Ne!) Lh eo. | “RecHfain jennyDEFINITELY A NEW WORLD MAN When Signals came out and word was out that the band would soon tour to support the album. { tried to make it a rsonal mission to get a hold of Alex and see what he could tell me about the album and ees cour. scditnit eet echanch to.) 7 asa eve a talk to him face-to-face but I Pa tor st oe did get to ask him a few ons questions over the telephone Rush was playing in near Cleveland and there wasn't whole lot of time to talk, but Alex was very polite, helpful, soundchecks. We'll try to book four or five hours court time...maybe do some flying. We try to do alot of things on our days off. yes, I've had one for a few years now. I'd really like to ask a few Seat agorekiae auestions about Cuk ae SIGNALS if 1 could. --The main thing that I noticed about 1° ve noticed by Hoek inere caehs the album was the mreater amount ea Of keyboards on you! re playing the album: tho Dae eee hoe @ereater number days, taking a Of instruments Seue Vecraare on the album- Did ore. How are you | 2D the atbum scheduling the conflict tor you enewey as a wu tar We like to play three days in tow as a maximum, a day off and anywhere from one to three days on. Last tour it was three days on, one day off, four days n, one day off. We would prefer to play three davs, have a day off. play one day, have a day off...Llike that. What cdo you do on your aay ove? Tennis mostly. Geddy and I have been playing alot, including on working days WPfethosn’ BaFdveplayer Gecely * pre even b ger tha No, there was no conflict. | wanted to go for something a little different from previous albums we've always approached it with a thick, large guitar sound that sort of covers the whole listening area in the sense of the stereo sound. This timo we wanted to get a certain guitar sound and leave it at that and slot it in at its position This left more room for the keyboards. 1 don't think there are any more keyboards, it's just that they have a little more presence to them ao. “ . and are more dimensional. 11 was eee ee something we cosidered right ic 88 from the startiwe really wanted fide the #Rciievoncty ex to approach production in a itneerenc east easier because we had all of hese ideas and we sort of efined them to put them How ao you mean, pee guage eadeae Ane by having more cording seems to get a eo aurcley fate tleharder every year. W onts? had to stay an extra month in the studio Not just more instruments, but more the positioning of the different instruments. In the past I've double and triple tracked guitars, keyboards, vocals, that kind of thing. tried to mix things up a little more, the gultar sort of steps back’ a bit. Pwoulta tnink rome OF Lhe Peason would be the standard of a the recoraing auality these days. Tt much hiirhe on, that! an very true Wa wnat an @asier album BinMGce you dicdn’ t etek a tel osAC rorent fre amy thing ot uh bass cor think thatts the banc? wine. OF chance much. DO you Over worry about alienating any Of your fan with the ch: mes? Is the ral consid oration atways yourselves? Oddly enough, 1 was just talking to Neil about this today. Our goal has alwa: been to grow, evolve and change. That 1s what we try Lo do. | would be more nervous and afraid of repeating some- thing, which would be very sy to do. If you reach a certaim point and Life becomes 1 bit Lo easy, everything nice, you may not want to lose that. If you Cail into that sItuation it can be very langerow 1 think tha" ara very healthy ALLE tude creat ively. l can see where record panties would t. but not Like how much Po makes - Pf tb coula com ' 1 sliment your ny ©, the one thing that makes Alex Lifeson spe cial tome Ls you Ability to make your rmuitar do so many thin ze. Ach BGlO is uniaue and has Ls own indiv dual persona ality. ts thata con ous oft Ort? How do you > About writ ne your solos tually very We'll have the basic tracks done and [11 pend a couple of weeks just mucking about trying to figure out what the the solo should be and what it should ound like. Then it's just a matter of doing it over and The solos spontanious over again. [t's the only way I feel happy doing solos. I know Michael Schenker once told me that when he's in. the studio he gets the basi tracks done and takes a tte home and writes a solo exactly the way ho wants it, rehearses it and goes back in and doe: it just Like that. That's fine if he more comfortable doing it that way but [| find it works much bet ter for me if it's spontan— cous, basically I'm that type of person. Lt sounds exc Ling and a bit more of a ramble working that ways Yoah, but again if it works for you, great. I think you can show of your emotions by by doing it this way. What songs are you doing on this tour’? We are doing all of Signals"Losing It". Mostly recent stuff, we dropped "Working Man" which we've done for 78 years (laughs). That was kind of a big step. excopt I've heard that you have a meailey out for end of the starts with hy we do. It 2112, goos in Xanadu, a little La Villa Strangiato... that's been in our set for only 76 years. Rush music Started out hard and heavy, and has since then promressea eut of that renre but there is sLELL a heavy metal type fo1- Lowing the bama - You can stilt wearthe the cenim br irade coming to your concert. How ao you explain som Cone coming to your concert with a Motorhead Patch on his a kel? You ret the hooked early and they won't ret Bo? I guess it does stem back to the fact that we're basically a heavy metal band, we wore at the beginning. That was really a very long time ago. We started experimenting in (97. 