1 00:00:01,966 --> 00:00:04,700 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: To some, they are rock gods, to others, a trio of nerds. 2 00:00:04,700 --> 00:00:09,700 From the 1970s to the 2000s, the Canadian band Rush achieved huge success, driven by their 3 00:00:11,666 --> 00:00:15,833 virtuosity and eclectic, lyrical songwriting. After the death of drummer Neil Peart in 2020, 4 00:00:17,700 --> 00:00:21,533 lead singer and bass player Geddy Lee stepped away from the stage. But he 5 00:00:21,533 --> 00:00:26,300 has returned now in a spoken word tour to accompany his new memoir. 6 00:00:26,300 --> 00:00:29,933 Lisa Desjardins spoke with him for our arts and culture series, Canvas. 7 00:00:29,933 --> 00:00:34,933 LISA DESJARDINS: Their sound was hard to label. For 40 years, the band Rush refused to blend in, 8 00:00:47,900 --> 00:00:52,866 becoming rock legends with hard work, 24 gold and 14 platinum albums, and touring nearly every year. 9 00:00:59,166 --> 00:01:04,133 Their songs about power and identity were unusual then, rock anthems about teen mental 10 00:01:08,133 --> 00:01:13,133 health and even A.I. But they are now taking on new meaning. And their lead singer, Geddy Lee, 11 00:01:21,466 --> 00:01:26,466 is doing something new, pausing to look back with his memoir, "My Effin' Life." 12 00:01:28,533 --> 00:01:32,000 I asked him about the band, virtuosos. Some call Neil Peart the best rock drummer in history, 13 00:01:33,466 --> 00:01:36,100 and "Rolling Stone" has listed Lee on the bass and 14 00:01:36,100 --> 00:01:40,066 Alex Lifeson on guitar as among the best on those instruments. 15 00:01:40,066 --> 00:01:42,866 You all spent your life not just being good, 16 00:01:42,866 --> 00:01:47,833 but trying to reach the sort of unfathomable level of quality. Why push so hard? 17 00:01:49,866 --> 00:01:53,900 GEDDY LEE, Author, "My Effin' Life": Why? It's just in my nature, I think. And I think 18 00:01:53,900 --> 00:01:58,866 my partners share that trait of wanting to do whatever it is we do as best as we can do it. 19 00:02:04,533 --> 00:02:09,333 LISA DESJARDINS: In music and message, Rush's songs often bolster underdogs and 20 00:02:09,333 --> 00:02:14,333 attack toxic power, from high school cliques to fascists, meaningful to Lee especially. 21 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,133 You also write in the book how both of your parents survived Nazi concentration 22 00:02:26,133 --> 00:02:31,066 camps. I want to ask you. There's an intense debate right now about hate, 23 00:02:31,066 --> 00:02:36,066 about speech, culture, and art is part of that. And I wonder, 24 00:02:37,966 --> 00:02:41,333 how do you think about the tension now between free speech and rising hate that we see? 25 00:02:43,266 --> 00:02:47,733 GEDDY LEE: You know, people are smart. People should be able to discuss things. The death 26 00:02:50,033 --> 00:02:55,000 of discourse is not good for the human race. It's not good for improving things. You know, 27 00:02:56,666 --> 00:02:59,900 it's through discourse and through educating each other 28 00:02:59,900 --> 00:03:04,700 about the things that are important to have a good, safe, peaceful life. 29 00:03:04,700 --> 00:03:09,500 That cannot go away. And when you see that starting to happen, it scares me. It really 30 00:03:09,500 --> 00:03:14,500 scares me a lot. And I am put in mind of what was going on in Germany before World 31 00:03:17,266 --> 00:03:22,266 War II. There are danger signs all over the world right now, and that worries me a lot. 32 00:03:29,666 --> 00:03:33,666 LISA DESJARDINS: That's the image most Rush fans have of them, thoughtful, 33 00:03:33,666 --> 00:03:38,666 philosophical, and different from others in rock. 34 00:03:41,133 --> 00:03:43,800 GEDDY LEE: There's certainly the theme of identity and multiple identities is a big part of the book. 35 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:54,100 LISA DESJARDINS: But his book is candid and confessional about the reality of music-making. 36 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,966 You talk about Bolivian marching powder. 