In preparation for Rush's Fifty Something tour, Geddy Lee did something he'd never done before - he hired a vocal coach to help him get his pipes in shape for the extensive tour, and it paid off as he describes in his recent Rolling Stone interview.

... Seekins, a longtime Rush fan, knew right away that Lee was a long way from being ready." It was shocking," says Seekins. "I mean, it was horribly out of shape. The muscles weren't responding in the top end anymore." But the coach still had very good news for his client: "I could hear that it was there, he just couldn't do it yet. He wasn't sure if he was ever gonna be able to do what he did when he was much younger... But there was no degradation at all, even due to age." The high notes would inevitably lack some of the reckless power of the old days, but they were all accessible. The real trick was convincing Lee that he could do it." The hardest part of the repair part is the psychological end of the thing," says Seekins, whose techniques can seem Yoda-like. "Because it is subconscious, and if you've convinced yourself that you can't do something, well, guess what? You can't." ...

As many fans have noted on the tour so far, Ged sounds fantastic - probably the best he's sounded since the '90s' - and he has Seekins to thank for it. Seekins was a guest on CBC Radio's Here and Now last week and spoke a bit about how he got the gig, and his thoughts on Geddy's voice. You can watch a bit of the interview below or on Instagram:

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