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Wilco front-man Jeff Tweedy talks Rush in new interview

Thu, Sep 15, 2011@12:19PM | comments removed/disabled

Chicago-based alt-rock band Wilco will be releasing their new album The Whole Love on September 27th. Jordan Zivitz of the Montreal Gazette recently spoke with Wilco front-man Jeff Tweedy about the new album and Rush came up in the conversation:

Gazette: I have to ask about this, because I'm a huge Rush nerd and the band became a bit of a running joke at your solo show here earlier this year: At the show, you mentioned almost meeting Neil Peart in Toronto. What happened there?

Jeff Tweedy: Well, he was scheduled to be on the George Popolopolopo-whatever-his-name-is show; they film a couple of them in one day, and so he was on the next show but he wasn't there yet and I had to leave. There was no big deal, but it was pretty exciting and I was excited to get an autograph for Glenn (Kotche, Wilco's drummer), because he's a huge fan and the band itself overall is populated with pretty major Rush fans.

Gazette: I loved the bit of The Spirit of Radio that you plunked out at the show. I was hoping you were going to go all the way with that.

Tweedy: (Laughs) Yeah, I love Rush and I have a deep appreciation of them as people and as a band, more so now than when I was growing up, being a punk rock fan and there being a line in the sand at least at some point. And I heard it so much growing up around St. Louis - it was such a huge, huge thing that I was repelled by it. But I've always had a soft spot, maybe in a closeted kind of way, and I don't have anything at this point in my life that I consider a guilty pleasure. I think that Rush has certainly earned their place, and I actually see a lot of similarities now in the way that they've existed ... I mean, certainly we haven't had the massive success that they've had, but there's something really familiar to me about them. (Laughs) I just think that they're nerds, and I feel like Wilco's full of nerds, so I think that that's probably the same thing. ...

You can read the entire article/interview at this link. Thanks to Michael from Northumberland, UK for the heads up.

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