Alex Lifeson Says a Rush Reunion ‘Would Just Be a Money Ploy’

According to Alex Lifeson, the possibility of a Rush reunion is slim, describing the unlikely event as “a money ploy.”

“So many people remember us, and there’s sadness amongst our fans that it ended, and they want more, but you can’t go back,” he said in a recent interview with classicrockhistory.com. “We can’t just go and get another drummer, and go out and play concerts, and make new material. It just would not be the same. It would just be a money ploy.”

Lifeson said that the band is asked frequently about getting back together — including whether or not they’ll hire a new drummer to join the band in placement of the late Neil Peart — but the guitarist says he’s actually “proud of the fact that we haven’t, and that it was over when it was over.”

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“We toured for 41 years, and Neil [Peart] was done,” he explained. “He couldn’t play like he did 10 years earlier, and it was very difficult; he did not want to play even one percentage less than perfect. That was understandable. And it was sad when it was over, and all of that, but in retrospect, we went out on a high note, and that’s the legacy of Rush.”

Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee Jamming to Rush

Lifeson recently told UCR that he and bassist Geddy Lee have been casually jamming to Rush songs together lately.

“We decided that we would play some Rush songs. Because, you know, we haven’t played these songs in 10 years,” he said. “We started that a couple of weeks ago. We get together one day a week over at his place. We just picked some Rush songs and we started playing them and we sound like a really, really bad Rush tribute band.”

But, Lifeson stressed, the jamming is just for pleasure.

“I’m 70. It’s not as easy to get my fingers to do what my brain tells me to do,” he explained. “They’re much lazier than they used to be and they have a poor memory. Doing this really helps a lot, and it’s fun. That’s it. The whole thing was that in the beginning, it was just fun. We’re having a riot together doing that. There’s no rhyme or reason. We’re not planning on going back on the road, finding a new drummer or anything like that. It’s just fun to do it.”