Neil Peart

Neil started it all for me. As a kid, I remember learing "La Villa" and torturing myself with it.

Yes, there are more advanced drummers out there (Plenty of them)

But this fact remains: Most of the music that features incredible drumming does NOT appeal to today's youth or even to a sizable portion of the listening public. Compared to music like Rush or Tool NOBODY listens to Vital Information or Planet X and forget about the swing stuff.

Danny Carey made a similar comment in a recent MD article. He was VERY blunt and he said something like" Yeah great monkey drummers but the music SUCKS"

Virgil blows Neil (and pretty much all others) away but let's listen to 2 hrs of Virgil's or Weckl's music and see if it moves an audience (of not just drummers) like 2 hrs of Rush.

Yes, popularity is a limited gauge of talent but it's patently obvcious that the man has struck a chord that has resounded with his listening public for over 30 years.

If all of these others guys are SOOO much better, why are they limited to doing clinic tours in music stores? Isn't music about communicating with people? And if what you are saying is so amazing then everyone will at least want to hear it , no?

Maybe they surpass Neil in the "drumming" department but if you take a broader look at it, Neil has achieved a much more worthy goal. He has managed to communicate a part of himself (through lyrics and music) to the world not just blown a few drummers away with his blazing chops.

Please don't give me the: "There are a hundred better guys than Neil who never made it." story either because Neil did not rely on anything other than talent to get where he is today. He's not some sex symbol or anything like that, he made it on his music alone.

I think you Neil bashers are just incredibly jealous. I'm not saying you have to like him but this "I hate him" stuff is just the green-eyed monster rearing its ugly head..
 
"Yeah great monkey drummers but the music SUCKS"

I don't get it. Monkey drummers as in "using all four limbs wildly" or monkey drummers as in "unintelligent"? It has to be the first one because that's the only interpretation that makes sense. If that's what it is, then I think to a certain extent that's true of a bunch of that stuff. It's unfortunate that you have to listen to so much cheese to hear all the amazing drumming. There was some stuff about that on the Dave Weckl thread, but the moderator said it was off-topic I think.
 
crdn said:
Rush is one of those bands that you either love or hate because of the high vocals not because of the drummer. I think everyone would agree that Neil Peart is an amazing musician and has inspired tons of newbies into developing their craft. There are very few in the world today that would disagree with that statement I'm sure.

Gavin Harrison, Jason Bittner and Mike Portnoy are anything but "newbies" and I've read countless articles from them saying Neil was one of their biggest influences...so unless I'm misunderstanding you I'm not sure what you are stating....

Knevildrummer said:
Maybe they surpass Neil in the "drumming" department but if you take a broader look at it, Neil has achieved a much more worthy goal. He has managed to communicate a part of himself (through lyrics and music) to the world not just blown a few drummers away with his blazing chops

Couldn't have said it any better ;-)
 
Peart has been my biggest influence for years, and I am a pretty hardcore Rush Fan lol, Although I have never seen them live, (they have never come near my home town lol, closest they have come was toronto, 16 hours away lol. But ya, Im a big fan of pearts Drumming
 
Bonham to the moon said:
Dont get me wrong i do have mad respect for Peart, hes a very talented Drummer. I'm just not into RUSH, mainly because of Geddy Lee

Ok maybe Geddy isn't the greatest vocalist in the world BUT, can your bass player play bass, keyboards, taurus pedals, and sing every song !!! Dude you gotta at least respect the- talent he brings....Neil is and will always be my biggest influence,ever sice I got 2112 on 8-trac all those years ago.....
 
No one is better than the Professor. I have never seen him play live but I have both the Rio DVD and the R30 DVD and his solos are excellent. He is extremely smooth in his sticking patterns and playing them consistently on a day-to-day basis. The way he replicates every note of every song is awesome. I love his drumming in Tom Sawyer (my all-time favorite) and the fill he uses in the song. Hats off to the Professor!!!
 
Having watched through R30 a few times now, I have a few questions. (I apologize if these things have already been discussed here and please point me in the right direction).

First, I wonder how Neil is able to play his tom setup the way it is, with them starting all the way above his high hat with approx. 6 inch intervals (from what I can tell) between 8" and 10", 10" and 12". It seems as though it would be nearly impossible to do anything other than go down the toms, and even that looks uncomfortable to me. While I respect his playing and ability as a drummer, I am unable to comprehend how this setup makes logical sense (not a personal attack, just trying to understand).

Secondly, my mom and I were wondering about the washer and dryer and other appliances on stage with the band. I'm sure there must be some story behind them, but what is it?

Third, I think Rush is a really great band. I find all their music (that which I have heard) to be insightful, and I realized that they work very well together as a unit, in the power trio format that they are in. Geddy gets the vocals for his spotlight, Alex has the guitar which naturally gets some spotlight, and Neils drum parts work together well and are interesting enough that he gets some spotlight too.
 
somedrummer said:
First, I wonder how Neil is able to play his tom setup the way it is, with them starting all the way above his high hat with approx. 6 inch intervals (from what I can tell) between 8" and 10", 10" and 12". It seems as though it would be nearly impossible to do anything other than go down the toms, and even that looks uncomfortable to me.

