RUSH Guitarist Alex Lifeson - "In So Many Ways, We’re Playing Better Than We Ever Have"
June 14, 2008, 16 years ago
RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson spoke to Jon Bream from Star Tribune/Projo.com recently about a number of topics including the fact that the band have hit a new groove.
“In so many ways, we’re playing better than we ever have," says the Canadian legend. "We’re enjoying touring better than we ever have. There’s so many things about it that seem to give much more pleasure at this stage of our lives. We don’t feel tired or bored or at the end of it. Everybody feels excited about the future and making another record and being on the road again.”Rush fans can check out the new concert CD, Snakes & Arrows Live, taken from the tour. Are the band members afraid that a live document will give away too much about the current tour?
“With us, I don’t think it matters,” Lifeson said. “Rush fans know everything all the time anyways.”Over 35 years, Rush has developed one of rock’s most devoted cults. Because the band is either loved or hated (especially by critics), the fans have “this badge of honor,” said Lifeson, who occasionally reads fans’ rabid postings on the Internet.
He thinks the fans are more upset than the band members about Rush never even landing on the ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“They feel really slighted by it,” he said. “I’ve read those postings. For us, it really, really doesn’t matter. It’s like the Grammys; if we get nominated, we think, ‘There goes our credibility if we win a Grammy.’ Fortunately, we never do.”Perceptions of rock’s most enduring cult band, however, may be changing. Apparently, Rolling Stone magazine has taken an unexpected interest in Rush recently, dispatching a reporter to spend a whopping four days with the trio in Canada.
“They’ve never been much in the way of fans of ours — in fact, totally the opposite of that for the longest time,” Lifeson said. “There’s been quite a bit of friction between them and us. It was odd to us to get this request to do this big interview with them. I’ve yet to see how it turns out. If they want to do a cover story on Rush, then something’s changing somewhere.”To read the entire interview head to this location.
(Photo: Patryk Pigeon)
