RUSH Frontman Talks About 'R30' DVD, Possibility Of Another Covers Album

Fender News recently conducted an interview with RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Fender News: Choosing archival footage for [the] "R30" [DVD] must have evoked all sorts of memories. Was there anything in particular that really grabbed you?

Geddy Lee: "(sighs) Well, yeah, lots of things grabbed me in the wrong way—bad hair, bad clothes, bad glasses … From the performance side, I found it very funny, and I think fans will find it funny, too. From the interview side of things, it was really curious to me to look back at this person talking as if he knew what he was talking about when he was so young. Some of the early footage was really interesting; kind of a self-examination as to how much you thought you knew 30 years ago, and how little you really did know 30 years ago. It was strange."

Fender News: After so many years together, is it inevitable that you take each other's talent for granted? Meaning, do you ever sit back and think something like, "Wow, my buddy Neil really is one of the greatest drummers in rock," or "My childhood pal Alex really is one of rock's best guitarists?"

Geddy Lee: "I don't look at it in that context; I just know that they're awesome players. Every night, I listen to Neil's drum solo. I mean, I'm catching my breath at that time of the night, and I just enjoy it. I just appreciate his ability. I don't know that I take it for granted; I guess I do, in a way — because I expect him to show up and be that good every time, and when we write a song together, I just expect him to pull it off, regardless of how complicated it is. And the same goes for Alex — I just expect him to deliver. So maybe that's taking them for granted, but, at the same time, I never lose my respect for those guys. Maybe as human beings, from time to time (laughs heartily),but never as players!"

Fender News: Last year's covers disc, "Feedback", was a really cool and fun move for RUSH. What covers would you choose if you were to do a second one; say, "Son of Feedback"?

Geddy Lee: "(chuckles) I don't know … I think it's my manager's dream, that we would do that. I don't know; there are lots of songs. There are so many great songs by other guys. The whole process of recording 'Feedback' was so much fun, and so easy, relatively, compared to a RUSH album, that I would love to do it again, to be honest. But I think it would be a bit cheeky to keep doing that kind of thing. Maybe at our fortieth we'll do that … But I don't know — there are ZEPELLIN songs that we wanted to do, but we felt that you just can't touch ZEPELLIN, in some ways. Same with YES. There are more old YARDBIRDS songs that we could've done, I suppose. And THE WHO songs go on forever — just the greatest songs ever. We toyed with the idea of doing 'I Can See For Miles'. We toyed with the idea of doing (ZEP's) 'Good Times, Bad Times'."

Fender News: Alex flies airplanes and Neil writes books. In addition to your family life, what are your interests outside RUSH?

Geddy Lee: "Aside from the family stuff, I have a ton of different hobbies. I like long-distance cycling; I do that. Big tennis guy. I play a lot of tennis. I'm a collector — I collect baseball ephemera; I collect art. And I'm a big wine nut. So a lot of those things inspire different kinds of travel, and I do a lot of traveling."

Read the entire interview at Fender.com.