Rushin kitaristi Alex Lifeson: ”Neil Peartin menehtymisen jälkeen en ole tuntenut itseäni motivoituneeksi tai inspiroituneeksi”
Kanadalaisen progressiivisen rockin legendan, Rushin kitaristi, Alex Lifeson vieraili WFAN Sports Radion ”Talkin’ Golf With Ann Liguori” -lähetyksessä. Lähetyksessä käytiin keskustelua aina kitaristin golfharrastuksesta Rushin vuosikymmeniä kestäneeseen uraan. Yhtyeen vahvistettiin lopettaneen toimintansa vuonna 2018. Yhtyeen rumpali Neal Peart eläköityi musisoinnista vuonna 2015, ja hänen uutisoitiin menehtyneen aivosyöpään kuluvan vuoden tammikuussa. Lifeson kertoo yhtyeen neljän vuosikymmenen urasta ja yhtyeen sisäisestä kemiasta:
”Geddy and I were friends from junior high school. We had such a love of music. After school, I’d go to his place or he’d come to mine, and we would jam for a couple of hours almost every day.
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It was a dream of any adolescent male to join a rock band and pick up chicks and this whole thing, but for us, the music was so important, and it was really about becoming a good musician and the best at what you do. And we started early with that, and that was the underlying reason for what we were doing.
When Neil joined the band, he was so skilled, even at that early stage, that it was inspiring to Geddy and me, and we just kind of moved as a unit. We also shared a very similar sense of music, so the time that we spent together when we weren’t focused on music was like being with your very best friends all the time. And you got to travel and see this other world and live this experience that you only ever dreamed about, and you got to do it together with guys that you really loved. So it was a no-brainer, really, for us. We were really, really fortunate. ’Cause I know lots of bands that imploded — guys just couldn’t stand each other after a while, or there was competition or jealousy over who wrote what song and who made what money and all of that stuff. We were always very democratic in the way we ran things. If it wasn’t a unanimous decision doing something, we didn’t do it. If there was a royalty payment because someone wrote something, the whole band shared in it. That took out a lot of the stress and angst and that kind of jealousy and anger that can develop in some bands.”
Kitaristin mukaan yhtyeen jäsenet olivat todella läheisiä keskenään, ja hän onkin pitänyt yhteyttä tiiviisti Rushin laulaja-basisti Geddy Leen kanssa:
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”It was more like we’d been at war together, and we had this connection even when we didn’t see each other for months. It was like we just left the day before; we picked it up where we left off. It was always like that with us. And we always stayed in touch. I’m in touch with Geddy regularly. Before this whole COVID-19 pandemic situation happened, Ged and I would see each other every week — we’d go for dinner or at least talk to each other. It’s been a little crazier now because of this whole thing and this adjustment that we’ve made these last few months, but we’re still in touch, and we’ll always have that friendship, right to the end of our days.”
Lifesonilta kysyttiin myös, ovatko hän ja Geddy Lee puhuneet palaamisesta lavalle. Kitaristi kertoi, ettei ole juurikaan Neil Peartin menehtymisen jälkeen koskenut kitaraansa eikä tuntenut itseään motivoituneeksi tai inspiroituneeksi:
”Not really. It’s been difficult. After Neil passed in January, I’ve played very little guitar. I don’t feel inspired and motivated. It was the same thing when his daughter died in a car accident in 1997; I didn’t really play for about a year. And I just don’t feel it in my heart right now. Every time I pick up a guitar, I just aimlessly kind of mess around with it and put it down after 10 minutes. Normally, I would pick up a guitar and I would play for a couple of hours without even being aware that I’m spending that much time. So I know it’ll come back. And I think Geddy working on his book for those couple of years, he was so involved in that book — which is, by the way, a fabulous book — when he finished it, he went on a tour for a year promoting it. Every time I spoke to him about getting back together, he was, like, ’Yeah, when I get through this, when I get through this.’ And then always something come up, I guess. I don’t know if the motivation is there for us to really do anything now. We’re certainly proud of our track record, and we still love music. But it’s different now.”
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