Alex Lifeson spent years “fighting for guitar rights” after this Rush song: “It’s a strong song, it’s just the mix that I didn’t like”
Rush’s embrace of synthesisers in the ‘80s may have helped redefine the band’s sound, but it also left Alex Lifeson fighting to keep his guitar heard.
Looking back on the recording of Subdivision, the iconic opening track from 1982’s Signals, Lifeson says the song’s mix marked the start of what he jokingly describes as years spent “fighting for my guitar rights”.
In a recent interview with Classic Rock, the guitarist recalls sitting in on the mixing process for Subdivisions and growing increasingly frustrated as his guitar seemed to vanish beneath the synths.
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“I was sitting there thinking: ‘I can’t hear guitar,’” he says. “I’m a very easy-going guy, but I thought: ‘This is not right.’ So I pushed that fader up.”
Producer Terry Brown, however, had other ideas.
“I do remember Terry turning to me and smiling, and reaching over and pulling it back down. I could barely hear my guitar on that mix, and that just screams ‘wrong’ to me.”
The mix went on to become a staple of Rush’s catalogue, and while Lifeson never quite made peace with the balance, he never doubted the material itself.
“It’s a strong song, it’s just the mix that I didn’t like,” he says. “I guess I just fought for my guitar rights for years after that.”
The story echoes comments Lifeson made earlier this year during an appearance on Rick Beato’s YouTube channel, where he admitted to feeling resentful as Geddy Lee’s keyboards began taking on a bigger role in Rush’s sound.
“When we got to the mid-’80s, when we were doing those dense keyboard records, it was really a challenge for me. ’Cause, when we recorded those records, the keyboards went before the guitar,” he said.
“I would sit around, waiting, waiting, and waiting to do guitar stuff. And the more keyboard stuff I heard, the more layers, it was almost impossible for me to figure out how am I gonna fit in here. And by the way, I’m the guitar player in this band. What happened?”
For all his frustrations, Lifeson says Rush’s willingness to evolve was fundamental to the band’s identity.
“I guess you could stay where you are and do the same thing over and over and over again, but that’s not the kind of band we are. Progress is important to us. We always need to go somewhere else. We always wanted to evolve.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
