FROM RUSH WITH LOVE

As Canadian progressive hard rockers Rush approach their 40th anniversary, Tim Jones looks back at their career

After nearly four decades, Rush are still going strong, touring this month in support of a Special Tour Edition of their recent Snakes & Arrows, issued by Atlantic in September, and containing bonus video footage and three new songs. With some 40 million sales, the power trio are a fixture on the rock scene and have influenced the likes of Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, Primus, Dream Theater and Muse. But it’s been a long haul since the summer of 1968.

That September, Toronto guitarist Alexander Zivojinovich (aka Alex Lifeson) formed The Rush with bassist/singer Jeff Jones and drummer John Rutsey in Willowdale, Ontario. They covered Brit bands like The Cream, The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones, as well as Iron Butterfly, but within days Jones was replaced by Lifeson’s school mate, Gary Lee Weinrib (aka Geddy Lee). The new line-up set about gigging the Sarnia club circuit and acquired residencies in The Gasworks, The Running Pump and Abbey Road Pub. As the band developed its chops, its constitution became fluid, members leaving and returning, until Lee, Lifeson and Rutsey settled down in May 1971 and signed with local SRO Productions manager, Ray Danniels.

By 1973, they’d cut a cover of Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away, backed by the original Rutsey/Lee cowrite, You Can’t Fight It. When …

by Tim Jones
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