Neil Peart: No One's Disciple (2026) Movie Script

1
(ambient music)
(Geddy): Have a seat, Ernst.
(Alex): I will. A great idea.
(Geddy):
I brought something you love.
(sighing and chuckling)
- I think I should pour this.
- Yes.
- Oh.
- Sip-sip at will.
- Oh, I quit drinking...
In my mind.
- Okay, well
I can drink it all.
- No, its okay,
I started again.
- And I think we should--
- Lets pour...
- Yeah.
You wanna do these honours?
- Oh, thank you.
(cork squeaks)
- Pour...
- Lets see, two-right?
- Two fingers, right?
- Two fat fingers.
- My fingers
arent fat enough.
- That was his favourite--
- Have to use your fingers.
Wah wah.
(quacking)
- Yeah.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
- And, cheers, bro.
- Cheers, brat.
- Bingo.
Every day at 5:00
were in the studio, mixing.
5:00 came...
(Alex):
5:00 on the button.
(Geddy): And he would
have two fat fingers.
And every time we came
to see Neil over 40 years,
the first thing he did
was go to the fridge,
ask us if want an ice cube,
and hed pour the three of us
two fat fingers of Macallans.
- And his fingers got
fatter over the years.
(laughing)
- Thats right.
Aw...
So thats for him.
- Yeah.
The missing wingman.
- The chair thats not here.
(soft music)
(loud cheering and applause)
- Our next guest is one
of the greatest drummers
in all of rock n roll.
Please welcome for the finale
of Drum Solo Week, Neil Peart.
(drumming)
(audience cheering)
- Okay, for you, Rush, 2112,
Neil Peart,
one of the great drummers
of all time, study up.
- Are you ready to
get your mind blown?
- Do it!
- You wanna get some
Neil Peart all up in ya?
- I dont know.
(drumming)
(Stewart):
Neil gets a good ride.
Oh my god, youre the best
drummer on the planet!
Other drummers on the planet,
all the rest of us,
theres one deeper indignity
that we must face,
which is that people
come up to us
and say, my god,
its you, youre my...
second favourite drummer!
Fucking Neil!
(Gavin): Ranking drummers...
God knows how many times
Neil mustve won that.
Thats how it came
onto my radar,
its like, whos this guy who
keep winning everything?
Id better check him out!
(drumming)
(cheering and applause)
(Chad): The drum parts are
so iconic and technical
hard, fast shit!
And straight-faced!
He was a fucking
stone-cold assassin!
(playing rock music)
(Matt): Neil was more
than just a drummer.
He was fascinated
with all kinds of things.
He did want each moment
to be pure and valuable.
He wanted to find
the value in each person,
each song,
each lyric, each word.
(Doane): How do
you summarize a man
who is had this epic life
on so many levels?
Some great successes
and a lot of loss.
To sum up
somebody like Neil...
...its a daunting,
daunting task.
(loud cheering)
(loud cheering)
(bass playing)
(distorted guitar)
(Geddy): Check, check.
(Alex): Is that better
with the vocal, Geddy?
- Little bit, yeah.
Tiny bit more level
on the voice.
Something thats
always bothered me
is after Neil passed away,
we never really were able
to pay tribute to him
in any gathering way.
(Alex): We had a plan.
- We had a plan to
do something here.
- Pandemic came crashing in.
- And everything
was locked down and...
And that weighed
on me quite a lot.
- Yeah.
More keyboards
please, for Alex.
(Geddy): For me,
Neils legacy,
his importance
as a rock drummer...
The way he blurred the lines
between progressive rock,
jazz, pop, heavy metal,
all those styles that
exist within our music.
And the dogged drive
that he had,
his unwillingness
to compromise,
made him a drummer
that really inspired
other drummers.
Well!
Look whos here!
(laughing)
Neil loved his
drumming community.
He loved drum brothers.
Hey, man, how are you?
- Good, man.
(Geddy): Drummers,
theyre like catchers,
theyre like goalies.
They see a kinship
in each other.
So when we were thinking
of how to pay tribute to him,
it made sense
to bring together
his drummer friends for a jam.
I mean,
were talking about guys
that are monster drummers
in their own right.
Bringing them together
to talk about drumming,
about music,
to talk about Neil
and what made him
unique as a musician.
Feels like the right way
to honour his legacy.
(drumming)
(rock music playing)
(Geddy): Okay, this
is a louder drummer...
- Im loud.
- Its an honour
to have you here,
to help us
pay tribute to the dude,
wherever he may be.
- Wherever he may be,
with his...
- Wherever he may roam!
- Apples in his Macallans!
- Yeah.
(Chad): Riding motorcycles,
I hope.
- Two fat fingers.
(Chad): We were
on tour in Toronto,
and I was
having lunch with Al,
and he was like, yeah,
for this thing,
were gonna do 2112
and Working Man,
and I said, oh,
do you think itd be okay
if could I play Working Man
with you guys?
And hes like, yeah!
I mean, I would love it!
That would be great.
(drumming)
Im just so honoured to be
able to play with these guys
and this music is so close to
my heart, and then of course,
to honour my friend Neil
is just, like, on top of it
is amazing.
Maestro.
Maestro.
- Oh, yes sir. Ah.
Ready?
- Whenever youre ready.
(playing guitar)
- Woo hoo hoo!
(Geddy): Were not ready.
- Thats it, thats the take.
(chuckling)
- Get out of the parking lot!
(playing Working Man
by Rush)
I get up at seven, yeah,
and I go to work at nine
I got no time for livin
Yes, Im workin
all the time
It seems to me
I could live my life
Better than I think I am
I guess thats
why they call me
Call me the working man
They call me
the working man
I guess thats what I am
When I get home
at five oclock
I take myself out a nice,
cold beer
Always seem
to be wonderin
Why theres nothin
goin down here
It seems to me
I could live my life
Better than I think I am
I guess thats
why they call me
Call me the workin man
(cheering)
They call me
the working man
I guess thats what I am
(cheering)
(Neil): When I started to get
around 11 or 12 years old,
I was banging around
the house with chopsticks
on my little sisters playpen
and smashing up
pots and pans
and my parents got the idea
that I liked to hit things
with sticks.
So, my 13th birthday,
they got me drum lessons.
I practiced all the time
and continued to get better.
And so once I got interested
in rock bands and all that
and I was old enough
to quit high school...
I wanted to be
a full-time musician,
thats all I thought about.
Fortunately, I was in a very
serious band at the time.
We did practice every day,
you know,
we didnt drop out
of school to be bums.
We made some demos for record
companies in Toronto,
but they gave us
the classic of those days,
we dont hear a single.
So, you know, we were
up against this wall.
(rock music)
So as the band was
running into frustrations,
I conceive this notion
that I would move to London
and take my drums
and my records.
The world view
that I took with me
was that all I had to do
was get good
and I would be successful.
It was as simple as that.
And I really believed
thats how the world worked.
That if I got good,
I would be successful.
- I got an airmail
letter from Neil,
and it was, I understand
youre living in England,
and I wanna come over
and further my musical career
and can I come
and stay with you?
This was a big thing
for a, you know,
a St. Catharines boy, like,
as it was for myself,
but here we are
in London, you know?
And hes gonna
give this a shot.
(rock music)
- Id copied down a list
of record companies,
booking agencies,
management companies,
and so on from record jackets
out of my collection,
and traipsed around to all
these offices in rainy London.
(Doane): He told me
a funny story.
Somehow he had found out where
the Jethro Tull offices were
and he went into the office
and asked if they were
looking for a drummer.
This was the year when they
were between drummers.
And it was kind of unlike Neil
to do something
as forthright as that,
but he marched right in there,
said Im ready to go,
and the lady said,
well, thats not quite
how its done here,
and thank you very much.
- I always remember one
kind-hearted receptionist
telling me,
Well, youre very brave.
In other words, youre a fool!
But I proceeded with that
and eventually found
another job to keep me alive,
which was working
in souvenir shops
and poster shops
in Carnaby Street
in Piccadilly Circus.
Through that souvenir shop,
ironically, I met musicians
that I got started with
in a band over there,
and was able to do quite
a variety of different work,
playing in pop cover groups
and a little bit
of casual session work
and doing auditions.
(playing rock music)
He got in
a couple of bands,
and they got touring around.
They played The Marquee.
