music

monty (to this day i have no idea why he was called monty) introduced me to rush. he was very proud of his red vinyl copy of ‘hemispheres’. i was happier when i bought a copy of it very cheap in a remainder bin from ‘our price’.
when he used to visit my parents place we would sit in my room and listen to various lps, as we would listen he would rearrange parts of my bedroom so that he could air drum. it was awesome to watch. he wasn’t alone i may have strummed along on my poorly tuned bass guitar – even as i knew the best i would ever be would be an air-bassist. as i learnt to live with my lack of musical talent monty continued with his quest to be a drummer.
a mate of ours was in a band. we went along to see them in some dodgy little wine bar. they were a punky sort of outfit. monty was a little squiffy so he spent a bit of time banging on a fire extinguisher (well you do: don’t you). he banged and banged as the night went on. come the encore and my mate dragged him up to play drums. it was going to be a frenetic version of ‘english country garden’. the kit was a simple bass drum, a snare, a tom and a couple of cymbals. a crash bang wallop affair. not to monty. as he took to that drum stool bumbles wine bar (for it was there) was transformed into madison square garden and the kit had transmogrified into a triple bass, multiple toms, many cymbals, a gong, chimes and lord knows what else. as the band played ‘english country garden’ monty was in a world of his own playing some cosmic drum epic. it was such a shame he was out of time with the band.
monty wanted to be neil peart. who could blame him peart is an excellent drummer and a pretty fantastic lyricist. peart joined rush after their first album and quickly turned them into a cerebral prog band. lots of long songs that stemmed from his reading of ayn rand. we used to annoy monty that peart was a closet fascist. the voice of rush is geddy lee for many years his was an acquired taste but age and stylistic changes in the band’s sound have taken away a little of the screech. his bass playing has remained a thing of beauty to behold and to listen to. alex lifeson provides the very electrifying guitar sound. for a three piece they create a tremendous wall of glorious sound. in short, even allowing for their dubious politics, rush are (as monty would say) a brainblast.
but it doesn’t end there. i went to see rush with monty at the famed hammersmith odeon. we were down the front. it was the permanent waves tour. we were rocking to ‘jacob’s ladder’ (or it might have been ‘natural science’. i was air-guitaring like a loon, monty was gazed on in rapture at those he worshipped. i looked down the row we were on and i could see three blokes were all in the middle of a synchronised air-drumming session. this was one of the funniest things i had seen for a long time. i nudged monty; after all he had to see this. he turned, he looked. he looked for a little longer. then dismissively he said: “they are a beat out”. what could you say to that? the master had spoken.
so sit back and enjoy some of the finest prog created by man.
remember all you have to do is put your hands to your temples and say after me: “brainblast”.


in the 'red barcchetta' video there is a hint of the quirky voice that geddy has had all the time. you can see neil bang his drums his total concentration verging on boredom, while alex goes from being a sleepyhead to gurning guitar hero.



xanadu is not based on the olivia newton john movie but the coleridge's 'kubla khan' but you knew that. check out the double necked guitars - i always wanted a double necked bass. this is a younger rush. alex still gurns, geddy still looks like he is auditioning for witchipoo and neil is just a bit more animated.