Geddy Lee on Rockline for Roll The Bones
Rockline, May 18, 1992, transcribed by the Spirit of Rush fanzine
Bob Coburn: Live, via satellite from Hollywood and Toronto, Ontario, it's "Rockline" - the show where you ask the questions of the biggest stars of Rock & Roll. Hello again! I'm Bob Coburn. Tonight "Rockline" welcomes Geddy Lee of Rush. So get your questions ready! And for our Canadian listeners 'Happy Victoria Day' today. A lot of fireworks in the city tonight and most everything's shut down except for the ball park and that one's packed - over 50,000 there today. You know, audience response and radio research have come to the same conclusion. Rush is far and away the most popular band in album rock. Last December we spoke with Neil Peart about his role in the band and the making of the CD Roll The Bones - their latest. Tonight it's our pleasure to give you a chance to talk with Geddy Lee about the current album, the tour and whatever else is on your mind. It's always a pleasure for "Rockline" to welcome Mr. Geddy Lee. How are you tonight?
Geddy Lee: I'm just fine, thank you. Nice to be here.
BC: It's great to come up to Toronto and finally track you down.
Geddy: Nice to see you face-to-face.
BC: Really? We have done this thing all over the place - almost world-wide, and in fact in the past 6 months I've seen you in 3 countries. I mean, we've seen each other all over.
Geddy: I was surprised to see you in London.
BC: Yeah, it was something. I walked backstage and I saw you look up and kind of go "My gosh, what's he doing here!" you know. Great show at Wembley Arena over there in London.
Geddy: Thank you.
BC: And the first time you've been back to Europe in a while now.
Geddy: Yeah. In about almost 5 years.
BC: In 5 years? And first time for Berlin and Paris, is that correct?
Geddy: Yeah, yeah, first time for those 2 cities.
BC: Now weren't you scheduled to play Paris at one point?
Geddy: Yeah, we've had very bad luck with Paris. We were supposed to play - I don't know, 8 or 9 years ago and there was a fire in the venue a week before we got there - something like that and then we never really made it back there since.
BC: Well we have, as I've said, had Neil on, we've had you on solo, we've had you on with Alex, we've got to get the three of you on together sometime before I die! Get the three of you together in LA in our Hollywood Rockline Studio. That's a life goal for me right now. Let's talk about something a little more serious right now, and that is something that you guys are doing on tour right now. It's called the 'Rush Food Drive' and you're asking people to bring food to the concerts and whatnot. How did this come about and what happens exactly when they bring the food?
Geddy: Well, it started originally as something we wanted to do in Toronto here - we did it when we played here in December. Usually when we play Toronto, we donate some of the proceeds - if not all of the proceeds - to various charities, and, times being what they are, we just thought maybe we should try to get people to bring some food. It's an easy thing to do and we don't see it that often at Rock & Roll concerts. You see it at sporting events - baseball teams have food drives - so why shouldn't rock bands have food drives? So it worked out so well, we raised so much food, it was just really a huge success. I think we had three semitruck loads of food that kids brought out. It was just so great to see how everybody responded to it that.
BC: I heard it was more than you expected.
Geddy: Yeah, it was much more than we expected. It was just a great turn out, a really enthusiastic turn out, I mean everybody got really behind it. So we thought, well maybe this is something we should try in more places. More places than just our home town could use something like this you know... so basically, you bring your food - as much as you can - and every person brings whatever quantity of food and basically gets an opportunity to have their name drawn out of a hat, or whatever it is.
BC: So they get a number or something?
Geddy: They get a number, yeah, and a number gets chosen and they get the opportunity to sit in a front row seat - so they reserve a certain number of front row seats - and it doesn't matter how much you bring, as long as you bring something you get an opportunity for that draw.
BC: Well, I think we've found out in recent weeks that it is a have and have not world and that the disparity between the two needs to change.
Geddy: Absolutely, and you know, you don't have to bring much - anybody can help in any little way and I think it's an important thing to realize that some people don't help because they feel that they can't do very much, but you don't have to do very much - you just have to do a little and if everybody does a little then that's a lot.
BC: Now the third leg of the tour begins soon, just a couple of days from now I guess?
Geddy: Yeah, it begins on Thursday night in Memphis.
BC: In Memphis Tennessee! Great place to play. Alex Lifeson had intended to join us tonight. He has taken ill and obviously the priority is to regain his health for the tour.