Its the most amazing
club in London,
the Rolling Stones,
Rory Gallagher, everybody.
But bar bands, cover bands,
you dont make any money.
And we had to
pay bills, right?
We had to live.
(Neil): The gigs lasted
about two weeks,
and then suddenly,
there was no more work
and, you know,
I was sharing
a bed-sitting room
on the farthest extreme
of London
with my friend Brad.
Like, you know,
not able to pay rent,
not able to buy food,
and then really
facing poverty.
- I could see he was
discouraged.
And so, one day, he said,
do you think we could
do acid on Saturday night?
Which was... I said, sure!
I dont know...
Get some.
Back then, the acid
was so strong,
you would sort out
the entire universe,
but the next day youd forget.
We didnt forget this time.
We figured out the meaning
of life right there.
And the meaning of life is,
you get up in the morning
and you go to work.
You have to have
a sense of purpose,
or youre not going anywhere.
They call me
the working man
I guess thats what I am
(Neil): When I was in
the ferment of London
in the professional
music business,
it was very obvious
that things didnt work out
the way I thought they did
back in St. Catharines.
Um, so that was a huge lesson.
But it also forced me
into another
life-changing decision...
was that while Id rather do
something else for a living
and play the music I love,
you know, that was clear.
Id rather play down
in the basement,
and play the music I like,
especially if I can get
likeminded musicians
to do that.
And I came back to
St. Catharines then
and went to work
for my dad full-time
at the farm equipment dealers
and played in bands at night.
- I came home from England
and we used to go for lunch
at this greasy spoon.
You know, I pulled in
and he came out,
and there was this
white Corvette,
and it pulled in
the parking lot
of the farm
equipment dealership.
And I said, okay,
well, who is that?
He said, did you ever hear
of a band called Rush?
I said, nope.
No, Ive never
heard of them, sorry.
Well, theyre going on tour
and theyre looking
for a drummer.
But...
He knew.
He knew this was the one.
He knew this was...
the chance.
(Geddy): When he first
pulled up in his Pinto,
and he bounded out
of the car
with his drums
and garbage bags...
My first thought was,
wow, what a goof.
(chuckling)
- Yeah, right.
- Cause he was tall and...
And we were groovy.
(Alex): And we were
totally groovy,
we had belts
with big buckles and--
- Bell-bottoms.
- Things like that.
And I remember thinking,
theres no way this guys
cool enough to be in our band.
Because he was
a tall, gangly...
- Oh, yeah.
- ...guy that looked
like so nerdy and...
- But when he
started playing triplets...
- That changed everything.
- He got really cool.
- Yeah.
- Really fast.
- So fast.
- I met the guys
and we got talking,
and the immediate things,
interestingly,
were books and humour
that we started talking about.
I remember talking about,
you know,
we were 22 years old,
1974, talking about
the Lord of the Rings
and Monty Python.
Actually, those were probably
the first two touchstones
of the books we read
and the things that
made us laugh.
In retrospect,
that is so beautiful,
the fact that we
played well together
and we laughed well together.
Thats the kind of thing
that might last 34 years.
(laughing)
(Working Man
by Rush continuing)
(yelling)
Well it seems to me
I could live my life
Better than I think I am
I guess thats
why they call me
Why they call me
The workin man
They call me
the workin man
I guess thats what I am
Well they call me
the workin man
(vocalizing)
(laughing)
- Oh, sorry!
(yelling)
(Geddy): Throw it away!
- Oh, awesome.
(Geddy):
Throw it away. I quit!
(chuckling)
- You are the best.
- Thank you, guys.
- I love you guys.
Bubba!
(Geddy): Just love
that interaction...
- Oh...
- This is kind of song
is just like...
Its your fucking happy zone.
- Yes.
- You can just feel it.
- Yeah.
- This one, this one...
- Contagious.
(Alex): Yeah, you
can really let loose.
- I can... I see why you guys
have played it every night.
I just love that its
from the beginning
of what you guys did, and...
- At first, when we
were talking about
what songs to play,
Working Man didnt come
to mind because its pre-Neil,
but he made it his own--
- Yes, exactly.
- And this version that were
playing really is his version.
Its his inspiration.
(Chad): Yes.
- Because, how many years
did we play it, 40 years?
- Yeah.
- With him?
(Chad): Yeah, he owned it.
- He owned it,
yeah, fucking right.
- Do we have a version of him
singing it by any chance?
(laughing)
- Who?
- Neil singing it?
I get up at 9 oclock.
(laughing)
I do not like beer,
I will not drink the beer.
And then I go to work.
And thats why they
call me the working man.
- Thats why they call me
one of the guys at work.
- Yeah, one of
the guys at work.
- That was his favourite
expression.
- Gotta go! Going to meet
the guys at work.
Before we met Neil,
we were a bar band,
and we wrote songs
that made people jump
up and down in bars.
I wanted to be
the greatest bass player
I could possibly be,
and lyrics were
just a hassle, man.
So, when we noticed
how much Neil read
and his verbosity,
Al and I talked.
(Alex): We approached him and
said, you know, we can see
that youre reading five
or six books a day.
Maybe you should be
the guy who writes lyrics,
you know, you have sort of
a background in literature
and an interest...
And I dont know if
he was really keen
on having that added pressure,
but he agreed that he
would try it, and he started,
and thank god he did.
- The power of words
has been big for me
since I was
a little kid, really,
in grade one and grade two,
I was writing poems in school
and reading voraciously.
And lyric writing just started
as a little side bar for me.
And coming into this band,
neither of the other two
were much interested in it,
so I went, okay,
Ill have a go.
Well, then,
having committed to it,
then my fathers values
of if its worth doing,
its worth doing well,
and I got into the craft
of it, of course.
(Geddy Lee singing)
Anthem of the heart
and mind
A funeral dirge
for eyes gone blind
Whatever he wrote,
I just tried to sing.
I remember when he gave me
Beneath, Between, and Behind,
which was the first lyric
he wrote...
I was thinking, my god,
how can I get all these words
in one line, I mean,
it was just like rapid fire,
and you wrote that
guitar riff, that...
(humming)
And it melded, it was like,
okay, this can work.
I just have to
sing really fast.
(laughing)
(Neil): Coming into this band
at the tender age of 22,
of course I still had a lot
of post-adolescent things
and fantasy and science
fiction books, for sure.
And Tolkien weaves
into the early stuff.
A lot of metaphor and those
kind of flights of fancy
that were, I think
the natural pre-occupations
of a geeky young man.
(Geddy): Starting with
Caress of Steel,
a huge evolution
had taken place in Neil.
And the things
he wanted to express.
He started talking
about concepts.
- And he would
bring lyrics in,
and he wouldnt just
bring a couple songs,
hed bring like
20 songs of lyrics.
These-all great ideas,
all connected in some way.
(Geddy): If it was going to be
a big C concept album
like 2112,
Neil would say,
I have this idea
to do this kind of thing,
and what do you think
of an idea like that?
(synth whirring)
- Oh, cool.
(inhales)
(Alex): The year is 2112.
Its a better year than 2111.
(laughing)
It was a cold winter.
Followed by a decent summer.
Then the plague hit.
Most everybody died.
They couldnt wait for 2113.
But who knows
what thatll bring.
- Two, three, four.
(2112 Overture by Rush)
- Ah.
- Its jumping in
one beat early.
Theyre all different spaces.
- As long as were tapping our
feet at the right tempo...
(all talking at once)
- Yeah.
- One, two, three, four--
(Danny): You know
the beginning of the song,
but then when
you gotta play it,
you gotta know
how many counts,
how many
repetitions of this, and...
I thought maybe they
just looked at each other
and hit the beats, you know?
I didnt know it was in time!
It makes it a challenge.
You think you know it,
but you dont
until you actually play it.
Lets do it from
the top again--
- Its idiosyncratic...
- Yeah.
- Its done to make it
difficult to remember.
(laughing)
So we succeeded!
(laughing)
- 2112, I can remember
right where I was
that first time I heard it,
you know? So its...
Good music does that,
you know,
it can bring you back
to that point every time.
When I was a little kid,
camping out to go
and see them,
this seems so far
away, you know?
Its a whole nother world.
What a thrill, you know?
Im still, like,
pinching myself, going, wow,
did I get to do that?
(laughing)
(2112 Overture continues)
- Was that right?
