RUSH Guitarist Alex Lifeson:

RUSH Guitarist Alex Lifeson: "Once We Start Playing Songs Live They Take On A New Identity"

Arizona Republic's Michael Senft recently issued a Q&A with RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson. The following is an excerpt:

Q: The new album is your strongest in quite awhile. The songs are almost paradoxical - they are straightforward yet are also densely layered. How do you recreate the music live?

A: "Once we start playing songs live they take on a new identity. It isn't as difficult as I thought it would be though. The layering is missing, but we make up for that in just the sheer power of the whole band live. It doesn't destroy the song if it's missing a vocal harmony here or a guitar overdub there."

Read the full story at AZCentral.com.

RUSH Guitarist ALEX LIFESON - "What's With All These Young Bands Who Play For An Hour And 10 Minutes?"

ReviewJournal.com correspondent Jason Bracelin recently caught up with RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson. The following is an excerpt from the story:

Alex Lifeson is an older guy who sounds like a young one, his voice nearly as enthusiastic as his wrists.

The fleet-handed Rush guitarist, known for exercises in carpal-tunnel-syndrome fretwork, is currently ensconced on a tour that sees his band playing for more than three hours a show, which roughly translates into about 1,500 snaking riffs, twice as many sweaty drum fills and lots of sore limbs on a nightly basis.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Lifeson chuckles at his band's marathon sets. "What's with all these young bands who play for an hour and 10 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes -- I don't think anybody plays for more than about an hour and 40 minutes. And they're all young and should be playing for three hours, not like us old farts."

Though Lifeson and his bandmates -- singer/bassist Geddy Lee and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart -- are bona fide rock stars who've been packing arenas for more than 30 years, their lifestyles are more representative of those over-tanned dudes who star in fitness infomercials: These guys don't party until dawn; instead, they're waking up right about then to practice some yoga.

"We all work out with trainers for months before we go out," Lifeson says of the band pre-tour regimen. "My trainer set up two programs for me, one in the gym and one in my hotel room. I play golf almost every day because it gets me out of my boring hotel room for five or six hours. We try to be as athletic as we can to stay in shape, because you really need to -- especially at this point."

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