Sully Erna recently recalled a heartwarming interaction with Rush’s Neil Peart. Neil was Erna’s idol and their conversation shed light on Erna’s thoughts regarding being a musician in old age. However, according to an interview with Revolver, the conversation began with Erna asking Neil if he would do the honor of playing on Godsmack’s Neil Peart tribute song, ‘Serenity,’ but Peart declined.
‘Serenity’ was released in 2003 as part of the album ‘Faceless,’ and the song was a tribute to Rush’s Neil Peart. Before the song’s release, Erna was in Los Angeles for a meeting when he found out that Rush was also in town for a show. To Godsmack’s surprise, Neil Peart’s manager reached out to Erna’s manager and invited them to come over so that Erna could finally meet the idol he always talked about.
When the heartwarming meeting between Peart and Erna happened, Erna was over the moon. He took the opportunity to express his admiration for Peart’s work and how it had influenced him over the years. Neil was gracious and polite, and the two musicians talked about their shared love for music. Taking the opportunity to show the song he wrote in tribute to Peart, Sully gave the lyrics of ‘Serenity’ to him and asked him to play drums on the song. However, Peart declined.
Erna recalled the story, saying:
“And I get to meet Neil. I gave him the lyrics to ‘Serenity’ and even asked if he’d be interested in playing the drum track on that song, although he politely declined. He said, ‘You’ll see one day when you’re well into your 50s that when you’re on break, you’re on break. And once this is done, I’m going to be taking some time off.’
And now I get it because I’m in my 50s. But it still allowed me to establish a relationship with him, and over the years, I got to know him really well and hung out with him a few times.”
Neil Peart was on a break at the time, especially after his daughter passed away in 1997, the media was constantly focusing on Peart’s tragic life. Which led the Rush drummer to distance himself from the media. Although he was creating music with Rush, Erna’s humble request didn’t convince him to make music with another band and actively present himself in the eye of the public. His decline was not personal to Erna; therefore, the singer was okay with it. He was lucky enough to establish a relationship with his idol over the years and also proved the saying ‘Never meet your heroes’ wrong.
