Alex Lifeson's New Bassist Remembers What Guys From Rush Were Like When They Were Together
The bassist described the unique relationship the trio shared and how it inspired a track from the band's upcoming album
UltimateClassicRock.com, March 29, 2022, transcribed by pwrwindows
This month, Alex Lifeson will be releasing his debut album as part of Envy of None, the first musical project he embarked upon following the disbanding of Rush after Neil Peart's death in 2020.
In addition to Lifeson, Envy of None consists of vocalist Maiah Wynne, guitarist Alfio Annibalini, and bassist Andy Curran, and it gives us a glimpse of Alex Lifeson's creativity that he rarely got the chance to explore through his work with Rush. However, despite Envy of None being a completely different beast to Rush, its upcoming debut album still ends with a song that Lifeson wrote in homage to his late friend and bandmate, Neil Peart.
Andy Curran, who befriended Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart when he started working as an A&R manager for Rush's record label Anthem Records in the early '00s, recently told Montreal Rocks how "Western Sunset" - the album closer from "Envy of None" - was inspired by one of the last moments that Lifeson shared with Peart, describing the unique dynamic that the iconic prog trio shared. In addition to "Kabul Blues" and "Spy House", "Western Sunset" was one of the first songs that Lifeson wrote after Rush's breakup, and which eventually led to the formation of Envy of None. Curran said (transcribed by UG):
"After I did 'Spy House' and 'Kabul [Blues]', Alex called me and said, 'I'm working on something and it's really - I don't like my baseline. And it's just really an instrumental piece...' So, 'Western Sunset' came along. He didn't tell me anything about it, other than [that] it's an acoustic piece - 'I hate my baseline'. Anyway, fast forward [to the 'Envy of None' album]. We started talking about when we got to about seven or eight songs, Alex said, 'How do you guys feel about maybe talking about including 'Spy House', 'Kabul Blues', and 'Western Sunset'? And maybe my uh, you can put some, some vocals on it?'
"So Maiah, who was always up for the challenge said, 'Yes, send them over. I'm going to start writing lyrics for it'. So, she finishes 'Spy House', she finishes 'Kabul Blues', everybody loves it. And then she says to Alex, 'I'm having a real problem with 'Western Sunset'. Can you tell me what inspired you to write that song?' And that's when the story about Neil came out.
"And I can paraphrase for you, but Alex and Geddy, knowing that Neil had been sick for quite some time - the world didn't know this probably about three years - where the little family group of SRO/Anthem knew that Neil had this terminal sickness. So Geddy and Alex - myself not so much, I went down a couple times to see Neil in California - but those guys were going down [there] quite a lot.
"So this one particular visit, Alex told me he was out on at Neil's house in Santa Monica, and they were on the balcony, and they were overlooking the ocean. They were laughing and giggling, and probably smoking joints and drinking whiskey, which they always loved to do. And those two guys, actually the three guys in Rush, when they're together, they act like the Three Stooges. They act like they're 16 years old, that was the very first thing I noticed about working with Rush. When I went into the studio, and they were doing the 'Feedback' [EP]. I was like, 'Oh my God, these guys are acting like they're high school chums joking around'. So there was a very close connection between Alex and Neil and their sense of humor.
"So he walked away with that moment, as a very special moment [where] he was with his buddy that he didn't know how long was going to be around for they were having some laughs on the, on the balcony and just the sun was setting in the West. And he was in Santa Monica. So he told that to Maiah and I had never heard that story [before]. She tried to write lyrics for it... And they both agreed at the end, that it would be best served as an instrumental. It just wasn't coming out how they wanted it to be... And then Alex came up with a great idea to close the record with it."