I could think of no better Canadian rock icon to hang with for exactly 2 hours than Gershon Eliezer Weinrib…aka Geddy Lee.
The evening started with a slideshow of the early years with Geddy’s childhood photos, through the tours and band shenanigans. Yes…shenanigans. When asked in the Q&A to describe Rush in one word, Geddy chose: comedy.
At exactly 20:12, we were introduced to our special guest interviewer from NDG: Jay Baruchel.
Jay introduced Geddy and the two sat in a cosy setting to discuss the book and stories surrounding the band. Jay did an excellent job making sure that Geddy let out every crumb from each bag of stories. We were never left hanging.
Geddy is gentlemanly, being able to tell embarrassing stories, funny ones, and also discuss the tragedies along a road that not many artists, let alone Canadian artists, have had the good fortune to travel on.
During the evening, Geddy spoke about his Jewish heritage, including the origin of his name, how his mother got his middle name wrong for years, and finally how he became Geddy Lee.
Stories from the early years revealed that one of Geddy’s best friends was Steve Shutt, who decided, after listening to a Yes album, to both pick up the bass. Steve traded the bass for a hockey stick and is now in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Geddy stuck with the instrument and is now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
It was Steve Shutt who introduced Alex Lifeson to Geddy, a friendship that surpassed all others.
Rush was formed with Geddy, Alex and John Rutsey, but the band soon kicked out Geddy and began touring under a new name.
The new band had a gig, but Geddy had tickets to another show. He ditched his tickets, which were for an unknown musician at the time called Jimi Hendrix. He chose to spy on his old band. He left satisfied that they pretty much sucked, but missed out on seeing another soon to be legend of rock and roll.
It wasn’t long until Geddy was asked back into the band, which he instantly accepted. Soon after the recording of the first album, and before their tour, John Rutsey got cold feet.
The band held an audition with 4 drummers. Of the 4, #3 blew Geddy away, while Alex didn’t seem convinced. It wasn’t until the 4th auditioning drummer starting playing a robotic beat, that Alex capitulated and Neil Peart joined to form the core trio that would soon rock the world.
It was Geddy’s 21st birthday the day after the auditions, and his gift was letting Neil know that he was the chosen one.
Early stickers from the band described them as “Energized Rock.” Geddy described themselves as “hard rock with complex aspirations.”
It wasn’t until 2112 that the band delevoped their own sound, or voice. It was like nothing out there at the time.
At a certain point, the band was feeling formulaic, so they created Permanent Waves. It was a different sound, and they could “accomplish in 7 minutes what it took in 12.”
These were just some of the stories Geddy shared, before taking the lecturn to read a passage from the book that dealt with how his family got the name Weinrib.
Geddy ended the night answers some questions from the audience, submitted before the show.
For each question, the house lights were turned on, and Geddy made sure to greet the person behind the question.
He did touch on his feelings about the passing of Neil, recalling how the band would want to talk about his illness, but Neil would just say: “Must not grumble.” He would then change the topic. Neil was “stoic to the end.”
He shared memories of Montreal, including watching the Canadians and Expo games with long time friend Steve Shutt.
The band’s first show in Montreal was opening for Nazareth.
Stories about Le Studio Morin Heights came to life, including some anecdotes about winter volleyball games.
The band loved Montreal so much that while touring, they would learn French so they could speak to the locals in their own language. Classy act!
Other questions were answered, including the reason Geddy switched form the Rickenbacker to the Fender, which began while recording a little song called Tom Sawyer.
The evening ended at exactly 22:12, although it would have been epic to end at 21:12, but that would have denied us that extra hour of stories.
Conclusion
I can’t wait to read the book, which we all received as we came in. I loved the format with a special guest as interviewer for every show, the readings and the audience Q & A.
Geddy was an open book, and he could have easily gone on into the wee hours of the morning, and we would have all stayed to listen to more Rush stories.
While the audience was mostly mature 50s and 60s, some of the newer generation were also in attendance, which proves that Rush is timeless.
Not only is Geddy one of the masters of the Bass guitar, but he is quite the storyteller, whose story you must read.
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Writer: Randal Wark is a Professional Speaker and MasterMind Facilitator with a passion for live music. You can follow him on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. His Podcast RockStar Today helps musicians quit their day jobs with out-of-the-box advice from Ted Talk Speakers, Best Selling Authors and other interesting Entrepreneurs and Creatives. He created the Rock Star Today Music Business Jam Session for musicians. Randal is a collector of signed vinyl, cassettes and CDs.
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