Though Rush has only performed their a total of six times over their decades spanning career, Massey Hall in Toronto remains one of the band's most cherished venues. It was in this historic venue where Rush performed a consecutive three-night stand back in June of 1976 that was recorded and later released as their first live album All The World's a Stage . Now, as the venue which was built back in 1894 prepares to undergo an extensive seven-year, $135-million revitalization, Geddy Lee takes time to reflect back on the meaning of the venue to Rush and Toronto. From an article that was published today by CTV News Toronto: Rush frontman Geddy Lee's memory of attending his first show at Toronto's Massey Hall remains spring-water clear -- and what stands out is the sound quality that was swamp-water muddled. It was June 5, 1968, and a then 22-year-old Lee was desperate to see British rock royalty Cream, even though his friends weren't. "I couldn't get ...

Back in December we first announced that Rush and Universal Music Enterprises (formerly Mercury Records) were going to re-release all of Rush's Mercury-era records on vinyl. To date, both Fly By Night and Caress of Steel have been released with 2112 scheduled to be released on March 17th. To help celebrate the re-release of the pivotal album in the band's career, the vinyl edition of 2112 will feature a special hologram image. From the Rush announcement: As the multi-platinum selling, Canadian Prog-Rock legends Rush prepare for their 2015 world tour in celebration of their 40th anniversary, Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) continues its 12 Months of Rush celebrations with the release of a special vinyl Hologram Edition reissue of the band’s epic, landmark release 2112 on March 17, 2015. This special edition will also come with a free download card for the high resolution Digital Audio version. Pressed on high fidelity 200gram vinyl, this unique Hologram Edition show...

The organizers of the the North American Rush Convention, dubbed RushCon, have just announced the details for RushCon 15: To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Rush, and in conjunction with the 34-city R40 LIVE Tour, RushCon is excited to announce RushCon 15 will be held twice, in two locations, a Mini-Con in Toronto, and for the first-time ever in Los Angeles. We are so grateful for the fans who have made the trip up to the Great White North every year. But this year, we wanted to add something different. We want RushCon to be accessible to everyone. If this is Rush's last big tour, we want it to go out with a bang and to celebrate big. So we are having two conventions this summer. Where better to celebrate the amazing legacy of our favorite band, than with your friends at RushCon? TORONTO MINI-CON, JUNE 19 - 20 Can’t make it to LA? Fear not, for we couldn’t leave out the hometown show! We will be having a “mini-RushCon” June 19 - 20 in Toronto to cheer the boys on. In addit...

The Niagara music scene of the late 1960's and early 1970's was the subject behind a 2009 documentary by filmmaker Paul Miil. At the time he began working on the documentary, which was titled The Big Story of Small Potatoes , Miil intended on focusing much of the film on Neil's early career, however the project soon expanded to other area musicians. Today, Miil has just released a 49-minute Peart-centric video which was culled from the original documentary and includes additional never-before-seen interviews with various musicians and roadies that knew Neil back in the day including members of Neil's pre-Rush bands including The Majority, Hush and J.R. Flood: Neil Peart's rudimentary years as chronicled by prior bandmates and contemporary drummers. This film answers the age old question, "How do you know if the stage is level?" The video can be viewed on YouTube at this LINK for via the embedded viewer below. Thanks to John Manasco for the link.

Neil Peart has just posted the latest edition of his "News, Weather, and Sports" blog entry on his website . This entry is the continuation of his last entry from December 2014 where he talked about his experience of competing in the " 24 Hours of LeMons ", an endurance racing series for budget-minded enthusiasts that took place in Tooele, Utah. From his entry: The Bangers ’n’ Mash racing team’s first attempt at the 24 Hours of LeMons, in June 2014, had been . . . oxymoronic. A triumphant disaster. A victorious failure. A shining disappointment. A tarnished joy. Still, ever hopeful, we signed up for a race in September, at Thunderhill Raceway in Northern California. This time we were hoping for better. Maybe just the good part—the triumph, victory, and shining joy. Maybe just keep the car running and finish the race. But alas, the summer of 2014 swept chief enabler and Lemon-Slug preparer Inspector Clouseau into a whirlwind of pressure and worry. As mentione...

It was last April when we first reported the news about a new documentary that focused on Le Studio, the recording studio home to several Rush albums including Moving Pictures . Episode One of the documentary was published at that time and now Episode Two is finally available. A little about the history of the documentary: Nestled in the Laurentian Mountains in the town of Morin Heights, Quebec lies Le Studio; a recording studio built in 1974 by André Perry and Yaël Brandeis. For Rush fans, it has become a mecca of sorts given its rich history. Rush called the studio home for the recording of eight of their albums, including Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures . Other international artists including Nazareth, The Police, Sting, Cat Stevens, The Bee Gees, David Bowie, Keith Richards, April Wine, Kim Mitchell and Bryan Adams have also recorded albums there. However despite all of its rich history, the recording studio closed its doors in the mid-2000's and has since been vi...

Update: Click HERE to watch the episode. Eddie Trunk has just announced that Geddy Lee will be appearing on the upcoming season premiere of That Metal Show which airs on February 21st. From Eddie' announcement: Extremely psyched to welcome Geddy Lee of Rush for the hour as our guest on the first new episode of That Metal Show in almost a year! I really wanted someone huge for our debut and once again the Rush camp stepped up. Back in season 1 we had Geddy and Alex on and it was a great solid they did me at the time. You see TMS was in it’s infancy and nobody knew what was going to happen with the show. Ged & Alex flew down from Toronto to come on when we were just a 30 minute show not many had yet seen. Now 5 years and about 125 episodes later Geddy is back with us! For more information on the show, please click HERE . Thanks to Bill Komlos for the news.

The official press release for the September release of Clockwork Lives , the follow-up to the novelization of Rush's Clockwork Angels 2012 album, was released yesterday by ECW Press yesterday. In additional to the press release, author Kevin J. Anderson also released a teaser sample of Chapter 1 of the novel on his blog : As a blue alchemical glow illuminated the rails, the steamliner came into Lugtown on its weekly run from parts unknown toward Crown City, the heart of the land of Albion. The chain of cargo cars and passenger gondolas were suspended by multicolored balloon sacks, each marked with the iconic honeybee symbol of the loving Watchmaker. The steamliner touched down, steel wheels striking the rails outside of town and decelerating with gouts of blue-tinted steam and showers of sparks. As the steam vents hissed, lowering pressure inside the coldfire boiler chambers, the pilot damped his engines and let the steamliner simmer in place. He would park at Lugtown for the...

When the members of Rush were preparing the details of their upcoming R40 tour, Neil Peart spent a few hours with journalist Vinay Menon where he discussed topics centering around touring and his own fame from being a member of Rush. Today, the Toronto Star has published the interview under the title Farewell to Kings: new Rush tour could be last . “Live shows were always religion for us,” says Peart, sipping his double Macallan. “We never played a show — whether it was in front of 15 people or 15,000 — where it wasn’t everything we had that night.” Later, Peart discusses his reluctance at being in the limelight of fame: It’s no secret, at least to Rush fans, that Peart may be the most reluctant rock star in the galaxy. His contempt for the shallow trappings of celebrity — “Even as a kid, I never wanted to be famous; I wanted to be good” — could form the curriculum for an undergrad psychology class. He doesn’t do meet-and-greets with fans. He gets squirmy in the face of adoration. H...