Looking Back at His Milestone Birthdays

Guitarist Alex Lifeson was grinding out the life depicted in Rush’s track “Working Man” lengthy earlier than they ever put out an album. By the point the long run Canadian rock legends acquired to the center a part of 1972, they have been gigging steadily, enjoying 5 to 6 nights per week.

However each band has to begin someplace. As detailed in Wandering the Face of the Earth, the indispensable official e-book which paperwork Rush’s whole touring historical past, that “someplace” started on Sept. 6, 1968.

That was the day that Rush performed their first paying gig — for 25 {dollars} — in entrance of 30 folks on the Coff-In, a dingy venue situated within the basement of a church in Toronto. The group featured Lifeson on guitar, bassist and vocalist Jeff Jones and drummer John Rutsey. Performing a mixture of covers, together with songs by Jimi Hendrix and Cream, the lineup would not final past that preliminary efficiency.

Once they performed that very same church basement per week later, the band had a brand new bassist and vocalist, one Geddy Lee, who had are available contact with Lifeson two years earlier. “We have been aliens in a category of conformity and we grew to become finest buddies,” the guitarist remembered a long time later.

As soon as drummer and lyricist Neil Peart entered the image on July 29, 1974, changing Rutsey, a brotherhood was formally solidified. It lasted for 19 studio albums in a profession spanning greater than 4 a long time, till Peart’s tragic passing at the start of 2020. Every bandmate made time for their very own particular person pursuits — with Lifeson finally making his first solo file, launched underneath the banner of Victor in 1996 — however principally, it was simply Rush.

So it is smart that when the guitarist discovered himself considerably unexpectedly on the finish of his touring days with Rush, he wasn’t anxious to renew. “After 40 years of touring at that stage, to not point out the six years earlier than that of spending weeks in small bars and small cities, I’m not in a giant hurry to return on the street,” Lifeson instructed UCR in 2021.

As a substitute, he is discovered nice pleasure in exploring his personal initiatives — together with a brand new band, Envy of None. A standard thread stays, nonetheless: his unmistakable guitar tone and the lifetime of innovation he is created utilizing his instrument — on Rush data and past. The music Lifeson is making nowadays proves that he hasn’t misplaced his curiosity for creating new sounds or his love of experimentation.

Because the guitarist turns 70 on Aug. 27, 2023, we’re looking again at what was occurring in his profession at different milestone birthdays.

1973: Within the Starting

By the point Lifeson’s twentieth birthday arrived on Aug, 27, 1973, Rush have been already almost 5 years into their touring profession. Two days earlier, the band carried out at Toronto’s Picadilly Tube, their newest gig in what was changing into one other busy 12 months. Though their self-titled debut album would not arrive till 1974, the band performed over 100 exhibits in 1973, together with a memorable October 27 spot opening for the New York Dolls in entrance of 1,200 followers. “It was an previous burlesque theater, fairly run-down and crappy,” Lifeson recalled in 2015. “However to us it’d as properly have been Wembley.”

1978: New Hemispheres

Lifeson’s twenty fifth birthday got here as Rush was finalizing their sixth studio album, Hemispheres, which might be launched that October. Recording and street work had been symbiotically relentless, but it surely was all paying off. They wrapped up their newest tour on Could 28, sharing the stage with openers Candy and Uriah Heep in entrance of over 20,000 folks on the Wisconsin-area Alpine Valley Music Theatre, setting a brand new home file. They spent June and July recording the album and after a well-deserved break, have been again out on the street almost two weeks previous to the October 28 launch of Hemispheres.

Hearken to ‘The Timber’ From ‘Hemispheres’

1983: Sending Alerts Below Stress

Lifeson turned 30 because the band was nearing the final a part of the touring cycle for 1982’s Alerts. A run of tour dates ended on Could 25 in Scotland they usually used the summer time of 1983 to work on songs for the forthcoming Grace Below Stress album. Followers witnessed 5 particular exhibits that September because the members mounted a residency at New York’s Radio Metropolis Music Corridor. With Marillion supporting, the group previewed three songs from the upcoming file reside for the primary time. It supplied an embryonic have a look at what was on the horizon for Grace Below Stress, which was launched in April of 1984.

1988: A Present of Palms

The guitarist’s thirty fifth birthday got here near the tip of what had been an unimaginable decade for Rush, led by the success of 1981’s Transferring Footage. 4 extra albums adopted, with the band persevering with to embrace a extra keyboard-heavy path. They experimented with expertise on the live performance stage too, with their 78 date run for 1987’s Maintain Your Fireplace that includes a quadraphonic PA system. They commemorated the trek by recording their April 1988 performances in Birmingham, England for the A Present of Palms reside launch, which got here out in January of 1989.

1993: Again within the Forefront

Celebrating his fortieth birthday, Lifeson was having fun with a renewed wave of recognition with Rush. The band had been rejuvenated by the success of 1991’s Roll the Bones, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard album charts. Greater than 100 exhibits adopted on the next tour, which wrapped up in mid-1992. They spent a hefty chunk of 1993 recording the eventual Counterparts album, which arrived that October. Lifeson noticed the second as an necessary shift for the group. “I believe Counterparts was that file the place we nonetheless mixed all of these keyboards and all of that stuff that we have been going by on the time,” he instructed UCR in 2021. “However with the guitar again within the forefront, type of main it.”

Hearken to ‘No one’s Hero’ From ‘Counterparts’

1998: Completely different Phases

The guitarist turned 45 in 1998 with the twenty fifth anniversary of Rush approaching in 1999. It was a troublesome time for the group, as Peart confronted two tragedies: the 1997 dying of his 19-year-old daughter, Selena Taylor, who died in a automobile accident and the next cancer-related passing of his spouse, Jackie Taylor, the next June. Understandably, the band started an prolonged hiatus. They launched Completely different Phases, a 3 CD reside album, in November of 1998. Lee mirrored on the pending quarter-century milestone at the moment. “It’s form of a miracle in a manner,” he shared throughout an interview for Canadian press. “It’s based mostly on a strong relationship, an excellent respect for one another and a want to deal with the music and nothing else — to not enable monetary issues or character issues to get in the way in which. That’s laborious, however we’ve been capable of do it.”

2003: 50 Years Robust

As he turned 50, the guitarist noticed his flagship group persevering with to evolve. Rush had come again sturdy fro their lengthy break with 2002’s Vapor Trails. Although they toured extensively that 12 months, the band solely performed one live performance in 2003 — but it surely was a excessive profile gig in assist of the then-current SARS epidemic. Rush and AC/DC have been direct assist to the Rolling Stones on July 30 in entrance of a crowd within the Toronto space which stretched near 500 thousand attendees. They returned to the street the next Could for the R30 world tour celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, whereas additionally delivering the Suggestions covers EP, which arrived in June.

2008: Fashionable Day Warrior

Lifeson’s fifty fifth birthday got here within the midst of one other busy 12 months for Rush. They’d spent 2007 touring in assist of that 12 months’s Snakes and Arrows album. As had turn into custom, it was time for one more reside LP, 2008’s Snakes and Arrows Stay. However this time, additionally they scheduled 49 extra live shows from April by late July to have a good time the brand new reside set they usually additionally had some enjoyable selling the file. Lifeson, Lee and Peart made an look on The Colbert Report, enjoying “Tom Sawyer” on the Rock Band online game, scoring an unimpressive 31%. “I’m simply beginning to get a really feel for it,” the guitarist quipped. It was their first reside tv look in over 30 years. Earlier that 12 months, additionally they discovered time to movie a cameo within the Jason Segal / Paul Rudd comedy, I Love You, Man.

Watch Rush Play ‘Tom Sawyer’ on ‘Rock Band’

2013: Blah, Blah, Blah…

Lifeson celebrated his sixtieth birthday a number of weeks after wrapping up the Clockwork Angels tour at the start of August. It had been a milestone 12 months for the band, who lastly have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in April. Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins dealt with the induction honors, with Lifeson delivering an immediately memorable speech, the place he mentioned “blah, blah, blah” to the gang (yep, that’s it) again and again for 2 minutes. The shut of the Clockwork Angels tour introduced a much-needed break, which the guitarist instructed Billboard would final for a “minimal” of a 12 months. “Proper now we’re simply stress-free,” he mentioned in late November. “We’re taking it simple and simply having fun with our present employment.”

2018: These Issues Can Occur

Lifeson’s sixty fifth birthday discovered him beginning to get pleasure from life away from the street. Rush had performed the final live performance of their fortieth anniversary tour on Aug. 1, 2015. He successfully confirmed the tip of Rush in an article revealed in January of 2018 within the Globe and Mail. “It has been just a little over two years since Rush final toured,” he defined. “Now we have no plans to tour or file any extra. We’re mainly performed. After 41 years, we felt it was sufficient.” Lifeson discovered loads of methods to maintain busy, nonetheless, describing that he had been “writing on 4 or 5 completely different little initiatives.” He was additionally having fun with branching out, difficult himself with tv work and writing a month-to-month newspaper column. “It’s enjoyable to place your self in an uncomfortable scenario,” he shared. “When you’ve got just a little little bit of confidence and also you simply get out of your manner, these items can occur.”

2023: That Was Then, That is Now

As he enters his seventh decade, Lifeson continues to be making new music, although it’s not with Rush. He started writing songs a 12 months after the Canadian rock legends completed 2015’s R40 tour. “I try this simply to maintain myself in tune and preserve my fingers working,” he instructed UCR. “[But] as soon as I begin doing it, it grows into this different factor.” On this occasion, the songwriting led to Envy of None, Lifeson’s present band, which additionally options collaborator Andy Curran (Coney Hatch) and vocalist Maiah Wynne. Up to now, they’ve launched an album and EP in 2021 and 2023 respectively. He additionally reunited together with his longtime Rush cohort Lee in 2022. The pair first got here collectively that August for a visitor look at a live performance celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of the animated South Park sequence, performing the Rush traditional, “Nearer to the Coronary heart.”

They teamed up once more lower than a month later to play extra Rush favorites on the London and Los Angeles memorial live shows for Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. Lifeson additionally continues to play on different folks’s albums — together with Rage In opposition to the Machine’s Tom Morello, who tapped the guitarist to play on his 2021 solo album alongside Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. As for a future collaboration with Lee? You gained’t discover Lifeson ruling out the chance. “We’re nonetheless very shut. We discuss to one another, most likely each different day,” he shared with UCR in 2021. “He’s my very best buddy and all the time was. That’s not going to alter.”

Watch Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee Carry out ‘Nearer to the Coronary heart’