Throughout the summer of 1968, schoolfriends Alex Zivojinovich(Lifeson) and John Rutsey—both barely into their early teens—played some dances and parties as The Projection. There was no bass, no keyboards, and no real singer. The Projection was just Alex pretending to be Hendrix or Clapton (Jimmy Page wasn't known yet), and John pretending to be his own hero, Keith Moon. The projection was all about two teenage friends having fun.
“We were just a basement band,” Lifeson later said of The Projection. “We played parties; we never played for money or anything; and we were horrible. But we knew about a dozen songs and we knew how to play them really badly. We just kept repeating them over the course of the night until everybody would leave! But, you’ve got to start somewhere, and you may as well start in your own basement so you don’t have to walk home from there.”
When The Projection was starting out, Alex still didn’t have an amplifier of his own to play through. So whenever The Projection was going to play at a party, Alex would call his friend Gerry Weinrib and ask to borrow his amplifier.
Gerry had started out as a rhythm guitarist, and owned some cheap guitars and an amplifier. But when we joined his first band, they found out that they had enough guitarists. What they needed was a bassist. By sheer necessity, Gerry was demoted two octaves. He became a bassist.
Late in the summer, The Projection decided to augment their lineup to broaden their sound. So in August 1968 they brought in Jeff Jones to play bass and sing. Adding a third member changed the nature of the relationship. With a third member, it wasn’t “The Projection” any more. It was time for a name change.
Jeff, John and Alex started bandying about names for their band in a brainstorming session. Many names were suggested, but they weren’t finding a name that they all liked. John’s older brother, Bill Rutsey, was listening in on the discussion. After hearing so many names suggested and then rejected, Bill offered his own suggestion:
“Why don’t you call it ‘Rush’?”
Short, memorable, succint. A lot of energy is suggested by that simple word. It was just what they were looking for in a name.
And so the first incarnation of Rush was born: Alex Lifeson on guitar, Jeff Jones on bass and vocals, and John Rutsey on drums....
- by Dave Ward of Cameraeye.net
This Canadian heavy rock band comprised Geddy Lee (b. Gary Lee Weinrib, 29 July 1953, Willowdale, Toronto, Canada; keyboards, bass, vocals), Alex Lifeson (b. Alex Zivojinovich, 27 August 1953, British Columbia, Canada; guitar) and John Rutsey (drums). From 1969-72 they performed in Toronto playing a brand of Cream -inspired material, honing their act on the local club and bar circuit. In 1973, they recorded a version of Buddy Holly 's 'Not Fade Away' as their debut release, backing it with 'You Can't Fight It', for their own label, Moon Records. Despite failing to grab the attention as planned, the group pressed ahead with the recording of a debut album, which was remixed by Terry 'Broon' Brown. Brown would continue to work with the band until 1984's Grace Under Pressure. With no bite from the majors, once again this arrived via Moon, with distribution by London Records. However, at least the quality of the group's live appointments improved, picking up support slots with the New York Dolls in Canada and finally crossing the US border to play gigs with ZZ Top. Eventually Cliff Burnstein of Mercury Records (who would later also sign Def Leppard ) heard the band, and his label would reissue the group's debut. At this point Neil Peart (b. 12 September 1952, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; drums, ex-Hush), who was to be the main songwriter of the band, replaced Rutsey, and Rush undertook their first full tour of the USA. Rush's music was typified by Lee's oddly high-pitched voice, a tremendously powerful guitar sound, especially in the early years, and a recurrent interest in science fiction and fantasy from the pen of Neil Peart. Later he would also conceptualize the work of authors such as John Barth, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and John Dos Passos. This approach reached its zenith in the band's 1976 concept album, 2112, based on the work of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand, which had as its central theme the concept of individual freedom and will. Including a 20-minute title track that lasted all of side one, it was a set that crystallized the spirit of Rush for both their fans and detractors. However, the band's most popular offering, A Farewell To Kings, followed by Hemispheres in 1978, saw Peart finally dispense with his 'epic' songwriting style. By 1979 Rush were immensely successful worldwide, and the Canadian Government awarded them the title of official Ambassadors of Music. As the 80s progressed Rush streamlined their image to become sophisticated, clean-cut, cerebral music-makers. Some early fans denigrated their determination to progress musically with each new album, though in truth the band had thoroughly exhausted its earlier style. They enjoyed a surprise hit single in 1980 when 'The Spirit Of Radio' broke them out of their loyal cult following, and live shows now saw Lifeson and Lee adding keyboards for a fuller sound. Lee's vocals had also dropped somewhat from their earlier near-falsetto. The best recorded example of the band from this period is the succinct Moving Pictures from 1981, a groundbreaking fusion of technological rock and musical craft that never relies on the former at the expense of the latter. However, their career afterwards endured something of a creative wane, with the band at odds with various musical innovations. Despite this, live shows were still exciting events for the large pockets of fans the band retained all over the world, and in the powerful Hold Your Fire in 1987 they proved they were still able to scale former heights. In 1994 the band agreed to a break for the first time in their career, during which Lifeson worked on his Victor side project. They returned in 1996 with Test For Echo. Often criticized for lyrical pretension and musical grandstanding - unkind critics have suggested that Rush is exactly what you get if you let your drummer write your songs for you - they nevertheless remain Canada's leading rock attraction.
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