Farewell, Neil Peart

I was at Jim's house one day in 7th grade. We were going to go play arcade games at the Round Table down at the shopping center. Jim was waiting for something before we could go. Maybe a call from his mom, I can't really remember. While we were waiting, he asked me if I wanted to listen to some of his older brother's records and I replied "sure." He plopped the needle on Rush's 2112 and handed me the cover. I'd seen it at the record stores before but didn't know anything about it. The music kicked in and I remember thinking wow, they made it sound like they're in space, and it's a big long story! We listened to all of side one before we were able to leave, but I was hooked.

Some years later, I finally got to see them live when they toured for Grace Under Pressure. That was the first of some 9-10 times I got to see them. The last time was when they did a Moving Pictures tour in which they played the entire album for the first half of the show, then came back for a greatest hits kinda thing. Like most Rush fans, I was enamored with the drumming of Neil Peart the moment I heard it. Amazing what that dude could do. If you know his name, then you know. No explanation necessary. That dude's drumming and lyrics touched me like few others.

One of my favourite qualities about these guys is that they always seemed to be having fun and that they never took themselves too seriously. It's exemplified in this video in which they appeared on The Colbert Report in 2015. They played the Rock Band version of Tom Sawyer and hilariously ended up failing the song. I've never seen or heard of any other band doing that kinda shit. 

I remember reading an interview with Peart and the interviewer asked him if he would impart any tips, tricks or shortcuts to good drumming for the readers. Peart just straight up told him there weren't any, that you couldn't just wake up and magically be good at it. The only thing, he said, was practice, practice, practice. One has to work at it. Which reminds me of a time in the mid-90s, I believe it was, when he took a couple years off to basically take lessons in order to up his game. Jazz drummer Freddie Gruber taught him to re-think what he was doing and pushed him to a new level (there's a great article on it here). It's crazy, one of the most respected drummers in one of the most successful rock bands taking time off to study, practice and improve his art. Rush had been around for two and a half decades at this point. He'd been playing for 30-something years when you factor in that he started as a teen. He could have just coasted and still would have been recognized as arguably the best. 

Anyways, RIP to the legend. If you're unfamiliar and interested in digging in, I'd say start at the beginning. Their evolution is interesting and they've always kinda just done their own thing. They change with the times, for sure, but they don't really follow whatever trends might have been happening in music. The best stuff ranges from 2112 to Grace Under Pressure, with Moving Pictures being arguably their best album. There's a TON of live material, which is the next best thing if you missed out on seeing them live. It's out there, just hunt that shit down. Fuck, ping me and I'll happily make a list for you. 

Thank you and farewell, Neil Peart.