Original Rush bassist Jeff Jones recently opened up about his time in the band and clarified if he had any remorse over being replaced by Geddy Lee after his departure.
Jones addressed how the original lineup came together. He also explained how a simple, informal suggestion ultimately led to Geddy Lee joining Rush — a moment that would define the band’s legendary sound.
“I think the first time we played together as more than just messing around together was in Alex’s living room,” Jones said. “Now, Alex had been in a few local bands before, so he was no stranger to jamming. So, we had a couple of local guys there, and one of them had a tambourine. So, Alex told them he could play a little guitar and that I could play a little bass. Well, the guy with the tambourine turned out to be John Rutsey – who Alex knew from another band – and that’s how the three of us came together for the first time.”
Jones went on to describe the band’s early, informal nature and how the Rush name itself came about almost by accident.
“I remember that we played [The Beatles’] You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away that day,” he continued. “And after that, we kept in touch. I’m not sure who asked John to join – probably Alex – and I can’t remember who named the band Rush – I think it was John, or maybe his brother – but I can say that it wasn’t formal or official. We needed a quick name before our first gig, we went with it, and it stuck. We were so young, and that meant everything was fly by the seat of your pants and fluid.”
Jones also pushed back against the widely circulated story that he was kicked out of Rush for skipping a gig to attend a party.
“It’s really funny when I see stories about Alex and me not getting along. We never had an issue,” he said. “But you have to remember; we were kids, man. We played parties and practiced every Saturday in Alex’s mom’s basement. She was like the original band mom; she was fantastic. But things between Alex and me were always cool. And I know the story that goes something like I didn’t show up to a [battle of the bands] gig because I wanted to go to a party, and Alex kicked me out of Rush. I’m sure everyone has heard it, and it’s pretty much the way I’m remembered within Rush’s history. But it’s not true.”
He then set the record straight on what actually happened. A logistical inconvenience — not conflict — led to the transition.
“The truth is we played the battle of the bands, and I was there,” Jones said. “We played a few shows at the Community Center, a bunch of basement shows, and we played local coffee shops. As far as I remember, I was always there. So, the part that history always gets wrong – and this is important – is that we were kids. So, what happened was it got to a point where I had to take a long bus ride to get to Alex’s house; it was taking me hours round trip.”
“So, I just told Alex, ‘Hey, this guy Geddy that you’ve been hanging around with plays bass. He lives right around the corner. Why don’t you ask him to join?'” he continued. “And I guess Alex took that as me leaving, and that was it. Next thing I knew, Geddy was in Rush. There was never any formal conversation beyond that; we just drifted apart.”
Despite the circumstances, Jones expressed no bitterness about how things unfolded. He acknowledged the impact Geddy Lee had on the band’s identity.
“I don’t think about it too much. We were so young. We didn’t even have a record deal. We never made an album or even got to record anything,” he said. “And had I stayed on, we would have sounded nothing like Rush did with Geddy. And that’s not a bad thing; it’s just a fact. I couldn’t hit those notes. [Laughs.] With me, in many ways, Rush wouldn’t have been Rush.”
The interview offers a rare first-hand account of Rush’s earliest days, shedding new light on one of rock history’s most pivotal lineup changes.
Jones’s account is a reminder of just how quickly and quietly that change happened. Rush formed in the summer of 1968 with Jones on bass and lead vocals, Alex Lifeson on guitar, and John Rutsey on drums. Lee stepped in just weeks later, in September of that same year, before the band had even played their second performance. The transition was so swift that it left almost no trace in the official record, yet its consequences shaped everything that followed.
The band’s name itself was settled just as casually. It was John Rutsey’s older brother Bill who came up with the name “Rush” that spring. Like so much else about the band’s early days, it was adopted without ceremony or deliberation. There were no contracts, no formal agreements — just a group of teenagers figuring things out one rehearsal at a time.
Geddy Lee was a schoolmate of Lifeson’s who lived close enough to make the logistics simple. Where Jones had been commuting hours by bus for each practice, Lee was practically around the corner. That proximity, combined with Jones’s own offhand suggestion, was all it took to set one of rock’s most consequential lineup changes in motion.
Jones went on to have a full and respected career in music after leaving Rush. He became the bassist on Red Rider’s 1981 hit “Lunatic Fringe,” a song that remains a radio staple to this day. He later formed his own group, the Jeff Jones Trio. His post-Rush relationship with Lifeson remained professional and warm, with no lasting animosity on either side.
What Jones’s story ultimately underscores is that Rush’s iconic sound was never inevitable. It was the product of a specific combination of people, timing, and circumstance. Jones himself has always been clear-eyed about that reality. The band that conquered arenas and defined progressive rock was built on a foundation that could easily have gone another way, and the man who stepped aside to make it possible has no regrets about how it all turned out.
Read the full interview at Louder Sound.