Geddy: That's right. He was really sorry that he couldn't make it here tonight but I talked to him today and he was in a little bit of a rough shape so he felt it was best for him to try to get better before the shows.
BC: Knowing Alex, and what a trooper he is, I know he would be here unless he was really under the weather.
Geddy: Yeah, absolutely.
BC: So, Alex, if you're out there and listening to Q 107 - we're in their studios tonight here in Toronto - hope you get well and have a good show down in Memphis. One of the songs I think is going over really well live on this tour is one of the songs off Roll The Bones and we're gonna start with that tonight, with Mr. Geddy Lee of Rush. It's called "Bravado" - on Rockline, on the Global Satellite network.
["Bravado" plays]
BC: Welcome back to Rockline, I'm Bob Coburn. We're with Geddy Lee from Rush for the entire 90 minutes tonight and we would like to welcome a new station to Rockline, actually a station that has carried the show for many, many years, 95.5 KLOS in Los Angeles. We have been off the air there for 3 months and I have recently signed a 5 year contract with KLOS... it's great to be back! It's great to have Rockline back on the air and I can't wait to get back to LA and talk to the LA audience once again. So welcome back 95.5 KLOS. Tom is on the line in Chicago listening to the LOOP FM98. Tom, you're on with Geddy Lee.
Tom: Good evening, Mr Lee.
Geddy: Good evening!
Tom: It's a great honor to be talking to you tonight.
Geddy: Nice talking to you.
Tom: I'd just like to say I've been a fan ever since A Farewell to Kings and I appreciate all you've accomplished as musicians and as people as well.
Geddy: Thank you very much.
Tom: And I'll be glad to help out at the Food Drives and I'll see you guys on the last four dates of the tour.
Geddy: Great! Hope to see you in the front row then.
BC: You could end up in the front row if you bring some food.
Tom: Oh well, that would be great. I have 2 questions for you tonight. How was the fan response in Europe this time round since you haven't been there since Hold Your Fire and how did you feel about playing there? The second question is, I heard some rumors that the new album was ready to go, or start being worked on in November - what kind of plans do you have with that?
Geddy: OK. First question, how did Europe go? Europe went very well and the crowd response was very gratifying, especially for some of the German dates where we seemed to be attracting a lot of Eastern European fans that, I guess, had wanted to see us for quite some time. I saw a lot of signs from East Germany and people from Czechoslovakia and Prague holding up signs and it was really nice to see them there, and they looked like they were really enjoying themselves which made me very happy... and I was talking to some afterwards after a couple of the shows and I guess it was real tough because it was fans that we'd had behind the Iron Curtain that never thought they'd get an opportunity to see the band play and they seemed real happy that they could finally do that and that kind of made a lot of those dates worthwhile for us to be able to play for them.
BC: Me, having seen the Wembley show in London. there were also flags from all over the Continent there.
Geddy: Yeah, it was like the World Cup soccer! You see flags from Norway and Spain and that's a nice thing for us and it was a nice change of pace to go over there 'cause we don't get over there very often and to know that these people are coming from hundreds and thousands of miles literally to see the band, so we really want to put on a good show for them.
BC: They get into you too. Even the people in the back rows, they stood and cheered for you the whole show! Now, what about a new album?
Geddy: Ah, well, we've nothing planned yet other than, as you mentioned, we're gonna start writing, I think, around late Fall/early November and hopefully we'll have a new album out next year.
BC: Tom, thanks for being on and we're gonna move on and speak with Mark in Kokomo, Indiana - a listener of Q95 in Indianapolis. Mark, you're on the Rockline.
Mark: How are you doing, Ged?
Geddy: Pretty good, how are you doing Mark?
Mark: Pretty good. First of all Ged, on behalf of my brothers Chris and Scott O'Brien and myself, we think you guys are the best band in the Galaxy.
Geddy: Thank you very much. Thank the family for me!
Mark: We'll definitely see you guys in Deer Creek on the 26th.
Geddy: Okay!
Mark: I have 2 questions for you Ged. First one is, how much of Neil's song lyrics are changed - if any - to accompany you guys' musical pieces or just to satisfy Alex and yourself? And the second one is, how did you guys come up with the nicknames Dirk, Lerxst and Pratt?
