Something for Nothing: A RUSH Fancast

Earlier this month, the Ohio State University marching band performed a halftime show featuring the music of Rush. Rush fans everywhere were delighted with the show. So we invited Dr. Christopher Hoch, Director of Marching and Athletic Bands at OSU, to talk about the show, the difficulty of performing Rush songs, and the positive feedback the performance received--including from the official Rush social media accounts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A year ago, we spoke with RushFest Scotland founder Steve Brown about the album of Rush cover songs he put together to raise money for charity. Steve's back again to tell us about The Stars Look Down: Songs for Neil, Vol. 2. He tells us about the reception volume 1 received and we play some of the songs from the new collection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're talking with Hugh Syme, the man behind Rush's indelible album covers and art work! From Caress of Steel to Clockwork Angels and everything in between, Hugh's contributions to the Rush landscape are impossible to overestimate. Join us as Hugh recounts the process of creating Rush album covers, opines on connection between an album cover and music behind it, and discusses the new expanded edition of his coffee table book The Art of Rush: Serving a Life Sentence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Neil Peart Memorial Task Force has recently released its short list of finalists for the memorial at Lakeside Park. This week we talk with David DeRocco, the chair of the Task Force, about the process so far, the scope of the project, and when a design will be chosen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our most recent episode of Rush Covers series (ep. 104), we played a version of Mystic Rhythms by singer/guitarist Mike Massé. This week we go in depth with Mike about his life, his Rush fandom, and how he approaches his unique covers. Then we play more of his Rush tunes! And here’s the link to the fan-created pdf we talk about that contains links to every song Mike has ever performed on his livestreams: Mikemasse.com/artists.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is it folks. The finale episode about Clockwork Angels, wherein we discuss Headlong Flight, BU2B2, Wish Them Well, and The Garden. This episode is also the last one about a Rush studio album--which means that from now on, we're working without the net of having a studio album to talk about. Wish us luck! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're barreling toward the end of Clockwork Angels! Up this week: Halo Effect, Seven Cities of Gold, and The Wreckers. This is where our hero Owen Hardy comes face to face with the differences between his ideals and how the world is. Join us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's episode, we keep on keeping on with Clockwork Angels. On the block are the title song, The Anarchist, and Carnies--three utterly fantastic songs! Join us as we wade farther and farther into this classic album! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've read your emails and tweets, so we're just gonna do it: this week we're talking Clockwork Angels! CA is an absolute masterpiece. It's as if every lesson Rush learned over their career was distilled into one album. Has any other band in the history of rock music ended their career with one of their greatest achievements? I'll answer that for you: no. We hope you enjoy this first of four episodes on this amazing album! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time again for another round of Rush cover songs! Ten more artists playing their favorite Rush tunes! If you loved our previous episodes highlighting Rush cover songs--episodes 71 and 90--then we hope you'll dig this one too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maiah Wynne is an award-winning singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Portland, OR, whose beautifully crafted songs have garnered her dedicated fans from around the world. After winning a mentorship with Andy Curran in a songwriting contest, the two began collaborating on songs, which led to Maiah writing lyrics and singing on the upcoming Envy of None project. Maiah tells us about her lifelong passion for music, her vast instrument collection, and, of course, working with Andy and Alex Lifeson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brandon Dyke has made a name for himself with mix of original progressive rock music and cover songs, most notably his acoustic takes on Rush tunes. We talk with Brandon about how Rush shaped his musical sensibilities, what goes into choosing which songs to cover, and what his teenage skateboarding friends thought of his love of Rush. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is bassist Andy Curran, a lifelong Rush fan who found his life inextricably entwined with the band since his group Coney Hatch was discovered by lyricist Pye Dubois and later signed to Anthem Records. Andy went on to serve as Rush's A&R guy and is currently working with Alex Lifeson and singer Maiah Wynne in Envy of None. Andy tells us about his Rush fandom, Geddy Lee's tennis tactics, and that fateful concert at Massey Hall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's our 100th episode, and we're celebrating with most requested guest, the bassist who gives our podcast a touch of class, Lex Lehman! Lex joins us to talk his Rush fandom, and then we discuss five of our favorite Geddy basslines! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We hadn't been doing the podcast for long before we received an incredulous email: you guys have never heard Battle Scar by Max Webster featuring Rush? No, we hadn't, but now we have. That's right, in this episode we listen to Battle Scar for the first time! Did we love it? There's only one way to find out. Listen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is prolific science fiction and fantasy author Kevin J. Anderson, co-author, with Neil Peart, of the New York Times bestseller Clockwork Angels and its followup, Clockwork Lives. Kevin tells us about his friendship with Neil, gives us insight into collaborating with his musical hero, and where the bulk of the ideas for Clockwork Angels was born. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is Max Mobley, a former columnist for Crawdaddy magazine and author of Rush FAQ. The book is a compendium of valuable Rush information with a focus on Rush as a live entity and is a must for every fan's bookshelf. Max's love for the band is evident as we discuss his hilarious first Rush concert experience, why the remaster of Signals is superior to the original, and how the band will be remembered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, we've done it! Reached the end of our Power Windows revisit! If you've been following along so far, you know that there's only 2 songs left to the album: Emotion Detector and Mystic Rhythms. But who's on hand to discuss these gems with us? You'll have to listen to find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're still heading down those tracks toward finishing up our revisit of Power Windows, this time with the help of one of our first guests and one of our most recent ones. On the block this time: Territories and Middletown Dreams! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once more unto the breach, dear friends! It's part 2 of Power Windows Redux, and this time we and our special guests discuss Manhattan Project and Marathon, 2 great songs that go great together. So join us as we put some force into the flow! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2019, we recorded our first 2 episodes with the unearned confidence of younger men. Almost 2 years on, we are older, we are wiser, and we have read your emails asking us to revisit Power Windows and do it justice. So that’s what we're doing, beginning now! For the next 4 episodes, we will be discussing 2 songs each time, this time with guests to help us make sense of one of Rush's greatest albums, Power Windows! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Different Stages is Rush's fourth live album and the last in their 4-studio-albums-to-1-live-album release schedule. Most of the songs on the release's first 2 disks were recorded on the Test for Echo tour, with a few taken from the previous Counterparts tour. (We've left the discussion of the third disk's 1978 set for another episode.) Listening to Different Stages was a wild ride! I hope you think so too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beginning in March, Jarard Schofer set out from Los Angeles, CA, on foot to cross the United States to raise money for cancer research. Inspired in equal parts by a friend who passed away from cancer and by Neil Peart's death, Jarad has already raised more that $25,000 with less than 30 days left to his trip. You can help by donating a symbolic $21.12 to his fundraising efforts. You can find a link to his fundraising page on his Instagram account--@jarad2112--or Venmo him directly @jarad2112. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever since we found some great covers of Rush songs and played them on episode 71, listeners have been asking when we were going to do it again. And now I have the answer: right now! This episode was just as fun to put together as the previous covers episode. Maybe there'll be a third Rush covers episode? We hope so! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Way back on episode 26, we welcomed @RushFans on Instagram on the podcast. Sixty-three episodes later and @RushFans admins Ryan and Jim join us to list our top 10 favorite Rush songs, and believe me, there are some real surprises in our lists. Once you listen, head on over the @RushFans YouTube channel to see admins Ryder and Stephanie's top 10 lists and all of our runners up! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Violinist Jonathan Dinklage played with Rush in the Clockwork Angels String Ensemble and, on select dates on the R40 tour, took over soloing duties on "Losing It." And now he's talking to us! Jonathan, a lifelong Rush fan, fills us in on how he landed his dream gig, what it was like to meet his musical heroes, and what it felt like to play that iconic solo in "Losing it" for the first time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We welcome back Martin Popoff--our first three-time guest--to discuss the final book is his career-spanning trilogy on the band, "Driven: Rush in the '90s and 'In The End'." On our agenda is every album from "Roll the Bones" through Rush's final masterpiece, "Clockwork Angels." Buckle in, everyone. It's a wild ride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eddie Trunk is a broadcasting legend. As host of the weekly syndicated show "Eddie Trunk Rocks," the daily "Trunk Nation" show on SiriusXM, and the "Eddie Trunk Podcast," Eddie has interviewed everyone who's anyone in the world of rock and roll. On this episode, Eddie focuses solely on his many interviews and interactions with Rush, which, considering the nature of our podcast, is a good thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we talk to the Field Director for the documentary Rush: Time Stand Still, Miller. (Everyone calls him Miller, so that's what we're calling him too.) As Field Director, Miller interviewed fans, roamed concerts looking for the perfect shot, and was on hand to capture some of the most enduring images of the film. He's also a natural raconteur. We think you'll enjoy this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rush fans around the world were surprised and elated when a short film called "Growth Rings," cowritten by Jeremy Bout and Neil Peart. Bout also directed the film, exploration of how music and culture affect our lives in same way climate and injury impact a tree's annular growth rings. The short film grew from a larger project, the documentary film about DW Drums called "Masters of Resonance," in which the master drum makers detail what makes their drums unique and show how Neil's beautiful R40 kit was constructed from a 1,500-year-old tree dredged from the bottom of a Romanian bog. I may be biased, but this is a good one, folks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, here we are. The final installment of our Snakes & Arrows discussion. There's a lot of meat still on the bone, from the stirring instrumental Hope to the inspiring We Hold On. We hope you like our take on these amazing songs! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the second part of our Snakes & Arrows discussion, we find Rush grappling with some serious topics, such as the disparity between the haves and the have-nots, the forces that shape our world view, and the need to reach consensus on subjects that affect us all. Plus, there's an instrumental with the word "monkey" in it! What more could you ask for? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we return to our bread and butter as we begin our discussion of Rush's penultimate studio album, Snakes and Arrows. Produced by Nick Raskulinecz, Snakes and Arrows sees Rush exploring new sounds and an unprecedented three--three!-instrumentals So grab some bread and butter--or something you might actually want to eat--and a pariah dog and a madman, and join us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of late, we've had a string of great drummers on the podcast to discuss Rush and Neil Peart in particular. This week we talk with yet another great drummer: Steve Holmes, founder of HouseOfDrumming.com, a resource for drummers the worldover. Steve has been a working musician for a long time and has a unique perspective on what made Neil Peart, well, Neil Peart! