ANTHEM - The CLASSIC RUSH TRIBUTE

Lindsay's Page

Why are we here? … because we're here!

My love affair with guitar playing started at the tender age of 10. I can remember watching Marc Bolan on Top Of The Pops brandishing a Les Paul with style and aplomb … and thought that's for me and promptly armed myself with a tennis racquet and copied his moves.

My first guitar followed quickly after this. It was a Woolworth special. Kiddy size with a man size action! You know the one I mean … the one with an action of about ¾ of an inch at the twelfth fret! Ouch!

Guitar tuition came in the form of Uncle Ed … not the horse made popular by the American comedy of the said name … no Uncle Ed who had played in a band and was a cracking guitar player.

Learning a selection of the tunes from The Beatles and The Shadows catalogue I was already building up a liking for rhythm and lead combinations. This was to steer me towards the Alex Lifeson style of guitar playing.

I had many guitar heroes such as Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi, Michael Schenker.

However it wasn't until my introduction to Rush, The Trees to be more specific, that I found my niche and the way I wanted to play guitar.

Alex Lifeson is very adept at adaptation. Introducing changes in style, sound, dynamic, the use of effects, a change in guitar, to create the right feel for the lyric. Wow I was blown away.

Various attempts to form a Rush tribute … even back in 1980 with a school mate called Mick … didn't pan out, but here I am a few years later with that same school mate making it happen.

The journey started in 1978 with Hemispheres and although I own all studio and live albums, I recognise that the halcyon days of Rush were encapsulated in the first 8 albums … the first 10 years of Rush … R10.

Anthem is a celebration of the first 10 years of Rush and we are promoting our offering in the UK as R10. I personally enjoy every element of the R10 set and only wish I could be sitting in the audience to savour the classics sounds.

Anthem is about music and musicianship everything else will be as a consequence of holding true to these values.

See you out there.

Lindsay. . . .

But first here's a little test...

Apart from the Hemispheres reference, from which songs are each of the 4 titles taken, and from which album is the final quote extracted?

"The battle of heart and mind"

I've been a RUSH fan and an Alex devotee since 1978. It all started with Hemispheres, the concept album detailing the "the battle of heart and mind". Which, in a sense is a metaphor for how we live our lives, always torn between the rational mind and the emotional heart. The beginnings of this band were borne from the emotional heart.

"The more the things change"

Having attempted to pull together a RUSH tribute band some 20 years ago with a school mate and drummer Mick, here I am again with that same drummer moving the reality ever closer to the vision.

"If you choose not to decide"

Although the combined repertoire of RUSH material the band has to offer covers the span of RUSH's 17 studio albums, a unanimous decision was to promote the band as a "Classic Rush" tribute. Classic defining the early days of RUSH and that organic RUSH sound, when they were arguably at their best, as the first 8 albums pay testament.

"There's something here that's as strong as life"

We don't do RUSH covers or play our interpretations, we respect the unique energy of each piece of music and endeavour to re-create it for (y)our enjoyment.

"We are merely players"

I have the great privilege to be working with great musicians. We don't take ourselves too seriously and can laugh at the "rare mistakes!!!" that befall us, but we are serious about what we do and would love to bring this band to you in the very near future.

Keep a look out for us!

Wishing you luck and success in all your future aspirations.

Lindsay.

Lindsay: I use 2 of the PRS guitars in the main. The Standard 22 is used for a lot of the 80's material, which demands a slightly brighter guitar sound and the use of tremolo. The CE22 with tremolo is a standby in case of string breakage on the standard 22. For those who don't know, string breakage on a guitar with a tremolo fitted results in a loss of string tension of the remaining strings and although the guitar is still playable it certainly isn't "tuneful"! The Single cut is used predominantly for the early material to give a richer "Gibson" feel to the material. My favourite of the 3 is the standard 22 which has a glued wide and thin neck which is both a delight to play and offers great sustain.

Question: On your last gig I saw you used a stand for your classical guitar so you could play it for the intros of The Trees and A Fairwell to Kings – can you describe it? Do you know where I could get one? Is it the same as Alex’s?

Lindsay: Its a 'Guitar-on-a-Stick'. Having hunted through all of the obvious musical retailers to acquire myself said item, with no luck, much to my delight I eventually found one on e:bay. It is manufactured by GRACIE (USA) and it is simply a telescopic stand with a guitar shaped piece of padded iron with two clamps which support and hold the guitar in place, it's one of my favourite toys. It isn't the same as Alex's, although I bought it from Dr.Yes, guitarist in a Yes tribute band, so maybe it's the same model that Steve Howe uses?

Question: There seems to be lots of flashing lights in your rack, what’s all that about?

Lindsay: Flashing lights!! I'm offended by the use of the term 'flashing lights' which in some way is an attempt to demean the role they have in my set-up. They are, in fact, CONTINUOUS REAL-TIME STATUS MONITORS!! and are essential for impressing the audience particularly when the stage lights are low!

Question: Do you play all of the guitar parts or is there some sampling or backing tracks being used?

Lindsay: Every note is played live, I even throw in some bum notes at times just to prove this point.

Question: I notice you use Marshall amps but you don’t have a traditional Marshall type sound – how do you get the sound you use?

Lindsay: I try to re-create an authentic match to the fantastic and distinctive Alex sound with much less gear! therefore I've had to be creative. The key is to use delays and modulation with the right mix to thicken and broaden the sound, here's how the gear is linked to achieve this. The basis for my sound is an ART SGX 2000 guitar effects processor. The overdive sounds are created here and not in the Marshalls, the Marshall are used clean as power amps. Also added at this stage are various delay, modulation, compressor and noise gate effects. This is then linked to the Line 6 echo pro and mod pro which are used to add specific echo, delay, chorus and phaser effects as required. The rack is linked then to the either the Marshall TSL 60s or a Marshall VS 80/80 stereo power amp depending on how I feel.