Geddy: Well. OK, first one first. In terms of lyrics. there are some songs that Neil gives us and you have to realize that when Neil writes, he writes a lot of stuff. So sometimes we'll get 5 songs at a time or 3 songs at a time or 2 songs at a time and usually there are certain songs that we gravitate towards right away, and there are other ones that kind of sit around for a while whilst we're writing and you have to think about them a bit more. And sometimes there are little changes that we make and some songs, if Alex and I are not quite clear on the direction of the song or don't feel 100% about a song we talk about it a lot and there's really a very open communication back and forth about anything that goes down lyrically, and I might say as well, musically. He does that job, and it's like role reversal when it comes to the music. If there's something he's not comfortable with we talk about it and see if we can make it better or change things so I'm happy to report that there's very little ego involved when it comes to that side of the collaboration and it's a nice professional kind of working relationship.
BC: It's been said that identity is belief and your belief is your identity and I think Neil really revealed himself on "Ghost of a Chance" - he really went over the line. He wrote some great, great lyrics for that song.
Geddy: Yeah. I love the lyrics in that song and you know, there are certain moments in different songs where you can kind of see a true peek at Neil's personality and I think that's nice from time to time. Other times, you know, what he's talking about are a little more abstract.
BC: I understand that "Ghost of a Chance" is one of Alex's favorite guitar solos that he's done over the years?
Geddy: Yeah. I know it's my favorite guitar solo on the album and I know it's his as well and that was an example of a solo that he did actually on the demo and we just kept it. We just flew it in from the demo and he just wailed on it and it sounded so great on his little 8-track that we said "Let's use it", you know... what's the point, you know... so that stayed intact right from the initial inspiration.
["Ghost of a Chance" plays]
BC: Some songs are just magical and that one certainly qualifies. That was "Ghost of a Chance" from Roll The Bones by Rush. And Mark from Kokomo mentioned nicknames. Can you tell us where some of these came from?
Geddy: Well...
BC: Is it too long a story? Or too personal?
Geddy: Well, you know the stories involving the discovery of nicknames are pretty complex, a delicate matter and one that would take far too long to discuss... (much laughter)
BC: You're dancing! (laughs)
Geddy: ...over satellite time - it's too expensive to spend on such matters! But maybe one day - in the forthcoming movie of the same name!
GC: Yeah, right, well, we'll discuss that when we get the three of you in the same room in the Rockline studio in Hollywood, then we're gonna pressure you about these nicknames and that type of thing!
Geddy: It's hard enough trying to spell Lerxst, let alone explain it!
BC: I can imagine.
BC: Thanks to Mark for the call there. We're at Q107 in Toronto, we're with Geddy Lee. I'm Bob Coburn on Rockline and do we have David on the line in St Louis - a listener of KSHE95, a long time affiliate of Rockline.
Dave: Good day Geddy!
Geddy: Good day!
Dave: How are you doing?
Geddy: I'm pretty good, thank you.
Dave: OK, my question is, this is the second time you're gonna be in St Louis on this tour on the 12th June and I was wondering if you're working on a live album or trying to hit as many people as you can or...
Geddy: No, we played St Louis quite early in the tour if I recall, and we figured that kind of justified coming back through that area and we've never played at that particular facility which is supposed to be very nice so we wanted to check it out and try the outdoor thing. I don't think we've done an outdoor show in St Louis since, I don't know, one of the KSHE birthday bashes, you now, 150 years ago! So we thought it would be fun to play that and to bring a slightly different show out there.
BC: OK, so be there David. Chris is on the line now in San Diego, Rock 102.1 is our affiliate and Chris you're on with Geddy Lee.
Chris: Hey, I'd just like to say that I think you guys are the best and I'm looking forward to seeing you up in Irving, and I wanted to know, when you guys are working on an album how much do you actually practice on the songs that you work?
Geddy: How much do we practice? Well, it depends on the record really. It depends. In the early days we didn't practice very much because we were writing as we were recording so it was kind of pay as you play kind of thing, but for this particular album - and it's something that's been increasing over the last few years - we spent about, I'd say, six-seven weeks writing and the last couple of weeks primarily just rehearsing and fine-tuning arrangements. We're doing quite a lot of rehearsing and it's really paid off because we ended up doing this album - all the recording in total was about seven to seven and a half weeks which is, you know, quite quick for one of our albums. For most rock albums - these days anyway - the bed tracks for example, which for people that don't know, consist of mostly bass and drums - called the rhythm tracks, we did those over, like, a 4 day period. So the rehearsal really did payoff.
