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| Early Rush: Alex Lifeson, John Rutsey, and Geddy Lee |
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| Alex, Neil, and Geddy with a seldom-seen 4th member of Rush (Permanent Waves era) |
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| Rush in the 70's: Alex, Neil, and Geddy |
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| Alex, Geddy and Neil, Permanent Waves era |
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| Rush jams! |
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| Rush in the 80's: Geddy, Alex, and Neil |
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A SHORT, (MOSTLY) ACCURATE EARLY HISTORY OF RUSH
It started in Willowdale, Toronto, Canada, in the Spring of 1968. This was the time of bands such as "The Yardbirds",
"Cream", "Led Zeppelin", "Jimi Hendrix", and "The Who". They played the
style of these bands. The band members were 15 at the time. It was started by Alex Zivojinovich
and John Rutsey. Alex changed his name to Alex Lifeson because his real last name was too hard to say and spell.
(The name "Lifeson" is an English translation of "Zivojinovich.") In August of '68, the formal
lineup was Jeff Jones on bass and lead vocals, John Rutsey on drums and backing vocals, and Alex Lifeson on
guitars and backing vocals. They first got a job to play at a coffee house called the "Coff-In." While
they had dreamed of playing, they had neglected to come up with a name for their group. They all went
to John Rutsey's basement, but they didn't have much luck coming up with a name. Then John Rutsey's older brother
yelled, " Why don't you call the band Rush?" So "Rush" was the title of the band. In
September of '68, Jeff Jones (bassist/vocalist) was replaced by Gary Lee Weinrib. Gary's grandmother had a Yiddish
accent, and when she called him Gary it sounded like she was calling him Geddy, so he changed his
name to Geddy Lee.
"We came from pretty much the same neighborhood," Lee said. "We met in the eighth grade. Alex used
to borrow my amplifier all the time. We played in coffee shops for chips and gravy. I worked in my mother's hardware store
for a while. Alex worked in a gas station."
"We were playing the English blues -- John Mayall, Cream. Alex would pretend he was Eric Clapton, I would pretend
I was Jack Bruce, and we'd play 'Spoonful' for twenty minutes."
...Then in January of '69, Lindy Young joined the band and he played keyboards and back-up guitars. Soon after, the band's
name was changed to "Hadrian." In May of '69, Geddy Lee (bassist/vocalist) quit Hadrian and made his own band called
"Ogilvie." He was replaced in Hadrian by Joe Perna. In June of '69, Geddy Lee changed his band's name from "Ogilvie"
to "Judd." In July of '69 Lindy Young (keyboardist) left Hadrian to join Judd and then Hadrian split up. Then in
September of '69, Judd split up also. Immediately after, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and John Rutsey formed together again as
Rush. In February of '71, Mitch Bossi joined Rush. He was a 2nd guitarist in the band (along with Alex Lifeson.) He quit in
May of '71...
...Rush became more popular in Canada and the U.S. Unfortunately, John Rutsey (drummer) had different ideas about the
band's future than Alex and Geddy did. He quit the band at the end of the Canadian tour, before they could even go on tour
in the United States...
...If the band was going to go on tour in the United States, they were going to need a new drummer. That month the band
held auditions for a new drummer and they met up with 22-year-old Neil Peart. Neil was from St. Catharines, which was a town
just south of Toronto and across Lake Ontario. He had been playing the drums since he was 13. He played in a few high school
bands and then he moved to London in the early 70's. He worked at a shop called "The Great Fog", but he then became
disillusioned by the British music scene...
...Geddy and Alex liked Neil's drumming because he had a British drumming style that was similiar to the style of Keith
Moon. Neil joined the band on July 29, 1974...
--excerpted from (and with apologies to) "MAIN STORY: by Matt Lupoli" at http://www.erikandanna.com/Rush/ history_of_rush.htm
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Rush was asked, "As musically and technically talented as you are, have any of you ever been asked to collaborate or
add your unique stylings to another artist's album? Alternatively, are there other musicians, past or present, you would like
to work with on one of Rush's albums?"
Geddy Lee replied, "From time to time we get contacted to do something. We've done some guest appearances, mostly
for friends in Canada and occasionally on the outside. We don't do a lot of it. There are lots of talented people out there
who would be fun to work with."
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While there have been many guest appearances from Rush or a member of Rush, guest appearances on Rush albums are much rarer...
1981's Moving Pictures includes the interesting "Witch Hunt," featuring a rare guest appearance on a Rush album,
this time Hugh Syme on additional synthesizers. A dramatic difference with 1987's Hold Your Fire is the inclusion of an outside
guest vocalist on "Time Stand Still" in the person of rocker Aimee Mann.
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