What's the Rush?

Oh, Froog you incorrigible punster!  Enough, already!

At the risk of alienating my new "No. 1 fan" Hopfrog (and countless other fans of the band, no doubt), I have to say this:  I just don't get Rush.  Never have.  One of my best friends at university persuaded me to give them a listen, and he was someone whose knowledge and taste I generally trusted, someone who introduced me to a lot of other good stuff.  I tried with Rush, I really did, but.... I couldn't really work out what people saw in them.  Or, I thought I could guess what people saw in them, but it didn't appeal to me.  I've given them several tries on and off again over the years, and they still leave me absolutely stone cold.

Of course, they have a fanatical following - including a lot of serious musicians, which ought to be a high recommendation.  However, I can't help feeling that much of this following (not excluding the musicians) is of a rather nerdy bent, and most of the admiration for them seems to be based on their technical virtuosity rather than their musicality.  These are people that a lot of other players want to be able to play like, to extend their technique.  But that's not the same as wanting to play (or listen to) what they play.  People - my old college buddy and Hopfrog among them - rave in particular about Neil Peart's drumming.  And I can understand what they're getting at: sure, he can be a very fast and intricate player, coming up with a lot of patterns that you don't hear from just about anyone else.  But you know, you don't really want virtuosity from a rock drummer; you just want someone who's going to tie down the beat and add some punch to your sound.  That's the problem I have with the whole band, I suppose; it's very fast and showy, but... I just don't hear the music in any of it.  Add in whiny vocals and - most of the time - truly godawful lyrics, and you have a band well worth avoiding, for my money.

Big Nige, the relief barman down at 12 Square Metres who's become an invaluable music guru to me this year, has given me a digital copy of the recent documentary about them Beyond The Lighted Stage.... but it's sat on my computer for 3 or 4 months and I still haven't got around to watching it.  I will try to soon; people tell me it's a very good film, even if you don't like their music.... and they say it shows them in such reverential light that it may have the power to woo even the stubbornest non-believers like myself.  I rather doubt it.  Nigel, a chap who has awesomely good musical taste, is a bit of a sceptic about them himself: he's been giving them a try lately, but doesn't seem that much impressed.  Last night, one of their songs came on the playlist at the bar (I think it was Fly By Night?), and we both kind of shrugged and said Why are we listening to this?  Indeed, I didn't really listen to it; I am so thoroughly immune to their 'charms' that I'd subconsciously tuned out after only 15 or 20 seconds, and only started paying attention again when a different band came on next.

However.... veteran of the Chinese metal scene Kaiser Kuo (only a semi-laowai in the first place, since his parents are Chinese; and he's been living here pretty much half his life, so is fairly 'naturalised') is always worth checking out.  And if he wants to put together a Rush cover band as an excuse to team up again with a bass-playing buddy from his college days, who am I to denigrate his ambitions?  Moreover, they were going to play their two shows last weekend right on my doorstep, at Gulou 121 (as the new-ish [open 7 or 8 months] music bar on Jiugulou Dajie seems to have settled on calling itself).  Now the weather's got bollock-freezing cold at night, close is good: it will have to be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of a show to entice me all the way over  to 2 Kolegas while the weather's like this, or even to the just about walkable Yugong Yishan - and there was no such attraction anywhere else in the city last Friday and Saturday.

And despite my profound Rush-aversion, I found that the show wasn't half bad.  I hadn't known how good Kaiser is on the guitar (I think I've probably only ever seen him playing bass before; well, except for a couple of the unplugged Chunxiu shows earlier this year).  The bass and drums were, I thought, just adequate; but the lads hadn't had much time to rehearse (the drummer was still relying on a crib sheet!).  And the vocals were.... well, practically inaudible, which may have been a mercy (but still an improvement, for me, on Geddy Lee!).  And it was a fairly short set; they've thus far only learned 7 songs.  However, it covered most of their more accessible and rockier stuff, and the guys clearly had a whale of a time doing it.

I think I probably had more fun watching this than I would have done at an actual Rush concert.  Yes, I am that resistant to them.  Sorry.  I don't suppose I'm ever going to change on that now - despite Kaiser's best efforts.