Primus and Led Zeppelin’s influence on Rush’s Geddy Lee
Rush are arguably the biggest ‘dad’ band out there. Alongside U2, REM, Springsteen and maybe even The War on Drugs, you’ve probably heard your dad spin a few dusty old Rush records that he brought down from the attic when his wife was out of the house.
Rush are pioneers of progressive rock, which is, without doubt, the single biggest ‘dad’ genre there is. They were formed in Toronto in 1968 by Alex Lifeson, John Rutsey and Jeff Jones, though Jones was very quickly replaced by bass player Geddy Lee. The band went through several lineup changes before taking on their classic lineup with the addition of Neil Peart, who replaced John Rutsey on drums.
Rush’s musicianship separated them from their contemporaries. The compositions were complex and eclectic, while the lyrics were drawn from the realms of science fiction, philosophy and fantasy. Neil Peart would often go off on extraordinarily lengthy and complex drum solos, though he has insisted that this was for the music rather than mere self-indulgence.
All of Rush’s members are heralded for their genius-like proficiency in their respective instruments. Bassist Geddy Lee inspired many future bassists with his right-hand finger-picking technique, including Metallica’s Cliff Burton, Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris and Tim Commerford of Rage Against the Machine. Of his technique, Lee once said, “I use two fingers, and it just depends on the kind of riff I’m doing. It’s like a slap, but I’m not slapping with my wrist; I’m slapping with one finger, just back and forth, up and down. Sometimes I’ll use my index finger, and sometimes I’ll use my middle finger.
Lee also once admitted to being influenced by Primus bassist Les Claypool when they were on tour with Rush in the early 2000s: “He has a sort of funk and a sense of rhythm that I found very appealing, and at the same time, there were all these players doing all this slap and pop and all this stuff, which didn’t really feel like my kind of thing either,” Lee said. “So in an effort to bring more rhythm into my playing, I just started messing about with my approach to writing bass parts.”
Lee also once opened up on his younger musical influences and noted the genius of Jimmy Page. He said, “Of any guitarist, Jimmy Page was my biggest influence. I wanted to look, think and play like him. Zeppelin had a heavy influence on Rush during our early days. Page’s loose style of playing showed an immense confidence, and there are no rules to his playing. I met Page at a Page/Plant concert in Toronto in 1998. I was acting like a kid, all googly eyed. I was freaking out, and my hands were shaking. I was so thrilled to meet him because his work meant so much to me.”
Lee also stated that Zeppelin’s legendary Eastern-inspired classic ‘Kashmir’ is one of his favourite tunes. It was taken from their sixth studio album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975. The track is often placed alongside ‘Stairway to Heaven’ as a progressive folk epic. Jimmy Page employed a DADGAD open tuning to get the song’s famous ringing out of the open notes.
Lee said of ‘Kashmir’: “This is an absolutely brilliant song, an all-time classic. ‘Kashmir’ has such a wonderful, exotic Middle Eastern feel to it – it’s like no other song of its era – and Physical Graffiti is a mind-blowing album. In a roundabout way, Kashmir influenced A ‘Passage to Bangkok’, which has a similar sort of odd-tempo arrangement to the verses.”
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