Was I wrong?
- Uh... I-I dont know.
I played it right,
I know that.
(laughing)
(2112 Overture continues)
(Geddy): Ah, that was great!
- Yeah, that was pretty
good that time.
- Yeah, you got it.
- I think so.
- Alright, lets have lunch.
(laughing)
- One, two, three...
(2112 Overture by Rush)
- One, two, three, four!
(Neil): 2112 was inspired by
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.
It really spoke to me.
There was this
great validation
of doing things honestly,
idealistically, romantically
that was absolutely
the fundamental essence
of 2112.
Cause we had been coming
under tremendous pressure
by the record company
to be more commercial
and to compromise our music
and to repeat
the chorus more times
and to write some singles.
But nothing was going to
change what we wanted.
Nobody could say to me, oh,
you should play more simply.
(Geddy):
2112 was the first album
we really shaped all
of the music to the story.
And, of course, the very last
thing we wrote for that album
was the Overture,
which is how
an overture is created.
It takes all the themes
that exist in the opera,
and you combine them
and make an overture
that introduce you
to those musical themes.
And it was Neils idea
to do an overture.
Lets take all these pieces
and put it together
in one really cool opening.
(2112 Overture continues)
(laughing)
- Great.
That fucking rocked.
That was fun.
- Pretty good, yeah.
- That was fucking fun.
- Awesome.
- Thats called throwing you
into the deep end.
(laughing)
- Yeah, that beginning
was tricky, man.
God, sorry it
took so long to--
- Its, you know, its
the nature of our music.
- Yeah, its amazing when I
started analyzing this stuff,
God, just how genius,
you know, Neils parts were.
Its like, it always builds
in some clever way--
- Yes.
- When it comes
back around again,
he adds this here or there,
or you know...
It was always
a little more complicated.
Its always moving forward
in the coolest way.
Of all the drummers we know,
we think you are more
closely aligned
with his sort
of musical spirit.
- In the compositional way
for sure, like I said,
when youre just making
things build and...
And the arrangement
part of it too, you know,
were using toms in this
part or that part
to make it grow
in the proper way...
(Chad): To me, Neil
approached the music
like a classical
piece of music.
The precision,
the musicality, the power.
His drum parts were so
integral to the arrangement,
and they were musical hooks.
Which, for drumming,
a rhythmic instrument,
is not very, you know...
doesnt happen all the time.
- I always explain it
in terms of timing.
I started playing
drums in 1965.
When all you had to do was
go boom-bop-bop-boom-bop.
And you were a drummer.
And then suddenly,
in the late 60s,
Keith Moon opened my eyes
to a whole new style
of flamboyant drumming.
And then, King Crimson
I remember getting aware of
very early on.
Michael Giles drumming
is so active
5yet so musical on there.
The combination of fills,
never mind the frequency,
never repeated himself,
here are permanent
lessons for me.
Never play
the same fill twice,
which I try, you know,
devotedly to do.
And the makeup of those fills,
the composition
and placement of those fills.
- The lasting influence
for me with Neil
is how good a designer...
...a rhythmic designer he was.
Ive very carefully
studied the songs
that Im gonna play
with Alex and Geddy.
And I wrote out
a very detailed chart
of the whole thing.
Then, as I started
to play along with it,
I can clearly see,
theres an extra layer
in this verse
that wasnt
in the first verse.
And its really when you
get into the details of it
that you realize
how much thought
went into every drum part.
Theres no extra fat lying
around, its all very lean.
(Dreamline by Rush)
Hes got a road map
of Jupiter
A radar fix on the stars
All along the highway
Shes got
a liquid-crystal compass
A picture book of the rivers
Under the Sahara
They travel in the time
of the prophets
On a desert highway straight
to the heart of the sun
Like lovers and heroes
And the restless
part of everyone
Were only at home
when were on the run
On the run
Hes got a star map
of Hollywood
A list of cheap motels
All along the freeway
Shes got a sister
out in Vegas
The promise
of a decent job
Far away from her hometown
They travel on the road
to redemption
A highway out of yesterday
That tomorrow will bring
Like lovers and heroes
Birds in the last
days of spring
Were only at home
When were on the wing
On the wing
(Gavin): The first time
I heard Dreamline, I thought,
Ill just write out where
the bass drum notes are.
Well, it doesnt repeat.
These are all individually
written to follow the vocals.
- When we would present him
with a piece of music,
if he loved the melody,
he was a slave to that melody.
Thats why its hard
to explain to a drummer,
when theyre trying
to learn a Rush song.
Why is he playing
what hes playing?
Well, listen to the vocal.
Hes trying to stay
out of the way of the vocal,
at the same help express
the emotion of the vocal
through his drums.
(Neil): Another thing
I love about the relationship
between drumming
and lyric writing
is when we start
to write a song
and Im working out
a drum part,
I know the lyrics.
You know, Ive heard of
ridiculous stories of bands
recording a whole song
and then having to redo it
because when the lyrics
were finally written
as the last possible
thing as the vocals
are being recorded,
they didnt fit.
And the drummers having
to be so simplistic
because who knows where
the lyrics are gonna fall,
they dont wanna be
in the way of them.
Then all you can do
is keep time,
and you wouldnt dare
put a fill somewhere,
because there might
be words there.
I loved the fact I know
when the vocals are gonna end
so I can make
some noise there!
We travel on the road
to adventure
On a desert highway
Straight to the heart
of the sun
Like lovers and heroes
And the restless
part of everyone
Were only at home
when were on the run
On the run
(laughing)
(drumming)
- Awesome.
- Whew!
- I dont think I made
too many mistakes.
- No, you were spot on.
- I thought it was
really good.
- Robert Fripp always used to
say, there will be mistakes.
Lets try to make
a better quality mistake.
- Oh, I like that.
- That is good.
- Yeah. And there were.
- Yeah.
- There always will be.
- They were the best mistakes.
- Of course.
- The most memorable things
that happen on the stage,
as you know, is when you have
that train wreck for a moment,
and everyones looking around
going, who do I follow?
(chuckling)
- But then it suddenly
comes back.
- Its usually the bass player
that sorts it out.
But nobodys listening to
the bass player,
thats the problem.
(Dreamline continues)
(Alex): Neil seldom made
a mistake, really.
If there was a little blooper,
something minor,
we wouldnt really notice it.
That put pressure on me
to make sure I played right.
I always felt better
if I knew I had a good night
cause I kept up
to his standard.
Some so much with Ged.
Theres something
thats a little more.
- Shitty?
- No, no, no.
Theres something thats
a little more live and looser
but the way we
were responded.
Cause Ill come over
to Geds side of stage
and well goof around
and, you know,
he might make a clunker
while youre doing that.
Its no big deal,
you dont care.
But you look over at Neil,
youre like...
You played that note wrong.
Yeah, but I was kissing him
when I played that note wrong.
You know, take it easy.
(laughter)
But there would be a sense
of living up to his standard
which was good.
(Stewart): One time
I had to talk him down,
he was distraught,
he was destroyed.
He was doing the Letterman
Drum Solo Week
and on national TV
and he dropped a drumstick--
(gasps)
Oh my god. My god. My--
Dude, dude, dude.
I drop drumsticks
almost every song,
its part of my act.
Drop a drumstick,
pick up another one,
chuck it, you know.
- We would talk about
mistakes sometimes
and I had the steel trap
memory for a lot of things
and I could remember
a mistake I made in a song,
what venue it was,
what tour
and Neil said, oh, yeah,
I remember that,
we were in Frankfurt
or something.
And I realized, oh, yeah,
he has his catalog too.
I mean, thats the flipside of
having a really good memory
because you go, well,
I wont do that again.
It will be something
that you learn from.
(Neil): It matters
for me to try to play
better all the time
and to play
my best all the time,
to keep it fresh and changing.
Its kind of responsibility,
I see it as a drummer.
A perfect example
was around 1994,
I had developed really
good precision of time
but I felt a stiffness because
of that metronomic need.
And so, I studied
with Freddy Groover,
an old jazz guy from the Bronx
who lived through
the jazz times
of the 40s and 50s
and gravitated into teaching.
And Freddy is all
about the motion.
And it was all
about the motion
of the hands and feet
that contributed to a dance.
Through Freddys ideas
of round orbital motion,
a beat being
a point in a circle
rather than a dot on a line,
he got me into the idea
of making things flow,
the space between
the beats is what counts.
