Geddy Lee on the influence of “deliciously eccentric” Les Claypool
There are many reasons to admire former Rush frontman Geddy Lee, yet his bass-playing ability is the most prominent. A technically proficient player who added a dynamic edge to his band’s locomoting sound, the Canadian is widely hailed as one of the greatest rock bassists of all time.
Reflecting on his career so far during a conversation with Rolling Stone in 2020, Lee explained how he became the bassist in one of his generation’s most influential rock groups. “Back in my day, nobody chose to be the bass player,” he said, contemplating his decision to pick up the bass instead of the six-string.
“You were always a guitarist, and somebody said, ‘Well, we need a bass player,’ so they had a vote and you became the bass player. That’s how I became a bass player: I was voted in,” Lee recalled. “I think that was pretty common for the period, because everybody wanted to be Jimi Hendrix; everybody wanted to be Eric Clapton; everybody wanted to be Jimmy Page.”
Lee then explained which type of bassists drew him to the instrument. “One common denominator for me was always the ability to play melodically, and to enhance the song on a subterranean level,” he continued. “So I’ve always gravitated towards bass players that not only locked in with the rhythm section and helped moved the song, but also added some other level of musical interest that may not be as obvious. Usually, that comes out on secondary, tertiary and repeated listenings.”
As Lee’s work on the bass speaks for itself, from ‘La Villa Strangiato’ to ‘YYZ’, he’s often been asked to comment on the works of other bassists. One man he has effused about numerous times is Primus leader and bass hero Les Claypool, a master of slapping. Notably, the Rush frontman even admitted that he was influenced by the younger statesman when their two bands toured together in the early 2000s.
When speaking to Global Bass Online in 2000, Lee was asked what bassists take his “breath away”. Here he named many legends of the four-string, and labelled Claypool “a brilliant bassist”.
Lee said: “Well, certainly there is the whole ‘old school’ of them who were the bass players set in my mind. John Entwhistle, Chris Squire, John Paul Jones, and Jack Bruce. These days, I think Les Claypool is a brilliant bassist, of course Jeff Berlin is still out there and playing… he’s a remarkable talent.”
Elsewhere, when speaking to Bass Player in 2022, Lee went into more detail about what makes Les Claypool such a scintillating bassist. The Rush man’s comments came after Claypool – a Rush super-fan – decided to perform the Canadian band’s 1977 prog masterpiece, A Farewell to Kings, with Primus.
Revealing his first reaction to the endeavour, Lee said: “I was very complimented, of course, and then I thought he was a little bit nuts, but by all accounts it’s quite an impressive performance and a real tribute, performed by an awesome band.”
Outling Claypool’s strengths as a bassist, Lee continued: “Les has a unique rhythmic sensibility. I find his playing to be an amalgam of various styles: he can slap, twang, or run up and down the neck like a jazz player. His tone is original, deep, and true, and he’s developed a style that is deliciously eccentric.”
