Five Minutes with Geddy Lee

You share a lot about your family’s history in your memoir, My Effin’ Life — how did knowing about their experiences influence you as a musician?

Knowledge of their experiences during the Holocaust affected my value system and contributed to the kind of person I grew up to be. What drove me into music was the year I spent mourning my fathers passing at the age of twelve, my home had turned from one of great happiness to a rather sad place, so I escaped into a love of music. 

You centered your career around the bass guitar, even going so far as writing Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass. What drew you to the bass guitar when you first started playing?

Well, very few people volunteer to be a bassist.. haha.. like many others i was chosen by the others in my first band to be the bassist and I just ran with it .. 

Rush had some early struggles before becoming the huge success we know today — when did you know the band was something special? 

Well, we always had a belief in ourselves but we had a lot of learning to do .. and to that end we never stopped pushing ourselves to improve but by the early 80’s we realized we had forged a dedicated fan base that would support us through thick and thin. 

What is your favorite memory of life on the road with your bandmates? 

I always looked forward to our dinners together on days off… as soon as we would sit down at the dinner table together the laughs would begin and wouldn’t subside until the last bottle of wine was empty… 

Do you have a favorite song to perform?  

I love playing Headlong Flight from the Clockwork Angels album .. that song was a bit of everything I loved about being in RUSH… driving rock, complex arrangements and a free wheeling abandon with which we played that song ..