I used to play
straight through the drum
aiming for the floor so all
beats were just going
through the surface
of the drum head,
with Freddys approach,
the drum head
is the end of the motion,
everything happens in the air.
- Unfortunately, a lot of pop
music is played like that.
Its extremely vertical.
Its like people slapping
water when they swim.
(Neil): Mm, yeah.
- It doesnt--
(Neil): Inefficient motion.
- Breathe.
- Hand me those lumps
of wood for a second,
I got a demonstration.
- If you were playing...
I just wanted to make
his skin crawl there
but thats metronomically
fine time,
but when you learn...
- Lets put it this way,
if youre not breathing,
its not alive.
You know?
So you gotta at least put
the breath in there, huh?
(Neil): I had three separate
six month sessions with Freddy
and practicing every day,
completely reinventing the way
I sat at the drums,
the way I hit the drums,
the way I held the sticks,
the way I set up
everything around me
was a complete transformation.
- Heres one of the greatest
rock n roll drummers ever,
decides to start from scratch.
He cared so much
about getting better
and thinking about other ways
that I can be a student
of the instrument.
(upbeat jazz music)
- He did the Buddy Rich thing
and its very big band.
(humming drum tune)
Hes like, I been rehearsing
with Pete Erskine.
This is after
the Freddy Groover stuff.
So I was like, oh,
and he goes,
well, Ive been taking
lessons every week
and were still
on the high hat.
(laughter)
He goes, because I have
that Canadian swing.
(laughing)
- The white Canadian swing.
- Right.
(Chad): Neil putting that
much time and energy
into recreating
his whole technique,
to me it shows how
obsessed he was maybe.
I dont know
if theres a better word.
But this is a guy who would go
and rehearse for
months by himself
before the band would rehearse
for months for a tour.
- We called it rehearsing
for rehearsing.
(laughter)
So, and it was a full month
and it was somewhat business
hours, Monday to Friday.
In a studio, I would be
programming
the electronic drums for him
while he basically
put himself through torture
getting his hands in shape.
By the end of the first week
his hands would be
all blistered up.
It was a painful experience
for him for awhile.
(Geddy): That sounds fun.
(Stewart): It is fun.
- I just got to remember how
to play the fucking song.
- Oh, yeah.
Mustve been
one of your staples.
- You know, we havent
played this one live in...
(Stewart): Actually, they did
send me Bravado
and New World Man
and Im listening to
New World Man and...
No, that sounds like a lot
of work, Ill do the easy one
and then I listen to it again
and then I tried playing it
and said, no, wait a minute,
this is right in
my comfort zone.
Its energetic but its, uh,
I like that. Lets play this.
- So, the ending
we were doing...
(Stewart): The drum fills are
not challenging to play,
theyre challenging
to remember
and that was the
hardest part is, you know--
Oh, shit! Its coming up now!
Its coming up now!
Thats just contrary
to my instincts
as banging drums,
you know,
is not a thinking person
but it goes entirely
against the grain.
But if this is for Neil,
Im going to play them
just the way
the professor did.
- Bah! Bah! Bah!
(rhythmic rock music)
- I like that. Yeah.
One, doodle, doodle,
two doodle, doodle,
three, doodle, doodle, four...
- Now we can do a big
bam-boom if you want
or let it ring out.
- Wow. Washing out.
Folks love washing out.
(New World Man by Rush)
Hes a rebel and a runner
Hes a signal
turning green
Hes a restless
young romantic
Wants to run
the big machine
Hes got a problem
with his poisons
But you know
hell find a cure
Hes cleaning up
the systems
To keep his nature pure
Learning to match the beat
of the old-world man
Learning to catch the heat
of the third-world man
Hes got to make
his own mistakes
And learn to mend
the mess he makes
Hes old enough
to know whats right
And young enough
not to choose it
Hes noble enough
to win the world
But weak enough
to lose it
Hes a new world man
(Neil): Coming through
the 70s, of course,
there was a huge revolution
in popular music
with punk and new wave
coming in.
And those who ignored it
were made irrelevant.
But we young enough
and adaptable enough
to embrace that.
And I was a huge fan
of music in the late 70s,
early 80s and the tendency
toward tighter songs
and wanted it in my drumming,
wanted it in our bands sound.
We were listening
to Elvis Costello,
Talking Heads and The Police,
all of them became
hugely influential on us.
(Roxanne
by The Police)
Roxanne
Roxanne
(Geddy): How did
you meet Pratt?
Like I know we played
together at the Pink Pot.
(Stewart): Yeah.
Which I remember very well.
- 1979.
- And we were on
like early afternoon.
You guys werent even
in the building when we--
- No, I-- We watched you
from the back, side stage.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
- I remember you guys
came off stage
and you jumped
right in the pool.
And thats only
backstage Ive ever been
in that had a swimming pool.
(Stewart): Yeah,
thats pretty cool.
(audience cheering)
- Thank you!
(Stewart): We played
at the Pink Pot Festival
in Holland and we played kind
of early in the afternoon.
Rush was headlining
and so they were
kind of a big deal.
They had their stage with this
huge enormous drum set.
(rock music)
Rush were kind of the epitome
of what went before.
And without
knowing music at all
we took umbrage at them
because they were
still long haired
and this was an era of
a whole different hairdo
and they were diligently
non-up-to-date.
And Im ashamed to say
that The Police, The Used,
Rush, Foreigner
and Fleetwood Mac
to do battle with
as if they could
give a shit about us.
Youll probably know that
back in the day The Police
were sort of against
the establishment!
- We were establishment?
- Oh, really?
- And there mightve been
some not unkind words
which I soon was educated
out of such a position.
- No offence taken.
(rock music)
(Neil): Around the late 70s,
I make all the tapes
that they play before
our concerts
and I happened
to put some Police on
from their first album.
And they would play
over the PA before the show
and the audience would boo
because somehow
if they were Rush fans
they were supposed to hate
the Police and vice versa
which to me being in the band
and I made the tape, you know?
And I like all these bands
and all these different kinds
of music and enjoy them.
Its incomprehensible to me
but there are these
factions, you know?
And they get so narrowly
focused on things
and I think music
happens that way too.
I think you just get dismissed
and shunted off as, well,
theyre not hip, so.
Weve gotta be hip
so we cant talk about
people who arent hip.
(Stewart):
I was not a Rush fan
and so it wasnt until
I met Neil years later,
hey, lets do lunch.
I got to know him and then
got to know the band.
And getting into it,
going to see them.
I get it, I understand why
people get all
reverent about Rush.
(New World Man continues)
Learning to match
the beat of the old-world
Well hes learning
to catch the heat
Of the third-world man
Hes a new world man
Hes a new world man
Oh yeah
(laughter)
(Geddy): Take that!
- Fuck, that is
hard work, though.
I thought I was fit.
(laughter)
- Well, you know,
its a Rush song,
its gonna be goofy.
- Its gonna be
hard fucking work.
And I heard that from guy that
used to play with Rush.
(laughter)
(Geddy): Im glad youre here.
I appreciate you
coming to do this.
- Ah, its an honour.
It really is an honour.
(Alex):
Its really interesting
how Stewart and Neil
became great friends
because they were so
similar in so many ways.
I went out to dinner one
night with the two of them
and the two of them just
like, do, do, do, do!
Throughout the dinner
while I was just eating.
(laughter)
Theres an understanding
amongst drummers,
they speak their own language
and its a dialect
that Ive come to realize
I dont really understand.
(chuckles)
After the dinner, we went
over to Stewarts place
and Stewart this studio
and he has every
instrument in the world
and it was pure musical fun.
(rock music)
(Geddy): He loved those jams
you did at the Grove.
(Stewart): Oh, man.
Those were a lot of fun.
He would get on the drums,
plan, okay Neils on drums.
Had them set up
facing each other.
Hey, Danny,
Neils coming over.
(laughter)
So, I had Neil and Danny which
means I get to play guitar.
(Danny): It was fun jamming
with them, you know.
You can just hear
Neil go off too, man.
It was a great
sense of improv.
Those would go on for hours
and a couple
of bottles of Macallan
would help, you know?
You get to know
someone that way.
It was good times.
- One, two, three, four.
(rock music)
(Matt): I remember
meeting this guy
whos work Ive loved
and admired for so long.
