Alex Lifeson said that drugs and Rush never led to particularly good music. Ultimate Classic Rock transcribed some of the guitarist’s chat with House of Strombo where he recalled, “It was hard to play. We were very disciplined when it came to shows — not even a beer during the drum solo. I smoked a joint before a rehearsal once, and we jammed for about 20 minutes, like psychedelic surf music. And it was so great.”
Lifeson, who just dropped his new band Envy Of None‘s self-titled debut, went on to remember, “I was having such a great time, and then it was like, ‘Okay, let’s do the show now.’ We start playing, and it was like. . . everything sounded crazy, and my hands wouldn’t speak to my brain. Ged kept looking over at me like, ‘What the hell’s going on with you there?’ We were making mistake after mistake. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. But I learned a very important lesson: Don’t smoke a joint before a gig.”
SIDE NOTES
- Just released is the 40th Anniversary edition of Rush‘s 1981 album, Moving Pictures.
- The set encompasses the Abbey Road Mastering Studios 2015 remastered edition of the album for the first time on CD, along with two discs of previously unreleased and newly restored bonus live content newly mixed from the original analog live multi-tracks by Rush‘s original producer, Terry Brown.
- The collection features the band’s complete, unreleased Toronto concert from Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, on March 25th, 1981 — titled Live In YYZ 1981.
CHECK IT OUT: Rush performing “Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres – Prelude” from Live In YYZ 1981: