GEDDVLEEai-<strong>Tech</strong> <strong>Bassist</strong> <strong>and</strong>Sunthesist <strong>with</strong> RushBy Tom MulhernSINCE THE AUTUMN of 1968,Toronto's premier power trio, Rush,has been tirelessly slugging its wayup the rock ladder, playing quick, complex,<strong>and</strong> loud material that embraces both progressive<strong>and</strong> traditional rock styles. Themembers' persistence has paid off: They areone of today's most popular groups, <strong>and</strong>their most recent album, Permanent Waves,has hovered in the Top 20 almost since its releasethis spring.Perhaps the most prominent member ofRush is the 26-year-old son of Polish immigrants,<strong>Geddy</strong> <strong>Lee</strong>, the hard-hitting bassist,synthesist, <strong>and</strong> lead vocalist who's wellknownfor his peripatetic stage movementsit'sdazzling to see so much sheer energyexpended <strong>with</strong>out a nervous breakdown.Riffing away almost constantly on his blackRickenbacker 4001 bass, <strong>Geddy</strong> sets forthlow-frequency melodies while loosing hispiercing vocals. Additional harmonic workon his Taurus bass pedals further creates theimage of a one-man rhythm section whichcomplements Alex Lifeson's nimble guitarwork <strong>and</strong> Neil Peart's intricate drumming.Nevertheless, <strong>Geddy</strong>'s self-taught style goesbeyond merely supplying the pulse for theb<strong>and</strong>-it is an indispensable factor in Rush'smelodic lifeblood.• >I< >I< >I
GEDDYLEECotJIinuedfrom page 53I knew Alex from school. We were prettygood friends. <strong>and</strong> we had always wanted toplay together. but we never had the opportunity. He used to call me all the time to borrowmy amp. though. because in those days,an amp was hard to com by He would say-How are you dOll1gT <strong>and</strong> I'd say. "Oh. notbad. - Then he'd say "Oh, by th way, can Iborrow your amp this weekend? We've got agig. -I used to loan him my amp all the timeWell. I received a call hom him about twweeks after he started Rush <strong>with</strong> our originaldrummer. John Rutsey fhey had an excellentbass player. but he d cided to quit theb<strong>and</strong> at the la~t minute befor a gig at a localcoffeehouse. That was big stuff back thenSo I got this panic call from Alex: "Do youwant to come out <strong>and</strong> fill in for the gig?" Isaid. "Sure!'" You know. in those days it wastypcial for a b<strong>and</strong> to rehearse for four hours,get all the songs together. <strong>and</strong>just go out <strong>and</strong>do it I did that one gig. <strong>and</strong> they asked me tostay in the b<strong>and</strong>. We've been together nowfor about 12 years.Once you were in Rush, didyou keep thesame equipment?I had the same Traynor amp for yearsmthose days we couldn't afford very much. Ichanged basses, though. I got a new Hagtrom,which was a light solidbody shapedkind of lik a Gibson SG. It was quite a stepup from my Conora It had a couple of slideswitches <strong>and</strong> really weird-looking blackpickups <strong>with</strong> silver dots. I liked that bass alot b cause it had a hin neck which made iteasy to play really fast-<strong>and</strong> it had a reallyTHE MUSIC MAGAZINEWITH A DIFFERENCE...Regular writers include' Dave Marsh. leIlerBangs, Robert Fripp, Jon Fareles. BobBlumenthal. Rot..rt Folmer <strong>and</strong> moreIf you're wondering whatever happenedto mu 'c magazines that covergreat music, music that is the vital <strong>and</strong>transforming voice of our culture, youshould take a long look at MUSICIAN,Player <strong>and</strong> Ustener, We've built ourreadership <strong>and</strong> reputation amongboth professional musicians <strong>and</strong> listenersover the past 3 years by writingabout the art <strong>and</strong> style of music; itsroots, influences <strong>and</strong> backstage realitiesas musicians knO'vV them ratherthan JUst talking about equipment orthe latest in rock fashionwear,Truly great music can come fromany style <strong>and</strong> we've