Rush look back before hitting us in the collective heads with a new album with Rush Replay X 3, a box set of three of their live concerts previously only available on VHS. The concerts are for Exit…Stage Left, the Grace Under Pressure tour and A Show Of Hands, all mixed in 5.1. If that wasn’t enough, we also get a 5.1 surround sound CD of the Grace Under Pressure tour soundtrack plus small versions of the tour booklets. If you don’t have Moving Pictures in your CD collection, you aren’t a real rock’n’roll fan. Neil is the best drummer in the world. They’re my favorite band. And one last thing: they’re Canadian.

Alex and Neil took some time out from working on a new album to answer some questions for their fans.

Why did you decide to re-release these old videos as DVDs?
Alex Lifeson: We decided to put these recordings out as DVDs because we’ve had such great success with Rush in Rio and R30, the DVD packages we’ve done from the last two tours. Also, 5.1 has become such a standard with home theaters and it’s a much more standardized listening environment, so it seemed to make sense to revisit those albums from that period and those videos.

Did you have to reconstruct any of the tracks? Did any of the masters get flawed?
Some of those tapes are 30 years old and tape doesn’t last very long. I’m not sure if any of the masters were flawed, but there are always challenges when you go back to something as old as this. I think they were well recorded for their time, but the technology has come so far since then. So, we really had to spend a fair bit of time trying to recapture the energy of those records and the sonic core of what they sounded like. We really didn’t want to make new records out of these old records, we just wanted to present a different environment of the same thing. But at the same time, you do want to tweak and fatten up certain things.

Did watching the videos take you back in time?
Yeah, I was definitely transported. I had a lot more hair. I was a lot skinnier. We all were so much younger. God, it seems like such a long time ago – 25 years ago for the first one. But it was interesting to listen to the way we played and the different changes in terms of sound that we went through for that whole decade.

What do you remember most from the ‘80s?
It was a funny decade. There was so much consumerism, there was so much of my generation – the whole boomer generation – hitting their stride. Fashion was definitely an issue. It was an interesting time. We started headlining full time. We had gone through the whole warm up and special guesting period through the ‘70s, and by the time Moving Pictures came out, we were a headline band and touring became a much bigger thing. We had more success at radio. It was very exciting. It was a lot of hard work paying off at that period. By the time we hit the mid ‘80s, we were really experimenting with keyboards. We sort of peaked with Hold Your Fire, and we finished that decade off on that note before we took a step back and reassessed what the band was all about. It was a time of great growth for us, and quite a lot of commercial success, so the tours were long and hearty. We worked a lot.

“Exit Stage Left” could be viewed as the exit of your prog-rock phase. Did you think about songwriting differently then than you do now?
I think we thought about songwriting differently in the ‘70s. We worked on more conceptually pieces on albums that took up a whole side. Albums like Caress of Steel, 2112 and Hemispheres really developed that way. We still write in a conceptual scheme, but not so direct as we were in those days. And, I think we made a conscious effort with Moving Pictures to move away from those long, intricate pieces and be a little more economical with our songwriting. We wanted to come up with shorter songs that still had the same kind of dynamic punch and said the same kind of things as those longer pieces did, but in a more economical package.

When was the show for the Grace Under Pressure video recorded?
It was recorded in Toronto in the winter of 1985 and we did it, ostensibly, for a one hour TV show, but I think it was only ever shown once or twice on TV.

What do you remember from that show?
I remember it was a great audience. It was very bright. We had extra lighting for the cameras, and it was a little uncomfortable playing under those conditions, but I remember it being a good gig.

Do you think the Grace Under Pressure video touched fans differently than Exit Stage Left?”
I think our music back then touched our fans the way it always did. But it was an interesting time. This was the time of all the techno bands, that whole English new wave movement, the modern electronic stuff and we were sort of an island in the sea of this change, which really, we have been all along, anyhow. And it’s always been interesting to watch these trends come and go and we maintain our consistency through all these changes.

