PEERS ON PEART
TIM ‘HERB’ ALEXANDER (Primus)
“I was walking to a friend’s house in
Riverview, Michigan when ‘The Spirit Of Radio’ came on the boom box I was carrying. It shook my world. Complex but listenable. Powerful and interesting. It’s got to be the best intro into a song, ever... It made me feel connected to something that couldn’t be explained, and it became my focus to learn how to play like Neil. I would learn every note of every album until I started to become my own player and not imitate Neil so much – which was hard to do by the way! He was a major influence on me.
“As a kid I couldn’t describe what it was that had such a big impact – it just was! The thing that made the biggest impression on me was how Neil would have different parts within a song; it wasn’t just a beat that continued throughout. He would make changes from verses to chorus and create introductions to songs – even ‘Tom Sawyer’, where the main groove during the verses has a part that is evolving as the verse moves on. And his solos were unique, because they were a song in themselves – and he kept those themes throughout his career as if it was an ongoing composition. His composition really affected how I think musically as a drummer, and I always try to have that approach in my playing.
“My favourite memories of Neil are watching him play every night on tour when we opened for them, especially when he would come to my dressing room to hang out and jam on my practice kit, or bang on an ice chest – whatever was there… Man, I’m still so sad.”
RYAN VAN POEDEROOYEN (Devin Townsend Band/Imonolith)
“I was 14 years old when a buddy introduced me to Rush, and I remember hearing ‘YYZ’ and thinking, ‘What the hell? This is incredible – listen to the drumming!’