1 gue this audience has just stuck with us all along. The band is bit more contemporary and it has moved out of that particular vein of rock music but it can still get pretty heavy at times so maybe there is still that appeal. | like to think we are unique as well. Pra bike to ast you about the equipment you that you are using now. | seo that you are Poussin now. that you tid using ra izob ve a fow Strats now actually. 1 have the 7 white Stra and a red one, Te the onty differenc between the two guitars is white one has a vibrato arm on it and the red one doesn't. 11 has all five strings on it and it's screwed right down. 1 also have a black one that I've had for four yoars. I'm using them alot more. On th black and white ones | have Sharp necks, which is a company in Canada that jus makes the necks. There is no fiish on them at all, it's just bare wood. It's a nice feel. i have a humbacking in the back position and two Standard Strat pickups and | just move the toggle switch to the bottom norn. That's about dite What about a Cication? mPa I'm still using the Marshall combos. Actually I've got four them and I run them at differ ent settings and different volumes so that Jon at the board has. When we go into thestudio we'll set up a few amps with a number of mikes and erent settings lread where at one time you hac some Of your amps on Gedaay* de and he had some of his amps on your side, but now yOUr amps are soparate. Yeah, we did that right up until this tour. We get a wilder, fuller sound this way now. Tt has its problems in that there is too much sound coming Off Stage al this point. The PA is so efficient that it can really handle that load, so we separated the two. I hear Geddy's bass through my stage monitor. | think that the loudest thing on stage 1 Neil's drums. This new plan was a big step tor rt really cleaned up the overall sound of the whole band. We made a move to smaller amps Vo met a cleaner , more oi round? Yeah, and it's a controllable. lot more Mow do you mix the solos Live? Do you turn up your mubtar, overbatlance the Ix Lowards tne fruit tar or whats lon (head sound man) does it lifferent ways. As far as ['m concerned | just turn the fuitar up and solo using what ever effects | want to use. ile may just turn it up or twook a riain frequency to bring it ut more in the mix. 1 don't know how he foes about this. but those are the two obyviou: ways Lo fo about it Phere is so much on the new album I really wonder how youtre roing tSide Rt Live « We're very careful when we're in the studio not to do something we can't do on stare. I'm playing a lot more bass pedal synthesizer and I've got mine interfaced with a couple of Oberheims. {'m allowed the kind of flexibility soundwise that Geday hi I'm doing some of the parts he was doing in the past. I look over sometimes and see both hands and feet going When you are on the road do you ever met a chance Lo practice your playing much? Woll, wo have soundchocks and the show is couple hours long and usually for the first couple of months I'm getting back into the swing of things. I don't do much dro: sing room rehearsing but I'm koing to wet back into it. To night actually t thinking, about setting things up. just continued on page 7lust when I thought | had heard it all, 1 got a copy of 1012; one of the finest vinyt imports I've ever heard. It has proviously unreleased live ital Signs" and "Red Sector Geddy and Neil talk about a prosent sort of reality in their music. the f selection is "Now World Man" from Rush's 10th album SIGNALS. Next is "the Spirit of Radio" direct rrom the tive 1981 rele "Exits. -Stage Left. Neil talks about how he s himself in the lyrics of "New World Man". This intervoiw continues to be very inter esting. Tho band discu experience of the launch of the Columbia Space Shuttle and how that experionce reflects on the ong entitled “Countdown.” "Vital Signs" is the high point of the album with great performances by all the band members. Geddy as always, down a pounding bass line stands out everything el Following "Vital Sign live "Freewill" with the overwhelming performance in middle section. "Territories tones the album down a bit but it soon skyrockets by the incredible and climatic "Red AY the ams that usual the This album shows all three | sides of Rush: The personal side of Rush and what their music means to them, the and Lhe amina in the pulsating versatility studio, and rhythmic feel to Rush's live shows. Another must for tne devoted Rush fan. For a superb copy of this album on a high bias chrome tape send $6.00 to Rush On Stare S14 Acadia Ave Winston-Saiom, NC 21127 Eric M checks tot ola vit Stage LettHave you ever cons dered ado torr A two amc a tial f hour show on your own without an mr Mele Yeah, wo have, but we have mixed feclings about it. Ticket prices are pretty