How did electronics and keyboards affect your attitude or aesthetic?
The technology and the way we approached it through that period was always an important factor to what Rush was doing. We used it as a tool as much as we could, and we were always on the leading edge of it. We started writing on that kind of digital software when it was first available. And it became a great tool, particularly playing live. We could record stuff in the studio and in a very handy way, replicate it onstage by triggering a keyboard or a sampler that would allow us to play our primary instrument and then augment it with all this other stuff. And that really is what the Rush sound is all about. It’s the three of us onstage and yet it’s quite a large sound and very, very full.

A Show of Hands is the last live video of the box set. What were you shooting for with those songs that was different than what you had done before?
The songs on A Show of Hands were primarily centered on the previous two records, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire. We had really reached the zenith of our keyboard exploration by that point. And those records are very keyboard-heavy. As a response to that, my guitar sound became much brighter and cleaner so that it could cut through some of the layers of keyboards. We really developed that aspect of our music to quite a degree. And perhaps it was a little more of a poppy sound, but there were still quite elaborate and complex arrangements of those songs. After that period we started to move back towards the sound of a three-piece. So “A Show of Hands” really did cap that decade quite perfectly.

When and where did you record the video?
We recorded it in Manchester, England over two nights and it was very difficult to do. It was done after a very long North American tour. We were exhausted. We came home directly from London and went into the studio days later and started mixing. We just wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible. It was a very difficult period for us.

What do you remember most about the shows?
What I remember most about those shows is the fantastic audiences. The audiences in the UK have always been very, very receptive. They were aware of all our material and really knew it well. But I do remember being quite tired. You rise up for the gig, but I was pretty worn out by that point. Fortunately, when you hit the stage you turn it all on and you don’t think about it, but in your core, you know you’re exhausted.

Does watching this stuff set you up in any way for the next Rush album?
I think it may have impacted on what we’re going to do. We spent the last two years celebrating the last 30 years and the release of this package is one more step in that. But now it’s done and it’s over and we really want to look forward. We had a lot of fun reviewing everything we’ve done over the last three decades but it’s time for us to move on. We want to make a new record, have new material. We want to go back on the road, play a lot of it. We want to move forward. We’re still vibrant. We still feel young at heart and like we have a lot of music left in us.

How far are you into the next record?
For the next record we’ve written about six songs that we are quite happy with and that are quite complete. We intend to go into the studio soon and start working more full time. Up until this point, Geddy and I have been working very casually a few days a week. Neil hasn’t been here with us. But we’ve worked a few days a week and we’ve been very productive. Now’s the time to step it up to the next level. We’ll go into the studio with Neil and spend a month full time writing more, working on the arrangements, getting very familiar with these songs. And then we’re going to start recording in September. We’re going to do it a little differently than we have the last few records. We’re going to write all the material, then learn to play it as we would going on tour, and then we’re going to go in and record it. I’m really looking forward to that. I think it’s going to be refreshing.

How does that differ from what you’ve done in the past?
In the past we would go into the studio and just start writing. Geddy and I would write the music, Neil would submit lyrics and this process would go on until we had maybe half a dozen songs. And then Neil would learn the songs and play them and then he’s put his drum tracks down. And then we’d either use the tracks Geddy and I had recorded while writing or we would re-record those tracks individually. We would just build the record that way, never really playing together. This record is going to be different in that we want to learn to play these songs together, go into the studio and record the bed tracks off the floor as a band. So, that’s going to impart a different kind of energy and feel to these songs. It might not work for us. We’ve worked this other way for so long and successfully that perhaps we won’t get the kind of punch we expect to, but we’re pretty excited about going in and working that way. We did a little bit of that on [the] Feedback [EP]. When we did those songs, most of them were recorded off the floor, some without a click track and a few just in one or two takes. And that was really refreshing to work that way. And I think we want to extend that kind of process to this new record.

Are you writing the album differently as well?
I’ve been writing on acoustic exclusively for this record and I haven’t done that in years. The great thing about writing a hard rock record on acoustic is it’s very immediate. You know right away if something works or doesn’t work. You’re not fooled by some kind of great sound that you’ve gotten out of an amp or ProTools. It’s just an acoustic guitar and you’re making it sound as good as it can, so it’s really up to the part whether the part makes it or not. So we’re quite happy with the direction the record’s taking.

