Alex Lifeson says Rush are "basically done"

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by ponkine, Jan 22, 2018.

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  1. ponkine

    ponkine Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Villarrica, Chile
    Alex Lifeson says Rush are ‘basically done’

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    Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson has confirmed that the band is over.

    Ever since the Canadian trio wrapped up their 40th anniversary North American tour in 2015 – a jaunt that was billed as “likely their last major tour of this magnitude” - fans have been holding on to the faint hope that there could be some kind of reunion.

    Now, in a post for the Globe and Mail, Alex Lifeson has quashed any hopes, saying: “It's been a little over two years since Rush last toured. We have no plans to tour or record any more. We're basically done. After 41 years, we felt it was enough.”

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    Alex Lifeson in 2007 © PA Images

    Neil Peart, of course, announced his retirement after the 40th anniversary tour finished and was blighted by agonising pain from chronic tendonitis, a foot injury and shoulder problems throughout the shows.

    In their critically acclaimed Rush: Time Stand Still documentary, the band ruled out ever reforming without their core members, with Geddy Lee saying: "We always said that if the three of us aren't on board, we don't do a thing. There have been other decisions in our career where the three of us weren't on board and we didn't do it.

    “Nothing as profound as ending our touring life, but fair enough. So one guy doesn't want to do that thing anymore that I love to do. That hurts. But there's nothing I can do about it and that's part of the agreement."

    Alex added: "It's not like you just get new members of a band and just go for it. Rush has never been a band like that. We'd never, ever do something like that."

    Throughout the documentary Neil Peart strongly dispelled the idea of performing live again – assertions that make the idea of even a one-off show seem far-fetched.

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    Explaining how he was cornered into playing on the last tour, Neil says in the film: "The b****** pulled that exact card. Alex said he has arthritis and said, 'I'd really like to go out one more time and don't know if I'll be able to.'

    “That night in my hotel room, I had the worst attack of Tourette's you've ever heard. I felt trapped. I was stomping around and cursing. But by the next day it was like, 'It is what it is. Deal with it!'"

    Geddy added: "It's easy to blame everything on the drummer not wanting to go back on the road. But there's other factors at play here that can't be ignored. One of those factors is Alex's arthritis, which is kind of a ticking time bomb."

    Elsewhere in his Globe and Mail post, Alex confirmed that he’s “busier lately than I have been in a while” and is involved in a number of projects.

    “I'm writing a lot. I'm writing on four or five different little projects,” Alex wrote. “I get these requests to do guitar work with other people. It's really a lot of fun for me. It's low pressure: I get to be as creative as I want to be and I can work a little outside of the box, which is really attractive to me.”

    Alex’s other ventures include writing a monthly column for the West End Phoenix newspaper and taking on a small part in a TV show called Crawford.
     
  2. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    I see Alex has been working with his counterpart in another Canadian Trio that I love:

     
  3. Spaghettiows

    Spaghettiows Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silver Creek, NY
    They have nothing left to prove, but sometimes a few years of rest can change one's mindset.
     
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  4. ShallowMemory

    ShallowMemory Classical Princess

    Location:
    GB
    After giving themselves over for us in that time, dealing with challenging personal circumstances too, ought we not to say thank you for those times and leave them to enjoy within their own personal limitations the life time that's left? I mean we all know it was bound to happen one day as no doubt we ourselves will found our lives changed as we get older or perhaps less well than we were, and we all just have to come to terms with such things. I've always loved Rush but ultimately they owe us nothing and it's time to let things be.
     
  5. Andy Smith

    Andy Smith .....Like a good pinch of snuff......

    Maybe he's right. Spread your wings Alex. Fly by night away from here.
     
  6. Judge Judy

    Judge Judy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    This is the key thing that I think can't be ignored, especially in light of what happened to Tom Petty. If you can't physically do it any more, you have to listen to your body and stop. The cocktail of painkillers that Petty was taking was so he could continue to tour, and I would hate to see one of these guys put themselves in the same position. I love them, they're one of my favorite bands and it kills me to see them stop. But when your body says "it's time," you have to pay attention.

    I know that with record sales a non-factor, musicians have to tour in order to make a living, so I hope these guys can find a way to pay the bills that doesn't compromise them physically.
     
    Dan C, hifisoup, longdist01 and 17 others like this.
  7. slop101

    slop101 Guitar Geek

    Location:
    So. Cal.
    Alex plays guitar on the new Fu Manchu album out in in a couple weeks - it's on an 18 minute song, "IL Mostro Atomico".
     
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  8. overdrivethree

    overdrivethree Forum Resident

    I would imagine, in the last 15-20 years, this late run was successful enough that none of them have to worry about finances. I could be wrong, but their popularity soared and they were there to act on it. (I'm glad they did.)
     
    The MEZ, enro99, ODShowtime and 4 others like this.
  9. kozy814

    kozy814 Forum Resident

    Yes agreed. By most accounts, it's not a factor of the guys not getting along. It's the limitations of age, health and fatigue. I can see the guys maybe getting together to record again. Alex is writing, so perhaps guest spots on solo records. I know Getty's voice has taken a beating. Some rest could recharge that element and he would be working. Neil is clearly the lynchpin in the machine. He sounds like he's dog tired. His playing is still real good though, So you can never rule it out.
     
