In a recent virtual event on December 5, Geddy Lee talked with Les Claypool from Primus to promote his new book, ‘My Effin’ Life.’ Mentioning the topics in the autobiography, the bassist shared his thoughts about the criticism Rush faced for being seen as ‘pretentious:’
“Neil [Peart] and I would talk about this. We would talk about what the f**k does that word [‘pretentious’] mean? Who’s pretending here? When you’re playing to your ability, and you’re striving for more, and you’re not faking it… It’s real; it’s a real desire to get better. And so we didn’t understand when people would call us pretentious.”
About the purpose of their music, he explained:
“Just because our reach perhaps exceeded our grasp, that didn’t mean that it wasn’t an honest effort to grab the rein. It’s not like we were doing it to acquire some sort of glory; we were doing it to acquire a better handle on our music and to break down barriers to our musicianship and improve. So it always bugged us when some writer would just toss us off as some pretentious three-piece band from Canada with progressive ideals and all that stuff.”
Delving Into The Band’s Image In His New Book
In ‘My Effin’ Life,’ Lee talked about how these comments and Rush’s public image bothered him and his bandmates in the past. Commenting on that, he said:
“And so, I just thought it was interesting to review, in the full spectrum of my career and where we’ve gone and where we came from, and try to understand why that is such an easy word to toss at a band that has high ambitions. So that’s kind of what I was getting at in the book, to discuss it.”
The bassist shared why it was important for him to reflect on the criticism:
“And I think it’s helpful to examine bad criticism because I was as skeptical of bad reviews as I was of overly good reviews. You know what it’s like — some person waxing on about how great you are, you go, ‘That guy didn’t hear all the bad shit we played last night.'”
Lee’s Look At The Artists’ Lives
Lee’s autobiography, released on November 14 by HarperCollins, is not the only new project he’s involved in. This month, a documentary series following the book came out on Paramount+.
The documentary, ‘Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?’ features the ex-Rush member visiting several bassists, including Claypool, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Robert Trujillo, and Krist Novoselic, to offer a look into their careers and lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NBCaxjcVys&t=169s
