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Rush is bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. Rush was formed in the summer of 1968, in the neighbourhood of Willowdale in Toronto,by Alex Lifeson, Jeff Jones, and John Rutsey. Geddy Lee replaced Jeff Jones in September 1968. There were several lineup fluctuations between 1968 and May 1971, before Neil Peart replaced Rutsey on drums in July 1974, two weeks before the group's first U.S. tour, to complete the present line-up. Musically, Rush's style has evolved over the years, beginning in the vein of blues-inspired heavy metal on their debut to styles encompassing hard rock, progressive rock, a period dominated by synthesizers and, more recently, modern rock. Rush has influenced various modern artists such as Metallica,The Smashing Pumpkins and Primus,as well as many notable progressive metal bands such as Dream Theater. Rush has been awarded several Juno Awards and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994. Over the course of their career, the individual members of Rush have been recognized as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments with each member winning several awards in magazine readers' polls. Fly by Night (1975), Rush's first album after recruiting Peart, saw the inclusion of the band's first mini-epic tale "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", replete with complex arrangements and multi-section format. Lyrical themes also underwent dramatic changes after the addition of Peart due to his love for fantasy and science-fiction literature.However, despite these many differences some of the music and songs still closely mirrored the blues style found on Rush's debut. Following quickly on the heels of Fly By Night, the band released Caress of Steel (1975) a five track hard art rock album featuring two extended multi-chapter songs, "The Necromancer" and "The Fountain of Lamneth." Caress of Steel was reported by some critics to be unfocused and an audacious move for the band due to the placement of two protracted numbers back-to-back, as well as a heavier reliance on atmospherics and story-telling, a large deviation from Fly by Night.Their next album, 2112 was the band's first taste of commercial success and their first platinum album in Canada.After the breakthrough of 2112, the band released their first U.S. Top 40 album, a double live album titled All the World's a Stage in 1976 which has been surmised by some to demarcate the boundary between the band's early years and the next era of music. Permanent Waves (1980) shifted Rush's style of music dramatically via the introduction of reggae and new wave.Although a hard rock style was still evident, more and more synthesizers were introduced. Moreover, due to the limited airplay Rush's previous extended-length songs received, Permanent Waves included shorter, more radio-friendly songs such as "The Spirit of Radio" and "Freewill", two songs which helped Permanent Waves become Rush's first U.S. Top 5 album. Rush's popularity reached its pinnacle with the release of Moving Pictures in 1981. Moving Pictures essentially continued where Permanent Waves left off, extending the trend of highly accessible and commercially friendly pop-progressive rock that helped thrust them into the spotlight. The lead track, "Tom Sawyer", is probably the band's best-known song and "Limelight" also received satisfactory responses from listeners and radio stations. After wrapping up the tour promoting Test for Echo in 1997, the band entered a five-year hiatus mainly due to personal tragedies in Peart's life. Peart's daughter Selena died in a car accident in August 1997, followed by his wife Jacqueline's death from cancer in June 1998. Peart took a hiatus to mourn and reflect, during which time he traveled extensively throughout North America on his BMW motorcycle, covering 88,000 km.At some point in his journey, Peart decided to return to the band. After sufficient time to grieve and reassemble the pieces of his life, and while visiting long-time Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan in Los Angeles, MacNaughtan would play matchmaker and introduce Peart to his future wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall. Peart married Nuttall on September 9, 2000. In early 2001 he announced to his band mates that he was ready to once again enter the studio and get back into the business of making music. With the help of producer Paul Northfield the band returned in May 2002 with Vapor Trails, written and recorded in Toronto. To herald the band's comeback, the single and lead track from the album, "One Little Victory" was designed to grab the attention of listeners due to its rapid guitar and drum tempos.Vapor Trails marked the first studio recording not to include a single synthesizer, organ or keyboard part since the early 1970s. During promotional interviews for the R30 Live In Frankfurt DVD, the band revealed their intention to begin writing new material in early 2006. While in Toronto, Lifeson and Lee began the songwriting process in January 2006. During this time, Peart simultaneously assumed his role of lyric writing while residing in Southern California. That following September, Rush chose to hire American producer Nick Raskulinecz to co-produce the album. The band officially entered Allaire Studios, in Shokan, New York in November 2006 in order to record the bulk of the material. On February 14, 2007, an announcement was made on the the official Rush web site that the title of the new album would be Snakes & Arrows. It was released May 1, 2007 in North America. Discography |
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