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Rush 2112 40th anniversary Prog magazine feature now available online

Sat, Feb 13, 2016@1:24PM | comments

The latest edition of Prog magazine (Prog #63) hit newsstands a couple of weeks ago and contains a cover feature celebrating the upcoming 40th anniversary of Rush's 2112 album (the album was released sometime around the end of March/beginning of April in 1976). John over at Cygnus-X1.net has transcribed the feature and made it available online at this location. The main feature is titled We Have Assumed Control and includes a new interview with Geddy Lee where he talks about 2112 and its significance in the history of Rush. The article also includes a few old interview snippets from Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and album artist Hugh Syme. Here's Geddy Lee discussing how the album was mostly written on acoustic guitar:

... "Yeah, that was pretty much how we wrote it," says Lee. "It's a handy thing, the acoustic guitar - you didn't need an amp, you could do it in our Holiday Inn room, you could write in the back of the station wagon we were travelling around in. As long as you're strumming the acoustic hard, it sounds heavy, so if you write the part on it, you can imagine what it's going to sound like through electric guitars and amps. So, it's not a big stretch really to write that way. We went back and wrote [2007's] Snakes & Arrows that way too. "The strange thing with 2112, it just kind of flowed; one song came out of the other. I remember that Alex and I had some very definite ideas of the kind of music we wanted to write, even before we saw the lyrics, the overblown intro, the pacing, the movements that were involved. And then Neil had written these lyrics and it was almost magical how well they worked. We didn't really change any of them - they just inspired us to put the music together even more. It just started to happen." ...

The second part of the feature is a new interview with Geddy Lee titled New World Man where he looks back on the band's R40 Live tour and looks ahead to the future, including the possibility of a solo album or recording with Alex sans Neil:

... Given the current circumstances with the band, you've presumably at least thought about making another solo album?
Yeah. I think I would do another solo record. I have some ideas I've been working on. I love to play, and at this point, if there's going to be less of my time devoted to playing in Rush then I'm going to have to find a hobby.

Even if there isn't another Rush tour ever again, what are the chances of there being a new Rush album?
Never say never. We've never talked about not recording. That's something we could very well do next year. I don't know. All those things are on the table. The only thing that's been taken off the table is the idea of these big tours.

It was five years between Vapor Trails and Snakes & Arrows. It was five years between Snakes & Arrows and Clockwork Angels. By that reckoning, we're due another Rush album in 2017. How likely is that? If you had to rate that chance as a percentage, what would it be?
I'm down with that. I dunno. It's a good question. Honestly, I can't tell you. I wish I knew. I'd say there's a chance. I give it even odds.

How do you get Neil on board with a new album? How does that conversation go? Is it just a case of saying to him: "Get your arse down here!"?
It's more diplomatic than that. I'd say: "How do you feel about writing? Would you like to write something?" That simple.

So what would it take to get the three of you in the studio together?
I think it would just take a couple of phone calls, really. Forget all this nonsense about touring, I need to write some songs. [Pauses] I'm going to do it anyway. Alex and I have already talked about it. The only thing we haven't talked about is whether Neil's going to come along for that ride.

Have you had that conversation with him separately? Have you broached the subject of a new Rush album?
No.

But you're saying that you and Alex could do an album together, not as Rush?
Yeah.

Are you considering it?
It's an option.

And what would it sound like?
[Laughs] Probably like Rush without Neil. ...

In the last part of the feature, Geddy dissects 10 of Rush's albums. You can read the entire feature online here.

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