Im trying to think
of what to say, right?
Like, what do I say
to this guy
whos my favorite lyricist,
you know,
my favourite drummer
in my favourite band.
And I know that
Neils a private guy
and I dont want
to get it wrong.
So, he answers the door
and hes walking towards me
and hes this big, big guy
and he looks down at me
and extends his hand
and he says,
Im a huge fan of your work.
So, all the like steam
was of the kettle.
Instantly.
We were by some metric,
if not equals,
we were at least speaking
a language that we were
both maybe fluent in.
And it changed everything.
(Chad): They were playing
Universal Amphitheatre
in Los Angeles
and Al invited me down
and hes like,
are you here yet?
He says,
Neil wants to see you.
And I was like, oh, okay.
You know, its like being
summoned by--
The king will see you now.
I was like, oh, shit!
So, he had his dressing room
far away from
everybody else, of course.
And I go in and hes like,
(deep voice):
So nice to meet you.
Thats his voice!
And hes a big guy. Big dude.
I was like, whoa!
And we shook hands
and immediately hes like,
you know, Im a big fan
of your playing,
the Chili Peppers.
And he was asking me about
parts on some of our songs
that he knew
and I was like, oh my god!
I was like, couldnt believe,
it was so cool.
And it was immediately
we were peers.
- When you met Neil,
who reached out to who?
- Neil wrote to me.
- Yeah.
- And I was very surprised,
you know?
And the email was
written like a book,
like, all the indents
at the start of the line.
Immaculate, no mistakes,
no grammar mistakes.
- He was all about that.
That brotherhood of drummers.
If he reached out to you,
your playing moved him,
a hundred percent. Yeah.
- God. I mean,
I wouldnt dream
of writing to a guy like that.
Hey, how you doing?
You know?
I wouldnt expect a reply.
I get message from Neil
and he said that
I can see youre playing
with Porcupine Tree
in Los Angeles next month,
I was wondering if
I could take you to lunch.
He said, lets meet at 12:30.
I got in a taxi, I got down
there about a quarter to 12.
And as Im walking
down the block,
I look and I think theres
a guy sitting outside
looks like Neil Peart.
So, he was actually
earlier than I was.
He was so unstarry
and without ego,
it was just like two drummers
just talking drums.
Afterwards he said,
I can take you back.
So, I thought, please,
I just hope the band
are standing outside the venue
when I pull up
in an Ashton Martin
chauffeur driven
by Neil Peart,
this will be,
this will be so good.
And, of course, they werent.
(laughter)
(Doane): Neil and I
corresponded
but it was a few years until
we finally met in person.
By that point it felt
like two old friends,
we would talk about drumming
but he would also talk
about literature, philosophy,
art, science, nature,
the cosmos, astronomy,
consciousness, philosophy.
He was a polymath.
And I loved the fact
that I could have
these conversations
across a wide
variety of topics
that interested me
and it interested him too.
Not a lot of people that I
could really do that with
and we would meet sometimes
at The Cave, you know.
(Geddy): The Cave was him,
was his fortress of solitude
and he had his
little office area
where he sat at the desk
and typed and worked.
When you went to visit Neil
you would hang out
and you would be goofy
and you would
tell your stories
and you would do your
real connecting at The Cave.
(Matt): He had
the most beautiful cars and
they were all kind
of just right there,
the silver surfers.
And a dangerously comfy couch.
Wed get together
on Fridays at The Cave
and just talk about life.
I didnt have a big brother
growing up
and I really feel like
Neil became my big brother.
And a lot of that
happened at The Cave
where I could kind of ask him
for his advice on things
that maybe
I was going through.
And so I just remember
many times
feeling a certain way
walking into The Cave
and feeling completely
different on the way out,
like, its probably
going to be okay.
Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
- Want to start
banging with us, dude?
(Chad): I will bang.
- Youll banga!
- Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Chad Smith will join us
for the performance
of Limelight.
- I watched you guys
in your video
at La Studio where you did it.
First of all,
it was really beautiful
cause you were just fresh
faced young men.
Was that--
- 35 years ago.
(Chad): 80?
- 80.
(Chad): Neil is fucking
banging in that video.
Hes just--
Killing them!
I was like...
(laughter)
Its a video!
He wasnt phoning in.
None of that shit.
(Geddy): Every video we did,
hes not going to
pretend to play the song,
he has to play the song.
He played it full out.
(Limelight
by Rush playing)
Living on a lighted stage
approaches the unreal
For those who think
and feel
In touch with
some reality
Beyond the gilded cage
Cast in this unlikely role
ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
to keep oneself intact
Living in the limelight
the universal dream
For those who wish to seem
Those who wish to be
Must put aside
the alienation
Get on with
the fascination
The real relation
the underlying theme
Living in a fisheye lens
caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I cant pretend a stranger
is a long-awaited friend
(crowd cheering)
(Stewart): Neil liked to
hang out with other musicians
but the attention
from his fans
made him deeply uncomfortable
because they were expecting
godhead from him.
(Geddy): When someone
came into his sphere
who approached him
as Neil Peart the famous guy
he was suspicious and leery.
(Alex): No, it was very
uncomfortable for him.
- He was very hard
to approach.
(Alex): Yeah, to the point
of being angry about it.
Limelight.
- Hmm. Yeah.
(woman): Can you name
a thing that you think
that your fans
dont know about you
that you wish they did?
(exhales)
- Uh...
Yeah, Im always
bad at that, sorry.
(woman chuckles)
Probably not, um...
Jeez, thats a lousy one.
(both laughing)
(audience cheering)
The way
the music industry works,
you know, they
want the private life
and they want all of that
but its not easy.
It really isnt because youre
expected to play this role
and youre expected to be some
kind of idol by everyone,
by your fans.
So you find ways
to defend against that
and the only way is to
draw a firm line
between public life
and professional life.
Thats the way
I look at it, really.
If I go off to do my job
then Im a professional,
if Im not doing my job,
then Im a person, you know?
So, dont get them mixed up.
All the worlds
indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each anothers audience
Outside the gilded cage
(Matt): There was
a line for him
going from respect
for his work
and appreciation for his work
going past that into adulation
or too much fan-boying out.
But I know he wanted people
to feel at ease
for a couple reasons.
Both because he was a polite
and kind human being
but also because
the awkwardness
made him feel awkward.
- Well, Rita and I,
my wife and I
went to a show and it was
the end of tour or something
and it was at Four Seasons
in Toronto and he
said, well meet
for breakfast.
And, so, were there
having breakfast
and all of the sudden
he started getting nervous
and I said,
whats your problem?
Look out in the hallway.
And, of course,
there was someone.
So, I said, okay, Ill go out.
So, I went to the guy and I
said, so youve noticed Neil.
Yeah, man, wow.
You know, I just--
I just want to say hi,
I just--
I said, so, you know
anything about him?
Oh, I know
everything about him.
I said, well, if you know
everything about him,
youll know that
he does not like this.
Just well all walk by
and if-- the best thing
you can do,
which I would appreciate
and he will, is nothing.
(Geddy): I remember one time
we were in Brazil
and we were having
dinner in Rio,
some fans came
in the restaurant
and wanted his autograph.
And he immediately used to
tighten up as you know,
so I just got the papers
or whatever it was
and I said, just sign that.
And he signed and I signed it
and I gave it back to them
and it was fine,
it was all over.
So, its funny.
He had all kinds
of time for people
when they didnt
know who he was.
- Thats true, he was happiest
in those times I think.
- But you know, thats a flaw
because you cant
have it both ways.
You live on the stage
and you pay the price.
- Actually, it is a flaw.
You were a genius,
one of the finest
rock drummers to ever live,
best selling author,
youre going to have
to let people
tell you they appreciate that.
Youve attained this
but you cant forget why
because without them
you wouldnt have attained it.
(Limelight
by Rush)
Living in the limelight
the universal dream
For those who wish to seem
Those who wish to be
Must put aside
the alienation
Get on with
the fascination
The real relation
the underlying theme
The real relation
The underlying theme
Oh yeah
(laughter)
- Fuck yeah!
- That didnt suck!
Okay!
- I cant play
without looking at you
and I cant look at you
without smiling.
(laughter)
That is just the best feeling.
(Chad): I dont want
to break to formula.
- So, you clearly
know this song.
