Rush member Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee recently recalled the first moment they considered the idea of reuniting Rush. Both explained how they slowly processed the thought, and stated that re-learning the songs was challenging. In October last year, Rush announced its return, with new drummer Anika Nilles in tow, filling the void left by the late Neil Peart, who passed away in January 2020.
In an interview with Planet Rock, the duo talked in detail about the process.
Alex Lifeson said that after 2015 he stayed active with music, including working on the Envy of None projects, which allowed him to explore his playing further. During that time, Geddy Lee was also busy writing. When they later had the chance to get together, they began jamming to get back into shape and eventually tried playing some Rush songs.
Although they felt rusty at first, the experience was fun and unexpectedly reignited Lifeson’s appreciation and pride for the music they created with Rush years ago.
“I continued working through that time period, after 2015, meaning I kept playing and did the Envy of None projects that I really enjoyed. It gave me a chance to stretch out as a player. So I was quite satisfied, and Geddy was writing a lot.”
“There was an opportunity to get together for a project. So we did that. We just kind of jammed. We just tried to get the fingers in shape. The next thing we knew, we thought, ‘just try playing some Rush songs.'”
“We really hadn’t played them in a few years, and a lot of them in more than a few years, and it was just so much fun. You know, we really enjoyed it. We were really terrible, but it was a lot of fun. It rekindled something in me that I didn’t quite expect. I really am proud of the work that we did.”
Lee closed out the trip down memory lane, admitting that he and Lifeson were unsure whether to call their return “Rush” or name it something else:
“Yeah, there was a lot of back and forth – whether we should or shouldn’t. And if we were going to go out, what are we going to call it? Are we going to call it ‘Lee-Lifeson,’ are we going to call it Rush? We didn’t talk until we had something substantial.”
