When RUSH announced its unexpected return for a limited 2026 reunion tour, one of the biggest questions surrounding the legendary Canadian trio was who would take over the drum throne once occupied by the late Neil Peart. Now, bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee has revealed that not every musician approached the situation with the level of respect he and guitarist Alex Lifeson expected.
Speaking in a recent interview with Guitar World, Lee confirmed that several drummers contacted him and Lifeson in the days following Peart’s death about potentially stepping into the band.
“People who are close to us — good friends that are successful drummers — would never infer something like that because they have too much respect, not only for Neil and for the situation,” Lee said. “They were grieving as well, so they wouldn’t be so selfish as to say something inappropriate like that.”
However, Lee admitted that not everyone showed the same restraint: “There were many other drummers who reached out to me in the aftermath of Neil‘s passing that were pushing themselves, and that was most distasteful to me. It was completely inappropriate timing.”
Eventually, Lee and Lifeson recruited acclaimed fusion drummer Anika Nilles for the band’s upcoming “Fifty Something” tour, though Lee said the search process initially felt overwhelming.
“We didn’t really know where to begin to look,” he said. “We started with Anika because she had been recommended to me, and I had done some research on her. I loved her vibe and diverse style.”
He continued: “We didn’t have a list. When Al and I finally said, ‘Okay, I guess we’re getting serious. Who’s going to sit in that impossible seat? It’s daunting. We started with the name that was already on my mind.”
“We called her up, she came, and we hit it off. She brought a lot to the table, but more than her chops, more than her guts, and her willingness to sit in that hot seat, she brought an intelligence and a story.”
The upcoming tour will mark the first time Lee and Lifeson have toured extensively under the RUSH name since Peart’s death in January 2020 after a private three-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer.
In an earlier interview with Classic Rock, Lee addressed the criticism and debate surrounding the decision to continue performing as RUSH without Peart.
“What else do you f**king call it?” Lee said bluntly.
“When the band ended, we said it’s only RUSH with Neil in it,” he continued. “Which, of course, is true. RUSH as most people know it. But, you know, over five gigs we will be playing forty RUSH songs. So what the f**k should we call it, IRON MAIDEN?”
According to Lee, the surviving members spent considerable time trying to avoid using the RUSH name before ultimately deciding it made little sense to perform the band’s music under another banner.
“We were twisting ourselves into a pretzel to try to avoid using the name that we have had for fifty years, and even before Neil came,” Lee explained.
“It just seems silly to go on as ‘Lee And Lifeson Present The Music Of…’” he added. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Let’s just be who we are and have been for over fifty years.”
RUSH’s “Fifty Something” tour launches June 7, 2026 at Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The “evening with” shows will feature two sets per night, with the band drawing from a rotating catalog of 40 songs spanning their legendary career.
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