Rush’s Geddy Lee is reportedly collaborating with Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson on what the latter called a “super-secret project.”

Robertson detailed his deep friendship with the prog icon in an upcoming issue of Classic Rock, noting that their bond spilled over into music. “Geddy is somewhere between my surrogate father and imaginary big brother,” he said. “I love him so much. I was in the studio with him yesterday for a super-secret project that I can’t talk about.”

As Classic Rock notes, the duo has been friends for years, with Lee inducting Barenaked Ladies into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

“Lurking beneath those big radio and TV hits are a number of special attributes that set this band apart,” the bassist said onstage during his speech. “One is their adventurous songwriting spirit, evidenced both lyrically and musically, and abundantly displayed throughout their entire repertoire. Two, they possess a definite sense of where they are from — that sense of humor that exists in our home and native land, eh? And, finally, something that I believe flies under the radar with BNL is what f’in’ great musicians they all are, each with their own terrific grasp of their instruments.”

The Rush bassist even let the alt-rock band — which played an acoustic version of "Fly by Night" live in 2013 — borrow his Moog Taurus bass pedals for the recording of its latest LP, Detour de Force.

"It wasn’t just another instrument laying around in the studio,” Robertson said. “'There’s my guitar, there’s [Jim Creeggan's] bass and there’s Geddy’s Taurus pedals.' They’re like sacred objects.”

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