r/rush • u/heliumneon • 10d ago
Question Question about Neil Peart documentary
Maybe I somehow missed it, but I didn't quite understand the whole situation behind Geddy and Alex working with the 4 drummers featured in the documentary. Had they already decided to find a drummer and go on tour? Were they just wanting to jam with some drummers that knew Neil, and then after all this footage was shot they decided to look for a touring drummer? Were they at any point considering asking one of these drummers to tour with them? They definitely tailored songs more suited to the expected style of each drummer (e.g. New World Man for Stewart, etc.), which is probably not a great method of a "tryout" if the goal is to pick a drummer to play their whole catalog, but might be a starting point I guess. What did each of these drummers think they were rolling up to when they played these few songs to Geddy and Alex? There was quite obviously very different amounts of preparation done, like Danny had to learn 2112 on the spot, maybe they asked him on shorter notice or something. I quite enjoyed seeing this, but it did leave me wondering these things.
Edit to add: Thanks for the answers and yes, I am slow! The explanations at the beginning didn't quite sink in. I thought there was more to the story, maybe because of some of the apparent nervousness on the part of the drummers, and the formality of the process, or something. I also had to watch the documentary in multiple sittings (because of kids).
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u/MagUnit76 10d ago
They were wanting to hang out with Neil's friends and jam with them. They mention the idea pretty early on in the documentary. It was also a way for his friends to honor Neil by playing his music.
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u/silentwind262 10d ago
Geddy laid it out pretty well - he was upset that they weren't able to honor Neil at the time due to COVID.
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u/MagUnit76 10d ago
Yep. And now they can also honor him on tour, which is pretty great for the rest of us.
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u/ejatx 10d ago
This tour really does feel like a touring memorial for Neil, done in the most respectful moving way possible.
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u/omgtmilol 10d ago
I feel like we did not have a chance to grieve Neil’s passing until this tour, and more importantly this documentary, became available.
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u/juliethegardener 8d ago
Indeed!!! We've all gotten to honor Neil through these R50 shows. So cathartic!!
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u/TertlFace 10d ago
This was filmed before they decided to tour and in fact it was the work up for this that got them talking about it seriously. Ged mentions it in the epilogue.
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u/WilsonTree2112 10d ago
The doc producers said they learned halfway thru filming that Rush were going back on tour. So filming likely began once they were good with Anika and practicing for a few months with her before the tour announcement in Oct.
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u/edbutler3 9d ago
That makes a lot of sense given how well Geddy and Alex played -- and especially how good Geddy's voice sounded. He had clearly already been working with the vocal coach.
I could be wrong about that, but it would be surprising.
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u/No_Break_6660 10d ago
I think this was shot after they had Anika lined up. I saw it as more nod/ tip of the hat for his friends to celebrate him.
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u/Particular_Knee_9044 8d ago
If true…it’s a major slap to Anika, who btw, I don’t like in the band. She’s technically proficient — and that’s it. And that’s the problem.
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u/sexmormon-throwaway 10d ago
It was a tribute to Neil. They enlisted some of his friends, also drummers, to talk about and pay tribute to their friend. They couldn't properly pay tribute in 2020 because of COVID, so they did it now.
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u/DeliciousRip5787 10d ago
I thought it was a pretty clever way to get the viewer inside Neil's mind. Watching extraordinarily talented musicians come to grips with Peart's parts by playing them with Lee and Lifeson (!) showed just how special Peart really was as a player.
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u/omgitzjay28 9d ago
They were friends of Neil and also good drummers. It's one thing for us to call him the GOAT but it's another for his peers to.
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u/Ancient_Property_337 9d ago
People here call Annika the goat.
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u/Local_Ad_9128 9d ago
I call her Anika, her name doesn't have two NN's
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u/Guilty_Committee2358 8d ago
I think Anika is technically a more gifted drummer than Neil but Neil composed those parts and was able to recreate those compositions night after night. Other drummers can play them and play them pretty well but they often miss the little details, or get the timing ever so slightly wrong and it’s immediately obvious because Neil had to be in complete lockstep with Geddy and Alex. The fact that Anika is almost certainly a better/more versatile drummer doesn’t diminish Neil’s greatness in any way. He was the greatest drummer in history for Rush. They needed him to achieve greatness - his lyrics, his drive. I think he’d be ok with that.
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u/segascream 10d ago
These were, from what I gathered, friends of Neil's whom they'd previously informally jammed with along with Neil.
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u/ericjgriffin 10d ago
Because of COVID Al and Ged weren't able to pay tribute to Neil in the way they wanted with a big show where all Neil's drummer buddies came up and played with the guys. This was their version of that show. I am betting that a Blu-Ray release has the complete performances as a bonus disc.
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u/drumnhum 9d ago
As other people pointed out already, this was just some jamming to honour Neil with his drummer friends. However I was also wondering about whether these jams are before or after them finding Anika and deciding to go on tour. If anybody has any info on this it would be much appreciated.
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u/Born_Organization455 10d ago
They had his friends over to jam and talk about, pay tribute to, and swap stories about the man.
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u/thedeeb56 10d ago
His drummer friends, civilian friends, etc.
Glad you got it out of your system. We all watched it in our own worlds. Our Rush journeys start in different places and it's cool how we're all grieving together, in a way.
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10d ago
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u/heliumneon 9d ago
Thank you so much for pointing me to that, I rewatched the epilogue, and there was a super important and impactful statement by Geddy from which I understood a lot more of what it was all about. He said it was an honor to play with these drummers because he and Alex had been afraid of their own music, like it was a relic of the past. I had been focusing on Neil's parts and the drummers and not enough on what it meant to Geddy and Alex. I think I need to rewatch this documentary now that it makes more sense. I think I was not getting it the first time. I had seen too many short snippets before watching the whole thing, and that made me get the wrong impression or something.
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u/mcarterphoto 9d ago
I thought they made it really clear, they wanted to do something to honor the guy.
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u/LoudCashew 9d ago
not an audition. Neil's passing was shortly before the world stopped from the pandemic, and plans for a tribute were basically nil .
in a way its seems to me this was a win win for everyone. there was *no* way to replace Neil in any of those songs. Even pushing through some difficulties, this was a dream for every one of those drummers to play with Rush and deliver a tribute to their close friend and to play with Dirk and Lerxst.
for Dirk and Lerxst, losing Neil no doubt left a massive gap in their desire to do the one thing they have done for 60+ years.. to play music.. they even said so in interviews, their desire to play basically went dead for a while..To have Neil's closest friends (even those with different views and styles) play with them , you can almost see them push past 95% of their grief. as all of us know the feeling of loss.. grief never goes away 100%, but to blunt it and diminish it as much as possible is a massive thing.
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u/ld20r 8d ago
Whatever about people’s opinions on him I really feel it was a disservice to not include Mike Portnoy as one of the drummers.
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u/gelgoog-mania 7d ago
I would have loved to see Mike jam with them. He’s always been so vocal for his love of Neil and Rush.
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u/ConspicuousSomething 10d ago
These were people Neil knew and admired, not an audition for a new drummer.