BC: There are a couple of spots in the live show where I see Neil put on headphones and, I guess, that he has a click track so that he can match up with the video behind?
Geddy: That's right. There's a few songs that the film is kind of crucial to appear - certain film cues have to appear at a particular time, so he has to synch up to a count-in at the beginning of that film and if you're off by one beat the whole thing doesn't work so it's pretty critical that he hear that count-in and stay in time with the film.
BC: There you go Chris, enjoy the shows. We're gonna move on now to Mike in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a listener of 95.7 QMF and Mike you're on the Rockline.
Mike: Oh, hi Ged. I have to tell you it's an amazing pleasure to talk to you, um, it's just incredible basically...
Geddy: [Through a lot of laughter] Well, thank you!
Mike: You're very welcome. Thank you for all the incredible music you've put out over the years. My question for you is, I know you probably don't like questions like this, but I can't help but ask because I am a huge fan. How many albums do you think there are left in Rush? Or would you venture to guess?
Geddy: I can't even venture to guess, to tell you the truth. That's something that only time will tell, you know. At the moment all I can say is that the attitude within the band is very happy and healthy - touch wood! And we're just very hopeful for the future so I can't really say how many more there will be.
BC: Let me kind of re-phrase that. There seems to have been a rejuvenation with this album with Rush, is that the case?
Geddy: Absolutely! I'd say so. I think it's something that started with Presto and it kind of continued very much on this album. and also on the tour and the touring thing became a much happier situation after Presto. The Presto tour was a short one internationally because we weren't so sure about touring any more and things worked out so well, we actually finished the tour and everyone was still smiling, which is why this tour we've tried to push it a little bit and include Europe and play a few more dates in America and try to do a few outdoor shows. So, it's kind of like, we've still got our fingers crossed but we're enjoying it more and more so I hope that bodes well for the future.
BC: Sounds like you're really having fun again. yeah?
Geddy: Yeah!
BC: We're gonna play everything off Roll The Bones tonight - not every song but all the songs will be off Roll The Bones with the exception of one and we have chosen the song "Second Nature" from Hold Your Fire. The reason we chose that is because of the lyrical content and as we all know there has been civil unrest in North America - not only in Los Angeles and Atlanta and San Fransisco but even here in Toronto some things have happened, and I'd like those of you listening, all you Rush fans out there, to listen to the lyrics to this and think about what if says.
["Second Nature" plays]
BC: As Rodney King said "Can we get along together?" Can't we learn to do that? It's been a while since you heard that...
Geddy: It sure has, I haven't heard that in...
BC: Takes on a different meaning now doesn't it?
Geddy: Yes, sir!
BC: Fighting the fire while...
Geddy: While we're feeding the flames.
BC: Let's take another call. We have Ken on the line in New York City, 92.3 K-Rock is our affiliate there. We'll take your call now Ken. Hi!
KEN: Hi Geddy. It's a wonderful honor to be speaking with you, and I have two questions to ask you please. The first of which is regarding the set and this last leg of the tour. Is there gonna be any changes to the set? Is it gonna differ from the previous legs of the tour as far as songs and the structure of it? And the second involves the business of the band and the day to day business - what involvement does the band have in the business decisions of Rush. I.e. which singles are released, how the songs are doing on radio, how the tour ticket sales are progressing, that kind of thing? What kind of involvement does the band take in that area?
