Rush plays Rock Band
Backstage at The Colbert Report, classic rockers Rush took a shot at playing "Tom Sawyer" on Rock Band. Fortunately, they don't play Rock Band on stage. Rush playing Rock Band (Laughing Squid)
Backstage at The Colbert Report, classic rockers Rush took a shot at playing "Tom Sawyer" on Rock Band. Fortunately, they don't play Rock Band on stage. Rush playing Rock Band (Laughing Squid)
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Non US Residents get out your proxy servers because these clips make the baby jebus cry if you try and play them outside the us
I've always been fond of Rock Band -- although I barely play it myself, I think it's a lot of fun, and I look forward to a world where every person over age five has a sense of rhythm.
That said, videos like this are painful to watch. It's like Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron come to life. You're sitting there, waiting for Neil Peart to go off script and play some flams, or start striking nearby filing cabinets and wastebaskets to get some actual timbre, or just go completely psycho and break into a Buddy Rich solo.
Part of the problem is that Rock Band sucks if you don't turn the music up enough to mask the dull, dull sound of the keyswitches and the cheapo drum pads.
I was excited to see that Rush would play, and even better, be interviewed. But Colbert made it a big joke. He read them canned questions to which they couldn't respond, and let them play half of Tom Sawyer before interrupting with, "Are you DONE?"
I like Colbert, but this sucked.
#1: Fortunately the clip is also on YouTube.
I believe on one episode of that Gene Simmons TV show, he got the other members of KISS together to play this game. They played Detroit Rock City and sucked at it.
Hmm, I had no idea Neil would be the least humor-prone.
#3- Well, it is a comedy show, first and foremost... I thought it was quite funny. They played off Rush-Fandom well- with Jimmy and his making everything about Rush- and they made the joke about Rush songs being incredibly long by having them "still playing" next day. Good stuff. It was the first time they were on US tv in 30 years or so (according to Colbert, anyway- I don't know if that is actually true). He did the same with REM...
#6- Yeah, Neil looks real serious during the game, doesn't he?
Mindy
AaronLyon at #3: Your poor review of Rush's Colbert appearance actually prompted me to dig out the TiVO and watch it -- I was curious to see if it was some kind of performance art.
Thanks for prompting me to do this, because the appearance was hilarious. Everyone was happy, they were down with the joke, they played actual instruments and everything, and there was one line -- concerning Rush's influence on themselves -- that was so intricately constructed that I don't seem to be able to quote it from memory. (Just go watch the clip on Comedy Central or something.)
So. I don't know what you're talking about, but thanks anyway!
#6
In 1997, his daughter was killed in a car crash. 10 months later his wife died of cancer. He quit Rush, got on a motorcycle, and stayed on it for 60,000 miles or so. He's since married again...but perhaps that sort of thing marks one with a certain seriousness....
The part I liked (on the Colber* Repor* show / interview) was when Stephen asked Neil if he had enough drums ... Neil said "No", and Stephen says "Well, that's why you're here - this is a Drum Intervention."
Neil has always been the more serious of the three.
That being said, I saw them perform live on Tuesday night. They were as tight as ever. Geddy can still hit the high notes, and I think they were tighter on this tour than the last time I saw them (2002's One Little Victory tour.)
As for humor... Neil's performances in the goofy pre- and post-set videos was hilarious.
#6, #7, #9:
I don't know what his demeanor was before his tragic losses, but he's always seemed fairly intense when performing anyway. He's a massively talented master of his craft, and when he plays his kit he's focusing like a cardiac surgeon in the OR.
Also, I heard he used to ride his bike -- pedal-powered -- from one show to the next.
Which reminds me of this recent item about rock drummers and their fitness:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7518888.stm
#12 "rock drummers and fitness"
That's me ... besides holding down a 40/hr week as an electronics engineer, I'm also a drummer in a hard rock cover band, playing weekends, AND I'm the only one who knows how to plug in (and run) the PA, plus loading / offloading / setting up the gear ... by the end of one night playing, I look like I've had a bucket of salt water dumped over my head .....
see my band's site: http://www.MySpace.com/JuggernautRocks
rock on, world!
(you too, Happy Mutants!)
gary61
The band is known for including humorous elements in their concerts (like Alex's surrealist "rants" during La Villa Strangiato; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9_X8PwOtxw&feature=related ) so I thought the Report was a perfect forum.
Wow I love rock band! Too bad I don't have an Xbox or a Playstation, I have to play whenever I am at my friends house. There is going to be one at the All Points West Festival from my understanding.
You guys should go and play against me in your going to the festival. If your not try and get from free tickets from www.flikr.com/jackatapwfest and meet me there!
