I met and chatted with Neil Pert a few years back when he was driving around on his motorcycle ‘soul search’ sabbatical after his wife and daughter died in close succession to each other. He just dropped into the mountain town club that I play at frequently and caught a bit of our act. We weren’t doing the Rush covers back then, so he didn’t get to hear our tribute to him and the boys. But he did like our Pink Floyd and our Jeff Beck.
He was a very down to earth ‘real’ person. That’s the whole meaning of the lyrics to limelight. He apparently always saw outlandish fanaticism as awkward. (Although that's what ironically pays him the big bucks.) It just makes him uncomfortable (So he says in the documentary about them.)
When he was in the club he was real incognito, and layed real low. We recognized him of course. He stayed for awhile and then disappeared off into the sunset without a trace. It was really cool to meet him. We were careful not to be too weird about it being him. We didn’t force him to get up onstage and jam with us. He was really struggling at that point in his life after losing his whole family like that. I’m glad he found his way back to the band. It almost ended them.
torturednevermo - great story. Yes he clearly does not like being in the limelight.
I was able to see Rush in Toronto a few years ago. I purchased my ticket two hours before the show and was row 3 center stage. When I arrived, very early, I asked the woman behind me to take my picture with the stage in the background. As I chatted with her and her husband she revealed that I was in the "family section", which I thought meant NO BEER. They asked if I was a big fan of Rush and where I was from. Her husband then said that she was Neils sister. I thought she was lying, so she said you will be sitting right in front of my parents. Sure enough, 30 minutes before show time in walks an older couple with VIP tags all over them, being stopped for pictures along the way.
She introduced me to her parent's who I KNOW are Neils parents from their cameo's in the Rush documentary. She loved that I was "from the State's" and allowed me to get a picture of myself with her mom and dad. So I have a picture of myself with the Drum God's parents. His father was as nice IRL as the documentary. He said that Neil is very much a shy person who prefers not to be out in the public eye. Of course, dad mentioned that it was weird becoming known in the public after 35 years of his son being a "rock star". Cool thing is we (the group in row 1,2 & 3 stayed sitting during the show so that Neils parents could remain sitting during the entire show.
Most people don’t realize that Neil Pert is the one who wrote (still writes?) all the lyrics for their songs. That documentary that came out a few years ago is an interesting watch. When the three of them sit together, it’s Geddy and Alex who are the flamboyant types you would expect from entertainers. Cracking jokes and being nutty. Neil is a little more reserved and thoughtful, the intellectual of the three. He almost sticks out from the other two in that regard when they talk together. He doesn’t do their promo meet and greets, Alex and Geddy do those. His book about his motorcycle journey up and down North America is a good read too.
In the club that night, he really didn’t want to talk about Rush or music at all. I get that now that I know the circumstances when we met him. Our guitar player is sort of outspoken and kept prodding him about music stuff, and he would always steer the conversation back to camping and his road trip on his bike. Mostly he talked to the bouncer while we sat and listened, because they were both into bikes. We stepped out and checked out his bike for a few minutes too. Then it was time for us to play, and sometime during the set he was gone. We teased our guitar player that he chased him off, but he was just there to have one beer, and then he was off to probably go find his campsite for the night.
He is a big time Macallan drinker... I have read all of this books and they are great. His bike journey following his daughters tragic death and then his wife passing within a year, is truly a story of overcoming the darkest moments one can imagine.
Funny, that reminded me that his father told me they would receive obscure postcards while he was on his bike trip. he really went on a solo journey to try and rediscover life and why he should keep going on.
Drummers would be fascinated to know he wound up in New York and studied with an old Jazz master for a bit. He completely revamped the way he played drums, and now uses traditional grip instead of matched grip when he plays. I've seen footage of more recent tours and you can hear it's just a little bit different. He really totally reinvented himself on that journey for sure. Like I say, I'm glad he returned to the band.
Probably the most fascinating thing that I learned about Rush was how after getting signed and doing those first few albums, they were really being pushed to commercialize their sound by their record company. The band was growing frustrated at being marketed and groomed, and when they went into the studio and did their Moving Pictures album, they did it with the attitude that they were saying screw it. We don’t care if the label hates it and our careers are over, we’re going to make the kind of music we want to make, and we don’t care if this is the end of our career, so be it. It was literally a rebellious act and the music was based on a new sound they had started hitting upon in their earlier ‘Spirit of The Airwaves’ song.
Well, what do you know if that album didn’t become their most acclaimed album, ththe one that rocketed them to superstardom. And what a classic album it is, too. I like this story because it shows young artists that art is about art, not about some record executive trying to predict what is trending tomorrow based on what is trending today. That’s why we have a thousand Nickleback sound-alike bands today, because some record executive told everybody that’s what you needed to sound like these days.
Thank the music gods that Rush said screw that, and made an album that they were pretty convinced was going to get them fired. Today we have Limelight, Tom Saywer, Red Barchetta, and all the other songs from that great album to show young artists what can happen when you stay true to yourselves. Really, if Moving Pictures had turned out to be a flop after giving their own personal vision their best effort, they were going to disband and quit. And look what happened for showing that kind of integrity. Moving Pictures.
It’s a great ‘artist’ story from music history. A story about artistic integrity versus selling out. Three cheers for those boys for chure! They were inspired, they knew. The record company wasn't and wanted them to go in a whole other direction.
That's why one of my favourite song is 'Have a Cigar' by Floyd. Floyd was another band that shook off the record labels and did it their own way instead. See artists? Integrity matters.
Agreed! "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". Having been a Rush fan since the late 70's, I only realized these past 10-15 years how much their music & lyrics move me. It resonates with me so much now and I have an emotional attachment to them on so many levels since leaving mormonism. Cheers, Adam
Not trying to seem picky, tortured...but it was the 2112 album in the mid 70's that they said screw it and did what they felt they wanted to do musically...not Moving Pictures. And how happy for us Rush fans, they DID do 2112! They were pretty established by the time MP came around, but Tom Saywer and that Album really put them on the big stage. Again, not trying to seem like an arse, just a little correction.
I've seen Rush at least 15 times, and unfortunately am going to be on a Vacation out of the country when them come to my neck of the woods. but I'll be there in Spirit!
I guess since were talking Rush, I do have a Morg tie in. I was on my mission in the late 80's when Hold Your Fire came out. I had heard that they were going to be recording the album in Montseratt at Air Studios. Why was that a big deal...well, I was in the West Indies mission at the time and was stationed on St. Maarten! (For a reference, go to youtube and watch the video by "The Police" for their song, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". That video is filmed at the Studio and among the locals who lived nearby the studio. I had a pretty lenient companion at the time, who, though was not really interested in seeing Rush, he did like to travel around and explore on P-days, so it was easy talking him into going there to see if we could meet them. IT was a cheap boatride, and we didn't even have to clear customs for some reason that day, it was so laid back there. We couldn't rent a car, so we had to make our way from Plymouth to the Studio which was I want to say a 2 to 3 mile drive. We hitched and walked, only to get there and see 2 of them driving off in a jeep. We had to get back to the boat so we couldn't hang around there very long. There was also security at the studio, so we couldn't just walk in and start shaking hands. So that's my cool Rush Mission story.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2015 08:07PM by iriemon.