RUSH's NEIL PEART: 'We've Never Given Up On A Song'

Drummer Neil Peart of Canadian rock legends RUSH was interviewed on the November 9 edition of "The Strombo Show", a CBC Radio 2 program hosted by award-winning personality George Stroumboulopoulos. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about RUSH's songwiting process, Peart said: "Here is a good example of the RUSH way of doing things: We've never given up on a song. We do not have a single unreleased song in the world. Because if we went far enough, we believed in it. We kept working on it. A lot of stuff got thrown away before it got that far, or siphoned into other songs."

He continued: "I call my lyrical file the 'scrap file.' And I go when I'm looking for bits and pieces. And musically we're the same. If the thing's not happening, we throw it away.

"There's one song on 'Clockwork Angels' that was… 'Wish Them Well', three times we wrote that song, and threw it away, and it was the third version, finally, that pleased us all. So, all the way along, the will was only fed by the inspiration… we believe in this song. But, inevitably, when you get to the recording stage and the mixing stage, it might not be what you envisioned. So we all have those certain songs that, 'Oh, I believed in that song. I thought it would be more.'

"And here's a good characteristic thing, too, in terms of mixing. Mixing is always the end of waiting for me, because when we first make a good demo, I'm done. 'Okay, that's what I wanted. That's perfect. I could live with everything else.' Or Geddy [Lee, bass/vocals] is very meticulous. And he calls mixing 'the death of hope.'"

Asked how RUSH guitarist Alex Lfieson views the mixing process, Peart said: "Alex is a more spontaneous individual all the way, and, again, he would be a lot quicker about it, I think. And all of his performances are spontaneous. If he learns a rhythm part for a song and all that, that might be done in a more methodical style, but his solos, he just whips. And that is his nature and a gift, too. Geddy and I are meticulous about working and about working together and all that and arrangement, whereas Alex will be sitting there fiddling with the guitar, and [I'll go], 'What was that?' [And he goes] 'Oh, I don't know.' And that's why when the two of them, for instance… We divide up perfectly, because if I'm working on lyrics, Geddy and Alex are working on music, and that's what they do. Geddy knows — he just turns on the recorder, they start playing, and then later he siphons out the bits of genius that Alex has thrown off, literally, along the way. So that's part of the chemistry too."

Lee recently toldRolling Stone that RUSH has not yet made a decision as to whether it will launch its 41st-anniversary tour next year. "We're still talking," he said. "Everybody has a different idea how they want to spend the next couple of years, so we haven't come to a decision. I'm ready and happy to play if everyone else agrees. I think in the next couple of months we'll decide to do something or not."

According to Lee, RUSH will likely hit the road before returning to the studio to record the follow-up to 2012's "Clockworks Angels" album. "My guess is that there would be a tour first," he said. "But I'm itching to just play and record. I would like to make another album, but I don't know where the other guys' heads are at about that. I know Alex [Lifeson, guitar] is ready to write."

Released on November 11, "R40" is a superb collector's box set which brings together live performances by RUSH from each decade of their career. It includes "Rush In Rio", "R30", "Snakes & Arrows Live", "Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland" and "Clockwork Angels Tour" plus a bonus disc of previously unseen and unreleased live material stretching from 1974 to 2013.