high the days and an opening and an peoplo a little bit more their money plus che way we camo up was opening band and it really wouldn't be fair to play on our own and not have an opening yet. We tour a lot and have to keep up that responsibility Iive heard you mont Lon solo projects for both you anc Geddy. are those Viable working: projects? Oh, yeah, U think it will happen, it's just a matter of finding the time. Neil has a couple of things he wants to work on and get serious about book. He Just sold a peice to his writing. You can't go home Omni magazine which he is lor a six-week break and expéct pretty exited about. tle! really getting into that good deal of the Lime he concentrating on that. 1 must admit ( feel the same way about solo work, I'd Love to he has a lot of notes he'd like to put together into a to start working on anything It Lakes a couple of weeks just to unwind and then there are 11 of these things you miss out on during the year th; want to catch up on. We nocd do it. I have ideas I've been aa deleoue dl mel taniet building for the last few dveryone, work ongthel projects years down in the studio, but it's going lo take a month to go through all of the material and arrange it , then start recording. [t would take they want to work ons kind of int doe: do. is it few months and I've gol two ton? Doesnt kids and a wife lo see ho have avery Maca tied diary Do you see them of the bana’ s much when you're hoes on the road He's mot a few things in mind. Not really. We're usually out for three or four weeks and home for a week. I did fly home one day, October Ifth. It He's been writing some fiction wnd he's been writing thing ince "Farewell To Kings". sowas my older son's birthday and I surprised him. We went out to dinner and I took him to the arcade, that's his favorite thing, and then | went back to St. Louis for the show. with Geaay siting tied down behind the keyboards Like do you feel any more of potlirht on you? I feel a little pressure to take up some space but I try not to let it bother me. Some nights you feel Like jumping around and dancing and going crazy and other nights you don't. You have to play Lt by ear. You're right, he's quite Lied down there. There's one sonr on Sienalis."Che-— mistry.’ where I heard that Verry Brown, your producer, didn? tice te and kept you th wouldnt What went throurh your mind when you were battul him about son? You try lo be as objective as you can even with a subjective subject. Terry hes always been a fourth car and we value his opinion, but we were just so dead set on it. He came around lo our way of thinking after a while. Does the sit uation ever eccur when a sonr becomes an albu track and isn’t necessarily a 100 % armreement between the band member Lo how the sonr should be oor i it always total amreement and com tment by ther band mom ber We never have any kind of problem Like that because we discuss everything. Wc know when we do something it doesn't matter how many times we've done it, we have to do it until we get it right. To give an examplo, I spent day and a half doing a solo on "Digital Man." It was hard putting the solo together. 1 was happy when I finished it and 1 lived with it for a week. No one said anything but there was something odd about this solo. it just didn't fit in anywhere on the face of the earth so we took the time to go in a whole new direction. We spent a couple of days to do it over. It's something you could become very sensitive about...You're immediate reaction would be what? You think my solo sucked? It wi great! We all knew it wasn right for the song so we ecided to pursue it and pull it all back together - Well we’ ve taken enourh of your time for several fans. I hope to see you when you co ny Lown - Th for the oppor tunity. + it's a quarter ‘til four. I'm late. Thanks for everything-we'll be talking to you soon. ~~~ Jon Suther Landhe true Fly By Night ber inn ine Fly By Night was rel in February of 1975 seu "Best I Can" 1 think is of a debut for This album was a Poart who at the milestone for Rush. Cre time of this album It marked a time whon had beon in the band Rush was getting a for a short time and teel for the forever he had never played changing world of the on a studio album. music business. This “by-Tor and the Snow album asgists Rush in AEM Doe" is a fantasy a group that pau ically becoming a slowly but steadily we Involving good acheived their / against evil and uccess simply by good prevailing once touring long and hard . again. It begins a over the early yeas. Sey long line of fantasy Ihey then gained the - M oriented songs su notoriety they needed as "Xanadu", "The to earn the Juno Necromancer", and award in 1975 for Isperes.""By~ being the most and the Snow Dor” promising band coming out of sets a trend of very long and Canada that year. A large creative songs that tells amount of this s should stories from many viewpoints- be attributed mainly to the "Ely By Night" and "Making lyrical gonious Neil Peart who | Memories" are both about revolutionized the band touring and they explain the musically and lyrically. Fly By | good and bad sides of it. Night expressed ideas based on | song on this album shows @ individualism