Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson has described his band’s rehearsal schedule as “nuts” as they gear up for a 34-date North American tour.
The trip could be the last of its kind after the three members took several months over deciding whether to hit the road at all. Manager Ray Danniels this week said it was “somewhere between possible and probable” that they wouldn’t tour again.
Lifeson tells Jam: “We’re nuts. We rehearse for six weeks before the rehearsals – I’m serious.
“I’ve been rehearsing for three weeks now. I spend four hours, three times a week, and then the rest of the time I play for an hour to two hours. And that’s just to get ready for rehearsals.”
He adds that they’re in the earliest stages of preparation and jokes: “We’re at that stage where we’ve just started playing. You don’t want to hear us.”
Lifeson has spent many years receiving the rock star treatment – but he admits he’ll never get used to it.
“We went to Japan, we were in a music store and we were just walking around,” he says of a recent holiday with friends. “I noticed there were a couple of models of my guitar there, and then the floor manager came over. He went, ‘Oh no, it’s Alex LIfeson!’ It always seems odd to me.”
The Rush R40 tour starts on May 8 in Oklahoma and ends on August 1 in California.
