Something for Nothing: A RUSH Fancast

Our friend Curtis Lanclos of the RetroZest podcast joins us to discuss our favorite examples of Rush in pop culture. From a 1977 Marvel comic to TV and movies, we examine how the band slowly bubbled up into the world of popular culture seemingly overnight.

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In early January, drummer, educator, and author Brandon Toews released a twenty-four minute video on Drumeo's YouTube channel in which he played parts of all 175 Rush ever recorded. Called, appropriately, Drumming to All 175 Songs by RUSH, the video has gotten hundreds of thousands of views and nothing but praise from Rush fans everywhere. This week, we talk to Brandon about the genesis of the video, the painstaking process of creating such a tribute, and his love for the genius of Neil Peart.

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This week, we're continuing our tradition of making impossible choices for your entertainment by creating our ultimate Rush setlists! Joining us in our endeavor is Ted Asregadoo of the great Planet LP podcast. Our lists follow the Evening With Rush format, meaning it should run around two hours and forty-five minutes. Wish us well!

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Is there such a thing as a Rush deep cut? To the diehards, no. But we're making lists anyway! And to help us out we have Brian Colburn of the great Playlist Wars podcast! Together, we wrack our brains to come up with five no-so-popular-but-definitely-should-be Rush songs each. Email us at therushcast@gmail.com and let us know who created the best list, and send us your own list of five deserving Rush deep cuts!

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The Grace Under Pressure Live album is a bit like the forgotten live Rush album. Initially released in the 2006 box set Rush Replay X 3 and then given a stand-alone release in 2009, the CD is the audio-only version of a live video from 1986. How do we think it stacks up against the heavyweights in the live Rush catalogue? You'll have to listen to find out!

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Following the death of Neil Peart, branding expert Andris Pone wrote a short piece on his LinkedIn page called "He Lived The Lives of 10 Men: Lessons I've Learned From Neil Peart." In it, Andris lays down five ways Neil's life influenced his own. This week, we talk to Andris about his article and how he uses Rush as example to his clients about the value of being true to oneself.

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Rush FAQ author Max Mobley returns to discuss the iconic guitar work of Alex Lifeson. We limit ourselves to only our favorite five Alex guitar solos--which turned out to be a difficult task! Do you realize how many truly fantastic solos Alex has played throughout the years? A lot, that's how many! So tune in to hear us apologize for leaving so many great solos off the list!

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Multi-instrumentalist songwriter and producer Ben Mink has won two Grammys, three Juno Awards, a Genie Award, a Gemini Award, and a Leo Award--but Rush fans know him best for playing electric violin on Losing It and co-writing and producing Geddy Lee's solo album, My Favorite Headache. Mink joins us to tell us about his family's passion for music, his earliest gigs, and playing the only violin solo on a Rush album.

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The gift-giving season is upon us, and that means one thing: Rush stuff! This week we're talking to Something for Nothing alums Ray Wawrzyniak and Mark Irwin, the main contributors to Rush Gigs: Found on the Studio Walls and In Concert Halls. The book features selections of gig posters and ads promoting Rush concerts throughout the decades.

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We're back this week to discuss the remaining songs on Geddy Lee's 2000 album, My Favorite Headache. This batch of songs sees Geddy weighing in on some heavy topics with aplomb and, as has been par for the course for the album, a deft use of melody and songwriting. If you heard part one, this isn't a spoiler: My Favorite Headache rocks!

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In 2000, Geddy Lee released his first and only solo record, My Favorite Headache. Geddy wrote the music with Ben Mink, best known in Rush circles for playing the electric violin on Losing It, but handled the lyrics himself. In this episode, we discuss the first five tracks of My Favorite Headache, and we can confidently saw it doesn't hurt a bit!

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It's something that we've touched on in many previous episodes: what are our favorite Rush albums? And when we a list like this, we like to bring on a guest to share our pain with. This time, it's Michael Citro of the great Michael's Record Collection podcast. We were guests not too long ago on Michael's show to talk about Signals, so we wanted to return the favor! Drop a comment to tell us what you think of our favorite Rush albums lists.

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Way back in episode 93, we talked about the amazing live set Different Stages. Soon after, the emails and comments came in: what about a breakdown of the February 20, 1978, Hammersmith Odeon concert that was on disc 3 of Different Stages? So this week, we're doing one better: we're talking about the full Hammersmith concert that was included in the 40th anniversary A Farewell to Kings box set, which includes 4 more songs than the Different Stages disc. Spoiler: it's excellent!

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In August of this year, Henderson Brewing Company in Toronto released Rush Canadian Golden Ale. This week we speak with Henderson Brewing Company co-founder and GM Steve Himel about the first phone call with the Rush team, the rounds of beer tasting with Alex and Geddy, and the satisfaction of drinking the first beers to come off the production line. And Steve answers the question of when the beer will be available outside of Canada!