had people asdiverse as Steely Dan, The Art Ensemble,Brian Eno, Stevie Wonder. Pat Metheny <strong>and</strong> Bob Marley on our covers.all in-depth. many exclusive <strong>and</strong> all fascinating, Coming up you'll seecovers on Bob Seger. Graham Parker, Bruce Springsteen <strong>and</strong> JimiHendrix along <strong>with</strong> features on artists as diverse as Joni Mitchell, PeteTO'vVnshend, Mike McDonaid. Django Reinhardt <strong>and</strong> Paul McCortney.WIN A FREE PAIR OFJIL CABARET MONITOR SPEAKEIlS. AN$8OOVAWE2 pairs will be given away Youmust subscribe to enterNl51'11WllH1HEPROS.Enclose coupon 'Nith your check ormoneyorderfor $1 0 <strong>and</strong> mail to: MUSICIANMagazine. P.o. Box 701, Gloucester, MA 01930, Subscriptions must be paidbefore June 15 In order to qualify for dra'Ning.o Payment Enclosed ($10) 0 Bill MeName _Address_Clty.80 GUITAR PLAYER/JUNE 1980_State Zip _raunchy sound. I had that bass for quite awhile.Did Rush play primarily in Toronto?We played all over Ontario. actually.Originally. we played only at this one coffeehousecalled the Coff-Inn: it was a localdrop-in center in the basement of a church.We used to play there on Friday nights <strong>and</strong>make perhaps seven bucks each. Then we'dgo wild afterwards-go to a restaurant <strong>and</strong>buy some Cokes <strong>and</strong> chips. We thought itwas great! Other than that. we didn't playmany gigs. But then Ray Danniels-sort ofalocal street-type, hustling kind of a guysaidhe wanted to manage us. He startedbooking us into Ontario high schools. <strong>and</strong>he's still our manager today.Ho ..... didyou branch out into otherjobs?I just turned 18 when the law changedlowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. sowe could finally play bars. You see. rock barwere the real thing to get into. It was Importantfor local musicians in Toronto to getinto those clubs <strong>and</strong> be seen by more people.older people.What kind ofmusic were you doing?We were doing half original <strong>and</strong> halfcopy material-mostly in a blues-rock vein.We used to have this running argument <strong>with</strong>our manager because we were always writingsongs. And whether they were good or baddidn't matter to us: it was only important towrite, just to get the experience. And just toget work, our manager would say, "Look.you can't just play originals, because peoplein these bars don't want to hear your originalstuff. ~ In those days, we were doing five setsa night. so we agreed to playa couple songseach set of somebody else. But we wouldpick lesser-known tunes by people like JohnMayall <strong>and</strong> Cream.When did you start playing music moreakin to your present material?It's funny-there was a sort of a crossoverpoint, I guess around 1970 or '71, whenwe started listening to other types of music.such as stuff by Procul Harum. And thenJeff Beck started getting heavier. <strong>and</strong> LedZeppelin was happening. They really blew usaway. We became real students ofthat heavyschool of rock. for sure.Didn't your reluctance to play Top-40music make it difficult for you to get work?Yeah. We once went through a summer<strong>with</strong> only three gigs because we couldn't getany work. We didn't want to play otherkinds of music: we wanted to play mostlyours. And our manager said. "Well. you'rejust not going to get work. ~ Another problemwe had in bars was that we were tooloud. We used to get a lot of hassles becauseit was important that the barmaids couldhear the orders from the customers. Andwe'd get up there <strong>and</strong> play Led Zeppelinish.screeching, loud music. The bar ownerswould get really upset. <strong>and</strong> fire us.Was Rushjust a three-piece group then?On <strong>and</strong> off. We had an electric pianoplayer for a while. in our bluesier times, buthe left the b<strong>and</strong>. Then we got a rhythm guitaristfor a short period, <strong>and</strong> he also left. We
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