I haven’t “gone to school” on the classic repertoire of a band in so deep a way since I used to do the “could I do the gig” challenges.
But in today’s video, there’s zero of me playing.
And I did not school myself on the most beloved songs of the Rush catalogue in order to record them myself, but rather to understand, as much as possible, the stakes facing Anika Nilles when she agreed to take over Neil Peart’s fabled Rush drum chair.
I say it’s one of the most difficult-to-fill drum roles in the world not because Rush’s catalogue is necessarily the most technically-demanding - Dream Theater, Meshuggah, and Frank Zappa probably have a stronger claim - nor only because its former drummer was universally-beloved among fans, nor even because those same fans know every note of his intricate and “composed” (as opposed to improvised differently every time) drum parts, but rather because it’s the rare combination of all 3.
When Mike Mangini stewarded Mike Portnoy’s drum chair in Dream Theater, he took his own original approach to the band’s demanding repertoire. The same can be said of Zappa’s drummers.
Phil Collins has one drum fill everybody waits for. The Police have a few.
And beloved bands like Snarky Puppy, Pearl Jam, The Mars Volta, and Nine Inch Nails have all had several great drummers, each adding their own unique spin.
Over the past 41 years and 18 albums, Rush has had one. The Professor. Who didn’t just drum; he has lyric credits for 94% of Rush’s non-instrumental songs.
Rush fans know hundreds of his fills, across the band’s expansive catalogue, by heart.
And the music, while not Dream Theater or Zappa, is also not Maroon Five, no offense to them. This is not “boom chick verse chorus”. One listen to Xanadu or La Villa Strangiato, and you understand the scope of the task.
So when you get the call to audition for Rush, you swallow hard. You check your schedule. You say to yourself “I’ve got a pretty good thing going. Do I really want to go into a cave for six months SEAL-training every nook and cranny of Neil Peart’s legacy?”
And Anika, beloved by drum fans since way back for her own many projects, not-to-mention being Jeff Beck’s last drummer, understood the full weight of the decision and, without hesitation, said “yes”.
Indeed, you can tell she’s having fun.
Different audiences will hopefully get different things from this video.
I imagine my list is a mix of Anika fans who know of Neil but haven’t gone too deep with Rush, Rush diehards who know of Anika but mainly because she replaced Neil, and OG fans of them both.
In the video, I attempt to illustrate why the gig is so difficult in spite of not being Zappa, introduce its new drummer, and examine what about her made her uniquely-qualified to take on the role, not only as a drummer but as a human.
I hope I did an decent job.