Today would have been Neil Peart's 69th birthday. He died at 67. He played drums professionally until he was 63. Neil was Modern Drummer magazine's Best Rock Drummer in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2006, and 2008.
I've been a drummer since the 3rd grade and discovered Rush and Neil Peart early on. I had a cassette of Exit...Stage Left and wore it out. It was a double-length cassette so the tape was actually thinner than a standard cassette. I think I bought it again after I wore it out. I listened to YYZ over and over again, listening to every hit in the minutes-long drum solo in the middle of that tune.
Later after I watched his DVD A Work in Progress, in which he describes his playing style transformation influenced by his tutelage under Freddie Gruber, I switched to traditional grip at the drum kit.
But it was Neil's work ethic that has stuck with me the longest. In addition to playing on and writing the lyrics for (all but one record of) the massive Rush catalog, Neil authored seven non-fiction books, made epic road trips on bicycle and motorcycle (often riding between tour stops), and I don't even want to know how many books he read in his lifetime. He was indeed a "Thunderbolt of a Human Being".
I've been a drummer since the 3rd grade and discovered Rush and Neil Peart early on. I had a cassette of Exit...Stage Left and wore it out. It was a double-length cassette so the tape was actually thinner than a standard cassette. I think I bought it again after I wore it out. I listened to YYZ over and over again, listening to every hit in the minutes-long drum solo in the middle of that tune.
Later after I watched his DVD A Work in Progress, in which he describes his playing style transformation influenced by his tutelage under Freddie Gruber, I switched to traditional grip at the drum kit.
But it was Neil's work ethic that has stuck with me the longest. In addition to playing on and writing the lyrics for (all but one record of) the massive Rush catalog, Neil authored seven non-fiction books, made epic road trips on bicycle and motorcycle (often riding between tour stops), and I don't even want to know how many books he read in his lifetime. He was indeed a "Thunderbolt of a Human Being".
Prob went on music benders for a few weeks then writing ones. I'm trying to figure out the best balance for this as well.