In a recent appearance on Gibson TV, Alex Lifeson of Rush shared what he, and his former bandmates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart, bought with their first money after getting a record deal.
Recalling their early days in the music scene, the guitarist said:
“Those bar gigs that we were doing in sort of the early ’70s to the middle ’70s when we got our first record deal, that was my main guitar. I had a backup guitar, but I tended to use the 335 more than anything.”
Then, he revealed what each of them got with their first earnings:
“And then, of course, once we got our advance on our record deal, we went shopping at Long and McQuade’s. Neil bought a set of drums, and Geddy bought an amp, and I think he bought a bass or a couple of basses, and I ended up buying my first Les Paul, which was a Les Paul Deluxe. It was so cool doing that; it was like a dream come true for any young musician, I think.”
During the same interview, Lifeson also reflected on why he chose to play guitar:
“When I started playing guitar, I was 12 years old. I wanted to play guitar because I just thought it was such a cool instrument. I thought it sounded really cool. When I listened to music that had guitar music in it, particularly like the Beach Boys in that period, in the mid-’60s, it was just the driving force of the music, and it just kinda spoke to me, I think.”
You can watch the musician’s full chat below.
