Rush is retired, but Geddy Lee doesn't think he's done playing music.
While he's only performed publicly once since Rush's final tour in 2015, Lee has spent the better part of the last two years preoccupied with music, specifically with amassing a collection of over 260 basses and conducting interviews with some of the greatest to ever play the instrument for his Big, Beautiful Book of Bass, which is available now.
Lee tells Q104.3 New York's Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show that he's still not sure what his next project will be, but he thinks his Rush band mate and lifelong friend Alex Lifeson will probably be involved. Rush drummer Neil Peart is "retired," he maintains.
"The idea of seeing Neil, Alex and myself on stage or on record together is not realistic," Lee says. "We're still good friends and we talk all the time. We've all been together quite recently having a good dinner together, but that part of our life, we've moved on from that."
When pressed about whether there could be another version of Rush, Lee says his future will probably become clearer after the holidays when he's done promoting the book.
"I don't know what the future holds at this point," Lee says. "I've been focused on this book. I know Alex has been playing on sessions for a variety of people, and he's having a good time doing that. We talk all the time, and I'm sure at some point, him and I will make some noise together and see if it's anything more than just noise."
He added that "obviously, I'm a musician, and I can't stop playing. So I'll do something soon."
Lee explains that he's been playing by himself fairly regularly. He's not about buying hundreds of musical instruments to just look at them! And with all those instruments passing through his hands, some song ideas are bound to fall out.
"I haven't had time to do any serious work. I go down in my studio whenever a new bass comes in the house, and I play it. When I'm playing it, usually ideas come along. I throw those on tape and I forget about them. There will come a time when I finish shamelessly promoting this book that I will go back in the studio and look at what I've got and see if I feel inspired to do something."
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