Alex Lifeson Reveals the Unexpected Reason He Was Skeptical of Rush’s New Drummer
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Members of Rush have opened up about the early uncertainty surrounding drummer Anika Nilles, revealing that her place in the band was not immediately secure during their first rehearsals together. Guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist Geddy Lee discussed the experience in a new interview published in Classic Rock magazine.
The musicians explained that stepping forward after the death of longtime drummer Neil Peart carried emotional and musical weight. Finding someone who could respect the band’s history while fitting naturally into its sound proved more challenging than they expected during the early days of rehearsal.
Early Doubts During Rehearsals
According to Lifeson, the first few sessions left both founding members unsure about how the chemistry was developing. “We rehearsed for four days, and on the fourth day Ged and I sat down and we weren’t sure,” Lifeson reveals in the new issue of Classic Rock. “It wasn’t quite working with the three of us. We were thinking that maybe we should continue with someone else, just to see how that might feel.
“And on the fifth day, on the last day that we rehearsed, she took all our comments about feel, about Neil’s feel and the way he played, and being very cognisant of the ability that he had, and bang! She nailed the songs all day. It was a real ‘Wow!’ moment.
Lee said the sudden change became clear almost immediately once Nilles adjusted her approach. “She suddenly changed gears, just like Al said, and it all suddenly clicked,” adds Lee. “She took all that information, processed it, and applied it. That was the real turning point. We were playing, and she was smiling, and we had this eye contact. For a long time I’ve had that drummer/bass player eye contact thing, and that’s so important to me, and it was so much fun. And I thought, man, if she comes on this ride, it’s going to be so good for us because she brings a whole different energy, it’s wonderful.”
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Understanding Neil Peart’s Musical Feel
Nilles also shared her perspective in a separate interview featured in the same magazine issue, explaining that her focus was never on copying technical parts note for note. Instead, she concentrated on understanding the emotional rhythm behind the music.
“In these songs, it’s less about what I play, whether it’s true to the original or whether there’s room for improvisation,” she says. “That comes second. First and foremost, it’s about capturing the right feel. That also means immersing myself to some extent in Neil’s way of thinking and his playing feel, which is a huge part of this music. Neil is simply part of this music, and you can’t ignore that or bring your own ego into it. You have to approach it with respect and a lot of sensitivity.”
The band’s upcoming Fifty Something tour will begin with four shows at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles this June, the same venue that hosted Rush’s final performance with Peart in 2015.
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