Geddy: Okay. Two big questions (laughs). Question number one, yes, the set will be slightly different on this upcoming leg, in particular, places that we have visited, or areas that we have been quite close to on the early part of the tour. At the moment I can't really tell you which songs are gonna be cut or which songs are gonna be dropped but I can tell you that there will be at least a couple of changes in different songs that we haven't played and one song in particular that we haven't played in quite some time so, until we get together and start playing them and work out the bugs I can't really tell ya which one's they're gonna be yet or which one's will go - we haven't fought over which one's are gonna get kicked out yet. In terms of the day to day operation of the band, it's kind of a difficult question to answer. A lot of times we're kind of concerned with making the songs and once they leave our hands and go to the record company, you just work together and you try to get everybody's opinion and you try to make sure that the people that are more expert in these particular areas are in control there. For a large part, once the album is delivered, you know, you kind of come up with a game plan but once we're out on tour, we're touring. We're worried about doing that show and playing well and doing interviews and what-not, so you can't really maintain a day-to-day contact on every aspect - it's just impossible, so you have to have people that you trust and put your faith in them and cross your fingers and hope that everything works out OK in terms of big important decisions, what we consider to be important decisions like, you know, things regarding merchandising or programs or set lists or songs or things like that. We're very active in picking opening acts and try to be as active as we can within a certain degree as well, sometimes there's only so many bands available to open for you on a particular leg of a tour and you try to pick the one you think that, a) you like the most, b) that the audience will enjoy the most. So you have the best all around show 'cause we're big believers in a great show from opening act 'til the end.
BC: Speaking of big and opening acts, Mr Big is gonna be with you.
Geddy: Yeah, Mr Big is gonna be back with us on this end leg of the tour which should be fun because they're good guys and they're doing quite well these days and we're real happy to see that.
BC: Mr Big, we do. Ken thanks very much for the call. It's Robert's turn in Chicago, the loop FM 98 our affiliate there - Robert you're on.
Robert: Hi Geddy, how are you tonight?
Geddy: I'm pretty good, how are you?
Robert: Pretty good thanks. Just like to say I've been a huge fan of Rush music for quite some time and I'll be seeing two of your concerts in Chicago. I've got two questions for you. In your tour book for Roll The Bones you say that you might be moving to Chicago, if so, when? And also. what kind of bass strings are you using on the current tour?
Geddy: Well OK. Question number one. I might be moving to Chicago. The nature of that whole section is - kind of... on that whole part of our program - for people that don't know, everybody has a page where we just ramble on about whatever we feel like rambling on about and that section was a stream of consciousness rambling about if I was gonna move, where would I move. And Chicago's one of my favorite cities and that's why I was musing on that and mentioning a few of the high points - there being two baseball clubs in the same town - one that had Frank Thomas playing on it. So I've got no plans at the present to move to Chicago at the moment, but if and when I do, I'll let you know. And the second part of the question - bass strings - I use Rotosound round-wound Funkmaster bass strings, extra-thin gauge.
BC: Well, I'll tell you, having lived in Chicago twice in my life and very much enjoyed it including living in Waverland Avenue, right across the street from Wrigley which was one of the thrills of my life, it's a great, great city with a ton of things to do. A moment ago we played "Second Nature", I want to remind everyone in the US that there are a lot of primaries that are still coming up, please register to vote. You can do so at any Fire Station or Post Office and there are also some people out on the streets now encouraging you to do that. We also have a Presidential election coming up. It is extremely important that you make your feelings known. What's going on here in Canada as far as Prime Minister - how long before something happens here?
Geddy: Well, it's a good question and one that probably many people are wondering right now. I think that there's a lot of unhappiness in the country right now with what's going on politically and you know, like America and other places there seems to be lack of leadership and people want someone to come out of nowhere or come out of anywhere and provide some strong leadership, but it's no secret that we're in a recession here and a lot of people are hurting right now and they want someone to come and take the reins and I don't know if that person is gonna come along or not, but I'd say that what's happening in Canada is not that different from what's happening in America. There is a feeling that someone needs to take over here. We need some strong, intelligent leadership.
BC: We're gonna play an instrumental now - "Where's My Thing?" - nominated for a Grammy as was "YYZ" - flying into Toronto. How did the Toronto airport end up with "YYZ" as the code? I mean, "LAX" I can understand, "SFO" for San Francisco. How did they end up with "YYZ", do you know?
Geddy: I have no idea.
BC: Everyone I ask says "I have no idea". Here's "Where's My Thing?" Rush on Rockline on the Global Satellite network.
["Where's My Thing?" plays]
We have a call from Neil in Poplar Bluff, Mississippi, listening to KJEZ 295 and Neil you're on with Geddy Lee.
Neil: Thank you. Hi Geddy! I've got a couple of questions - let me say I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in Memphis. I was reading through some of the old tour books - the Signals tour book to be exact - and under the heading of "Subdivisions" Neil was talking about a song that was written and recorded called "Tough Break" and he also called that the "Jack Secret" song. I was wondering if that song had ever been released and if so, how can one get a copy of it.
