Rush is a Band

A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Updates and other random Rush stuff

Fri, May 20, 2011@11:46AM | comments removed/disabled

After playing their first ever show in Ireland, Rush crossed the Irish Sea into Scotland and then marched the Time Machine Tour south to Merry Old England this past week, playing a show in Glasgow last Saturday, and shows in Sheffield, England and Manchester, England on Monday and Thursday respectively. They'll round out their mini-tour of England over the weekend and into next week when they'll play dates in Newcastle, Birmingham and London's O2 Arena. After that they'll head back to mainland Europe for one show in Rotterdam and another in Frankfurt before returning to the States for the final leg of the 2011 tour beginning with a June 8th show in Greenville. Whereas Rush's next U.S. show will be in Greenville, their first ever U.S. show happened 37 years ago this past Wednesday when they played at a festival at the North Side Drive-In in Lansing, MI back on May 18, 1974.

Speaking of the tour, for the last couple of weeks Neil Peart's friend and riding partner Brutus has been updating a new Bubba's Bar and Grill Twitter feed (@RoadRash66) with some notes from the European road. Here's his latest tweet:

Manchester, just in from Wales and The Peak District. Morrow we go play in North York Moors Nat Pk. Bubba is The Cow Whisperer! Good story.

You can follow Brutus's tweets at this link. How can you tell that it's really Brutus? Follow the link in the footer of the Bubba's Bar and Grill cooking forum. And if you didn't know already, you can follow Rush is a Band on Twitter as well.

Rush sound engineer Rich Chycki posted to his blog earlier this week to update us on his recent projects. He's spent the last several weeks working on the new Dream Theater album but took some time off to see Rush in Hamilton last month with Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie and session drummer Alex Tukatsch (of the David Barrett Trio). Rich posted a preview of Sound and Vision Magazine editor-in-chief Mike Mettler's 5-star review of Rush's Moving Pictures 5.1 Deluxe Edition which will appear in the Summer 2011 issue of the magazine. Rich also weighs in on the recent glowing Blu-ray.com review of the remix and their mention of lossless LPCM 2.0 fold down:

... there is a mention of a 'lossless LPCM 2.0 fold down' of the album which I've seen mentioned a few times around the web. The fact is, I didn't do a fold down of the 5.1 mixes as my goal was to not remix the album per se but to present the album in an engaging 'new' format (5.1) for the fans. The 2.0 is a hi-res transfer and remaster of the original stereo mixes done in 1981. ...

Chycki closes by saying that work is underway on the Cleveland live DVD and that he'll have more details to report when there are some. You can read Rich's entire blog post at this link. Sales of the Moving Pictures 5.1 remix (CD+DVD, CD+BD) continued to keep Moving Pictures hanging around the Billboard 200 this week where it currently sits at #181 for the week of May 28th. The album has appeared in the Billboard 200 all but one of the weeks since its re-release on April 5th, reaching as high a #51 and making a total of 75 weeks that the album has been on the charts since its initial release over 30 years ago.

Speaking of Moving Pictures, the Rush Backstage Club is running a new contest where you could win one of five limited edition Moving Pictures lithograph posters. For more details and to enter go to this link. And also don't forget about their weekly meet-and-greet contest which is still going on. If you haven't entered that one yet you can do so at this link.

Issue #16 of Classic Rock's Prog magazine hit newsstands last month. The issue features Rush on the cover along with a 10-page spread on the band including an extensive interview with Neil Peart and interviews with Geddy Lee. A couple of weeks ago I posted a few excerpts from the feature, but earlier this week the entire article was made available online thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net. You can check out the complete transcription of the article along with scans of all the images at this link. Both Neil and Geddy discuss Rush's upcoming 19th studio album Clockwork Angels among other subjects. Neil Peart is anxious to get the album done:

... "I feel a certain urgency, I really want to get that record made while I'm still able to," he says. "It was hard for me to set the album aside to tour, this really means a lot to me, I intend it to be my highest achievement lyrically and drumming wise, so I really want to get it done while we still can." ...