37 00:03:57,966 --> 00:03:59,533 GEDDY LEE: Yes. LISA DESJARDINS: Doing lines of cocaine in 38 00:03:59,533 --> 00:04:02,800 the '70s and '80s. I think your fans will be surprised by that. 39 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,300 GEDDY LEE: You have to remember, we were very 40 00:04:06,300 --> 00:04:11,300 young and suddenly finding ourselves with 23 gigs in a row, for example, 41 00:04:13,333 --> 00:04:17,833 driving every night, playing every day, driving, driving, play, drive, play, drive. 42 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,100 And so, even our youthful stamina, such as it was, every once in a while needed 43 00:04:24,933 --> 00:04:28,733 a bit of help. But the problem is that it's an insidious drug. And you think 44 00:04:30,666 --> 00:04:34,666 you control cocaine, but very rarely do you, because it takes control of you. 45 00:04:37,166 --> 00:04:41,200 You asked me earlier about our work ethic and are obsessive to be perfect. Well, that's the thing 46 00:04:43,666 --> 00:04:47,500 that controlled your drug intake. You can't go out on stage and seek perfection if you're inebriated 47 00:04:49,900 --> 00:04:54,900 or somehow distorted or handicapped by a drug. So that's the thing that really did save us. 48 00:04:56,433 --> 00:04:58,500 LISA DESJARDINS: I wanted to come back to that idea of community. 49 00:05:01,133 --> 00:05:04,233 The Rush community, the Rush fan base, they love you. I know. I am part of that community. I think 50 00:05:06,300 --> 00:05:10,233 the Rush fan base sees themselves sometimes as people who don't fit in everywhere in society, 51 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,800 don't think that society looks at them, and they have found something in your music that is refuge. 52 00:05:19,133 --> 00:05:21,166 Why do you think that is, and what does that mean to you? 53 00:05:21,166 --> 00:05:24,766 GEDDY LEE: It means a hell of a lot to me. And it sustained us. 54 00:05:24,766 --> 00:05:29,133 LISA DESJARDINS: Especially in the late 1990s when, within a span of months, Peart's daughter 55 00:05:29,133 --> 00:05:34,133 and then his wife died in separate events. He was shattered, and the band took its longest break. 56 00:05:36,066 --> 00:05:40,766 GEDDY LEE: When he came back to us and we decided to go back on the road, made an album, 57 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:47,800 the day we did our first show in Hartford, people had come literally from all corners 58 00:05:49,700 --> 00:05:52,900 of the world to welcome us back. And that was so moving. It was so overwhelming. 59 00:05:54,933 --> 00:05:58,533 And that was the first time I realized the depth of their ability to relate to us. Now, 60 00:06:00,566 --> 00:06:04,600 how did that come to be? It's hard to know. Our earliest fans, of course, 61 00:06:06,066 --> 00:06:09,833 loved that we played fast and complicated stuff. And so our 62 00:06:11,700 --> 00:06:16,433 earliest fan base was largely males and largely other players, young players. 63 00:06:20,266 --> 00:06:25,266 But now it's changed. We have young musicians of every gender just following 64 00:06:29,066 --> 00:06:34,066 us and studying our music, which is, of course, the ultimate compliment. 65 00:06:36,300 --> 00:06:40,700 LISA DESJARDINS: Now Rush's music has become a kind of Rachmaninoff of rock, 66 00:06:40,700 --> 00:06:43,733 complex and challenging, but idolized. 67 00:06:43,733 --> 00:06:47,666 Have to ask you, do you think you could tour musically again? 68 00:06:47,666 --> 00:06:51,033 GEDDY LEE: Yes, I could. Will I? It remains to be seen, but, 69 00:06:51,033 --> 00:06:56,033 yes, I could. And I do have a desire to do that. 70 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,266 LISA DESJARDINS: However you label his music, Geddy Lee wants more ahead. 71 00:07:06,866 --> 00:07:10,366 For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa Desjardins in Oxon Hill, Maryland. 72 00:07:15,100 --> 00:07:18,100 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Check out our Instagram for more from Geddy Lee. Hear his answers 73 00:07:18,100 --> 00:07:23,100 to Lisa's lightning round of questions on everything from baseball to robots to Bjork.