Its on like DONKEY KONG!
In a way, it is like the children's game of "telephone" - Rush performed the song originally, then the folks that make "Rock Band" transcribed it and translated it into their interface, then when Rush played it back, they got a 31% rating for how well their "performance" matched the other person's transcription...
I thought it was funny...
RE: #9 posted by IWood:
Jeeze, lighten up - all the original poster (EH) said was Hmm, I had no idea Neil would be the least humor-prone. EH was simply suprised that Neil was the more serious of the trio, he didn't say there was anything wrong with it, and honestly SOMEONE has the be the least humour-prone in a group, all three can't be equally humour-prone - can they?
Since Neil is off the motorcycle, back in the band, and remarried, I suspect he's dealt with those issues and moved on.
Maybe being a drummer leads to bi problems in your personal life... You know, there's another band I heard of where the drummer had an arm amputated, and there's another band where the drummers die in tragic fashion (including spontaneously bursting into flames and one even choked on someone else's vomit)... Being a drummer is a tough gig I guess.
I think the only one who needs to lighten up a bit is you. The death of a child and a spouse in the same year is not something that just leaves you. And it's never something one "gets over"; that's the biggest myth on earth. What most people who suffer tremendous loss learn to do is learn how to move on past the loss... And become aware of how it affects them and you know what... Those people change.
It's like losing an arm; you learn to adapt.
Also, watching Rush play Rock Band really makes it painfully clear how sad playing Rock Band can be.
darn... I thought the title said Bush plays Rock Band.
RE: #17 posted by Jack:
I said:
Jack said:
I contend we said essentially the same thing, - I said he's "moved on" and you said most people who suffer tremendous loss "learn to move on past the loss".
I never said that is "(left) him" or that he "got over it" - I said I suspect he's dealt with (his loss) - I have no idea how it actually affected him, I don't know him personally, and I suspect neither you (Jack) nor the original poster (EH) do either.
Can't Neil just be serious about his work, as noted in #12 posted by TEKNA2007:
ARGH - I confused IWood and EH in the previous post - it was IWood that jumped all over EH and defended Neil's being less humor-prone as a result of Neil losing bot his child and wife in a short period of time.
EH Simply noted the lack of humor in Neil - nothing more.
I apologize for the mistake and any confusion it might have caused.
I will only beg of you all to read something Neil has written to understand a bit of what goes on in his mind..
I love Rush so much and I think its because they're all 3 very intelligent people who understand music deeply but are also very aware of everything around them and what has happened to them.
I've read Traveling Music and it was an excellent memoir-esque book on what sort of goes through Neil's head musically and mentally during some of his thought-searching trips
haha this is awesome.. 31%.. and they just did not give a shit about the score. (scale it back to what, rock geniuses?) I bet the drummer and the singer did pretty well, but the poor guy with the guitar had no clue.. Its like that picture of the real guitar and the rockband guitar and it says underneath "one of these will get you laid"
That was a great show. I was a little disappointed that the song was cut short (partly for comedy purposes... partly because it could have taken up 1/4 of the entire show) but I've heard that song before, I think. They sounded great. I wish I could watch the clip, but the copywrong laws are protecting me from it's evident awesomeness.
Just gotta say, since this thread started, my memory's been replaying my entire Rush library on shuffle in my head. Most pleasant.
Though I picked up 2112 on vinyl in 77 while a nerdy freshman snowbound in an engineering school in northern ny, I'm sad to say it wasn't until this July that I actually went to see Rush live in Saratoga NY. I'm always afraid to see musical idols during their 'old fart' days, but Rush seemed to be at the top of their game. They were amazing musicians, but also disarmingly down to earth. The end times took a break with the whole audience singing along with Freewill, Tom Sawyer, and other songs and the place had a great vibe. I took my 13 year old as his first 'real' rock concert, who wasn't a Rush fan going in. He was one going out.
Be cool or be cast out...
Only one comment...REAL guitar players find the guitar controller unwieldy and just plain WRONG compared to what their hands are used to doing.
Can't play Rock Band, and don't really want to. Real guitar with a bunch of other musicians...now THAT'S fun.
wow that makes me feel alot better about being TERRIBLE at that game
I look forward to the inevitable juxtaposition of game reality and meat reality when geekdom burst forth into teledildonics.
RE: #28 posted by Takuan:
Too late:
Ins and Outs of Teledildonics
Teledildonics Takes a Step
(Both are at Wired.com)
only one way to settle this: There must be a Contest.
NAS on Rockband.
http://iknowtheledge.com/gaming/nas-gets-down-on-rockband/#comment-1498