Prog giants Rush are set to hit the road for the first time since Neil Peart’s passing next month, with former Jeff Beck drummer Anika Nilles sitting in for the Professor. But while the band was still in mourning after his death, Geddy Lee says some drummers were already eying Peart’s position.
The band had retired in 2015 after the R40 tour, with Peart’s deteriorating health the main reason for their curtain call. Peart passed away five years later, with most assuming that Rush, simultaneously, were no more.
That has, of course, proven not to be the case. Nilles was recommended to the band by a tech who spent time on the road with Jeff Beck’s 2022 tour, and Lee and Lifeson eventually approached her. However, they note some other players were tactless in their approach.
“People who are close to us – good friends that are successful drummers – would never infer something like that because they have too much respect, not only for Neil and for the situation,” Lee tells Guitar World. “They were grieving as well, so they wouldn’t be so selfish as to say something inappropriate like that.”
However, he adds that “there were many other drummers who reached out to me in the aftermath of Neil’s passing that were pushing themselves, and that was most distasteful to me. It was completely inappropriate timing.”
Lee says it was when he and guitarist Alex Lifeson linked up with Dave Grohl to play Rush songs at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in 2022 that sparked their reunion. Two years later, they were back on stage again as part of a Gordon Lightfoot tribute show, and the rumor mill began spinning when Lifeson confessed that the pair had been jamming.
But timing and finding the right drummer were everything.
“We didn't really know where to begin to look,” Lee says. “We started with Anika because she had been recommended to me, and I had done some research on her. I loved her vibe and diverse style.
“We didn’t have a list,” he adds. “When Al and I finally said, ‘Okay, I guess we’re getting serious. Who’s going to sit in that impossible seat? It’s daunting. We started with the name that was already on my mind.
“We called her up, she came, and we hit it off. She brought a lot to the table, but more than her chops, more than her guts, and her willingness to sit in that hot seat, she brought an intelligence and a story.”
Born into a family of musicians, Lee says the 42-year-old, born between the Rush's ninth and tenth albums, “doesn’t even remember the first time she picked up sticks,” rather, “It’s who she is.” Her relative freshness, he adds, has been vital in Rush’s second coming.
They soft-launched their comeback at the Juno Awards in late March. Their full-fledged return is happening next month at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, on June 7, where they played their final show with Peart 11 years ago.
Rush are the cover stars of the new issue of Guitar World. Print and digital copies can be ordered from Magazines Direct.