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ron Lipnicki is a drumming beast, having spent a decade keeping time for thrash-metal pioneers Overkill as well as recording and touring with Hades and Whiplash--and he's a childhood friend of ours. In fact, Ron was with us when we saw Rush for the first time--a concert that changed the course of his life. We talk to Ron about that fateful show, the indelible imprint Neil Peart made on him, and our top five favorite Neil studio performances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Roy is fast becoming a familiar name among Rush fans for his dynamic paintings and sketches of Alex, Geddy, and Neil. Roy's artwork captures the feeling of seeing Rush live, something every fan has been missing for years. Join us as Charlie discusses how he began painting, his love of prog in general, and why Alex's face is so difficult to get right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining us this week is Dale Heslip, director of "Rush: Time Stand Still," the moving documentary chronicling the band's final tour. Dale takes us behind the scenes of the R40 tour, discusses how the tour's concept came to be, and tells us what it was like to be filming what was to be Rush's last concert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest this week is Vicki Flier Hudson, the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the popular Georgia-based Rush tribute band The Spirit of Rush. Vicki has also authored three books, with her most recent being "The Winter Garden," a book of poetry dedicated to Neil Peart. We talk to Vicki about some of her poems, and we learn a new term: "dialogic imagination." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our pal David Calcano is back for his second appearance on the podcast, and this time we're talking about Fantoons' new "Neil Peart: The Illustrated Quotes." We ask David the origins of the book, and then Steve and Gerry read our favorite quotes and discuss them with David. Join us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian Hiatt has written more than 65 cover stories during his 16-year tenure at Rolling Stone, including Rush's 2015 cover story--the band's first for magazine. Brian also wrote "The Spirit of Neil Peart," which was published on the one-year anniversary of Neil Peart's passing. We talk to Brian about the aforementioned articles, and we get the answer to the question Rush fans have been asking for decades: "What does Rolling Stone have against Rush?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Richard Houghton's new book, "Rush: The Day I Was There," is an oral history of the band from a unique perspective: that of the fans. The book contains first-person accounts of Rush concerts: the effort it took to get there, the effect the show had on those who attended, the odd circumstances that surrounded the day. Every decade of Rush's career is represented, and maybe you'll find that you were there that day too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After we wrapped up our episode on Rush covers,* we thought, "Why don't we talk with the man who performs some of greatest Rush covers?" An email or two later, and voila, we have Jacob Moon on the podcast! Jacob breaks down his various Rush covers and fills us in on his performance of Subdivisions at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010. *For those of you who read footnotes, it was episode 71. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One test of a great song is how well it survives translation to another genre, and we all know that Rush has written some great songs. That's why this week we've compiled 10 of our favorite Rush covers, from the expected to the ones out of left field. This episode promises to be a fun one! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1974, Donna Halper, then music director of WMMS-FM in Cleveland, OH, dropped the needle on a record by an unsigned band called Rush, and in that instant, she became the reason why we're all Rush fans. Donna has been our most-requested interview, so we asked her to be on the show and she said yes! We talk about, of course, the early days of the band, her longtime friendship with the boys, and a certain Shakespeare play she had to replace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we talk with Alexander Hellene, author of the new book Dreamers & Misfits: The Definitive Book About Rush Fans. Alexander created a survey to find out who the typical Rush fan is. What did he discover? That's what we're here to find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Reed is a contributing editor at Spin Magazine and is a regular contributor to Rolling Stone and sites like Pitchfork and Ultimate Classic Rock. In an article for the latter site, Ryan put his Rush fandom to the test by ranking all 167 original Rush songs from worst to best--a Herculean task. We talk about what went into the making of the list and the insanity of attempting it in the first place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we talk about Rush's third live album, A Show Of Hands, which chronicles songs from Signals, Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, and Hold Your Fire. It's a fantastic album, one that perhaps we didn't give enough credit to when it came out. But we've made up for it in this episode, because A Show of Hands rocks! Listen to find out more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're covering some more live Rush: All the World's a Stage. This is Rush's first live album, recorded at Toronto's Massey Hall on the 2112 tour. ATWAS is loud, fierce, and brash, just like any great concert should be--but especially a great Rush show. So let's rock! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The true test of any band is how well they perform live, and RUSH always got a perfect score. Exit...Stage Left is the band's second double-vinyl live album and captures the boys on the Moving Pictures tour. With the exception of two tracks, the album focuses on songs from A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, and Moving Pictures. So relive the majesty of seeing RUSH live by listening to this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Wallis worked with Neil Peart for 30-plus years on instructional videos that brought Neil's meticulous compositions to life for aspiring and practiced drummers everywhere. Over the years, Rob became part of Neil's "inner circle" of trusted and most valued friends, and that friendship deepened their working relationship. Join us as Rob reminiscences on the life of his good friend Neil Peart--who once described their working relationship as second only to that of his bandmates in Rush. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices