YouTube at this link. The theme of this week's updates is definitely 2112 since that album (and number) seemed to be popping up everywhere over the past week, and not only in relation to 2.1.12 Day.
There was a 2112 reference on the latest episode (season 1, episode 4 - Cal Sweeney) of the new Fox TV series Alcatraz which aired Monday night. The focus of the episode is a bank robber named Calvin Sweeney who has a prison id number of 2112. You can check out a couple of screenshots by clicking on the thumbnails.
Here's a satirical article from The Awl which took a recent prediction from New York Times columnist Gail Collins regarding the year 2112 and contrasted it with Neil Peart's vision of that year:
New York Times columnist Gail Collins was, as always, highly enjoyable yesterday as she predicted that, come the year 2112, history students would be reading "on their vaporphones" about the precedent set when known philander and serial husband New Gingrich won the Republican primary in super-conservative South Carolina. But her ideas run counter to the conventional thinking about what the world will be like a hundred years from now. The definitive source of future-casting for the year 2112 is, of course, Neil Peart, the (totally sick!) drummer and (philosophically ambitious!) lyricist for the great Canadian prog-metal band, Rush. ...
... apart from the personal memories, it is his own art that will endure. Not long before his untimely passing, Andrew published a book of fine-art photographs titled Grace, based on his travels in East Africa. (Like a fair portion of his work in recent years, it was done to benefit others-Andrew contributed generously to worthy causes like the Casey House hospice and Art Gives Hope.)
In addition, his portraits and live shots of nearly every major Canadian performer of the past twenty-five years will be viewed forever-a rich national archive of our arts and entertainment history.
Many will feel fortunate to have known Andrew, and perhaps myself more than most-introducing me to Carrie was a life-changing gift. But even long after all of us who knew Andrew are gone, his name, his unique creative "eye," and his beautiful and perceptive images will live on.
You can read the entire thing at this location. Andrew's obituary was posted online earlier this week, and the funeral took place yesterday.
On a happier note, sit-skier Sam Danniels - son of Rush manager Ray Danniels - won a Gold Medal in Mono Skiing at the X Games earlier this week. The 25-year-old Danniels has been a paraplegic since he was 19 when he broke his back in a mountain bike accident. You can watch the race on YouTube at this link. Thanks to Toronto Writer for the heads up.
... Released on Mercury Records and PolyGram in 1981 on the Moving Pictures album, "Tom Sawyer" was written about the Mark Twain character of the same name. The song was written by Lee, Peart, and guitarist Alex Lifeson in collaboration with Canadian lyricist Pye Dubois (the lyricist of Max Webster), who also co-wrote other Rush songs such as "Force Ten," "Between Sun and Moon," and "Test For Echo." According to the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an entire episode to the making of Moving Pictures), "Tom Sawyer" came about during a summer rehearsal holiday that Rush spent at Ronnie Hawkins' farm outside Toronto. Peart was presented with a poem by Dubois named "Louis the Lawyer" (often cited as "Louis the Warrior") that he modified and expanded. Lee and Lifeson then helped set the poem to music. The unique growling sound heard in the song came from Lee's fiddling with his Oberheim OB-X synthesizer.In the December 1985 Rush Backstage Club newsletter, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart said:
Tom Sawyer was a collaboration between myself and Pye Dubois, an excellent lyricist who wrote the lyrics for Max Webster. His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful. I added the themes of reconciling the boy and man in myself, and the difference between what people are and what others perceive them to be - namely me I guess.
Geddy Lee has referred to the track as the band's "defining piece of music...from the early '80s". It is one of Rush's best-known songs and is a staple of classic rock radio. It reached 25 in the UK singles chart in October 1981, and in the US peaked at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at 8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. In 2009 it was named the 19th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. "Tom Sawyer" was one of five Rush songs inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010. ...
