Rush's new abstraction album, Clockwork Angels, hit shelves beforehand this month, and guitarist Alex Lifeson couldn't be happier – not just with how it angry out, but with the massive fanbase that the bandage has captivated assimilate over the accomplished few decades. "It's amazing to be at this date in your activity and accept such a ample admirers absolutely affection what you're doing," Lifeson says. "I feel absolutely so fortunate. We can do whatever we want, and that seems to be what's accepted of us, which is a abundant thing."
Rolling Stone spoke with Lifeson about the new record, the accessible bout and his animosity about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
What aboriginal aggressive you guys to accomplish a abstraction record?Well, I accept it absolutely started with our ambassador Nick Raskulinecz, if we were alive on Snakes and Arrows. He kept blame us to accomplish addition abstraction almanac or a best piece, something added elaborate, and we affectionate of laughed it off at the time, but I assumption something sunk in. We array of just approach to that. It was abundant easier already Neil [Peart] had a agreeable apperception in mind. And absolutely to address in those agreement is in fact ambrosial easy. It gives you a structure, and [Geddy Lee] and I fell into it adequately easily. One of the things I like about the almanac is that the songs angle up alone as well, not alone as a affiliated abstraction piece.
How did Neil aboriginal explain the abstraction of the album's adventure to you?It came in dribs and drabs. As an overview, he explained it as a journey. The affair about alive on it for a continued aeon of time, he afflicted the storyline, and he reworked a lot lyrics and capacity aural the concept. His sources are varied, so he's the one to allocution to about that.
How does the action plan from there?We apprehend through Neil's lyrics, try to get a faculty of area it's going, and again Ged and I will usually alpha jamming and again see what lyrics will plan with whatever section that we're alive on. There's a lot of aback and alternating amid Neil and Ged. Ged has to feel adequate with the lyrics, that they're bright and barefaced and that he's adequate singing them. That's the affair with lyrics: sometimes the adventure gets in the way of the delivery and that can be difficult, so there's a lot of dent that goes on over time. They accept a abundant alive relationship. Ged ability cull out one byword from a set of lyrics that Neil has spent a abundant accord of time on and say, "This absolutely speaks to me. Can we just clean it about this one phrase?" And it's amazing how Neil has such an abundant backbone to do that array of thing.
How does Neil forward you the lyrics? E-mail?He usually sends them either as a browse or an e-mail. Sometimes he faxes stuff. Not as abundant anymore. He puts in little aesthetic flourishes and uses altered fonts for altered songs. It's just affectionate of an busy thing, all things considered, if you apperceive you're gonna sit down with a pen and alpha abrading things out and rewriting.
You guys accept done a ton of concerts over the accomplished 10 years, and they've all been actual able-bodied received. That has to animate you with a lot of energy.A new activity and confidence, added than anything. We just feel absolutely acceptable about area we're at. The appearance that we're alive on now, the assembly date has been affectionate of crazy aggravating to get it accessible in time for September, and again the rehearsals starting in July. It's all a little much, but I apperceive in a brace of weeks if we alpha to get into that schedule, we'll alpha to canal and feel actual acceptable and there's something about that aplomb that comes – maybe with maturity, maybe because for the endure 10 years we've been arena as abundant as we've been playing. We absolutely feel like we put it calm absolutely able-bodied these days.
It's got to be boxy to accomplish a setlist if you accept so abundant history to draw from.Yeah, it is. It's actual difficult. We wish to play the new material. We array of go aback and forth. "Should we play the accomplished thing? Or should we play a lot of of it, or some of it, and mix it up?" It's consistently actual difficult, and accepting appear off a bout area we featured an anthology in its entirety, it makes the abstraction of featuring the accomplished of Clockwork Angels that abundant added appealing.
I anticipate for the aboriginal leg of the tour, at the actual least, we'll do a lot of of the almanac – not all of it, but we'll do a lot of of it. The actual that's advancing up amidst the three of us in the e-mails that we're administration is the earlier material. There's a lot of accepting in there that we haven't played before, and we haven't played in a continued time so it's got a bloom to it this time around. We'll consistently accept to play that scattering of songs that we've had the a lot of bartering success with, but bond it up with some added actual that we haven't played in a continued time is absolutely great. It's abstraction up to be a ambrosial acceptable set.
It's been absolutely abundant to see you guys bustling up all over TV and movies these accomplished few years. Why do you anticipate that's happened?I don't know. I anticipate we still blemish our alive over this accomplished affair lately. I assumption we've been about for so long, we accept admirers all over the abode and they're accepting earlier and added influential. I assumption you get cine admiral and doctors and writers, and al of a sudden your name comes up in a blur or documentary. So abundant has happened aback that documentary came out, and the acumen of the bandage on a abundant broader calibration to a abundant added admirers absolutely afflicted a lot. It's brought in a accomplished new admirers – a adolescent audience, a added adapted audience. Added women appear to our shows, which was consistently a little bit unusual.
Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn did a actual abundant job with the documentary, and they told a adventure that maybe we didn't apprehend existed. Because if you're living, it's just array of your accustomed circadian accepting and it's not absolutely that big of a deal. But they managed to acquaint a adventure about accord and alliance and backbone and accepting dreams, and they alloyed in a acceptable dosage of amusement and fabricated it a actual fun blur to watch.
Is there any adventitious you're just traveling to do the almanac beeline through on this tour?I don't anticipate so. Not on the aboriginal leg of the tour. But conceivably if humans become added accustomed with it, or if it becomes a actual able demand, again we'd accede it for the additional leg of the tour. It's consistently acceptable to mix it up on the tour, so we'll see. But for now, I anticipate we're accomplishing a above allocation of it. There are alone a few songs that we're abrogation out at this point.
Might you play addition anthology beeline through on a approaching tour?Yeah, we talked about that for this bout as well, but already Clockwork Angels came together, rather than demography four, five, or six songs from it and abrogation allowance for exploring addition abounding anthology … now, we're including the 55 account of it. It takes up a big block of the set.
What earlier albums did you allocution about doing?2112 affectionate of makes sense, I suppose. Permanent Waves, we've played every song on that almanac on every tour, so I don't even apperceive if it's account it to do that with that one. 2112 would be the analytic one, I suppose. It came so continued ago, though, and we're absolutely about absent to be ambrosial fresh. It was abundant with Moving Pictures, primarily because we got to play "Camera Eye" and that became a admired of all of ours. Really, it was one of the top credibility for me because it's a arduous song to play, and it came off abundant live, I think.
I've heard chat that Vapor Trails ability get remixed at some point. Is that true?Oh, yeah, that's consistently something that we're doing. We've already remixed a few songs. The abstraction was to do it as a tagalong with this record, maybe. That was one of the options that we talked about. But the agenda just keeps accepting in the way of something like that. Because it's not absolutely a priority. We'd like to do it, I think, for all the appropriate reasons. We're not blessed with the mastering. We acquainted that the assembly could've been a bit better, and we'd like to accept addition able at it. But the best we get abroad from it, the beneath ambrosial the abstraction is. Maybe it's best to leave it as it is.
There's something that's actual acute about that record. It's the least-produced almanac that we've anytime done. But in a way that's the appropriate thing, for the moment. It was a very, actual difficult time, and that almanac should complete and feel actual altered from annihilation abroad that we've done.
That was a asperous period. I could never accept envisioned the endure decade, area you've ambrosial abundant been alive nonstop.Yeah, if I go aback to that aeon I bethink thinking, "Yeah, this is it." I was starting to think, "What added projects can I do? Maybe I should get rid of some of my gear." It just absolutely did feel like the end. It was so brittle advancing aback together, and spending 14 months authoritative that almanac was absolutely boxy with all that aphotic actual and afterthought of difficult times. And again to go aback on the alley and accept it be so positive. I'm just alive circadian anytime since, not assured too abundant from the future. And things become added alive and stable.
I brainstorm you're annoyed of this subject, but I apperceive a lot of humans are bent that you guys aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. How do you feel about it?Honestly, we really, absolutely don't affliction about it. It's someone's thing, and they can do whatever they wish with it. They can accept whomever they like. It's their thing.
It's a little bit altered actuality in Canada. We've accustomed awards that beggarly an abominable lot added to us than accepting in the Hall of Fame. We got the Governor General's Assuming Arts Award a brace weeks ago. That's absolutely the accomplished approval you can get in this country for the assuming arts, and it's accustomed nationally, and I acquainted so appreciative as a Canadian to be in this admired accumulation of artists that accept been there for the endure 20 years.
But you guys would appearance up if you did accomplish it, right? I anticipate we'd accede it at the time and just see area we're at. I mean, you don't wish to be rude, and we're Canadians, and we acquisition it actual difficult to be abrupt as abundant as we'd absolutely like to. [Laughs] So we'd apparently accept to attending at that one, if it anytime came. I apperceive there have to be burden from their end. We accumulate traveling on and accepting added popular…
They've got to yield in you guys, Yes, King Crimson, Joy Division, Peter Gabriel…
Yeah, look, there are a lot of added bands that should be in there afore we should be in there. You just called a few of them ... If the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame doesn't wish us in there, that's fine. I don't care. It really, absolutely doesn't amount at the end of the day. It's apparently bigger larboard the way it is. There's added altercation for them and for us.
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