RUSH Enjoying Its Most Successful Single In A Decade

May 6, 2007

Jane Stevenson of the Edmonton Sun reports that veteran Toronto prog-rock band RUSH is going through a major renaissance right now.

Together for 33 years, singer-bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer-lyricist Neil Peart are enjoying their most successful single in a decade, "Far Cry", from the band's just-released studio album, "Snakes & Arrows".

Meanwhile, ticket sales for the accompanying tour, which kicks off June 13 in Atlanta and hits Canada for a slew of dates in July and September, are up 35% from the last time RUSH hit the road in 2004.

Lee said there were two key ingredients in making RUSH sound fresh again: Recording the 2004 EP of '60s covers, "Feedback", and recruiting Grammy-winning co-producer Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, SHADOWS FALL) for "Snakes & Arrows", which was recorded in the Catskills and mixed in L.A., where Peart has lived for the past six years.

"It felt fresh," said Lee, relaxing in a back room recently at RUSH's management offices in Toronto.

"A couple of things happened. The way we recorded 'Feedback' was so basic and so back to roots, you know the three of us just in a studio playing together, that made us realize how much more exciting recording should be, rather than computerizing the whole thing and belabouring it. And also, playing those songs from that period was a great way of reminding us about certain truths that existed about writing rock songs back then, that shouldn't have changed. But in our own way we got very dense about our songwriting, and that was a way of bringing us out of ourselves a little bit more and reminding us about some of the fundamentals that go into writing a great rock song."

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).