The 11th and final episode of the heavy metal documentary show Metal Evolution aired last weekend in Canada on MuchMoreMusic and will air this weekend on VH1 Classic in the US. The episode focuses on the Progressive Metal genre of heavy metal and heavily features Rush, including an entire 10-minute segment on the band's contribution to the genre with interview segments with all 3 members along with former producer Terry Brown. The show is the brainchild of Rush documentary and Time Machine video filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen and builds on the mission first put forth in their groundbreaking Metal: A Headbanger's Journey documentary - in which Geddy Lee had appeared. Geddy Lee had previously made an appearance in episode 2 of Metal Evolution to discuss the contributions of American garage rock band Blue Cheer to the origins of heavy metal. Geddy's brother Allan Weinrib is the production manager for the show and has been the Executive Producer and Head of Production and Development at Banger Films (Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen's film production company) since December of last year. The entire Progressive Metal episode was posted to YouTube earlier this week in five parts. You can watch part 1 at this link. The second segment is the one completely dedicated to Rush and you can watch that below or at this link. The band also is heavily featured in the last segment here at about the 5-minute mark.
That's all for this week. Thanks to everyone for making 2.1.12 Day a huge success. The enthusiasm of Rush fans never ceases to amaze me. :)
... From the rushes came David Weed, who looked like Napoleon Dynamite's best friend and sang, well, Rush. After he had finished his finely high-pitched attempt at mimicking Rush, Jackson asked him if he really thought he sounded like Rush's lead singer, Geddy Lee. Weed explained that he hoped he sounded a little different. Jackson retorted that yes, Lee is good. ...
.... Next up is David Weed, who thinks that singing Rush on a show built on the songs of Katy Perry and Stevie Wonder is a good choice. The only thing his version of Geddy Lee will win him is a lifetime of never getting laid. ...
----- snip -----
UPDATE - 2/2@6:25AM: Here's the video of the audition:
----- snip -----
As a fitting tribute to 2.1.12 Day, a contestant (David Weed) on this evening's episode of the reality show American Idol attempted to sing Rush's Tom Sawyer for his audition. After his very poor performance (in the judge's minds at least) judge Randy Jackson asked him if he thought Geddy Lee sounded like he did and the contestant said I'm hoping I don't sound exactly like him. Jackson then said yeah...he actually sounds really good. They then played Tom Sawyer in the background as the contestant walked out of the audition. Thanks to hermy for the heads up.
Today is February 1st, 2012 - or 2.1.12 here in the United States; 2112 day! The Rush fan community suffered a terrible blow last week with the passing of Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan, so we can certainly use any excuse to help lift our spirits. So kick back, crank up 2112 and celebrate all things Rush with your fellow Rush fans. To honor the memory of Andrew MacNaughtan, please give to his Art Gives Hope charity if you are able, and take a moment to appreciate all of the great photographs he's taken of our favorite band over the years. To help facilitate the celebration, the folks at RushCon are teaming up with the Rush Radio website to sponsor a 2112 listening party this evening at 9:12PM - 2/1/12 21:12. From the RushCon newsletter:
SYNC UP. ROCK OUT. THE 2112 LISTENING PARTY.
Tune into RushRadio.org on Wednesday February 1, 2012, at 9:12pm (in your time zone) for the world's largest streaming Rush listening party! Simultaneously, join fans across the world in an online chat (tinychat.com/rushcon) as we crank this epic album and fill the world with our music. This is the closest we will get to the year 2112 in our lifetime, so celebrate and assume control!
The party will repeat 4 times, starting at 9:12pm EST, then at 9:12pm Central, Mountain, and Pacific timezones. So everyone will have a chance to join! Or heck, come for all 4 hours! The more Rush fans the better!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Rush 2112 reference on latest episode of Fox's Alcatraz
There was a Rush 2112 reference on the latest episode (season 1, episode 4 - Cal Sweeney) of the new Fox TV series Alcatraz which aired last night. The focus of the episode is a bank robber named Calvin Sweeney who has a prison id number of 2112. You can check out a couple of screenshots by clicking on the thumbnails. Thanks to keysean45 for the heads up and John at Cygnus-X1.net for the screenshots.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Neil Peart tribute to Andrew MacNaughtan at NeilPeart.net
... apart from the personal memories, it is his own art that will endure. Not long before his untimely passing, Andrew published a book of fine-art photographs titled Grace, based on his travels in East Africa. (Like a fair portion of his work in recent years, it was done to benefit others-Andrew contributed generously to worthy causes like the Casey House hospice and Art Gives Hope.)
In addition, his portraits and live shots of nearly every major Canadian performer of the past twenty-five years will be viewed forever-a rich national archive of our arts and entertainment history.
Many will feel fortunate to have known Andrew, and perhaps myself more than most-introducing me to Carrie was a life-changing gift. But even long after all of us who knew Andrew are gone, his name, his unique creative "eye," and his beautiful and perceptive images will live on.