Geddy: I'm afraid you can't. "Tough Break" is not available anywhere. It was a song that was written by one of the guys who works for us - Jack Secret by name - and the three of us played on it as a favor and just for fun and I don't think it ever got released.
BC: So I guess it is a tough break.
Geddy: It's a tough break - you won't find it. Sorry to interrupt. What's your second question?
Neil: OK, second question is, will you be releasing any more concert videos or any more video package releases in general because in this area we don't get to see "Roll the Bones" that much on video and I'd really like to see that.
Geddy: Well, I'm sure there will be one eventually but I can't tell you when and we haven't filmed anything on this particular tour as of yet but that is something we may do before the tour is over.
BC: 'As of yet', that's the operative phrase there. Alright there you go Neil. thank you for the questions. Our next call is coming from Dianne. she's in El Ferro, California and we welcome her to the program. Hi, Dianne.
Dianne: Hi Bob, how are you doin'?
BC: I'm doin' good.
Dianne: We've missed you a great deal, it's nice to have you back on Rockline. Hi Geddy! How are you doin'?
Geddy: I'm pretty good.
Dianne: You're a hard man to get hold of.
Geddy: Yeah, that's what I've heard! [laughs]
Dianne: I was wondering if there were any outside projects coming up for you guys and I'd heard in the past that Neil had possibly released a book on poetry. I was wondering if it was still available and I heard you talk about once that he wrote a journal about his trip through the Rockies on his bike, if he ever released it or what became of that?
Geddy: OK. There's a lot of points there. Number one. Neil hasn't written a book on poetry so don't look for it because it doesn't exist. He has written a number of journals. He goes on many bike excursions on his own and with a small group of travelers and he does write journals but mostly for his own personal satisfaction and he privately publishes a very limited number of them and gives them out to his friends, and I'm sure at some point he's gonna feel that he wants to publish them in a wider situation but he hasn't reached that point yet and I don't really want to speak for him as I'm not his publisher so... I can't remember the beginning couple of points Dianne?
BC: Anything else, Dianne?
Dianne: If there's any outside projects coming up?
Geddy: Outside projects - not that I can speak of at the moment, no.
BC: Seems like Neil picks up a different sport every tour, I heard he's into archery this tour?
Geddy: Yes, he picked it up a couple of years ago, a year and a half ago, something like that, and he's at the shows quite early and every day about half an hour before sound check, 45 minutes before sound check... and him and a couple of the guys in the crew are also into archery so they have these targets set up and they're zinging away there under the stage or in some area of the building.
BC: And I know you like baseball, that's common knowledge and you like tennis too don't you?
Geddy: Yeah, a big tennis fan. I love to play.
BC: And Alex likes golf and you don't like the clothing.
Geddy: Alex LOVES, LOVES golf...
BC: Loves golf yeah, but you can't hack the clothes.
Geddy: Well, it's not my favorite way to dress.
BC: You'd look great in plaid pants and turquoise shirt, come on. Dianne, thank you very much. We have a call from Kevin, he's in Moorhead, Minnesota listening to Q98 in Fargo, North Dakota and we welcome Kevin to the Rockline. Hi there.
Kevin: Hey Geddy, how are you doing?
Geddy: I'm very good thank you, how are you?
Kevin: I'm doing great. I've enjoyed the progression of your music through the years and my question is, can you give me some insight into the attitudes expressed in the song "Roll the Bones"?
Geddy: Sure. "Roll The Bones" is a song that basically discusses the possibilities of life and I don't mean to be ambiguous, but the element of chance, how it plays on our lives. So much of it may seem pre-meditated but something can happen and the direction changes and you can't really predict that and it's unpredictability that is a part of living. And the other aspect of the song I think is key is, you know, sometimes you're not sure of where to go in your life and a lot of people get stuck and you're wondering whether this is meant for you or this is not meant for you. Sometimes you can't make that decision, sometimes you just have to roll the dice and whatever comes up, go with, you know. It's kind of dealing with the hand you're dealt - it's an old expression. You can spend a lot of time wondering and sometimes you gotta just stop wondering and get on with it, you know.
BC: That's right. Before the wall came down somebody once said to me, "Imagine being born one mile on the East side and one mile on the West - you're two miles apart and you grow up completely different". Let's "Roll the Bones".