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We hear it all the time from listeners: we love it when you ask your guests their Rush origin stories. It seems that every Rush fan has a story, so this week, we hear from listeners about when they first heard Rush and how they became a fan. 

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Earlier this month, the Ohio State University marching band performed a halftime show featuring the music of Rush. Rush fans everywhere were delighted with the show. So we invited Dr. Christopher Hoch, Director of Marching and Athletic Bands at OSU, to talk about the show, the difficulty of performing Rush songs, and the positive feedback the performance received--including from the official Rush social media accounts!

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A year ago, we spoke with RushFest Scotland founder Steve Brown about the album of Rush cover songs he put together to raise money for charity. Steve's back again to tell us about The Stars Look Down: Songs for Neil, Vol. 2. He tells us about the reception volume 1 received and we play some of the songs from the new collection.

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This week, we're talking with Hugh Syme, the man behind Rush's indelible album covers and art work! From Caress of Steel to Clockwork Angels and everything in between, Hugh's contributions to the Rush landscape are impossible to overestimate. Join us as Hugh recounts the process of creating Rush album covers, opines on connection between an album cover and music behind it, and discusses the new expanded edition of his coffee table book The Art of Rush: Serving a Life Sentence.

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The Neil Peart Memorial Task Force has recently released its short list of finalists for the memorial at Lakeside Park. This week we talk with David DeRocco, the chair of the Task Force, about the process so far, the scope of the project, and when a design will be chosen.

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In our most recent episode of Rush Covers series (ep. 104), we played a version of Mystic Rhythms by singer/guitarist Mike Massé. This week we go in depth with Mike about his life, his Rush fandom, and how he approaches his unique covers. Then we play more of his Rush tunes!

And here’s the link to the fan-created pdf we talk about that contains links to every song Mike has ever performed on his livestreams: Mikemasse.com/artists.pdf

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This is it folks. The finale episode about Clockwork Angels, wherein we discuss Headlong Flight, BU2B2, Wish Them Well, and The Garden. This episode is also the last one about a Rush studio album--which means that from now on, we're working without the net of having a studio album to talk about. Wish us luck!

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We're barreling toward the end of Clockwork Angels! Up this week: Halo Effect, Seven Cities of Gold, and The Wreckers. This is where our hero Owen Hardy comes face to face with the differences between his ideals and how the world is. Join us!

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In this week's episode, we keep on keeping on with Clockwork Angels. On the block are the title song, The Anarchist, and Carnies--three utterly fantastic songs! Join us as we wade farther and farther into this classic album!

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We've read your emails and tweets, so we're just gonna do it: this week we're talking Clockwork Angels! CA is an absolute masterpiece. It's as if every lesson Rush learned over their career was distilled into one album. Has any other band in the history of rock music ended their career with one of their greatest achievements? I'll answer that for you: no. We hope you enjoy this first of four episodes on this amazing album!

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It's time again for another round of Rush cover songs! Ten more artists playing their favorite Rush tunes! If you loved our previous episodes highlighting Rush cover songs--episodes 71 and 90--then we hope you'll dig this one too!

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Maiah Wynne is an award-winning singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Portland, OR, whose beautifully crafted songs have garnered her dedicated fans from around the world. After winning a mentorship with Andy Curran in a songwriting contest, the two began collaborating on songs, which led to Maiah writing lyrics and singing on the upcoming Envy of None project. Maiah tells us about her lifelong passion for music, her vast instrument collection, and, of course, working with Andy and Alex Lifeson.

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Brandon Dyke has made a name for himself with mix of original progressive rock music and cover songs, most notably his acoustic takes on Rush tunes. We talk with Brandon about how Rush shaped his musical sensibilities, what goes into choosing which songs to cover, and what his teenage skateboarding friends thought of his love of Rush.

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Our guest this week is bassist Andy Curran, a lifelong Rush fan who found his life inextricably entwined with the band since his group Coney Hatch was discovered by lyricist Pye Dubois and later signed to Anthem Records. Andy went on to serve as Rush's A&R guy and is currently working with Alex Lifeson and singer Maiah Wynne in Envy of None. Andy tells us about his Rush fandom, Geddy Lee's tennis tactics, and that fateful concert at Massey Hall.

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It's our 100th episode, and we're celebrating with most requested guest, the bassist who gives our podcast a touch of class, Lex Lehman! Lex joins us to talk his Rush fandom, and then we discuss five of our favorite Geddy basslines! 

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We hadn't been doing the podcast for long before we received an incredulous email: you guys have never heard Battle Scar by Max Webster featuring Rush? No, we hadn't, but now we have. That's right, in this episode we listen to Battle Scar for the first time! Did we love it? There's only one way to find out. Listen!

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