Geddy talks about the conceptual nature of the album:

... "We have about six songs finished and waiting to go into preproduction and then be recorded. ... "We're going in a conceptual direction on this record, for sure," says Lee. "We started with a 10-minute song idea that then turned into a concept and it's feeding off itself. ... We're spending so much time on this concept. It's been fun, because we haven't gone down that road in a while. Let's see if we can pull it off!" ... "It's not just the fans! We're hoping for another great Rush album ourselves!" ...

There's also a piece where Geddy discusses the Moving Pictures 30th anniversary deluxe edition. Be sure to check out the complete article at this link.

Speaking of the 30th anniversary of Moving Pictures, to help celebrate the anniversary NMR Distribution released their 2011 Rush wall calendar last year with a Moving Pictures theme. The year prior they celebrated the Permanent Waves 30th anniversary with a Permanent Waves themed 2010 wall calendar. As was announced earlier this year, they will continue this pattern in 2012 by celebrating the 30th anniversary of the release of Signals with a Signals-themed 2012 wall calendar. Signals was released on September 9th, 1982. The calendar is now available for pre-order through Amazon and other retailers. Although an official release date of September 1st is given, judging by past years the calendar will likely ship sometime in late July or early August.

Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are featured in the June issue of Premier Guitar magazine for a two page photo spread in the Opening Notes section which you can check out online at this link. The photo is taken from Rush's April 17th show in Auburn Hills and is accompanied by a caption with a brief description of Alex and Geddy's gear.

There's a new interview with Geddy Lee in today's issue of the Birmingham Post. Geddy talks about wine, the tour, having fun with his bandmates, the making of Moving Pictures and how he stays healthy while on tour. You can check out the entire article/interview at this link. Rush plays the Birmingham LG Arena this Sunday, May 22nd.

Earlier this month we learned that Geddy Lee makes a guest appearance on The Black Sea Station's new album Transylvania Avenue on Rounder Records. The album is a collection of traditional and original Klezmer and Rumanian music that was produced by longtime Rush friend and collaborator Ben Mink. Geddy Lee plays the electric bass on When I Close My Eyes and does the vocals on March of the Shikker. An mp3 of the latter track was recently made available online at Jewcy.com. Geddy doesn't really sing on the track, but he does show off his mad Yiddish skillz. You can download the track at this link or listen to it in the player below.

The album is also available for download on both iTunes and Amazon.com.

While on the subject of Geddy, UK metal magazine Metal Hammer recently spoke with him about British comedian Stewart Lee. Apparently Geddy is a big fan:

.... "My wife and I come to London a lot and we go to a couple of the comedy places, and one time we saw Stewart Lee. He's fantastic. So funny. ... You have to spend a lot of time immersed in British culture to understand all of his jokes, ...Everyone should know that Stewart Lee is truly brilliant." ...

You can read the full article/interview at this link.

Michael Schenker (Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group) will be releasing a new covers album titled By Invitation Only next month which contains several previously-released cover tracks including the Michael Schenker Group's cover of Rush's Finding My Way with Sebastian Bach on vocals which originally appeared on the band's 2008 album Doctor, Doctor: The Kulick Sessions Thanks to BW&BK for the heads up.

Tool drummer Danny Carey recently turned 50 and celebrated with a birthday bash at the Smog Shoppe in Culver City last Friday, May 13th according to the May 16th news entry at the Tool website. Although Neil Peart was not in attendance (obviously - since he's in Europe) he did send Danny some birthday wishes via a video titled Made it to 50. The news entry also sheds some light on an earlier entry from last month which stated that Danny had recently gotten together for a drumming/recording session with Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland and Les Claypool. It reveals that the session occurred at Copeland's house in Los Angeles, that Danny was playing the flute, and - best of all - it confirms that some video exists, which hopefully will see the light of day in the near future.