The final episode of the heavy metal documentary show Metal Evolution aired this weekend in Canada on MuchMoreMusic (it can be viewed online from Canada) and will air next weekend on VH1 Classic in the US. The show is the brainchild of Rush documentary and Time Machine video filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen and builds on the mission first put forth in his groundbreaking Metal: A Headbanger's Journey documentary - in which Geddy Lee had appeared. The final episode in the series (episode 11) focuses on the Progressive Metal genre of heavy metal and heavily featured Rush, including interview segments with all 3 members along with former producer Terry Brown. The band interview segments were conducted when Rush was in Cleveland last year for their April 15th show that was filmed for the Time Machine video. Geddy had also appeared in episode 2 of the series to discuss the contributions of American garage rock band Blue Cheer to the origins of heavy metal. Geddy's brother Allan Weinrib is the production manager for the show and has been the Executive Producer and Head of Production and Development at Banger Films (Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen's film production company) since December of last year. Thanks to RushFanForever for the screenshots.
UPDATE - 1/28@10:42AM:Here's a CBC video news story on Andrew MacNaughtan's death (thanks RushFanForever). And photographer John Vinson sent me a couple of photographs he took of Andrew at work at the Red Rocks show in 2010 which you can check out by clicking on the thumbnails.
It was a very sad week for the Rush community, as longtime Rush friend and photographer Andrew MacNaughtan passed away Wednesday of a heart attack in Los Angeles at age 47 where he was shooting photos of the band for their upcoming Clockwork Angels album. The news was confirmed yesterday afternoon via the Rush Facebook page:
We're deeply shocked and heartbroken to learn of the sudden passing of our close friend and long-time photographer, Andrew MacNaughtan. He was a sweet person and a very talented artist. Words cannot describe how much he will be missed. - Geddy, Alex & Neil
Toronto photographer Andrew MacNaughtan, longtime documenter of Rush's exploits and the man behind dozens of iconic portraits of Canadian celebrities, passed away suddenly in Los Angeles on Wednesday. MacNaughtan, in his mid-40s, reportedly suffered a heart attack while in California shooting his old friends, Rush. A member of the band's local management staff told the Star the office was "heartbroken over here," ...
Andrew had worked with Rush as a photographer and videographer for several of the band's projects since the 1980s. The Power Windows website has a great 1991 interview with Andrew from The Spirit of Rush newsletter where he talks at length about how he became involved with the band. It all started in 1980 when a 16-year-old Andrew started the Rush Backstage Club of Toronto:
... I tried to do something like you guys, I was your typical Rush fan, fanatic, but I always tried to apply a positive thing. Instead of just being a fan that would hang out at hotel doors. It is fine to be fanatical about a band believe me, everyone wants an idol, everyone wants things to look up to and follow but, I put it to a more practical use, ... I had these photo's of Rush, I called up Howard (Ungerleider), I knew him through the fan club and met him occasionally, he got me tickets and things. I gave him a whole bunch of my photo's, just to take down to Anthem to give to the person in charge of photo's and stuff. I said that I hadn't a use of them can you use them? It was at this point that they were doing their tour book for Power Windows. The band loved the photos and they had nothing for the tour book, as they had used them up, they bought about 12 shots of mine, and used them in the Power Windows tour book. Which was really great. a great honor. That led me to shoot on the Power Windows tour. They sent me down to Binghampton, Troy and Syracuse in New York, I shot all that and then onto Buffalo and some in Toronto. They used a lot of those photos as well, they were used for magazine articles as well as the Hold Your Fire tour book, which was great. I started to get my way in there, working with Rush in a different way, other than the now folded fan club. It was getting too large. So, I passed it all onto the Las Vegas fan club. ...
His latest endeavor was a unique art book showcasing the beauty of Africa through a series of stunning black and white photographs called GRACE: Africa in Photographs. Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee contributed captions for two of the photos in the book, and Andrew had been selling copies via his website along with prints of the photographs to help support his charity ArtGivesHope. Andrew spoke about the project in this November interview with Global News which you can view at here. Andrew was an integral part of the Rush family and will be sorely missed. Our heartfelt condolences go out to all of Andrew's friends and family.
