Neil Peart

NUTHA JASON said:
the this could be you singing:
Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase


Hey NUTHA,


Isn't "Red Barchetta" a great song. Not to mention, an awesome demonstration of drums and percussion. Thanks for the snipit of the lyric! Makes me wanna go out, get in my car, roll the windows down, open the sunroof, throw in the "Moving Pictures" CD, and go cruisin' down the highway with Neil crankin' out the drums. Peace...
 
NUTHA JASON said:
not mentioned here (i think) is that our neil is also the prime lyic writer for rush. the man's quite deep.
with global warming and dwindling resources the words of red barchetta are prophetic.

j
Yea man, have you seen his dvd's? He talks about drums while walking through forests. Some of his lyrics though make no sense at all. For example, in "Spirit of the Radio", when the song is near the end, Geddy Lee sings "Echos of the sound of salesmen, of salesmen, OHHHHHHHH SALESMEN!". Hilarious part but odd. Great lyricist none the less.
 
rendezvous_drummer said:
Yea man, have you seen his dvd's? He talks about drums while walking through forests. Some of his lyrics though make no sense at all. For example, in "Spirit of the Radio", when the song is near the end, Geddy Lee sings "Echos of the sound of salesmen, of salesmen, OHHHHHHHH SALESMEN!". Hilarious part but odd. Great lyricist none the less.
I don't mean to speak down to you here but you do realize that the preceding part of this "The words of the prophets were written on the studio walls" was a spin off of Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence Lyric, "The words of the prophets were written on the subway walls".
rendezvous_drummer said:
Some of his lyrics though make no sense at all. For example, in "Spirit of the Radio", when the song is near the end, Geddy Lee sings "Echos of the sound of salesmen, of salesmen, OHHHHHHHH SALESMEN!". Hilarious part but odd.
And, I believe, this line refers to the growing commercialism of music (which would explode in the 1980s) at the time in which Rush wasn't cranking out hit song after hit song. As Frank Zappa put it in his book, "and turn up the handclaps....."

Rush and other bands like Genesis were really having to start to reidentify and reinvent themselves. "The Spirit of Radio" is basically a reminder of where radio came from and what made it great. There was a time when the record companies didn't control everything (like the playlists and radio station conglomerates) for the sake of selling commercial slots for advertising (back to Frank here, ..."to buy all the worthless crap people want to sell us")

This song was a real social commentary on where free radio was headed, for better for worse, in the not too distant future..

"One likes to believe in the freedom of music but glitter prizes and endless compromises challenge the illusion of integrity....."

Do you see the relevance in these words?

I don't know that I even really listen to Rush much anymore, but they did contribute alot and many bands from the 1990s list them as a major influence. And at least Neil, as a lyricist, made people rethink the whole "dumb drummer" attitude. I don't know that Neil would make my top ten list, but he still has contributed quite a bit. And you have to respect a band who didn't sell out for bigger profits in the growing face of top 40 radio. I can think of one band that did and doesn't even tour anymore. Rush is probably still as popular as ever with music fans and they did this doing it their way.


Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXMxJw0VnqE
 
Pocketman said:
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.

Here are some things which Neil contributed:
  • He made the drum solo an inexpendible and much anticipated part of a concert. How many times do you hear drum solos anymore?
  • He integrated keyboard instruments on a grand scale into a rock band. There may have been other multipercussionists, but no one else was incorporating Tubular bells, Orchestral Bells, and Crotales into the music, thus making the younger more impressionable drummers rethink percussion as a whole. All of the band directors in the world should be thanking him for this as well as Musser and Deagan. This also makes me wonder if Pete Best and John Rutsey ever have lunch together?
  • He welcomed technological change into his playing when most drummers wouldn't.
  • The one thing that I admire him for was the statements he would make regarding what sticks he used or cymbals. Neil, at that time, felt that what a drummer has to contribute to the music was far more important than what heads he used. I didn't understand ths at the time; now I do. Because it isn't important to be a Neil clone or a Steve Gadd clone; it is more important to be the best drummer you can be. And if that is using a pair Germanic hand cymbals for hi hats, so be it - just be careful how you enter Poland! Furthermore, in this same mindset was the fact that Neil removed logos from his cymbals until the Paragon line came out and it was his demand that the Paragon logo be subtle. His statement is that you should be finding you own voice not copying his!
  • When asked about the samples used on his solo during the Show of Hands live recording, he stated that he did use sampling be reconstructed the samples so as to not just rip off something digitally from a record, showing some character and more tech savy.
  • He wanted the rap section on the song "Roll the Bones"

Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXMxJw0VnqE
 
NUTHA JASON said:
he is so calm and soft spoken for such a vicious drummer. really humble too. would make a good friend.

j

Here is a fantastic interview! Check out the Sirius radio interview and click the "available online" link. Neil is very upbeat. When you say he would make a good friend NJ, imagine how interesting it would be to ride with him in between shows.


http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/News.htm

Cheers!
 
NUTHA JASON said:
i think he's talking about adverts taking up too much airtime.

but yes the whole forest thing just strengthens the guru image. he is so calm and soft spoken for such a vicious drummer. really humble too. would make a good friend.

j

I was on Neils website a few months ago and Neil stated he had played duet drums w/his friend Gregg Bissonette. I have stated Gregg is my favorite drummer followed by Neil. I have known Gregg for over fifteen years and when I talked to Gregg about a month later I joked about why I was not invited to watch. He told me that Neil was kind of a private person. They went out on Greggs boat and Neil could name every bird and fish in sight. Gregg said he was very nice guy and a very smart man.
 
G-money said:
I have the DVD as well. The man is VERY intellegent. I started to read his book "Ghost Rider", which i believe was written because of the tragedy of his wife and daughter, but had to leave the book store. Great drummer, but further more a Great man! I am a better drummer because of him.

Ps. Does anyone know what happened to his wife and daughter?


His daughter died in a one person/one vehicle accident coming home from college in route to her mom & dads home in the Quebec countryside. Jacqueline died less than a year later from what Doctor's diagnosed as cancer..but Neil sees it as a his wife/Selena's mother, as having died of a broken heart.
 
NEPnews2006 said:
His daughter died in a one person/one vehicle accident coming home from college in route to her mom & dads home in the Quebec countryside. Jacqueline died less than a year later from what Doctor's diagnosed as cancer..but Neil sees it as a his wife/Selena's mother, as having died of a broken heart.
Im not sure, but didnt he say that on anatomy of a drum solo? i dont quite remember.
 
mikeybbdrummin said:
I was on Neils website a few months ago and Neil stated he had played duet drums w/his friend Gregg Bissonette. I have stated Gregg is my favorite drummer followed by Neil. I have known Gregg for over fifteen years and when I talked to Gregg about a month later I joked about why I was not invited to watch. He told me that Neil was kind of a private person. They went out on Greggs boat and Neil could name every bird and fish in sight. Gregg said he was very nice guy and a very smart man.

Greg seems like a real energetic out-going guy while Neal seems to be a bit more serious and private but I'm sure theres a humorous side to him....

See if Greg can setup a hidden tape recorder for you next time :)
 
LinearDrummer said:
Greg seems like a real energetic out-going guy while Neal seems to be a bit more serious and private but I'm sure theres a humorous side to him....

See if Greg can setup a hidden tape recorder for you next time :)

Gregg is very easy going, approachable and funny as well. And an incredible drummer.
Gregg and Neil are my two favorite drummers, so it would have been great to watch.
And to have a video of the event would be even better.
 
I only just sawhim on a video clip of "anatomy of a drum solo"
He totally rocks!
 
I don't have the Anatomy CD ... I understand that Neil's waltz part of his solo might be influenced by Max Roach. Anyone know if Neil's solo is specifically influenced by Max Roach's solo in "Blues Waltz" from the "Jazz in 3/4 Time" album?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007KVAYS/ref=pd_rvi_gw_2/002-2039482-3811219?ie=UTF8

Coincidentally, I happened to get Max Roach's album just last week. While I was listening to it in the background, it reminded me of Peart's solo ...

Steve
 
shuffle said:

That's a cool one. Thanks for pointing it out. A little slower pace than Roach's Blues Waltz. It was the tom orchestrations on the Blues Waltz that made me think of Peart's solo. I think the one that you point out must be a more famous solo though.

Best!

Steve
 
Back
Top