GEDDY LEE On RUSH's Future: 'I Can't See The Three Of Us Ever Really Doing Anything'

RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee has told the Toronto Sun in a new interview that he was hoping the band's "R40" tour, which ran from May 2015 to August of that year, wouldn't be the last ever. "[Drummer] Neil [Peart] insisted that [the Los Angeles show on August 1, 2015] was his last gig," he said. "And you know, Alex [Lifeson, guitar] and I would look at each other and go, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's just saying that.' So I think we kind of knew, we should have known, it was the last show. But I think being eternal optimists we hoped that after a break we would be back out there. That never materialized."

Asked if he can see the three of them recording together going forward or will it be individual projects, Geddy said: "I don't really know. Alex is turning into this super session guy. He loves playing on other people's records without the responsibilities of having to write anything other than his solo. I know he's really digging that. I've been doing this project, but we talk, quite a lot. We see each other quite a lot. And we visit with Neil quite often. So we're all close but I don't think we would ever do a project — the three of us. It's certainly possible that Alex and I would do something down the road. I can't see the three of us ever really doing anything."

Geddy confirmed that he and his RUSH bandmates "get hit up with a lot of ideas on how to keep RUSH music out in the public eye, so we listen. But there's nothing we can announce at this point," he explained. "I'm reluctant to leave my family again. So for me to do another musical project that would involve touring etc., it would have to be something I feel really strongly about. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it. But I would have to be so charged up about it, it's worth that separation."

RUSH has been completely inactive since completing the "R40 Live" tour nearly four years ago. Peart was battling enormous physical pain through much of the trek, including a foot infection that made it agonizing for him to even walk.

A few years ago, Lifeson told Rolling Stone that he receives injections for psoriatic arthritis. He was previously hospitalized for anemia from bleeding ulcers and suffered breathing problems.

Lifeson and Lee have repeatedly said that RUSH will never do a show unless all three musicians agree to take part. They haven't performed as RUSH without Peart since he joined the band in 1974.

For first six years of RUSH's existence, John Rutsey was behind the kit and he played on the band's self-titled debut LP.