Metal Anarchy

Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson recently guested on The Stombo Show to talk about the 40th anniversary if “2112” and more. During the interview, the two also pretty much confirmed that Rush won’t be touring anymore.

Blabbermouth shared some excerpts of the chat:

On the bittersweet feel of the final tour:

Alex: “Anything you do for the last time has a sense of longing and a bit of sadness, I think. And after doing this, for Geddy and myself, for 46 years, for 47 years, it did seem a little… you took in every second of every show and made sure you scanned the whole crowd and put it in your memory banks.”

Geddy: “And there’s also a bit of denial that gets you through it. You go, ‘Ah, this won’t be the last one. We’ll take a break and then we’ll get back together and we’ll do another one… ’cause you don’t want it to end.”

On whether he still thinks that RUSH will tour again:

Geddy: “Not really. I think I’ve accepted that it’s probably the last one as a tour. So we’ll see!”

On whether they occasionally send e-mails to drummer Neil Peart saying, ‘Hey, we can do this one-off”:

Geddy: “Yeah. we send all those things, but the responses are not as enthusiastic. [Laughs] We talk.”

Alex: “It’s okay. You know, it is what it is. I’ve been playing a lot lately and I’ve been doing some writing, just to keep my fingers in it, and I’m finding it’s really satisfying. I’m doing some charity gigs with other guys, old guys like me who don’t have gigs anymore who get together, and it’s a very positive, productive thing that you’re doing, and it’s fun to get together and play, whenever you get a chance to play. So it’s not like it’s over, you know.”

On whether they can see the places where they want to play that aren’t necessarily RUSH:

Geddy: “I think we all have ideas about things we could do [outside RUSH]. I think the tour was kind of emotional, and I think we… at least my attitude is that I needed a good clearing of my mind before knowing where my heart wants to go next as an artist. And I think that’s a natural process and one that shouldnt be forced. So I think that’s sort of where we are at right now.”

“I’ve had some approaches, but I’m not ready to do anything yet… Records with other people… I don’t want to do something just to do it. To me, it has got to be meaningful to me. It has got to be meaningful… I know that I’ll know it when it presents itself to me.”

Alex: “I think when we write together, that’s a real special thing. We haven’t, but we’ll see.”