["Roll The Bones" plays]
BC: We have Phil from Ottawa, Ontario - a listener of 54 Rock and Phil you're on with Geddy.
Phil: Hey Geddy, Happy Victoria Day!
Geddy: Thank you, you too!
Phil: Thanks. I'd like to thank you also for the great show you guys did here in November, it was the best show I've ever seen.
Geddy: Well, thank you very much for saying so.
Phil: OK, my question is, I know you guys are known to have a pretty good sense of humor and I have a pretty silly question for you. Is the title of the song "Anagram (for Mongo)" a reference to the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles?
Geddy: Absolutely is. You are correct sir. [laughs]
BC: And what does he win? Anything else Phil?
Phil: No, I just wanted to ask that.
BC: You're right, very astute. We're gonna talk with Brian now. He's in Hackettstown. He's listening to a station in Allentown, Pennsylvania 95.1 WZZO and welcome Brian to the Rockline. Hi there.
Brian: Hi, good evening. I've got two basic questions. First is, what is your opinion of all the big benefit concerts going on nowadays and the second is, will you guys be doing any of the longer storybook songs like "2112" or "Hemispheres" again?
Geddy: OK. Benefits. I think benefits are always a good thing as long as the issue is brought up - what you're benefiting and there's really two purposes to a benefit, a) to raise money, b) to raise awareness. If you're doing these things then you can't criticize the event, I think. More power to whoever puts the event on and people that are involved in it. As for the longer storybook songs, it's very hard when you have as many albums out as we do and you only have about, I don't know, 2 1/2 hours of attention span. You reckon to accomplish that and to get all the songs in, so unfortunately I don't think we can play a 30 minute song anymore and still satisfy everybody's desires. You got to appreciate there's a wide range of people who are out there all waiting to hear a different favorite song and you've got three guys on the stage that are trying to keep themselves happy too so it's hard to juggle all that and to squeeze in two songs that are half an hour long or 20 minutes long.
BC: "2112" would be 20% of the set. Brian thank you very much for calling. We have Chris on the line from Semende, Florida. Chris you're on the Rockline.
Chris: Hey Geddy, it's a real pleasure to talk to ya. Basically I'd like to thank you for your songs and your talent overall else but I was basically wondering what the band's influences were for Presto more or less or overall for the spiritual influences as in the song Presto.
Geddy: Well that's a difficult thing. Going back a few years now, trying to remember what was influencing you in that time period is not an easy thing to do really and the three of us are influenced by different things you know, so I don't think I could faithfully answer that question as to what we were being influenced by at that time - now being about four years since we've written that.
BC: Wasn't that the album where you left the city and went north somewhere and kind of got away from everything?
Geddy: Yeah, we do that every time though.
BC: Oh, you do that every time ...... [laughter]. well forget that then.
Geddy: Yeah, we kind of go out of town - just barely out of town, just to do our writing. I wish I could be more specific for the caller - apologies, but I couldn't be more specific about what was influencing us at the time.
BC: Chris, thanks for the call. It's Mitch's turn. He's in Arkansas, a listener of Magic 105 in Little Rock and welcome to the program Mitch.
Mitch: Hello, thank you. Hello Geddy. I just wanted to start off by saying that you and the other guys in Rush have been such a big influence on my life and music - the way I look at things - that I've named my son Geddy Lee.
Geddy: Oh God! Well, I hope he doesn't resent that!
Mitch: Oh, he won't, not if he's anything like me. We play your music down there and I was wanting to ask you, you know you played different bass on different albums and use a different bass on different tours. I was just wondering if there was any specific reason.
Geddy: The main reason is that once in a while I get a little bored with the sound that I'm using. I guess, you know, musicians are constantly tinkering with their sound just to see if they can get something a little different. a little better. Better is kind of a flexible word, a fluid word, what's better is sometimes only a something that's a little bit different from what you've been playing so, every so often I change basses and every so often I change amps and just change the sound a little bit, and somehow it just keeps things more interesting for me and also subtly changes the bottom-end sound of the band.
BC: And you have to keep yourself interested. If you're not, how can anyone else be?
Geddy: There's a lot of great people making different instruments out there and it's fun to try them and to change rather than to just restrict yourself.
