Alex Lifeson
Alex Lifeson
Alexandar Zivojinovich, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that would become Rush, with drummer John Rutsey and bassist and singer Jeff Jones. Jones was replaced by Geddy Lee a month later, and Rutsey was replaced by Neil Peart in 1974; the band's line-up has remained the same ever since...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth27 August 1953
CityFernie, Canada
CountryCanada
I really consider myself more of a rhythm guitarist than a soloist.
If there was any one achievement, it would be that we've have done it on our own terms.
When I look out at the audience at some of our shows, I think we are reaching a younger audience... I see lots of people in their 30s and 40s, but I also see a lot of people in their young and middle teens, and thats definitely reassuring.
We've managed to have a long career that is still quite vibrant, yet we've never had to kow-tow to record companies who said we weren't commercial enough.
At the same time, I've never been afraid of death or the concept of death.
Pete Townsend for me was a huge influence. Because essentially they were a three-piece band and the way he structured his chords and took up a lot of space musically in the songs was really important to the way Rush developed. Geddy and Neil both were such active players and lot of the time we were all playing like crazy and it was too much and somebody had to reel it in and me being the faceless guy, I would do that,
Both Neil and I had done solo projects where we were the boss and I just thought that if he was willing to get into it, it would really be a good experience for him.
When Neil called, I have to say that my heart soared. And the reason really was because it said so much about his recovery -- that he was coming back to the world of the living. I mean, even if he wasn't really ready for it, he was making an attempt, and there was that little faint light in him that was glowing again.