Neil Peart: Rush, Drum Solos, & The Craziest Kits You’ve Ever Seen

in the pantheon of alltime great drummers Neil pet's name looms large as the drummer for Canadian frog rock band Rush he helped redefine and push the boundaries of the drum kit and played a key role in one of the most successful rock outfits of all time like many drumming luminaries pet started out on the instrument at a young age at age 13 I started drum lessons and that became the all-consuming obsession all other interests went by the board schoolwork went down the drain there was only drums in his teenage years he hopped from band to band looking to ignite his career as a full-time musician he decided to move to England for a period with the hopes of finding a big break but soon returned to Canada where he attended an audition to join Rush a hard prog rock Trio who had already released their debut album in 1974 but sadly had to replace drummer John ruty due to health issues Getty Lee was lead vocalist and basist and Alex Lion on guitar and backing vocals Lee recounts Pet's audition in an interview with the guardian he was very tall lanky said Lee and he had short hair all of us had major hair he had spent 2 years living in England before that we didn't know this but he had just moved back home and given up his dream of playing in a rock band and he was working for his dad's farm equipment store he drove up in this little sports car drums were hanging out from every corner he comes in this big goofy guy with a small drum kit with 18-in Basse drums Alex and I were chuckling we thought he was a hick from the country and then he sat down behind the kit and pummeled the drums and US I'd never heard a drummer like that someone with that power and dexterity as far as I was concerned and he was hired from the minute he started playing P joined just 2 weeks before the band would du to start their first US tour the opening show in Pittsburgh was to a crowd of over 11,000 people Lee and lifon not only gained a fantastic drummer but a Lyricist as well P was very well read and spoken so took to writing lyrics for the group across their whole discography where their first self-started release lean towards hard rock with a sound very similar to Leed Zeppelins when P joined the group they began incorporating progressive rock Traditions aligning more with English bands like yes and Pink Floyd the first release with pier in the lineup Fly by Night Embraces some of those prog rock tropes with intricate complex Arrangements Laden with odd time signatures and Technical [Music] Wizardry after the disappointing performance of their third release caress of Steel the band bounced back with one of their first seminal albums 201112 which preceded A Farewell to Kings in 77 hemispheres in 78 and permanent waves in 1980 throughout this period the group worked with great introspection on developing their sound and opening themselves up to new influences and Technologies Pet's reputation as an Innovative and groundbreaking drama was spreading and he continued to push himself by expanding his drum kit to include triangles wood blocks a subscribe button cow bells and more to create a percussive [Music] symphony [Music] this last track the Spirit of Radio symbolizes an important moment in Russia's history and something that greatly contributes to P's glowing reputation among musicians and drummers alike it was the group's most popular and biggest hit single at the time and the permanent waves tour was their the first to make a profit in essence the group's sound was commercially viable and appealing without having the appearance of selling out all that effort of study um and I was the the early records that the three of us made together we were experimenting we were learning how to play our instruments we were learning how to write songs we were learning how to arrange especially through um say fwell to Kings hemispheres we were learning so much about Arrangement and orchestration in the sense of a three-piece Rock bin and all of that um gathered together and then by say um like moving pictures 1980 so we've been together six years by that time and then we gel this was certainly the case with what many deemed their magnum opus moving pictures which was released in 1981 a perfect synthesis of Rush creating accessible prog rock was still innovating within the genre pit played a huge role in this because he was writing complex and Technical drum parts for songs that would end up getting played on the radio something which few groups and drummers had done in rock before that time after moving pictures Rush released a further 11 records with their last one coming out in 2012 after a period of activity spanning five decades they sit third in the all-time rankings for consecutive gold or platinum albums by a rock band when it came to technique and style pit was known for his complex and intricate drum Parts composed of razor sharp fills odd time signatures and machine-like precision while conducting research I found so many instances of him coming across as an intellectual and introspective individual whose approach to the instum was as passionate as it was disciplined uh drumming wise um my determination was more important than than Talent early on I think for most things you do have to have a bit of a knack but I I had to work so hard to learn so many things but I was um Relentless in terms of determination and with traveling when I've got a day I I'm tempted by what's the most excellent thing I can do which might be way too far way too long but I'm going to go for that because it's the most excellent thing I can do this Relentless determination never faltered even in the mid90s once he'd established himself as one of the Marquee names in the world of drumming he began taking lessons from jazz drummers Freddy grber and Peter kin because after 40 45 years of playing I wanted to push myself and open up this whole new frontier I've been able to do that as a Lyricist and as a Pros writer and now as a drummer you have to challenge your own limitations and your own expectations of yourself super super quick shout out if you're enjoying please do hit subscribe and if you want to support the channel even further you can hit thanks to leave a tip or join to become a member with exclusive perks thanks there's plenty to pick out and dissect within Pet's repertoire but one aspect I gravitated towards was the development of fixed foot pattern complimenting fluid hand movements so when I first started working on this and trying to do something it was all I could do really just play the foot pattern and then try to start introducing the simplest possible stickings across it [Music] it's great to be able to hear him humbly admit that like so many drummers he starts off with something simple then practices it until he's able to freely move around the kit we see him apply the same pattern he's practicing at a live show in Frankfurt during one of his celebrated [Music] solos another incredible aspect of his playing is his incorporation of triggers samples and electronic drums over time his touring kit grew in size and as we saw in the clip includes a wide mix of acoustic and electronic instruments Pet's drum kits have become such a point of interest that someone's cataloged every kit he's ever used during the ' 80s when music technology grew in popularity a lot of traditionalist drummers rejected it but P embraced it with Avid enthusiasm and utilized it in innovative ways this is a bongo sample from my Bongo from my uh my first time ever playing Bongos on records so a lot of the samples I have are actually stuff of my own but wouldn't fit in drum kit or wouldn't be practical to get to this is an example of that The Bongo there and down there is from the old days of the Simmons clap trap um an analog synthesizer where you can just create White Noise basically and I use it like a studio engineer would use an effect behind the snare usually hitting both both that on so it's just like an echo in here working with a producer Peter Collins who couldn't stand the sound of Simmons drums so we looked for ways to get the tone this started as a Simmons drum and then I vocalized the actual sound I wanted I said well I'm looking for sound like so I said okay we'll record that and they recorded it sampled it and combined it with the Tom sound so it's an actual case of my voice in there and then we wanted a percussive effect that was jingling coins so English coins being so huge just took a handful of coins sampled them and used them what anything else over there no I don't there's no keyboards in that so okay that's the basic round of electronics that are coming into it using a hybrid of acoustic and electronic instruments and life scenario presents its own challenges in this same drum Workshop P outlines instances when a program sequencer would be playing and then stop for a certain amount of bars and then come back in in that elapsed time when the sequencer wasn't playing P had to keep perfect time so that when the sequencer came back in there were no timing issues 2 minutes into a song a sequencer will come in the sequencer in perfect Tempo so I'm responsible really to keep the song together right up to that level so when that sequencer comes in the song suddenly doesn't go or slow right down so that's an extra special challenge in the show too is that when I'm not playing to a click there still are those constraints that at a certain point in the song suddenly this bit of perfect Tempo is going to come in and I'd better be ready for it you know and again from the other guys too whoever triggers that thing has to trigger it at exactly the right time so that it doesn't upset the tempo in the flow of the song Beyond just his drumming ability it's also worth noting his role as Lyricist for the group since joining the group after their first album pit found himself Penning a lot of the lyrics As neither Lee or lion were particularly inclined he mentions the similarities between the roles of Lyricist and drummer in this interview with modern drama there's a lot really in common between being a Lyricist and being a drama you're dealing with mathematical rhythms and phrasing and you can use the same freedoms of stretching bar length all of that comes into play in writing lyrics across the band's discography Pit's lyrics cover a variety of themes and draw from a multitude of sources mythological and fantasy themes were common in the earlier albums but he embraced more grounded and introspective topics as time went on a track that often receives praise for its lyrics and theme is Limelight from moving pictures a track as the title suggests about stardom it's invad iess and difficulties for those that find themselves in the Limelight as he mentions in the same modern drummer interview we didn't want to become rock and roll cliches we didn't want to become isolated people who would feel totally alienated from the human race that's what the song Limelight is about the alienation that fans tried to force on us that was a real shock for us and it was a real hard thing for us to give into I remember saying out loud one day I hate being [Music] famous Neil Pet's glowing Legacy and reputation is continuously recognized by fans critics and PE alike and of course Neil per God come on this guy spawned a generation of air drummers for decades to come with his composition craft and technique his drumming was songwriting it was just as musical just as melodic as any other instrument in the band bringing the drums where they should be to the Forefront of every song pet sadly passed away in 2020 this exerpt from an appreciation article from the guardian after his death captures his humble Talent he was loved by pretty much everyone who ever took the slightest interest in rush because he was so clearly not a rock star but a bookish shy chap who happened to possess extraordinary dexterity on drums he was a family man who lost his daughter in a road traffic accident and his wife to cancer within 10 months of each other in 1997 and 1998 and whose response to those tragedies was to teach himself to cook first to care for his wife then for himself as well as a father and husband pit was also an avid cyclist biker and published author of both fiction and non-fiction works with all this in mind it's clear to see he's lived an accomplished and full life both in and out of Music he was the youngest ever inductee to the modern drama Hall of Fame in 1983 was featured on the cover a record 10 times and won numerous awards from the magazine he ranked fourth behind his Heroes Ginger Baker Keith Moon and John Bonham in Rolling Stone's top 100 drummers list here's tanel pit [Music] thanks very much for watching the video let me know what you think of the amazing Neil P down below drop a like And subscribe if you enjoyed the content cheers

Channel: Off Beat

Views: 71,606

Keywords: music, video essay, theory, analysis, video, essay, stewart copeland, drumming, off beat, offbeat, steve gadd, Neil Peart, Rush, Drumming, Musician, Drummer, Progressive Rock, Lyrics, Songwriting, Legacy, Inspiration, Percussion, Rock Music, Neil Peart Tribute, Drum Solo, Band Analysis, Drum Techniques, Rock Drummers, Neil Peart Interview, Music Analysis, Canadian Music, rush, moving pictures, yyz, neil peart live, neil peart solo, hemispheres

Id: A03ZZRZblHg

Length: 12min 26sec (746 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 23 2024