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  10. dlokazip

    dlokazip Forum Transient

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    They left it all on the stage. No complaints here.
     
  11. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Sounds like at least two of them have some serious physical problems that makes a reunion unlikely. It's one thing for Alex to cut a few tracks with other people but if Rush records again, it's gotta be this big event with a tour. I hope they only get back together again if they really want to, they have more than earned their retirement.

    And I really hope Neil Peart gets to enjoy retirement, what with his chronic pain issues. He looks pretty healthy, hopefully it's only touring and drums that cause the problem.
     
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  12. Dr. Funk

    Dr. Funk Vintage Dust

    Location:
    Fort Worth TX
    I have that feeling that they are done, and we will never see them tour again. It seems they have given everything thing they can possibly give.......they've toured extensively, and at times at a grueling pace. They given us 19 studio albums, 11 live, and a handful of compilations over their 44 years. I've heard both Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson talk about their physical limitations, and they just seem to be mentally aware, and in agreement that their time is up. I have a lot of respect for a band that realizes they have nothing left to give, and steps out when the time is right. It's however bitter sweet.
     
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  13. GuidedByJonO)))

    GuidedByJonO))) Forum Resident

    Location:
    Evanston
    Whoa. Did not hear about this. An 18-minute Fu Manchu song? Color me intrigued.
     
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  14. vonwegen

    vonwegen Forum Resident

    What he said. We got enough good stuff to chew on for a long time...
     
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  15. Admire any act that can pull the plug before someone gets hurt. They had a great run.
     
  16. Spear and Magic Helmet

    Spear and Magic Helmet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    Agree with the sentiment, but for some reason Peart doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to become even slightly ambivalent about this later on. I think they're done. I'm proud that they say it is off the table for them to be Rush minus one of the three. It is unthinkable in the case of Rush.
     
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  17. Judge Judy

    Judge Judy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Yeah, I don't know. They'll probably be okay but when I saw the news about Tom Petty last week, my literal first thought was "I'm glad Neil Peart retired." I'm very sad that there won't be any new music or tours, but I don't want them to do anything they could physically endanger them. Even taking the whole painkillers argument out of the equation, I would hate to see them go out on tour and suffer physically, out of a sense of obligation to the fans.
     
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  18. Defdum&blind

    Defdum&blind Forum Resident

    I am cRUSHed. :(
     
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  19. Judge Judy

    Judge Judy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    There is literally not a single drummer alive who could replace him, in my opinion. I can think of dozens of highly skilled drummers who I'm sure were influenced by him and could pull it off in a technical sense, but it just wouldn't be the same.
     
  20. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    I completely respect musicians who realize that they had a great run and retired with their dignity intact. There is more to life than constantly hanging out with the same guys that you did when you were 15.
     
  21. ponkine

    ponkine Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Villarrica, Chile
    Bring on vault concerts, Alex!

    :righton:
     
  22. BurtThomasWard

    BurtThomasWard Guided by Loke In Memoriam

    Location:
    Norge
    Well, in this particular case the two guys that hung together when they were 15 will continue to do so. But I kinda see yer point.
     
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  23. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Yeah, when you're a power trio and your drummer (and lyricist) says "no mas," it's kinda time.

    Neil Peart has already lived through more emotional agony than anyone should ever have to. Now he's got really serious physical pain to go with that. He has earned his peace.

    They all have more money than they'd ever need. And they went out on a high note--no embarrassment, no embarrasing scandals, huge devoted fan base, considerable positive critical reassessment.

    A musician's life well lived for all of them.
     
  24. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
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  25. coniferouspine

    coniferouspine Forum Resident

    I've talked about this here in other Rush threads before. When I saw them during that last R40 tour, there was this one moment in the show when the jumbotron screen momentarily zoomed in on Neil Peart's face during one of those tricky parts of "Jacob's Ladder," and Neil had this look of agonized concentration on his face that made me realize, right then and there, that this was definitely the last time that I would ever see him playing this stuff.

    It's completely ridiculous to expect someone at age 65 to be able to play the athletic, demanding, complex drum parts that they created when they were a young 28, when they were pushing the limits of drumming and at the top of their game. This wasn't that cool, calm, detached "Professor" face that I've seen Neil Peart make a million times, that's on their album covers and all over the Exit Stage Left video when he's throwing sticks in the air and jumping around the kit, doing the door-knocking in "Xanadu" and the chimes and crazy fills on the wood blocks and all the classic stuff like that. This face in mid-song was more like: "holy **** ! How am I gonna get out of this busy turnaround, and get the hell out from the end of this fill and then get back to the kick and snare in time, without totally screwing up." The screen only caught his face for a fraction of a second, then they cut away from him to something else, but to me in that one moment, I knew from that split-second agonized look on Neil's face, beaming out into the arena two stories tall, that it was just about time for them to really hang it up. And by the next day after the show, thinking back on it I was totally okay with that.

    I will say this about the R40 tour, they really did go out on top -- that concert was far and away one of the best of theirs I've seen. The humor, the light show, the musicianship, the in-jokes that only longtime fans of the band would understand -- everything was top notch.
     
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