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A year after virtuoso rock drummer Neil Peart died at age 67 of brain cancer, his Rush bandmates, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, gave their first interview about mourning for their musical companion. Speaking for Rolling Stone for a new cover story, the pair said they knew about Peart’s aggressive form of cancer for about three and a half years before his death, a diagnosis they swore to secrecy. Lee and Lifeson also confirmed that Rush will never return, although it is possible that they will feel inspired to work on new songs with each other in the future. “This is over, right? It’s over, ”said Lee of Rush. “I am still very proud of what we have done. I don’t know what I will do again in music. And I’m sure [Lifeson] no, be it together, apart or whatever. But Rush music is always a part of us. And I would never hesitate to play one of these songs in the right context. But at the same time, you have to respect what the three of us with Neil did together. “
Lifeson, like Lee, noted that he has not yet been inspired to pick up an instrument since Peart’s death went public last January. “I thought, you know, ‘One day, when I’m just sitting shitting my pants, I’m still going to want to play guitar.’ And that’s over, ”he explained. Lee added, a little more optimistically: “For a long time I didn’t have the courage to play. I still feel like there’s music in me and there’s music in [Lifeson], but there is no rush to do any of that. ”If so, for our sake, let’s hope it’s before the year 2112.