and books by Ayn | completely different band from Rand on the game topic. Lyri the first album. It is very such as "Live for yourself, obvious that Neil Peart has there's no one else, more worth | made an incredible addition to living for, begging hands and Rush and adding his dramatic bleeding hearts will always cry | has improved every song. out for wore” conveys ideas Overall this album shows that give the message that creativity, originality, and a selfishness 1s alright and that | new side of Rush that the fans there is no fault in being had never seen. self-centered- “Anthem” is probably one ot the h tof all rock songs on this album and it is a classic live. | beleive that the best live version that f nave hvard 1s at the Electric Ladyland Studios in 1974 ery Wrian SiskindChomistiy by Brian Siskind transmitted go received ion making impa Sometimes when ¥ meet people you feel an instant kind ot unity and - it's a mystery that you really don't by understand. [L's not necessarily into words or actions but it is more like Elemental telepathy nt type of recognition of the Exchange of energ metic {P= beiwddh the Reaction mak ing lection on the water, Mysteriously > one. This all ents how there be any unity PeopldNet Lue to ork toetagr this tho peoniek thin relationship in lit, esther ay "Et" flow withgut the other but how o they make ith one ano Electric contact ue Seoms to me Emotion transmi\tted Emotion recieved Music in tne absdact Positivel \ Elemental empathy NN A change of synerg making, contact- My pom that has of connect vople are unified there mu tud Whon One. two, three Ui somethhar completety new between Add wiUhowt sub Lractioy eee Pree en raat Sound on sound cea raat ie ee b eka Mulliplied reaction H to O 7 No flow without the Sther Oh but how / Do we make cont With one another? he oversNtay Kind of reality. The question asks at the end of the song is "ldw do we make contact with ne—nnotherd”. What lney are asking is how do we get out of that recornition and that silent kind of chemistry into getting to know one, Noid Poart another. tm short it's butter to Lo leave the mystery unsvived and still have that mystical quality thatyou know... tha play poster se the back wail ot "Le Studio" during the Vic co "Vital Sign, is a pic.ure of Harry Spencer who starred in "Eraser Head". The mombers ot Rusn tind this movie very fun ny The tor the radi station CENY kM of Toronto "The Spirit of Radio". In this was about the onl tha radio station that didn't drummer tho fragile heaith of drummer who in which Alox 13) the origional since they were out and ended up oe peic Manatrer blo. Box 1533 /Lombara. tL y 60148 2.00 issue The Music Collectors Newsletter non They all top4a0 music. played mu sic worth listening to. They bands the late 70's find af lor t the aroa rit catagory xtromoly well Neil has been im eral othe didn't pres their music cording to the chart but instead by real peoples Today they still remain the “alter native” station in as you can Rush this sides Rush he heard Rush needed a (as a result of John Rulseys at that time and Geddy knew chocked it revolutionizing theLadyiand Studios (includes a Raieieh VG- = $0 min 36.00 os Fire" - charlott c e” Houston, TX min. VG- -$4.00 includes Live pe Ampi theatre Vital e “Red Sector int. with Alex, Geddy, and Neil. 45 min-Ex+++ $6.00 POSTERS "Hold Your Fire’ live shots, 3 ball $8.00 "Hold Your Fire" Live shots-$8.00 VIDE P/G concert mi $20 Exit Stage Left concer t-60 min. ~--$20.00 Checkerdome, Meadow land. "Grace Under Greensboro, Promos Tom Sawyer, The Enemy Within, Distant Early War ning, Afterimage, The Body Electric, Subdivision tdown, The Big Money-55 min. -$20 "Hold Your Fire concert-135 min. $25.00 + Coun- an in star (at S/M/XL-$12.00 it Stage Left S/M- $12.00 EeLling iden Necromancer to all offers cla »Llow Rus free of charge in an that refrains 1 from r yo yi lace an-ad that involves selling recording: staffordshire Rd. Wins Salom, NO 2/104 Doors, G. Dead, eary Floyd (espectally Syd) and zeppelin. Looking r mine. Amar ome thing fee is follows: 0-20 words $15.00-every word thereafter ye be 75¢ Rush and U2 Will trade for rare material and cor pondence. Rosedale Cir Salem, NC 27106 On, Br Necromancer ous if Rob Seemai 255 Under Wanted: Rush promos~Lock Key and Time Still. I'd like high quality video tapes. Will trade for Rush. Floyd, and Zeppel n Siskind, 990 Macon Dr. Winston tand them to fo wants info obtaining a copy of Pres you can Y to trade Desperately need Led Zeppelin and Rush live video send your List Steve Fraser, 3710 Northriding Rd., Winston NG 27104 like to comparc opinions, etc. on Zeppelin. Gorrespond to Snyder P.O. Box 86 Hackberry, LA 70649 n record Send your lassi fied rine Necromancer classiticds (6A) 314 Acadia Ave. Winston-Salem, NC 2u127NEGROMANGER- Coming next mon th— rH Rat $3.00 an $22.50 1 y sue ar (12 issues) -A look back at The Necromancer 314 Ac Ave. Winston-Salem, NC 27127 Caress Of Steel -Electric Ladyland: checks payable to: Erie Merola (c/o The Nec1 omancer-edi tor) In the studio -Info on next live album! More Interviews! Written and produced by Brian Siskind. Eric Merola, and Will Huneycutt NEW WORLD MEN ef AnaLlor Productions, © 1988