He would improve since I saw him a year earlier or two years earlier and I’d just go “Wow…” That’s the essence of a phenomenal musician, the dedication to keep improving. We all started as young guys, and I was absolutely amazed watching Neil’s improvement as he kept playing, and the fact he never stopped improving. He was just an incredible talent and in our era, certainly, one of the greatest players that’s ever sat behind a kit of drums, no doubt about it. His rhythm just kind of permeated the band’s musical signature. You couldn’t take your eyes off Neil, and you couldn’t take your ears off of him, either. Neil would play a lot of what I would call “lead parts,” and I always felt Rush’s music was driven the drums more so than other bands. He played the heck out of everything on his drums, right? So as opposed to the guys that evolved from the Levon Helm/John Bonham school, where you kind of lay back, the Keith Moons and Neil Pearts and the Ginger Bakers and the Mitch Mitchells went the reverse route and they filled all over the place and kind of drove the rhythm from in front instead of behind it. I think of Mitch Mitchell, probably those three rock drummers. When I think about Neil’s playing style, the first guys I think of are Ginger Baker, Keith Moon. But Rush was different because they were from our home town. The bands that were out at the time, like Ted Nugent and Blue Oyster Cult and Kiss and Journey and so on, you’d get a certain camaraderie with all those guys. Louis or Cincinnati or wherever, and they’d be coming in a month or were there a month ago. We played the same buildings we’d be playing some place in America, St. When we were touring we would cross paths with Rush all the time. He was like your next-door neighbor, but just happened to be the drummer for Rush. He was a rock star but he had no pretensions. The thing I felt about Neil was he was a rock star/non-rock star, if you know what I mean. He was very fond of reading, and often times when he was at Metalworks you’d see him reading a book. He would talk to you about music, he’d talk to you about politics, he’d talk to you about drums. His face would light up in a conversation he had one of those faces that was very expressive, and when he started to engage with you, you could see this kind of warmth that came out of him, and it wasn’t fake. Neil was quite intellectual, and that’s the way he was when you conversed with him. We could talk about drums or we could talk about almost anything. Like I said, he was such a quiet guy, but he was also very conversational. I chatted with him when he was at Metalworks various times. He was a big guy, but he was such a gentle soul. He was a big guy, too - you got him behind those drums and you didn’t see how physically imposing he was when you met him in person. That’s really what impresses you, I think. But I have to say that never mind the fact he was such a great drummer - I mean, such a great drummer - but he was such a great gentleman. It’s no secret Neil was a very private guy, so we weren’t buds or anything like that. I met (Peart) really through Metwalworks recording studios (in nearby Mississauga), Rush being in the studio at the same time as us on a few different occasions.
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