On Wednesday I'd reported the rumor that Rush had abruptly changed their 2012 tour plans and now plan on touring in the Fall rather than the Spring. Since then I've had these rumors corroborated by a few other reliable sources so I definitely believe it to be true, although it has yet to be officially announced. Note that these plans had been made sometime last month and can in no way be related to Andrew MacNaughtan's untimely death on Wednesday as has been inferred by some. The reasoning behind the change in plans remains unclear as of now. It's also not clear if or how Andrew's passing will affect progress on the upcoming album. Knowing Rush, there's no doubt that their priority right now is to support eachother and Andrew's family/friends through this difficult time; completing the album is likely the furthest thing from their minds at the moment - just as it should be. That said, the latest rumors had placed the Clockwork Angels release at the end of April, with the possibility of seeing a single by later next month. More information as I learn it.
Speaking of the new album, Eric over at Power Windows dug up this article at about.com from around the time of the release of Caravan which discusses the obvious occult symbols in the Caravan artwork:
The band Rush is releasing a new single today called Caravan, and the album cover consists of a clock face with 12 blatant occult symbols. My question is... were they being clever in their choice, or are they random selections (or at least selections based on appearance rather than meaning)?
Tune into RushRadio.org on Wednesday February 1, 2012, at 9:12pm (in your time zone) for the world's largest streaming Rush listening party! Simultaneously, join fans across the world in an online chat (tinychat.com/rushcon) as we crank this epic album and fill the world with our music. This is the closest we will get to the year 2112 in our lifetime, so celebrate and assume control!
The party will repeat 4 times, starting at 9:12pm EST, then at 9:12pm Central, Mountain, and Pacific timezones. So everyone will have a chance to join! Or heck, come for all 4 hours! The more Rush fans the better!
Here is another chance to win autographed RUSH swag from Rush Backstage. This time we are giving away this pristine autographed RUSH Snakes and Arrows tourbook. Enter today for your chance to win!
For all the details and to enter just go to this link.
For this past week's RollingStone.com's reader's poll they posed the question of what singer has the most unique voice. Geddy Lee made the final cut at #10:
Stephen Malkmus said it best: "What about the voice of Geddy Lee? How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?" I'll answer the last question first: Yes, Geddy speaks with an ordinary voice. In fact, his speaking voice is, if anything, a little on the deep side. You'd never know from talking to him that he's capable of hitting such amazing high notes. Lee's unconventional voice sometimes makes it tougher for Rush to appeal to a first-time listener, but it's hard to imagine the group with any other singer at the helm.
Gregorian is a German band headed by Frank Peterson that performs Gregorian chant-inspired versions of modern pop and rock songs. The band features both vocal harmony and instrumental accompaniment. Their most recent album in their Masters of Chant series - Masters of Chant Chapter VIII - was released this past September 30th and contains a cover of Rush's Bravado which you can listen to on YouTube at this link. The album can be purchased as an import at this link.
The Canadian Music blog recently compiled a list of which Canadian artists had the most Facebook likes and Twitter followers. As of December 31st of last month Rush was #13 on their list with 43,962 Twitter followers and 1,320,909 Facebook likes.
The winners of the Sabian Player's Choice contest were announced at the Winter NAMM show earlier this month. Back in October Sabian launched a website at www.cymbalvote.com and invited people to pick from 12 new cymbal models. The site featured videos of Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio, Mike Portnoy and several other well-known drummers playing the cymbals and giving their opinions on what they liked about them. One cymbal was then eliminated each week until only four remained.
Members of Swedish heavy metal band Meshuggah were recently interviewed for the Nuclear Blast Records website to discuss their upcoming album KOLOSS. At one point drummer Tomas Haake was asked about his favorite prog drummers and went on to talk about Neil Peart and Rush. You can listen to what he had to say in this YouTube video at about the 1:45 mark. Thanks to Marco V for the heads up.
UPDATE - 1/30@10:16AM: Here's Andrew's obituary in the Toronto Globe and Mail (thanks RushFanForever). And Neil Peart wrote a tribute to Andrew that he posted over at NeilPeart.net.
UPDATE - 1/28@10:42AM:Here's a CBC video news story on Andrew MacNaughtan's death (thanks RushFanForever). And photographer John Vinson sent me a couple of photographs he took of Andrew at work at the Red Rocks show in 2010 which you can check out by clicking on the thumbnails.
