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Geddy and Alex told Eddie Trunk during their interview with him that aired last night on Q104.3 that they will take a hiatus at the close of their Clockwork Angels tour and then see what they might do later.

“I love doing the tours and I want to continue doing them, but over the last ten years we’ve done a lot of touring, and I think we’re due for an extended hiatus,” Geddy said. “I don’t know how long that will be, but I think we all kind of agree that we at least need a year off, let the batteries recharge and then go from there.”

UPDATE: Rush lighting director Howard Ungerleider said in late July that Rush has been talking about touring again after a two-year hiatus but whether that will be to support a new studio album or something else isn’t known.

The band’s live playing is at a peak and the show is going great, Geddy and Alex said. “Every night I can’t wait to get on stage to start playing the set,” Alex said. “We’re playing so well together. There’s not a song that I don’t get excited to play.”

And Neil is at his peak, too, despite the physical rigors of his drumming. “He can go out there and be suffering from whatever and still knock it out of the park,” Geddy said. “He’s just a monster player.”

The downside is the physical wear and tear on them. Geddy says he can’t talk the next day and in fact isn’t allowed to talk, so that greatly reduces his enjoyment of the cities they visit. “I can’t hang out in a lot of the towns that I love in America and around the world,” he said. “I can’t get the most out of the travel. I have to look at the [off days] as more of a ‘take care of myself’ day.”

Alex also said he’s too wiped out to do the things he’s done in the past to relax, which has mainly been playing golf. “That’s a drag for me, because I really, really love it, and by the end of the tour, I’m like Geddy, the days off are recovery days for me. I can’t get out of bed. I sleep in late . . . you’re just so exhausted.”

Trunk asked them if they had thought about doing a farewell tour as a number of bands have been doing lately, including the Scorpions, but Alex and Geddy said they don’t plan far enough ahead to know what they’ll be doing next.

“I think it’s foolish to look too far in the future for a band like ours,” Geddy said. “We really dig each other as friends, as writing partners, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Neil as happy as on this tour. He’s really loving it, loving having the strings, and he’s playing so well. . . So, I think it demeans the whole thing to try to predict the end. So, let’s just say that we’re happy right now and we’re going to see where it all goes.”

As he did in his interview a few weeks earlier with Jim Kerr of Q104.3, Geddy attributed Rush’s nomination and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to the persistence of the band’s fans, who kept the issue on the front burner for so long.

He also credited fans for enabling the band to remaster several of its albums, including 2112 and Moving Pictures, in the new 5.1 format. “It’s really gratifying to put a fresh coat of paint on those songs, and that couldn’t happen if there wasn’t fan interest in those songs still,” he said.

Geddy said he’d like to see Vapor Trails remastered at some point, because “the mixes didn’t bring out everything those songs had to offer. I’d like to see that corrected at some point.”

Alex credited engineer Rich Chycki for the success of the remasters they’ve done so far, because he has a knack for recreating the sounds they produced years ago. “He’s just got an ear for those sort of things,” he said. “He can pick sounds out and replicate them in a modern way, taking something that we put through a ton of gear in the old days. I thought the 5.1 mix of Moving Pictures was just fantastic. When I first sat down to approve those mixes, I was just blown away by how good it sounded.”

Trunk suggested they give Hemispheres the 5.1 mix along with the visuals on DVD that go with the package. “You do a version like that of Hemispheres?” he said.”Even in 2.0, even in stereo. I remember hearing “Cygnus” for the first time as a kid and, my god, can you imagine whatever visuals you would come up with on a big screen TV and killing the lights and watching that? I’m sorry, my wheels are turning here.”

Alex agreed Hemispheres would be a good album for that kind of treatment. “Yeah, there’s something about that record that lends itself to having it done in 5.1,” he said. “It’s got a density to it that would really draw you in and wrap around you.”

Thanks to Rush is a Band for the head’s up on the interview, a portion of which has been posted on YouTube.

Read a Rush Vault review of Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. 

 More This and That.

~ by rvkeeper on March 17, 2013.

Posted in This and That
Tags: Alex LIfeson, Eddie Trunk, Geddy Lee, Q104.3, Rush, That Metal Show