Ohio governor John Kasich posted the following to his Twitter page Wednesday afternoon:

Just met w/Rock & Roll Hall of Fame board & demanded to know why @RushtheBand isn't in the @Rock_Hall of Fame

So either he's a Rush fan, or all the pressure and angry emails from his Ohio Rush fan constituents has finally pushed him to action. On a related note, it was announced earlier this week that the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on Saturday, April 14th at Public Hall in Cleveland. Hopefully the Governor will pull some strings and help get our boys in this time around. :)

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliot was on Rockline last week promoting the band's first ever live album Mirrorball which is set to release on Tuesday, June 7th. When discussing career making live albums he brings up Rush's first live album - 1976's All the World's a Stage. The topic of discussion got to how some live albums are often better than a band's studio recordings and cites albums from Thin Lizzy, UFO, KISS, Rush and Cheap Trick as examples.

... For people in our generation, they absolutely were career breakers ... Rush broke England on All The World's A Stage, and for us growing up as kids in England, these albums started people's careers off, then you'd go back and get the studio albums, and you'd listen to them and go 'oh dear, they're not as good as the live albums'". ... "I think it's what you hear first is what you get used to." ...

You can listen to the entire interview at this link.

As mentioned earlier this month, the Geneva Centre for Autism held their annual gala and art auction - The Autists - Tuesday night at Koerner Hall at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning in Toronto. In the lead-up to the event they ran an online silent auction which included a 2011 Gibson Les Paul Studio Model guitar signed by Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. The winning bid for the guitar ended up being $3,050.

There's a new restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden that was opened recently by members of the Swedish metal band In Flames. The restaurant is simply named Restaurant 2112 as a tribute to Rush's 2112 album. For more information on the restaurant and to check out some pictures you can go to their website or visit them on Facebook.

The awesome folks over at Rush Radio are working on an iPhone app to be available through the Apple app store for FREE! More details as they become available.

NMR Distribution will soon be releasing a set of Rush-themed playing cards. Judging by the photo on display at the NMR website it looks like the cards have photos of the band on the front face and a yellow on blue Rush logo on the back (thanks Marshall B).

Reader Jeff C noted that in this past week's issue of People Magazine (Kate Middleton's sister on the cover) the crossword puzzle featured a Rush clue for 58 down: Rush's "Vital _____".

The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund will be teaming up with auction house Christie's later this year for a guitar and bass auction in New York City to benefit cancer research. The fund was created in memory of the late heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio who died of cancer last year. According to Blabbermouth.net, almost 100 instruments have already been donated for the auction including a guitar from Geddy Lee.

In the latest installment of his music discovery podcast and blog Bands Like Rush, Ben Sommer talks to Tony Bodimead of UK prog trio Lime Shark.

... We're sort of rock but we edge on prog, and we're constantly told we sound similar to Rush, and I mean, to be honest, Rush is one of my favorite bands. I've always enjoyed them like from the early years. And I supposed it must be embedded in me and I can't help it. It's just the way we play and the way we arrange songs. It's not that I don't like, but I'm not keen on playing any covers or songs that sound similar to or like a general sound that some rock bands have. And I think Rush is similar to that. They don't do the norm, they just sort of play what they know on all sorts of directions, which keeps it interesting, and I guess we are the same. ...

You can listen to the podcast, read a transcript and watch the video of the interview at this link. To find out more about Lime Shark check out their website here.

Canadian music producer Jack Richardson passed away at the age of 81 this past Friday. Richardson produced Rush label-mate Max Webster and oversaw the recording of Battlescar - the 1980 collaboration between Max Webster and Rush as detailed here. If you have never heard Battlescar you can do so using the player below or on YouTube.

Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

The guys from Hughes & Kettner amplifiers recently met up with Alex Lifeson backstage at their May 12th show in Dublin last week for a 3-minute video interview that they posted to their website earlier this week. Alex has been using Huhges & Kettner amps for over 11 years now. They spoke briefly with Alex about the tour and then presented him with their new TubeMeister 18 amplifier - the first one off the production line in fact. You can check out the video below or at this link.

For everybody who has generously donated to the site in the last few weeks, I wanted to send out a big Thank You - it is greatly appreciated. For anyone else who wants to donate you can do so via PayPal at this link. You'll get a free RUSH IS A BAND bumper sticker as a thank you gift.

That's all for this week. Have a great weekend everybody!

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