GEDDY LEE On RUSH's Future: 'There Are Zero Plans To Tour Again'

RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee has confirmed that the band is unlikely to play any more shows or make new music. "I can't really tell you much other than that there are zero plans to tour again," he told Rolling Stone when asked about RUSH's current state. "We're very close and talk all the time, but we don't talk about work. We're friends, and we talk about life as friends. I can't really tell you more than that, I'm afraid. I would say there's no chance of seeing RUSH on tour again as Alex [Lifeson, guitar], Geddy, Neil [Peart, drums]. But would you see one of us or two of us or three of us? That's possible."

Lee went on to say that it's possible he will work on another solo album one of these years. "I do think about it, and I think once the dust settles from this project, I'll probably find myself bored and wandering down to the studio to try to enliven my own life, and if something of a positive nature happens down there, I'll take it to the next step," he said. "But beyond that, I could only guess."

Asked if it's fair to say that he has ideas he has built up over time, Geddy said: "I have bits and bobs, but I don't have any finished material in the can, so to speak. If I pick up a bass, I just start playing something, and sooner or later I start writing a riff or this or that. So for my own peace of mind, I stash it somewhere. Chances are I'll come back to it, and it's crap, so I just trash it. But at least it makes me feel good for the moment. [Laughs]."

The chronic tendinitis-suffering Peart hinted during a 2015 interview with Drumhead magazine that he would no longer tour with RUSH, revealing his daughter had already started referring to dad as "a retired drummer."

A short time later, Lee played down Peart's comments, blaming the media for making too much of his bandmate's remarks.

Geddy said in a 2016 interview that he had "accepted" that RUSH's last batch of live shows was "probably the last one as a tour."

The 66-year-old Peart revealed in RUSH's documentary "Time Stand Still" that he initially had no intention of going on a tour in 2015. "In November [of 2014], we all got together in Toronto and I was quite prepared to say, 'Sorry, I'm done,'" he said in the film. "I realized I was kind of a solitary misfit in that context of being the one that wanted to pull that plug. I left one little window in my mind that if somebody wanted to do it one more time and didn't know if they'd be able to, [I would do it]."

Lifeson and Lee confirmed that the band will never do a show unless all three musicians agree to take part. "It's not like you just get new members of a band and just go for it," said Lifeson. "RUSH has never been a band like that. We'd never, ever do something like that." Lee added: "We always said that if the three of us aren't on board, we don't do a thing. There have been other decisions in our career where the three of us weren't on board and we didn't do it. Nothing as profound as ending our touring life, but fair enough. So one guy doesn't want to do that thing anymore that I love to do. That hurts. But there's nothing I can do about it and that's part of the agreement."

On November 16, UMe/Anthem/ole label group will continue its extensive RUSH 40th-anniversary album series with a new, expanded edition of the band's groundbreaking 1978 release "Hemispheres".

"Hemispheres", RUSH's sixth studio album, was originally released in October 1978, and it built upon the adventurous sonic template the band established on its acclaimed 1977 effort "A Farewell To Kings".