How do the new songs differ from the material on Vapor Trails?
I think compared to Vapor Trails, this one will have a much bigger, more defined sound. Vapor Trails was quite layered. It had a lot of stuff going on. I think this record’s going to be cleaner in terms of the visual quality of the sound – the placement of the guitar, bass, drums, vocals. I think it’ll be more classic in that sense. At least that’s what we’re talking about now. We’re talking about not overdubbing a lot, not layering a lot. There will be the few songs we always have that are more production songs that we do have fun, and those we will layer with lots of stuff. But by and large we want to have a more straightforward rock approach to the way this record sounds.

Do you want to record it quickly or labor over it until it’s perfect?
The plan is always to go in and record as quickly as possible, but that’s not usually the reality. And with us it’s always a very difficult process. Vapor Trails took us 14 months. Typically it takes us four to six months to write, record and mix an album. I think if we go in the studio in September and we’re as prepared as we expect to be, we may be able to do the record in two or three months, which would be fantastic for us. It’s nice to keep the energy level up and get through it quickly. At the same time, it’s just a great environment to be in so it doesn’t matter if it takes longer. It’s fun either way. If I was to estimate, I would say if we start in September we’ll be finished by Christmas. If it does go over, we’d be finished by the end of January. So I’d be expecting a late spring release and then we’ll gear up for a tour in April and hit the road in May.

What was it like to view the footage on Exit… Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure and A Show of Hands?
Neil Peart: What that old footage does is make us laugh, really, at how we looked back then, and smile with a certain fond appreciation for our youthful earnestness and energy. We had a lot to learn — but we were learning it!

What do you think you have learned since the early days? How have you changed as a band?
We have learned so much, it’s hard to begin to quantify it. But if anyone hasn’t learned a whole bunch in 30 years, they haven’t been paying attention. From a band point of view, we certainly worked on our musicianship first, then — armed with that increased facility and confidence in our individual instruments — expanded into paying more attention to songwriting, arranging, and production.

You have been praised as one of the most proficient rock drummers. Can you describe your style -- what you're shooting for as a player?
The way I play is an honest reflection of myself — I like to challenge myself creatively to come up with lots of different parts for the songs, and make them challenging to play. But at the same time, I am driven by a personal sense of what I find exciting in drumming, and in rock music. Some musicians try to second-guess that instinctive response, and “design” their music to appeal to as many people as possible, but I have to think that must get confusing. It’s hard enough to decide what you like, and figure out how to do it, never mind trying to please everybody.

You have written some of the most interesting lyrics in rock music. What inspired you to write mythic tales like 2112 and Hemispheres.
In simple terms, those early big pieces were driven by ambition. I was grappling with big, metaphorical themes and sweeping allegories, and it’s another mirror of personal development too — start out with the grand principles and idealistic dreams, then gradually move on to more concrete, real-life applications of those principles and ideals.

Do you see the influence of your more ambitious music and lyrics in bands like Coheed and Cambria, Tool and Mudvayne?
I wouldn’t presume to try to identify our own influence in the work of others — but some of those people have said nice things about us, and that feels good.

By the time you were playing the material on Exit… Stage Left your lyrics were less rooted in science fiction. What triggered the shift?
Our music has always been a mirror of ourselves, our lives and our interests. Any “shift” in my lyrics was thus a gradual, natural one — my reading expanded, I matured, I didn’t want to do what I had already done. Those were reasons enough to keep trying different things, some successful, some not — but all sincere.

How have you, Geddy and Alex managed to stay together as a band for 30 years?
There’s no easy answer for that, and yet it is basically a simple relation: we like each other, and we like working together. Still, nobody can choose to have an audience for 30 years — like dance partners, they have to choose you too. So we have always been delighted that as we pursued our goals in music, we managed to please enough other people to give us an audience. To say we’d be nothing without them is more than fatuous sentimentality — it’s the plain truth.

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