The three unexpected drummers Neil Peart named as his favourite
The phrase “less is more” can be used to describe a lot of different types of music, but not Rush’s. Regardless of which album you’re listening to and the phase which Rush is going through, whether that’s on an experimental record that utilises different sounds, a drawn-out conceptual album or a piece of music that contains shorter radio-friendly hits, the band have very rarely gone for simplicity within their music.
There is no specific secret to Rush; it’s three excellent, like-minded musicians who can work well together. Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, and Geddy Lee’s intricate relationship with their instruments means that they created complicated yet cohesive music.
Neil Peart reached a level of musicianship where he believes he can’t get any better. This is because he constantly tried to learn new things and spent his entire career studying various genres and styles of music that he could then incorporate into his own style of playing. It means that when Rush made a song, Peart had the tools necessary to write exciting and wide-ranging music.
“It’s a funny kind of thing to say, because it won’t read the way it’s intended. It took me 20 years to reach a level of even some confidence,” he said, “I’m not talking about being a virtuoso or being a master or anything like that. It took that long to reach a point where I actually thought I maybe could play, and I think the last five years have seen the cementing of that.”
He always aspired to knowledge of the drums. It didn’t matter how that knowledge manifested in his music; as long as he had the tools necessary to make an exciting variety of music, he was happy. This is reflected in his favourite drummers, as he admires artists who know a great deal about the drums and aren’t afraid to embrace simplicity even in the fact of that knowledge.
“I do get really annoyed with musicians who are proud of the fact that they don’t practice and never took a lesson,” he said, “I just think that is such a cheat to say, ‘I just play simple; I don’t need that’. It’s not really true. You can listen to some simple drummers and tell them they know everything. It’s implicit. they have a certain confidence and agility on the drum set.”
He specifically references Manu Katche, Kevin Wilkinson, and Phil Gould, each of whom plays relatively simple instrumentation but as a calculated choice, considering all that they know about drums. “The three drummers I mentioned I can count among my favourite drummers, although they don’t play the kind of drumming that I like playing,” he said, “They’re playing the kind of stuff that I like to listen to. Music that I like to listen to is not always what I would like to be playing.”
Peart continued, “For instance, I could never be a reggae drummer; I would go nuts. But I love to listen to it; it’s so infectious and I love the rhythm. But I couldn’t discipline myself enough to shut off my ideas.”
