Rush’s Geddy Lee said he received a slew of “inappropriate” messages from hopeful drummers following the death of longtime bandmate Neil Peart.
“Oh, yeah, I heard from all kinds [of people],” Lee recently told George Stroumboulopoulos, host of Apple Music book club Strombo’s Lit, while promoting his new memoir My Effin’ Life. (You can watch the full interview below.) “That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly.”
Peart, Rush’s drummer and primary lyricist for more than 40 years, died in January 2020 from glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. Lee said that almost immediately, other musicians came out of the woodwork hoping to secure Peart’s drum throne — and it’s begun happening again since he and guitarist Alex Lifeson have openly considered performing again as Rush.
“I was, like, ‘Whoa, that’s just so inappropriate right now,'” Lee added. “Dude, wait two months. At least two months, if ever.’ It still happens, now that the clickbait freaks are out there talking about Alex and I getting a new drummer and starting Rush again.”
Twisted Sister Experienced Same Disrespect as Rush
Lee isn’t the only rock giant who had to deal with opportunistic musicians in the wake of a bandmate’s death. In a Facebook comment under a Blabbermouth article on the subject, Twisted Sister revealed they experienced similar disrespect following the death of drummer AJ Pero in 2015.
“Within 15 minutes of the announcement that our beloved Twisted Sister drummer AJ Pero died, calls from drummers all over the world offering to replace him started coming in,” the band wrote. “We told our staff that anyone who calls or emails would be immediately crossed off the list. The disrespect was awful.
“Thank God for Mike Portnoy, who was the spiritual connection to AJ,” they continued. “Mike is a pro’s pro who was incredibly available to us for two amazing world tours and showed unbelievable respect to AJ every night.”