Toronto photographer Andrew MacNaughtan, longtime documenter of Rush's exploits and the man behind dozens of iconic portraits of Canadian celebrities, passed away suddenly in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
MacNaughtan, in his mid-40s, reportedly suffered a heart attack while in California shooting his old friends, Rush.
A member of the band's local management staff told the Star the office was "heartbroken over here," ...
We're deeply shocked and heartbroken to learn of the sudden passing of our close friend and long-time photographer, Andrew MacNaughtan. He was a sweet person and a very talented artist. Words cannot describe how much he will be missed. - Geddy, Alex & Neil
Apparently Andrew died of a heart attack while on assignment with the band in Los Angeles. Andrew had worked with Rush as a photographer and videographer for many of the band's projects since back in the '80s. His latest project was a unique art book showcasing the beauty of Africa through a series of stunning black and white photographs called GRACE: Africa in Photographs. Proceeds from sales of the book and prints of the photographs go to support Andrew's charity ArtGivesHope. Andrew spoke about the project in this November interview with Global News which you can view below or at this link (thanks RushFanForever). Thanks to Paul Beaulieu for the great photo of Andrew. Andrew was an integral part of the Rush family and will be sorely missed. Our heartfelt condolences go out to all of Andrew's friends and family.
... While Alex and Geddy were finishing the writing and arranging in one smaller room of the studio, over in the big room I was working with The Mighty Booujzhe, recording my drum parts. As we prepare to start mixing in the New Year, it is too early to say anything about the results. (I once described mixing as "the end of waiting," while Geddy calls it, "the death of hope.") About the process, though, I can't resist spilling a little. ...
It looks as if the band is working on the mixing in Los Angeles as several Twitter users have reported spotting the band there recently. In interviews over the last year or so the band has consistently mentioned that they were shooting for a Spring release for the album with a tour to follow. Alex Lifeson said as much in his Planet Rock interview back in November along with saying that the band hopes to be out on tour in May or June. Since before the Holidays the band has not given any new interviews, so we've been relying solely on rumors for information ever since. In my latest Friday updates post I relayed the latest credible rumors I had heard regarding both the album and tour. These rumors came from a source close to their record label and jibed with what the band had been saying up until late last year; namely that they are aiming to release Clockwork Angels in late April and kick-off the tour shortly after in May/June. But it turns out that this information may have been a little outdated. In just the past few days I'd heard that in the last month or so the band's plans have switched direction and they have now pushed the tour to September. Indeed, Rush Forum member yyzyyhad reported late last month that he ran into Rush lighting director Howard Ungerleider at a Trans-siberian Orchestra show and was told by him that the tour would start in September. I didn't put much stock in that report until just recently when this was corroborated by another source who let me know that up until last month the band had been on track for a May/June tour start, but then abruptly changed plans and will instead tour in the Fall. I haven't heard anything regarding the reasoning behind this decision or whether it would affect the release of the album, but there you have it. As always with rumors, take this all with a big grain of salt. My policy is and always has been to report any credible rumor I hear and let my readers make of it what they will. Hopefully we'll get some official information from interviews or a press release in the near future. More as I learn it.
Instrumental progressive rock band 4Front will be releasing their third album Malice in Wonderland on March 1st. 4Front's drummer is Hudson Music's senior drum editor Joe Bergamini. Bergamini co-produced and conducted the interviews on Neil Peart's Taking Center Stage: A Lifetime of Live Performance instructional DVD. The band is heavily influenced by Rush and other progressive rock acts and the new album includes a tribute track to Rush titled Many Places in a Rush. Rush album artist Hugh Syme also did the cover art for Malice in Wonderland. You can pre-order the album at Bergamini's website here, and it will also eventually be made available for digital download via iTunes, Amazon and other outlets. You can follow 4Front on Facebook here and watch this video of the band performing Blur from their 1998 album Gravity. Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the heads up.
The Rush community suffered a terrible blow last week with 
On a happier note, sit-skier Sam Danniels - son of Rush manager Ray Danniels - 
As a fitting tribute to 
UPDATE - 2/2@8:42AM: MediaPost: 
Neil Peart has penned 
It was a very sad week for the Rush community, as longtime Rush friend and photographer Andrew MacNaughtan 
On 
The 
Gregorian is a German band headed by Frank Peterson that performs 
Rush 