BC: There you go Mitch, and that's very flattering to have your son called that and good luck with your bass playing. This album just keeps on going Roll The Bones and the next track off it is going to be this one it's "The Big Wheel" on Rockline on the Global Satellite network.
["The Big Wheel" plays]
BC: We are back. I'm Bob Coburn with Geddy Lee live from Q 107 in Toronto. Brand new studios here, beautiful too. This is really an amazing facility. We have Drew on the line in Baton Rouge. Louisiana. He's listening to 99.5 FM in New Orleans WRNO. Drew, you are on the show.
Drew: Hey Geddy, how are you doing?
Geddy: I'm doing very well, how are you?
Drew: Pretty good. I'd just like to say you all are my favorite band. I caught you in New Orleans, it was incredible.
Geddy: Thank you, thank you very much.
Drew: Well, what I'd like to ask you is, how you all came up with Primus for your opening act because watching Les Claypool and you bash out on bass was incredible.
Geddy: I'm glad you enjoyed them. We were just given a shortlist of a number of bands that were available and we listened to their record and we liked them a lot and they're just our kind of thing - a little off the wall and really good musicians, and it's been great. We took them to Europe with us and they were on a major part of the American tour and the crowd loved them and we loved having them so, if you're out there guys, we wish you a lot of luck.
BC: There you go, and that's a good break for them and a good thing to do. Drew, thanks for the call. Dave, it's your turn. he's in South St Paul, Minnesota - a listener of 93X in Minneapolis, you're on Dave.
Dave: Hi, I'd like to start by saying we all hope Alex is feeling well soon.
Geddy: Thank you very much, I'll pass that on to him.
Dave: My question tonight is to do with MTV and VH1. I wonder how you feel about Rush not getting near the exposure that we all know they deserve. As far as the videos, I think we've seen "Roll The Bones" twice on MTV and the same with "Big Money". I want to know how you feel about that and what us fans can do to help that situation.
Geddy: Well, that's kind of you to ask. It's a hard thing to know, you know. I mean, you try to figure yourself as a vital band and I'm pretty proud of most of the videos that we've done and "Roll The Bones" did get a certain amount of airplay on MTV. Can't tell you how much, I haven't been around to watch most of it, but I don't know if any band that's not kind of top 40 is ever gonna get that extreme amount of video airplay. And that's where we've always fallen as one of those album oriented bands and so it's hard to compare yourself with a band that puts out single after single and gets that kind of intense exposure but as for what fans can do, I guess just call in and ask for it [laughs] ........ but thanks for asking.
BC: And it comes down to, in some ways you really don't need it, like I said in my introduction, you really are coming out as the top band in the AOR format right now and that's to your credit and you can do it without a lot of MTV or Much Music here in Canada. Dave thanks. We don't do this often - we're gonna stay in the same area and take another call from a listener of 93X in Minneapolis in Plymouth, Minnesota, and this is Andy. Andy, how are you?
Andy: I'm good. Geddy how are you?
Geddy: I'm very good thank you.
Andy: I'm 16 right now and I like your music a lot. I've been listening to your group for about four years now and I was wondering what direction is your band going for the next album?
Geddy: Well, I can't really tell you. We had a question like that earlier but as I was saying we don't really know where we're going until we've got there and then gone beyond it. When we sit down to write in November we'll kind of figure out what kind of music we're gonna be making and usually it kind of just takes shape, you know, we start writing and we see what kind of songs are coming out and it kind of takes shape but I can say we've been real happy with the direction of the last two albums and I would hope that we would get up further into that little more streamlined area.
BC: Let me answer that, I can tell you where you're going. You're going to St Louis on June 12th for a concert [laughter].
Geddy: We're going South!
BC: [Reads list of tour dates...] Andy, thank you very much for your call. Thanks to everyone for listening and calling. Joining us next month via satellite from London will be E.L.P as Rockline brings you the premiere of their new CD Black Moon. Coming soon Santana, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss - you opened for them years and years ago didn't you?
Geddy: Yeah, our very first American tour we opened for, I don't know, a thousand months for them.
BC: A thousand months!
Geddy: Yeah.
BC: Thanks to Geddy Lee. Give our best to Alex and of course to Neil Peart and good luck on this third leg of the tour and I'll see you in Southern California when you come and play there.
Geddy: Thank you very much and it's been great talking to you one more time.
BC : I'll see you soon. I'm BC and I'll be seeing you!