Geddy Lee: Rush Don’t Have Any Unreleased Songs ‘Worth a Damn’
The admission comes in a new interview with the bassist published in Canada’s National Post.
“There’s actually not much in the vaults,” Lee explained when asked about potential Rush material that has not yet seen the light of day. “We were a band that used what we wrote and if we didn’t like what we were writing, we stopped writing it. So there are really no unreleased Rush songs that were worth a damn. Recording our songs was so difficult and ambitious that we didn’t do extra stuff and pick the best.”
Rush’s last studio album of new material, Clockwork Angels, was released in 2012. The group performed its final show in 2015 at the Forum in Los Angeles, the last stop of the R40 tour.
Unlike many of their contemporaries, the members of Rush - Lee, drummer Neil Peart and guitarist Alex Lifeson - remained friends for more than four decades. It’s a trait Lee believed endeared the group to its fans.
“I think the camaraderie we had for so many years – we really were very close friends. Alex and I still are,” the bassist explained. “I think that struck home with a lot of fans. People like to see long marriages and long relationships, people who work together without acrimony.”
Peart's death in January 2020 put an end to any hope of Rush reuniting. While Lee and Lifeson remain open to collaborating together again, they’ve repeatedly said it is unlikely to be under the Rush moniker.
Still, the desire to create and perform continues to burn within Lee, who admitted he still plays bass at home “to keep [his] fingers juiced.”
“It’s interesting, I recently re-released my album [2000's solo My Favorite Headache] on vinyl and that forced me to listen to it again," Lee noted. "I’m very proud of it – it’s a very intricate record, a deep record, and a lot of love and passion went into it. It did get me thinking that one day I’d like to take that on the road, so you never know. But I have no firm plans to do anything right now. It’s not a time when one can plan much, so only time will tell if that comes to fruition."