- Obviously, I know the song
but when you actually dig in
and Neils parts are such
integral parts of, of--
- Its so arranged.
- Yeah, you cant jam
your way through it.
You can but thats
not the way to do it.
So, Im like, shit!
Even the beginning--
(scatting)
Wha-- What!?
What the fuck is that?
I just want it to feel right.
- Yeah, of course.
- So... Im trying
to be musical.
Right? Its like--
its really something.
Its really something.
Really something.
- Limelight remains such a joy
to play after all the years.
So you know you got it right,
you know,
if you can still play a song
30 years later
and still get the same
charge from it.
So, I think Moving Pictures
represents so much
that we learned up to
that point about song writing,
about arrangement and what
we could do with the song
and structure
and the dynamics.
And really the same values
that I applied in my drumming
came to be in the lyrics
by getting better
at the craft of it.
I was experimenting so much.
I remember reading
some old poetry
and poetry didnt
used to rhyme,
it used alliteration.
A poem would begin like,
when the siege and assault
had ceased at Troy,
was the opening line
to Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight,
I somehow remember
but it fascinated me
that poetry once
had nothing to do with rhyme.
It was about rhythm and sound.
It was about
the assonance of sound.
And, of course,
theres a relationship
with drumming there
in subdividing the beats.
We are at the former site,
the ruins of the studio
in Quebec, Canada
where I first came in fall
of 1979 with the band
to record Permeant Waves
and work here for
the next 20 years off and on
but especially for
that first ten years.
Recording, mixing,
writing songs.
Yeah.
So, this was
the main recording room.
My drums would be set up
either right here
or at the other end
and the pianos still there.
(playing Tom Sawyer
by Rush)
(Alex): Danny,
hes an amazing drummer
and is so many ways,
similar stylistically to Neil
and so he got stuck with
two of the toughest tunes.
First, we handed him
Overture From 2112.
Now he has tackle
Tom Sawyer,
which really is a showcase
for the drums.
And even Neil always said
it was one of the hardest
songs for him to play.
So, yeah, I guess we threw
Danny right into the deep end.
- Okay, want to try it
from the top?
Shall we bluster through?
- I guess so.
(chuckles)
(Geddy): From the topping,
no stopping.
(Danny): Okay.
Two, three, four.
(Tom Sawyer
by Rush playing)
A modern-day warrior
A mean, mean stride
Todays Tom Sawyer
Mean, mean pride
Though his mind
is not for rent
Dont put him down
as arrogant
His reserve,
a quiet defense
Riding out
the days events
The river
What you say about
his company
Is what you say
about society
Catch the mist,
catch the myth
Catch the mystery,
catch the drift
The world is,
the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his skies
are wide
Todays Tom Sawyer,
he gets high on you
And the space he invades,
he gets by on you
(Tom Sawyer continues)
- So, this is
the main recording room
which has
changed configuration
and size over the years.
In those days we all recorded
together in the room.
So, all of us were
learning the song
and interacting to
each others parts.
So, a lot of stuff
was hammered out,
is the best way
to put it, here.
You know, by playing
it over and over again.
And thats the way
we worked in those days
and thats when I look
at a drum part
like Tom Sawyer for example,
infinitely detailed because
I paid it 5,000 times.
And as we played it away
in here, you know,
Id be set up over and Id
be going into that again
and the next time Id add
one detail, add a detail.
(Nick): Most bands, the drums
are usually in the back
but with Rush
theres so much space
because theyre
just a three piece,
that Neil just had
this giant wide space
that he could fill up
and would fill it up
with the big long fills
and all the things that
we air drum all the time.
You know, like the middle part
of Tom Sawyer
is every air drummers
fantasy section.
- Ive never gone to other
concerts
where people air drum.
And theyre not--
theres not 20,000
drummers out there.
Yeah, the drummer can do it,
but like random fan guys,
if you hear Tom Sawyer...
(humming Tom Sawyer)
Theyre all air drumming,
hes going, brap, brap, brap!
Theyd be like, what?
- I asked him one time, how do
you get the air drummers?
I want that.
How do you get
the goddamn air drummers,
its amazing at a Rush
show to see them.
He goes-- and theyre all
doing it with him!
I want that!
(Tom Sawyer by Rush)
No, his mind
is not for rent
To any God or government
Always hopeful,
yet discontent
He knows changes
arent permanent
But change is
And what you say
about his company
Is what you say
about society
Catch the witness,
catch the wit
Catch the spirit,
catch the spit
The world is, the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his eyes are wide
Exit the warrior,
todays Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
and the energy you trade
Right on to the friction
of the day
(laughing)
- I about dropped my stick
on the big fill.
- Oh, of course.
- For Neil, it was
the toughest song
of the night for him.
- Really? Wow.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, that hi-hat is
pretty brutal, man.
- Thank you so much
for being here.
- Thank you for having me.
- Coming to play
these crazy songs,
but I like to think
he would be
just fucking enjoying
the hell out of this.
(laughing)
- He might be.
- Yeah, I hope so.
- Or laughing his head off.
- Yeah, I can hear him now,
not so easy, is it?
- Thats for sure.
- He would be saying,
havent you guys retired yet?
We tried, we failed.
- It happens.
- To be back playing music
that he had a part
in constructing is...
Is a way to do him honour.
- Yeah, yeah,
thats the least I can do,
with all the inspiration
Ive gotten from him,
you know, thats for sure.
I wish I couldve gotten out
and ridden some bikes with him
at the moor, you know...
- Thats a long ride.
He liked to ride...
- Yeah, I dont know if I can
do that, what he did.
- 300 on a show day?
- Yeah, but before
his motorcycle period,
he would be riding
his bicycle.
And I remember one time
on a day off,
we played Milwaukee
and were going to Chicago,
he rode from Milwaukee to
Chicago on his day off.
- To Chicago? On a bicycle.
- On a bicycle.
And then he goes and does
a three-hour show.
Not normal.
- Yeah.
- I had started bicycling on
the Grace Under Pressure Tour,
so 1984,
and I just kept the bicycle
in the luggage bay of the bus
and pretty soon started riding
from city to city
and going for distance,
on the back roads, of course.
But I always knew that someday
I would ride a motorcycle.
In the 90s,
I got into it big time.
And the last couple of tours,
Ive travelled
completely independently,
set my own itinerary,
travelled the back roads
of America
and the small towns.
Takes enormous concentration
and mental discipline
on the motorcycle.
But theres a whole
other kind of input
and a whole other kind
of mental activity created.
I have a lot of good
reflections and ideas
on work and possibilities,
because your mind
is at such a high pitch.
And there are many
times I stop,
and I always have
a little notebook with me,
if there was some reflection
that you want to get down
in ink before you forget it
and something
else fills your mind.
So all of that
is part of my writing,
and all of my
even creative thinking.
(Matt):
Neil had an effortless,
conversational voice
as an author.
Lyric writing is largely,
if not all about economy.
Trimming it down,
making it function
for a singer and a melody.
But his voice
as a prose author
was far more casual.
Much more about how he feels
in certain moments
and certain places.
You know, for someone who was
so intensely private,
it was fascinating to me
how revealing he was
in his prose.
Again, like, kind of
a contradiction.
(engine revs)
(Geddy): When youre writing,
youre having a conversation
with yourself.
And thats a great
audience for him.
So he could bare his soul,
he could share
all these thoughts
about a million things,
in that form much more easily.
And you establish
a conversation with yourself,
to help you sort
your heart out,
help you sort
your emotions out.
Its really therapeutic.
And artful, at the same time.
So all those things
are very appealing.
And so its...
Thats what his book,
Ghost Rider, was for him.
(Alex): He got on his bike
and did all those
epic journeys
across Canada
and up into Alaska,
down through America,
into South America, and back.
To be one step
ahead of the ghosts
that were chasing him
all the time.
And he lived with...
With what hed gone through,
you know,
every second of the day,
as I would imagine
every person
thats lost a child.
Never mind, and a wife,
goes through.
It never ends.
And just to survive,
he needed to be a step ahead.
- He was running from himself,
I think, in some ways.
But what a horror
he had to run from,
losing his
family as he did.
And so, being
the natural writer he is,
I think for his own sanity
he needed to write
that stuff down.
And of course, its an
incredible piece of writing.
And he doesnt
whitewash anything.
