Biography Rush is a Canadian progressive-rock band. It is one of the most successful rock bands in history, and it is/was an influence to many rock bands around the world, such as Dream Theater, Symphony X and Metallica. The band has earned 23 gold records and 14 platinum (3 multi-platinum). Rush also rivals with Kiss, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold and platinum albums. Rush was formed in Willowdale, Ontario in 1968. The first line-up consisted of Jeff Jones on bass/vocals, John Rutsey on drums and Alex Lifeson on guitars. The band suffered some changes in the following years and finally stabilized in 1971, with Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey. The first release of the band came in 1973. It was a single, containing a cover of the Buddy Holly song “Not Fade Away” and a composition by Rutsey and Lee, titled “You Cant Fight It” (Not Fade Away / You Cant Fight It). The single had no reaction from record labels, so the band decided to form their own record label, Moon Records. Their self-titled debut album (Rush) was released in 1974 and had a limited local popularity. The situation changed when “Working Man”, a song of the album was selected for the play list of a radio station in Cleveland, Ohio. This resulted on increase popularity for the band, and Mercury Records redistributed the album. This album became the biggest selling LP that any Canadian band has ever released. Following the release of the album, Rush line-up changed. Drummer John Rutsey left the band and Neil Peart was chosen as the substitute. Besides being the new drummer for Rush, Peart assumed the role of main lyricist of the band, as Lee and Lifeson had no interest on writing, concentrating more in the musical aspects of the songs. Fly by Night (1975) was the first album released after Peart’s addition and it showed a more complex musical style and different lyrical themes, but still in the same style found on their first album. In the same year, Rush released Caress of Steel, an audacious move for the band, as it included more reliance on story telling and atmospherics. Caress of Steel was intended to be their first great success, but it sold below expectations. Still in 1975, the band won the Juno for “Most Promising Group of the Year”. Without the expected commercial success, Rush’s record label pressured them to compose a more commercial album for their next release, but the band ignored the requests and went on recording their next concept album, 2112. This album was finally their breakthrough and their first gold and platinum album. After the success of 2112, the band went on and released a double live album titled All the Worlds a Stage in 1976. In the following years, Rush released A Farewell to Kings (1977) and Hemispheres (1978). These albums showed an even more progressive Rush, using much of elements such as great length duration songs, concept lyrics, use of synthesizers and complex arrangements. In the end of the 70’s, Rush was already one of the bands that helped create a Led Zeppelin rooted hard rock/heavy metal style, that would be a great influence for the 80’s new rock bands. Aerosmith, Journey and Bad Company were also part of this movement. However, in 1980, Rush changed its style dramatically, by releasing Permanent Waves, an album that showed influences of reggae and new wave. Also, the use of synthesizers increased even more. The album had more short duration songs, which helped songs such as “The Spirit of Radio” and “Freewill” to make appearances on many radio stations. Following the success of Permanent Waves, the band released Moving Pictures in 1981. The new album had an even greater success than the last one, and the Recording Industry Association of America has certified it as quadruple platinum. Following this great success, Rush released in the same year its second live album Exit...Stage Left. 1982’s Signals represented a drastic change on Rush sound again, giving the spotlight to the keyboards and less attention to the guitar solos. Signals also contained more experimental songs, flirting with ska, reggae and funk. During the tour in 1983, Rush had a four consecutive sold out nights in Wembley Arena and 5 sold out nights in the Radio City Music Hall, in NY. The tour was a complete success. Their next three albums, 1984’s Grace Under Pressure, 1985’s Power Windows and 1987’s Hold Your Fire incorporated even more new elements to the band’s sound. To finish their 80’s period, the band released a third live album and video in 1989, A Show of Hands. In the same year, they also changed their record label from Polygram to Atlantic. Leaving behind the 80’s era of their sound, Rush released Presto and Roll The Bones. Released in 1989 and 1991 respectively, both albums showed a more guitar centered style, and less use of synthesizers. This transition continued with 1993’s album Counterparts and 1996’s Test for Echo. These albums were the most guitar-oriented albums Rush had ever released. The drums on these albums present great modifications too, as Neil Peart incorporated swing and jazz elements. After touring for the album Test for Echo in 1997, the band entered a long hiatus, mainly due to problems on Peart’s personal life. As Neil Peart recuperated from this hard period, the band released a triple live album in 1998, titled Different Stages. In early 2001, Peart announced that he could come back to the band, and finally in 2002 Rush released Vapor Trails. The album presented a heavy rock style of music, and didn’t include any synthesizer or keyboard arrangement. The lyrics changed significantly as well, moving from fictional and scientific themes to more personal and serious subjects. To promote the album, the band went on touring again, playing on places such as Brazil and Mexico, where they had never ever played. A triple CD and dual DVD titled Rush in Rio were released in 2003. It was recorded at Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Finally in 2004 Rush released the EP Feedback containing eight cover songs of bands like The Who and Cream. They went back to the road again, and released a new DVD R30 Live In Frankfurt, as for the anniversary of 30 years of the band, which was released in 2005.During promotional interviews for the R30 Live In Frankfurt DVD, the band members revealed their intention to begin writing new material in early 2006. While in Toronto, Lifeson and Lee began the songwriting process in January 2006. During this time, Peart simultaneously assumed his role of lyric writing while residing in Southern California. The following September, Rush chose to hire American producer Nick Raskulinecz to co-produce the album. The band officially entered Allaire Studios, in Shokan, New York in November 2006 in order to record the bulk of the material. Taking the band five weeks, the sessions ended in December. On February 14, 2007, an announcement was made on the official Rush web site that the title of the new album would be Snakes & Arrows. The first single, entitled Far Cry, was released to North American radio stations on March 12, 2007 and reached No.2 on the Mediabase Mainstream and Radio and Records Charts. Far Cry, first single from the album Snakes & Arrows new album, also announced that the band would embark on a tour to begin in the summer. Snakes & Arrows was released May 1, 2007 in North America, where it debuted at No.3 in the Billboard 200 with approximately 93,000 units sold in its first week. It would go on to sell an estimated 611,000 copies worldwide. To coincide with the Atlantic ocean hurricane season, Spindrift was released as the official second radio single on June 1, 2007, whereas The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum) saw single status on June 25, 2007. The Larger Bowl positioned within the top 20 of the Mainstream Rock and Mediabase Mainstream charts, however, Spindrift failed to appear on any commercial chart. The planned intercontinental tour in support of Snakes & Arrows began on June 13, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia, coming to a close on October 29, 2007 at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. The 2008 portion of the tour started on April 11, 2008 in San Juan, Puerto Rico at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum and culminated on July 24, 2008 in Noblesville, Indiana at the Verizon Wireless Music Center. On April 15, the band released Snakes & Arrows Live, a double live album documenting the first leg of the tour. Those same performances featured on Snakes & Arrows Live filmed at the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands on October 16 and 17, 2007 were released November 24 as a DVD and Blu-ray set. The video also includes footage from the 2008 portion of the tour, recorded at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Atlanta. As the band neared the conclusion of their Snakes & Arrows tour, they announced their first appearance on American television in over 30 years. Rush was interviewed by Stephen Colbert, and they performed Tom Sawyer on The Colbert Report on July 16, 2008. Continuing to ride what one movie reviewer has called a pop cultural wave, they also appeared at a live show in April 2009 for the comedy film I Love You, Man.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:05:43 +0000