Alex Lifeson says he’s open to the idea of making new music with his lifelong friend Gedy Lee, but insists, “There's no way Rush will ever exist again because Neil’s not here to be a part of it.”
Lifeson recently revealed that he’s been working with former Coney Hatch bassist Andy Curran and vocalist Maiah Wayne on a new project, Envy Of None, which Curran has likened to Massive Attack-meets-Nine Inch Nails. The new group hope to release their debut album later in the year.
This, however, would not preclude the guitarist from working with Geddy Lee again, Lifeson clarified, although, following the death of Neil Peart last year, any future collaborations would not happen under the Rush banner.
Speaking on SiriuxXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk show, Lifeson said, “If there's something that comes up in the future — an opportunity for us to do something — we'll decide over a cup of coffee what that'll be. But there's no urgency or there's no pre-planned thing now. He's doing whatever he's doing, I'm doing whatever I'm doing, and we keep each other informed and stuff like that, but, God, we had such a great history and did so much great stuff together, it's not really a big deal if, for the rest of our lives, we're just best friends.”
“Geddy and I started writing together when we were - I don't know - 14 years old, I guess," Lifeson added. “And we are best friends: I love the guy so much, he means so much to me. And we've had this amazing experience of working together as well as being buddies. I talk to Ged every couple of days or so.”
“I know Rush fans are a unique bunch, and I love them,” the guitarist said. “And certainly everything that we've done, we've always done to satisfy ourselves before anybody else, and I think Rush fans understood that and were always very supportive — very critical at times too, but always supportive. And that was the nature of our relationship with our fans — it was a really good two-way relationship. But I think, really, Rush ended in 2015. There's no way Rush will ever exist again because Neil's not here to be a part of it. And that's not to say that we can't do other things and we can't do things that benefit our communities and all of that. I have lots of plans for that sort of thing that don't necessarily include Geddy.”
“I get asked this all the time — are we gonna do this, or are we gonna do that? Who knows? All I know is we still love each other and we're still very, very good friends, and we always will be.”
No release date has yet been set for the debut album from Lifeson’s Envy Of None.