Everything I ever believed has
been blown out of the water,
even my simple
karmic morality of,
you do good
and you get good.
Sadly, very sadly,
it aint so.
Earlier today, while riding,
I was thinking
of how missing my girls
was so often like
a physical ache.
And just now, that connected
with the ghost rider,
phantom pain.
Hurting for a piece of you
thats been torn away.
(Matt): I read Ghost Rider
before I met him.
And the fact that
he released that book...
I still cant believe that
thats out there,
because of how
brutal that time
must have been for him.
Travels on the healing road,
thats the subtitle.
And I think maybe,
on some level,
he was hoping
that his experiences
could be helpful
to someone else
who might be experiencing
something similar.
(Neil): It was a long
and very desperate trip,
especially when youre trying
to claw your way back to life.
Basically,
I travelled non-stop.
And certainly,
it was ruthless,
travelling all that time.
It was when I came to rest
and I came out to California
and met my wife to be
and moved out here,
I had a suitcase,
a ghetto-blaster
and a bicycle,
those were my possessions.
And I used to write a lot
of letters at that time, too.
And Id write to
friends saying,
Im freer than any man
ought to be
and ever wants to be,
you know?
I had nothing to hold on to
and nothing to be attached to.
And it was a wonderful
place to start from.
So then I got some
stability there,
with Carries help,
then realized that I was...
I was wanting to work again.
So thats basically
what it took,
I had to stop moving first.
(laughing)
- Oh, thats a nice sound.
Beautiful.
(plays drums)
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- One... Two...
One, two, three, four.
(Far Cry by Rush playing)
Pariah dogs
and wandering madmen
Barking at strangers
and speaking in tongues
The ebb and flow
of tidal fortune
Electrical changes are
charging up the young
Its a far cry
from the world
We thought wed inherit
Its a far cry from the way
we thought wed share it
You can almost feel
the current flowing
You can almost see
the circuits blowing
One day I feel
Im on top of the world
Its falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I feel
Im ahead of the wheel
Next its rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back on
(Nick): Some songs,
like Far Cry,
I just loved to listen
to Neil play the drums.
Nobody plays drums
like that, you know?
Cause hes got such
a bag of tricks, I mean,
he can literally do anything.
Any rhythm, any pattern,
any anything, he can do it.
Theres nothing I could throw
at him that he couldnt do.
So when it came time to make
the Clockwork Angels record,
we really pushed hard,
maximum Neil.
Theres some songs
on there that I think are some
of the most challenging
drum parts
hes done on any
of the songs, ever.
- Hey, you know what else
would kick ass
that you just did,
that you hadnt done yet?
When you went into the verse,
you took the hi-hat out...
Doo-doo, grah.
- Yeah.
- That was awesome.
That was really great,
that space right there.
- I jumped it,
I jumped the crash.
- Yeah, that was awesome.
- What would
you like to do now?
- Lets do it one more time.
- From where?
- From the top.
- Oh.
- One more time from the top.
- Fucker.
- Just like we just did.
- Okay.
(laughing)
You know Im perspiring.
(Nick): Towards the end
of the sessions,
I remember he came in one day
and I remember he said
his shoulder started
to hurt him a little bit.
Didnt really think much of it
and then we
finished the record.
(groaning)
I remember going out
and seeing them
on the Clockwork tour
and hanging out with him
and I remember him saying,
you know, Bouge, Im tired.
My feet hurt, Im sore.
That was the first time
I remember him
kinda saying anything.
(crowd cheering)
(Danny): When you play
like Neil, its very physical,
double kick
and two bass drums.
Just the dynamic
quality of it all
and when you go to do
something like that
and then your body
just cant do it,
it can get frustrating.
Especially when you
go back and play,
like, your earlier songs,
Im starting to feel that now,
even, like Im 64 so
the stuff I did when
I was 33, man...
I was hitting harder,
you know?
It was just a whole
different vibe.
- Im 64 fucking years old.
I cant believe it!
Its crazy to me!
Cause Im still a kid
that just plays the drums
and Im the luckiest
person in the world,
to do what I love to do,
but like,
when you get done playing,
I mean,
our backstage looks like
a fucking infirmary,
its like, this guys
in the ice bath,
and this guy got
the thing on his knee.
And Ive got a shoulder thing,
like a pitcher.
(spectator whistles)
(Geddy): Neil used to
describe drumming
as running a marathon
while doing math equations.
So when he says at the end
of a tour, Im exhausted.
Hes not just saying
hes physically spent,
hes exhausted.
He was playing
in great discomfort
and I think that makes
you more aware
of losing your powers,
knowing how hard it is
to maintain
your level of excellence.
And how painful it would be
not to be able
to maintain that.
Wed like to play
a song for you tonight
that weve never played live.
The song is called Losing It.
(crowd cheers)
(Losing It by Rush)
(Neil): A song like Losing It
was written about a movie,
The Turning Point,
where they had a dancer,
and she reached that point
where suddenly,
her ambitions
and her desires
were being betrayed
by her body.
And another input
into that same song
was the tragedy of
Ernest Hemingway
when he got toward
the end of his life
and he just simply
couldnt write anymore.
Is it worse to have had
that gift and to have used it
and to have lived it,
and then to have to lose it,
and say goodbye to it.
I would hate to face the day
when Im betrayed
by my own body, you know,
where suddenly,
the things that I want to do
in life, Im unable to.
I think it would be
such a deep tragedy,
that it would lead to the kind
of feelings of despair
that Ernest Hemingway was
driven to kill himself for.
The writer stares with
glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white,
his face is lined
And streaked
with tears of rage
Thirty years ago,
how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind
is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision
(Neil): To go out on the top
and not face the diminishing
of your ability, thats what
I couldnt face.
Having to face losing it
as my body evolves,
playing those same songs,
the drain of that performance.
Every second night,
every second night,
every second night,
you know, Im 63 years old!
And in eight years,
Ill be 71! You know?
I can play Charlie Watts
drum parts when Im 71,
I cant play Neil Peart
drum parts when Im 71.
For you, the blind
who once could see
The bell tolls for thee
- Sadder still to watch it die
than never to have known it.
For you, the blind
who once could see.
The bell tolls for thee.
This is all about
his deepest fears.
I mean, he was
playing incredibly well
on that last tour, and yet,
it was fear like this
that made him say to himself,
I am not going to
go out on stage
and embarrass myself, ever.
- In 2014, I thought,
hmm, so we have to talk.
Those fateful words,
guys, we have to talk.
So in November of that year,
we all got together in Toronto
and I was quite prepared to
say, guys, you know, sorry,
but Im done.
- I had surgery
before the last tour
and I just wanted to do
one more tour
and he came to Toronto and...
- He didnt want to do it.
- He didnt want to do it.
He came to tell us
that hes done. Hes finished.
And theres nothing wrong
with that, you know?
38 years of touring,
hes got the toughest
job by far.
- Wait a sec.
(chuckling)
- I know I do normally, but...
But because I said
that I hadnt felt well
on the previous tours, and now
I had a chance to feel good
on one last tour, and I would
love to go back on the road.
- Id left one little window
open in my mind, really,
that if anybody said they
wanted to do it one more time,
and didnt know if
theyd be able to...
It was like, okay, so,
the bastard pulled
that exact card.
Alex, said, well, hes got
the arthritis and that, said,
Id really like to do
it one more time.
(Alex): Despite breaking
him into a million pieces,
he agreed to it,
and would do that for me.
(Geddy): Yeah, he
did it for you.
He did it for you.
- Yeah.
- And he said
afterwards, he said,
I was prepared to end
unless Alex said that.
And that fuckin guy
went and said that.
(laughing)
But, you know, he moaned,
he said he spent the night
storming around his hotel room
saying fuck a million times.
But he woke up the next day
and that was it.
He was getting
ready for the tour.
He made a decision,
hell stick by it.
One day I feel Im
on top of the world
The next its falling
in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I feel Im
ahead of the wheel
Next its rolling over me
I can get back on
I can get back on
One day I fly through
a crack in the sky
And the next
its falling in on me
I can get back on
I can get back on
Oh, I can get back on,
I can get back on
(crowd cheering)
(Alex): I hope that theres
some way
of showing a human
side to Neil,
its not just all this
serious drummer thing.
The guy that was funny,
the guy that was very
considerate and sweet.
