Rush To Take Extended Break
Rush bassist Geddy Lee has been speaking to Rolling Stone (via Hennemusic) about the future of the band. And, as Lee notes, while the band’s manager wants them to go on a 40th anniversary tour next year (marking the 40th anniversary of Neil Peart joining the band), Lee is adamant that Rush are going on an extended break:
That’s not going to happen though,” says Lee. “My attitude is that as much as I’d like to celebrate 40 years, we need a break more than we need a 40th anniversary celebration. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating 42 years.”
When asked whether it would be 2015 before the band resurfaced, Lee responded:
“I think so. Something like that … The plan now is to have no plans. We have had a great 10 years of tour, album, tour album. I can honestly say that the three of us enjoyed this tour more than any one we’ve ever done. We left on a high note, but we recognize that we need to pay attention to our families and recharge our batteries. So we decided that we’re just not going to discuss anything for a little while.
“It’s exciting for me because I get to spend a lot of time traveling with my wife,” he adds. “We love to do that. I am officially an empty nester now, so my wife and I have time on our hands. We have all kinds of trips planned, things we wanted to do for years but we put off. This is going to be a busy year for us. I’m totally fine with that.”
The bassist also noted that he and Neil Peart were unhappy about Alex Lifeson’s impromptu “blah blah blah” speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
“He didn’t tell us he was doing that – in fact, I know he had a whole other speech planned. Neil and I thought he had lost his marbles when he was talking.
“You can see the look on our faces behind him, going, ‘What the f–k is he doing?’ And of course, we couldn’t see him act it all out – we just kept hearing ‘blah blah blah.’
“He’s genuinely one of the funniest people you’d ever meet in your life. But I wanted to kill him at the three-minute mark. Neil and I were threatening to knock him on the head and drag him offstage.”