RUSH's GEDDY LEE: 'Many Drummers Reached Out To Me In The Aftermath' Of NEIL PEART's Passing. 'That Was Most Distasteful To Me'

In a recent interview with Guitar World magazine, RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee confirmed that several drummers reached out to him and RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson in the days after legendary RUSH drummer Neil Peart's passing about the possibility of stepping in for Neil.

"People who are close to us — good friends that are successful drummers — would never infer something like that because they have too much respect, not only for Neil and for the situation," Lee told Guitar World. "They were grieving as well, so they wouldn't be so selfish as to say something inappropriate like that."

However, he added that "there were many other drummers who reached out to me in the aftermath of Neil's passing that were pushing themselves, and that was most distasteful to me. It was completely inappropriate timing."

Regarding how he and Lifeson ended up recruiting award-winning fusion drummer Anika Nilles to fill in for Peart this year as the Canadian rock legends embark on their surprise "Fifty Something" reunion tour, Lee said: "We didn't really know where to begin to look. We started with Anika because she had been recommended to me, and I had done some research on her. I loved her vibe and diverse style.

"We didn't have a list," he added. "When Al and I finally said, 'Okay, I guess we're getting serious. Who's going to sit in that impossible seat? It's daunting. We started with the name that was already on my mind.

"We called her up, she came, and we hit it off. She brought a lot to the table, but more than her chops, more than her guts, and her willingness to sit in that hot seat, she brought an intelligence and a story."

Back in March 2025, around seven months before the "Fifty Something" tour was announced, Lifeson told Jonathan Clarke, host of "Out Of The Box" on Q104.3, New York's classic rock station, that he and Lee were getting "bombarded all the time" by drummers offering their services for a possible RUSH reunion. "After Neil passed, it didn't take more than a few minutes before we started getting e-mails from all kinds of drummers who wanted to audition for the band, thinking that we were just gonna replace somebody that we played with for 40 years who wrote all the lyrics for our music," he said. "I don't know what some of these people were thinking."

In January 2024, Geddy reflected on the number of musicians who reached out to him in the days after Neil's passing. He said during an appearance on "Strombo's Lit", Apple's book club curated by Canadian media personality and Apple Music Hits host George "Strombo" Stroumboulopoulos: "Oh, yeah, I heard from all kinds [of people]. That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly." When Stroumboulopoulos noted that these were "people you thought were friends," Lee said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, like, 'Whoa, that's just so inappropriate right now. Dude, wait two months. At least two months — if ever.' It still happens, now that the clickbait freaks are out there talking about Alex and I getting a new drummer and starting RUSH again."

Peart died on January 7, 2020, after quietly battling brain cancer for three and a half years. RUSH waited three days to announce Peart's passing, setting off shockwaves and an outpouring of grief from fans and musicians all over the world.

In 2022, Geddy revealed that Neil wanted to keep his cancer diagnosis a secret prior to his death.

Lee went on to say that he and Lifeson had to be "dishonest" to fans in order to protect Peart's privacy.

RUSH will perform multiple shows in cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico, beginning June 7, 2026 at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. These special "evening with" shows will find the band playing two sets each night. Each show will feature a distinct selection of songs and RUSH will build each night's setlist from a catalog of 40 songs, including their greatest hits and fan favorites.

After Lee and Lifeson announced RUSH's initial 2026 tour dates in early October 2025, they instantly sold out. They then doubled the tour's length due to increased demand before adding even more dates to the trek.

At the moment, the North American leg of the "Fifty Something" tour is scheduled to stretch into the fall and early winter, with sold-out shows in Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, as well as dates in Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., to name a few. Lee, Lifeson and Nilles will then take the tour to South America and Europe in 2027. They also announced that keyboard player Loren Gold will be joining them. South American dates run from January 15, 2027 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to February 4, 2027 in Brasília, Brazil. The trek will then head to Europe starting February 19 in Paris, with dates running until April 10 in Helsinki, Finland.

RUSH performed in public with Nilles for the first time at Canada's Juno Awards in Hamilton, Ontario in late March. They played "Finding My Way", the first song from RUSH's first album, the band's only LP not to feature Peart.

The Juno Awards performance was Lee and Lifeson's first as RUSH since they finished their 40th-anniversary tour in 2015, although they have performed under their own names on occasion, including tributes to legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot and Taylor Hawkins of the FOO FIGHTERS.

Nilles, who has more than 275,000 subscribers on YouTube, toured with English rocker Jeff Beck in 2022 and was praised in 2023 by Lee, who told The Guardian at the time: "She played on the last Jeff Beck tour, and I thought she was terrific."

Nilles's official Instagram account, which is filled with her drumming videos, boasts more than 485,000 followers.