Who cared about
his friends a lot.
He felt he had
a debt to repay, I think,
to both of us for the support,
not that wed ever
expected anything,
you just do what you do,
its your brother
going through a nightmare
when he was going through
the death of his daughter
and wife and all of that.
And we stood behind him
and helped him through
as best we could.
And he never forgot that.
And I think, frankly,
he ended up touring longer
than he wouldve preferred to
because he felt that
he owed that debt.
(Lorne):
It was like any other tour,
you werent really thinking
about the end coming
until it actually hit you
in the face on that day,
August 1st, 2015.
And once you do,
he gets up at the last song
and goes down to
the front of the stage.
He never did that, ever.
And burst into tears.
Thats when you knew that,
God, this is the end.
- On behalf of our whole
organization, thank you!
For 40 awesome years.
And I do hope well meet
again sometime.
Bye-bye!
Of course,
he wouldnt add more shows,
and he wouldnt budge.
He agreed to do 30 shows
and 30 shows he did,
he fulfilled his obligation.
And, um...
The cruelest twist of all,
it was the fact
that he got ill.
- Mm-hmm.
(producer): Can you tell me
when you found out
that Neil was sick?
- Rita and I went to Quebec,
the last time that we
went to Quebec together
and he asked
the strangest questions,
and Rita was like, is there
something wrong with him?
I said, I dont know.
And then at one point,
he said to me, he said,
and he was an avid
crossword doer, as am I,
and he said, have
they changed the way
they format crosswords?
I said, no.
No, I dont think so.
- He mentioned to me
that he had been doing
the New York Times
crossword puzzle up in Quebec
and that it was
seeming harder to him.
Which, for anybody else,
you know...
Youre not doing
the New York Times
crossword puzzle in an hour,
or whatever, in a morning,
its just not happening, so.
I think maybe even when he
told me, I just thought,
well, buddy.
Welcome to humanity.
Like, youre having
a human moment, you know.
But, you know,
eventually it became clear
that there was
something else going on.
- I heard from him
and he said,
somethings wrong,
I have a tumour in my brain
and I just had surgery.
Or something like that.
It was a short paragraph.
And I read that over
and over again...
in disbelief, I dont even
think I answered for a day,
I was so shocked.
I didnt tell anyone.
No one.
I could only imagine
what Geddy and Alex
and their families
and, you know,
Carrie and Olivia
and the rest of the Pearts
were experiencing.
- The news was not good
and he surpassed everybodys
estimations for how long
he was gonna be able
to fight this battle,
by orders of magnitude.
Um...
So, the Friday
lunches became...
Maybe just that
much more important.
You know, he was still going
to the Cave and still working.
But you could see that his...
body was failing
and he...
It was, just everything
was getting harder.
- I went to the Man Cave.
And...
It was obvious.
And um... At the end...
we said goodbye.
I knew I was never
going to see him again.
- As Neil was getting closer,
he invited me over to
the house one afternoon
and we sat on his balcony
and he said, you know,
I wanted to ask you if you
would lead the memorial.
And I said, Im honoured to.
I have two questions.
One...
anything you want me
to say in particular?
He said, no, say
exactly what you want.
And then I said,
my other question is...
I dont know why
I asked him this.
I said, how long should
I speak?
(laughing)
- My last conversation
with him...
was about music.
Of course, neither of us knew
it would be
our last conversation,
but, he started
that conversation
by wanting to share
with me how...
proud he was of the work
we had done together.
And so, he knew his days
were numbered, so...
There are things he
wanted to say to his friends.
(Matt): We were over at
the Cave one day and...
And he had retired
from riding motorcycles
and so he had mounted
his motorcycle up on the wall,
cause it was no longer going
to be ridden.
And he pointed up
at the motorcycle
and he said, I made it,
I did it.
That didnt get me.
And he had this smile on
his face when he said it,
right, you know?
And...
So...
I want to just celebrate
that we had him
for as long as we
had him and that...
Its hard.
To find somebody whos...
that special
and then lose him.
But the bike didnt get him.
So theres something.
(soft music)
(Geddy): We always
had a connection
rooted in goofiness.
And when we first met him,
he seemed like such
a strange character
thrown into this little duo.
But we were so lucky.
First of all, we were lucky
we found each other as kids
and were able
to grow up together
and be stupid for the rest
of our lives together.
And were lucky he walked
into that rehearsal space
that day, I mean,
that big goof,
bounding out of the car.
So much of what
he wrote about, we lived.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- Thank goodness for it.
- Yeah.
Dude, thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
- Sincerely.
- It means a hell of a lot.
- To me too.
- I gotta come here for a hug.
(laughing)
Thank you.
That was so awesome.
- Thank you.
- It was great.
- Well, I hope it did
tribute to our buddy.
- Oh, Im sure it did.
- Fuckin did, man,
thank you so much.
(soft music)
It felt special,
it felt like an honour,
playing with those drummers.
Alex and I have been
afraid of our own music.
We had put our music in a box
and left it as
a relic of the past.
And by playing them,
we realized that we
have 50 years
and a body of music
that is still alive.
(Alex): I was so inspired.
Geddy was very excited,
and he said, Al,
do you think theres
a chance that we could
maybe do something together,
as Rush, you know,
what do you think?
- We knew that its going
to be an impossible job,
to replace Neil.
And we talked about it,
but it took a long time
to get to that point,
to go back out.
And a big part
of the motivation
was celebrating the music,
celebrating Neil.
And it wouldve been
much easier for us
to take someone
who grew up with our music,
knew all the songs,
but that would have opened
an endless conversation
about comparisons
between their former bands,
our band, Neil wouldve
played it different.
And so it was about
finding someone
that was out of context.
(Alex): We had heard of Anika
when she was on tour
with Jeff Beck.
Shes very, very skilled.
You know, shes been a drummer
since she was a toddler.
Her fathers a musician.
Its in her DNA.
But Anika is coming
into this alien world.
She wasnt really a fan of
our music, so you know,
there was a lot of spooling
up she needed to do.
(Geddy): She comes from
a different genre of music
thats a lot
swishier and jazzier.
But shes a quick study, man.
(Alex): By the last day
of the audition,
she just nailed everything.
She got it.
(Anika): After the last
day of the session,
we actually sat together
and we talked
and Nick asked me if
I want to continue.
And it was just like, wow,
this... I got this gig.
Its unbelievable.
Its really happening.
(laughing)
It was clear really quick
that I have to learn 40 songs.
Its just the amount
of complex songs,
my brain was full
and I felt, oof,
I cannot put more in it.
Your brain is doing
all the maths.
Five, seven, now three, okay,
lets go.
Okay, here, seven again,
five again, okay.
And youre running.
(chuckling)
I mean, I never met Neil
in person but he was big.
Strong, always
played powerful,
so I immediately hit the gym.
(laughing)
(Animate by Rush)
I do feel responsible
for carrying Neils legacy.
And I wish I had
the chance to meet him
and I wish I had the chance
to have nerdy drum
talk with him, you know?
My biggest task is
to get the feeling right.
Besides all this
technical stuff and the play,
his feel was unique
and this is also a big part
of remembering him.
The more I play the songs,
the more I think,
gosh, this is genius.
It has to be played like this
because its so clever built.
Even if its driving me
crazy sometimes
to remember
all of those details,
I think its brilliant.
Complicate me, elevate me
Complicate me, elevate me
(producer): Rush is a band
with a fanbase
that literally
know every note.
- I know.
(producer): Theyre crazy.
- They know it better than me!
(laughing)
I really try to not think
about that too much,
but of course,
as the first show comes close,
I get a bit more nervous.
I was good at putting
the pressure aside until now.
(laughing)
(crowd cheering)
- Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for coming,
thank you so much
for still being here.
(cheering)
Wed like to celebrate
50 years of music
that was created by that
schmendrick over there,
me, and, of course,
the great Neil Peart.
(cheering)
Wed like to pay tribute
to Neil tonight,
for so many reasons,
long overdue.
Id love to introduce
you to some people
that are going to
help us pay tribute.
The highly gorgeous
Loren Gold.
And the marvellous
Anika Nilles, please.
(crowd cheering)
Okay, lets get with it.
(The Spirit of the Radio
by Rush)
Begin the day with
a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays the song
thats so elusive
And the magic music
makes your morning mood
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