With no shortage of drummer offers and guitarist Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee still living minutes apart and playing together “once a week” could we be on the brink of a Rush reunion?
Speaking to the Out Of The Box show on New York’s classic rock station Q1043 recently, Alex Lifeson, the legendary guitarist with Rush was put on the spot as to whether he’d had any offers to replace Neil Peart, their drummer of 40 years who died in 2020, effectively bringing the band’s career to a close.
"Oh, well, yeah, of course, because we're bombarded by it all the time,” Lifeson revealed. “After Neil passed, it didn't take more than a few minutes before we started getting emails from all kinds of drummers who wanted to audition for the band, thinking that we were just gonna replace somebody that we played with for 40 years who wrote all the lyrics for our music.
“I don't know what some of these people were thinking.”
Appearing on Apple’s book club Strombo’s Lit (hosted by George "Strombo" Stroumboulopoulos) bandmate Geddy Lee confirmed the popularity of their vacancy: "Oh, yeah, I heard from all kinds.
"That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly…
“I was, like, 'Whoa, that's just so inappropriate right now. Dude, wait two months. At least two months – if ever.' It still happens, now that the clickbait freaks are out there talking about Alex and I getting a new drummer and starting Rush again."
And that’s a good question. So will Rush be getting back together again? After all Rush have played live since Neal Peart’s loss, appearing in a pair of tribute concerts for the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, during which they called on some world-class talent to join them on the drum stage: Tool’s Danny Carey, Omark Hakim, Chad Smith and Dave Grohl.
Speaking to Classic Rock, Lifeson explained: "The energy was fantastic around that show, I know, and some days I wake up wanting to go out and tour again and some days I don't. For forty years Rush included Neil and I don't think putting some new version together would have the same magic.
"After those two gigs and the months of prep Ged and I went through, I was excited by the response and to be in the dressing room again with so many fellow artists in Wembley and L.A. I respected and felt a kinship towards.
"But after a few weeks that wore off and it occurred to me that despite all the pain of loss, Rush went out on a high note playing as well as ever with one of our best stage shows on R40. I guess I'd rather be remembered for that legacy than returning as the top Rush tribute band."
But he and Lee still play together so fans can still hope: "It's good to jam with friends as you get older. I need to play. Once a week I go to Ged's – it's in the calendar – keep my fingers moving, play Rush stuff, new jams.
"We do record it, but I couldn't even begin to tell you where it'll go."
"That's been really good, but there's no chance that we're going to get a drummer and go back on the road as the rebirth of Rush or something like that,” Lifeson told Rolling Stone. “And if we wanted to write new material, nobody cares about new material anymore. They just want to hear the old stuff from guys like us.
“How much do you need?”
"We get offers all the time, and they're pretty substantial, but I don't know. It's not enough for me. How much do you need? I'm trying to get rid of stuff.
"I sold the bulk of my guitars. I had some cars. I sold those. I had a house in the country that I sold. I want to be slimmer and a little tighter in my life with fewer anchors around my neck."
"Ged's a very busy guy," Lifeson told Ultimate Guitar in 2024. "He's written a couple of books over the years. He has a lot of stuff that he's into. This is my studio in my apartment. I've been working on the Envy of None stuff as well as a few other projects. So I've been playing and recording for all these years.
“It's not like we need to go back to something. And that's my fear. That would be the expectation – this is Rush 2. But by necessity it has to be something different. And it can never be Rush. Without Neil, it can never be Rush.
"That's it. It's over. But you never know what can happen. So we'll see."
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