Well when you have the same setup for the most part of 30 years at some point you should be comfortable with it :)

He goes down the toms from left to right of course but he also goes from right to left starting on the floor especially from the older songs....The 8 and 10 are used alot with quick strike rolls and accents when he does his reggae type feels...

I did notice that when he was experimenting with the traditional grip they weren't used as much as before...maybe thats why he went back to match grip....in the early days he was all over them....
 
i just bought the live in rio and watched it through several times. i think you're being a bit harsh stu. neils stil a fluid powerhouse behind the drums. he looks so serious tho. like a business man. trying to catch him smiling during the show is like trying to find walley.
what i do like about the DVD is that for once the editing team must have had a drummer in it and they cut peart nearly everytime he does something interesting. great angles too. o batterista is an awesom solo. it is a true must have DVD for fans of neil.
j
rushinrio2.jpg
 
somedrummer said:
Having watched through R30 a few times now, I have a few questions. (I apologize if these things have already been discussed here and please point me in the right direction).


Secondly, my mom and I were wondering about the washer and dryer and other appliances on stage with the band. I'm sure there must be some story behind them, but what is it?

.

I am a big Rush fan and a bigger Peart fan. I have seen them live 14 different tours and enjoyed every one of them, have never seen a bad Rush show or performance.

As for the appliances, Rush has always had some wierd stuff on stage, it's mainly Geddys doings but Alex has been know to put up some weird stuff also. the appliance thing started sevral tours ago, maybe it was test for echo, with a refridgerator, then went to the maytag dryers. they have t shirts in them and at the end of the show the band members take them out and toss them to the crowd. They say " I got this t-shirt from dryer #1 at a Rush show" or something close to that.

Geddy used to have a lot of little toys and charcters that he would set up on his keyboard setup, on top of the amps, etc. The last tour he stuck them in the revolving sandwich vending machine.

I have seen bozo the clown, a cardboard cutout of a bikini clad babe, the 3 stooges stuffed heads sitting on top the amps, a case of beer, pirates, parots, alex walk off stage while palying his guitar in the middel of a song and sit on top of a roadie who was taking a nap, a Birthday cake complete with lit candels....anyway you get the point the band likes to have fun while they perform and it comes across in the energy of the show. they ENJOY IT!
 
I love the way how Neil Peart has such a 'neutral' face whilst playing. The only time I've ever seen him smile is in the 'Rush in Rio' DVD.
 
I'll say this about Neil Peart. His drumming changed the course of my life. Like so many of you, I started playing the drums beacuse of him. I was 13 and saw the video (back when MTV played videos let alone by a progressive rock band) for Subdivisions and all I could think about was how cool this serious looking guy playing the drums was. Not to mentioned WHAT he was playing. I was so hooked and there was no looking back. Throughout high school my bedroom and locker were covered in Rush pictures. My dad took me in 1984 to see them on the Grace tour. As I watched the opening band play I saw Neil's kit behind them covered by a sheet. I remeber just staring at it KNOWING what was under there. When he first came into view under the lights playing 'Spirit Of Radio' I was in heaven. Like it's been stated before, you knew everything he was going to play before he played it and that was just how I wanted it.

Thanks to Neil I became a drummer and dedicated more time to it than anything else in my life. Lessons, practicing, gigs, college degree, etc. Over time my tastes have changed and I don't listen to Rush as much any more. But on their last tour I was able to see them second row. As I sat there seeing my childhood hero right in front of me, I went from a home owning, married father to a teenager again.

Thanks for everything Neil.
 
youv'e got to listen to the music to really appreciate Neil. go back & listen to some rush, like "hemispheres" or " Mystic Rythems " or " Bravado". just song after song , there is great drumming. But you have to like the music as a whole. Go load your Ipod up with Rush's full body of work. I will garuantee every song , the drumming will spark your interest from start to finish!!
 
ok - had to delete some posts, let's say the last 100. Was not in the mood to read them all. Say thanks to some nice members so.

B.
 
With Neil, love him or leave him, you cant take away what he has accomplished in his career, and his influence on drummers around the world. The same amount of drummers that want to be Vinnie Coliauta, Thomas Lang or Virgil Donati today wanted to be Neil from the late 70's, all the 80's and beyond. So lets give credit where credit is due. You dont have to worship the ground he walks on, but accept him for what made him the drummer that he is. And the drummer that makes us want to say GOOD things about him in the first place.
 
So lets give credit where credit is due.

I think the key thing is an unusual combination of impressiveness and popular appeal. Most drummers that impressive don't have that much popular appeal, or to the extent that they do, what they play doesn't fit in with the rest of the music as much. It's more likely to sound like flashiness just for its own sake.
 
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