Note: I am taking a look at my Rush scrapbooks, album by album (studio only). This is Part Eleven, Roll the Bones).
Well, I think I should send the Air Force a thank you letter because once again, I got to see Rush as a result of being sent somewhere. This time I got real lucky. I was stationed in Tunisia, a special assignment attached to the Embassy in Tunis. Time off or leave was not in the cards, at least for the first six months or so. But in mid March, 1992 I got sent for some training at a conference back in the states and a few days of R&R.
Robert and I drove to see the show in Chapel Hill. The Dean Dome had opened in 1986. We hit Franklin Street that afternoon, the famed drinking drag on the UNC campus, and then walked over to the arena for the show. Enjoyed hearing Les Claypool and Primus. Rush rocked the full house, but we didn’t have great seats.
Going back to the release of Roll the Bones in September 1991, I remember it helping me deal with a case of the blues. I ended up really liking my assignment in Tunis, but the first days overseas for expats can be a bit of a bumpy ride. I remember the jet lag, having a cold, getting a touch of food poisoning, and being alone with all those thoughts of uncertainty one has with a new job. I benefitted greatly from the French language training I got at DLI in Monterey, but I would be living miles from the Embassy.
Good news was I had brought a portable CD player in my luggage and RTB came through in the clutch. I played it so much I got to that point of satisfaction, but a bit of saturation.
Let’s start our look at this scrapbook with an interview of Geddy and Claypool ("First Bass Men," Guitar World, June 1992, Alan DiPerna).
This is one of the most enjoyable interviews I have ever read. The two do talk instrument and gear stuff, but they keep their tongues planted firmly in cheek throughout the entire four pages.
Claypool said he was inspired to play bass after seeing Rush and Pat Travers in concert for Hemispheres.
Geddy recalled how they decide on Primus as support, liking their eccentricities.
When looking back to the early days, he said:
It was always important for us to play our own songs. We figured the only way we’d get better was to keep writing.
DiPenna asked Geddy about Rush’s longevity.
Well, there’s an element in our music that keeps us from being a mainstream band. Maybe the fact that we never became mainstream is our blessing. Maybe that would have led to our obsolescence.
If there has been a mainstay in my scrapbooks (in the 80s) it’s been John Stix of Guitar World. Equally a gold star was photographer Andrew MacNaughton, who sadly left us in 2012. In fact, the photo he took for this one is one of my favorites.
Stix sat down with Geddy for Roll the Bones (December 1991 issue). Geddy had stuck with his Wal bass and related how he bought a second one.
I plugged in, and it sounded different. It still had all the right WAL characteristics, but it had a little deeper, more resonant bottom end. I loved playing it. It felt really good and gave instant gratification on the bottom end. So I thought, 'Screw it, let's go in this direction, sound-wise. Let's have a slightly thicker sound.
We also learned Geddy was a birder:
On the liner notes you give thanks to the birds. What's that?
I've become a birdwatcher in the last few years. Outside of our window at the rehearsal hall, there were some dilapidated birdfeeders, and I made sure we fixed them up, and started putting feed in them. It was just a glorious thing to look at, as you're writing.
William F. Miller (Modern Drummer, January, 1992) stayed in the game, providing a nice "Update" on Neil.
The Professor had always talked about prepping for the studio, but in this case:
This was the first time we spent more time preparing for the album than we did making it, and the results, we think, speak for themselves.
The band had always had a penchant for the long instrumentals and Miller asked him about this and "Where's My Thing?"
It was good to get back to that. I finally told them that I wasn't going to any more words until they wrote an instrumental, jokes Neil.
Rush inspired yours truly around this time. I sent in two questions for Neil to the backstage club. Unfortunately, I took his reply in the newsletter out of my scrapbook some time ago and have misplaced it. But to the rescue is Eric at PowerWindows. He transcribed them.
1/ Whose voice is on "The Camera Eye" that says "Let us through"? (I know it's trivial.)
Trivial maybe, but at least it's fun! We were looking for an urban sound effect, and we ended up using a part of Superman, when Clark Kent is arriving at the offices of the Daily Planet amid the traffic and bustle of Metropolis. No deeper meaning, I promise you.
2/ John Steinbeck in 1959 said he had "not felt the country for 20 years." He had been observing the changes "only from books and newspapers." Do you think touring has helped you feel the country, or people, or places? If so, has this helped you become a better writer?
Jay Roberts
Pope AFB, NC2/ I think touring can be a very broadening experience, though not if it's done in the usual rock band way. Airports, hotels, and arenas do not tell you much about a place; you have to make the effort to get out and see a city and the country around it, and try to meet people just as people, as a stranger. That takes some effort, but I think it's worth it -- since I started getting out on my bicycle I have acquired a whole new affection for America.
And yes I think it's especially important for a writer; that is one reason I am always so concerned about my privacy, and avoiding the pointless constrictions of fame. The only way to learn things is to be an observer -- not the observed!
Neil's reply put me over the moon and I always remembered his philosophical thought of being an observer and not the observed.
I also like something else he said.
Why are we here?Because we're hereRoll the bonesRoll the bones
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