ALEX LIFESON Is 'Fine' With RUSH Being Over: 'I'm As Busy As I Would Ever Want To Be'

RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson has told Planet Rock magazine that he has come to terms with the band's demise.

The iconic Canadian rock trio has been completely inactive since completing the "R40 Live" tour three years ago. Drummer Neil Peart was battling enormous physical pain through much of the trek, including a foot infection that made it agonizing for him to even walk.

A few years ago, Lifeson told Rolling Stone that he receives injections for psoriatic arthritis. He was previously hospitalized for anemia from bleeding ulcers and suffered breathing problems.

In a new interview with Planet Rock, Alex admitted that "it wasn't until a year" after the final show that he "started to feel better about it all. I realized we'd gone out on a high note," he said.

Lifeson described RUSH's final concert as a "very powerful" experience, explaining: "I remember looking around the whole arena and trying to take it all in. The lighting. The crowd. The people around me. It was very emotional for us.

"I loved the way we presented those shows, starting with 'Clockwork Angels' and then working our way back to the very beginning," he said. "But had we done a typical-length tour of about 80 dates, I think we would have been more satisfied with it."

Asked if he is at peace with the fact that RUSH is over, Alex said: "Yes, I think so. I don't want to be in a band and tour any more. I don't feel the need to carry on with what I did for almost half a century. I'm fine with it now. And I'm as busy as I would ever want to be."

Lifeson and Lee have repeatedly said that RUSH will never do a show unless all three musicians agree to take part. They haven't performed as RUSH without Peart since he joined the band in 1974.

For first six years of RUSH's existence, John Rutsey was behind the kit and he played on the band's self-titled debut LP.