Neil Peart Explores His Evolution As A Drummer

Rush drummer Neil Peart spoke with Canadian television personality George Stroumboulopoulos last week about how his relationship with the craft of drumming has changed over the years.

Peart said that there have been changes both with his drumming and the overall sound of the band after 36 years, a process that continues to evolve. He says, “two years ago I studied with the great jazz drummer Peter Erskine. It was mainly to learn more about big band drumming that I admire. But in the process of course, I couldn’t help learning more about drumming and [I] carried it with me into what I do.”

He describes the typical changes as “subtle and incremental,” but said that there was one shift in 1995 that the band had to adjust to. Peart says “I changed the whole setup of my drums and temporarily the way I held the sticks, and just dedicated myself to doing everything different. When I first came back with the band, and we were working with producer Peter Collins at the time, he was listening to my playing on the demos and songs and saying ‘well, it doesn’t sound that much different to me!’

Peart reveals that it wasn’t the same reaction from the band, that they “did notice the clock [and] there was a subtle difference that they had to mesh with me. These things are indefinably subtle, but they were things that I’ve wanted to work on for 20 years.”

The new Rush album ‘Clockwork Angels’ is currently in process, although no release date has been set yet. The current 'Time Machine' tour was filmed in April of this year in Cleveland for an upcoming DVD release. You can check out our exclusive pictures from the show here.

Watch Neil Peart's Interview with George Stroumboulopoulos.