RUSH Guitarist Talks About 'Suck' Movie

Tom Henheffer of Macleans.ca recently conducted an interview with RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson and director/writer Rob Stefaniuk about the new film "Suck", which features a cameo by Lifeson. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Macleans.ca: It seemed like one of the big themes in the movie is the fear of losing relevance. Do you feel like there's any parallel between that and rock music today?

Alex Lifeson: It has lost a lot of relevance. The whole industry has changed so much. I think the movie is a metaphor for the way the rock industry used to be, selling your soul to get ahead and to realize your dream.

Macleans.ca: Did you find that there were many parallels in the movie between your experience as a musician and what this band was going through, being on the road, being the losers that they were at the start of the movie?

Alex Lifeson: Somewhat. You know, the starving, travelling in one vehicle, whole band kind of thing. We certainly did that for years when we were playing high schools and clubs, bars around southern Ontario. And really the first three or four years we toured in the U.S. we were in a car, a station wagon.

Macleans.ca: RUSH never sold its soul like the band in this movie. How did you guys manage that?

Alex Lifeson: It was on our third album, "Caress of Steel", that we tried to experiment a little bit more. We started working on concept pieces for a whole side of a record, and that record was not very commercially successful. We had a lot of pressure, we were heavily in debt. So we sort of sat down and said we can either do one of two things: go with what the record company's saying and make more of a straight rock record, or we can just do what we want to do, go down in flames, but at least we did it on our own terms. That's what a lot of this movie is about. What are they, and what kind of band are they? Do they need this sudden influence that's coming from somewhere else?

Macleans.ca: And in the end they decide it's better to sell your soul for rock and roll.

Alex Lifeson: Yeah exactly.

Macleans.ca: But that isn't your experience.

Alex Lifeson: Well we didn't have to. We didn't break up after "Caress of Steel" and go home and wear our plaid jackets and cardigans like they did and always live in that thought, "did I blow it, did I have a chance?" That wasn't the case for us.

Macleans.ca: How hard was it to get you interested in the project?

Alex Lifeson: It was very simple. John (Kastner) told me about it when it was in infancy I think. They were writing some music and talking about it conceptually. He mentioned it and I said sure, keep me posted and let me know, I'd be happy to.

Read the entire interview from Macleans.ca.