An Interview with Geddy Lee about the making of his solo album,
MY FAVORITE HEADACHE.
by
Christopher Buttner
Photos by Andrew MacNaughtan, www.andrewmacnaughtan.com
On November 14, 2000, Geddy Lee released his long-awaited solo album, MY FAVORITE HEADACHE. Long known, and revered, as the lead vocalist, bassist, keyboardist, frontman of the Canadian power trio RUSH, Geddy was joined by long-time pal, co-collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Ben Mink for this highly anticipated effort.
Ben has earned great renown for his work with k.d. lang on such albums as the Grammy Award-winning ABSOLUTE TORCH AND TWANG, INGENUE - with it's Grammy Award-winning single, "Constant Craving" - and MISS CHATELAINE. Somewhat lessor known is his role as a member of famed Canadian pro-rockers FM, where Ben played - among other instruments - electric mandolin, which Geddy says, "He made sound like he was Jeff Beck."
Drummers Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam and Soundgarden) and Jeremy Taggart (Our Lady Peace), provide the driving percussion behind the CD's 11 tracks. Geddy took some time out to talk about how his solo album was recorded. Interesting insight, indeed, from a most gifted, respected and influential musician.
Christopher Buttner - As a musician, are you the entrepreneurial type who has to create a little bit every day, whether it's a line of a song in a notebook, recording a few measures of a track or do you just tune it all out for periods of time and create when the mood strikes?
GEDDY: I have a lot of hobbies and I can be very remiss in reminding myself to go downstairs to my studio to work. When I usually do, I start with something that is going to take two minutes just to put some idea down and the next thing I know, ten hours have gone by and my family is screaming at me because they want me to come up to have dinner with them. I have such an extreme attitude about work, where I can just completely be derelict of my responsibilities and then when I am not derelict, I am completely indulged in it. I swing pretty wildly from the two extremes.
CB - Tell me about your home studio. Alex Lifeson has one of the most impressive studios I have ever seen, what is your set-up? What's in your signal chain?
GEDDY: My studio is designed for atmosphere. I have a really cozy, comfortable room that has a great, huge glass door that views my backyard. I'm a big believer of daylight in the studio. I have my Mackie 32*8 console, that I have had for years. I could use a Mackie Digital 8 Bus console (he subtly hints). I am a big believer in using Emagic Logic Audio. I run the full 24-bit system - the whole deal. I'm running it on a Macintosh 9600, the workhorse. Plus, I have a multitude of hard drives, of course. I am in the process of gathering together old compressors: The more I work in the digital domain, the more I realize those pieces of gear are essential.
CB - How much of what was produced for the MY FAVORITE HEADACHE was tracked at your home or Ben's home and how much, if any, of what was recorded at home made it to the record?
GEDDY: Quite a bit of it really. Almost the entire song, STILL, (track 10) was recorded at both of our homes. We added and replaced some of the original guitars, except the drums, of course. None of the drums were recorded at home. The drum recording sessions were moved to Studio X in Seattle. Almost all of the vocals on STILL, and a lot of the backing vocals, in general, were kept from what was recorded in my home studio. The entire bass track for MOVING TO BOHEMIA (track 7), and ANGEL'S SHARE (track 6), was recorded at my home and the bass track for STILL was recorded at Ben's house... recalling just a few parts.
CB - Ben lives in Vancouver and you live in Toronto. How did you guys swap files? Were you sending DATs back and forth, were you emailing files?
GEDDY: Both Ben and I have built identical systems. Basically, when I would go to see Ben, I would take a DVD RAM, back-up all of my files and, occasionally, just take the hard drive on the plane with me. I'd walk into Ben's place and away we would go.
CB - How often were you in Vancouver and how often was Ben in Toronto? How long did the whole process of tracking the record take before the two of you went into a mastering studio?
GEDDY: We spent a couple of years working back and forth. We would do seven to ten days working at my house in Toronto and then we wouldn't do anything for two or three months. (Pauses then laughs). Then I would go to Vancouver and work for seven to ten days at his house and then we wouldn't do anything for two to three months. And that went on for... way too long! Then I finally said, 'Ben, c'mon! We have gotta' get this together here, Buddy! It's just dragging.'
(We're both laughing at this point).
GEDDY: Finally, earlier in 2000, we said, 'Okay, this is it, we're going for it.' And that's when we got serious and he came to my house and we brainstormed for a few weeks and got everything pretty well ready-to-rock. Then, Matt Cameron (former Soundgarden drummer), came along and we went into the studio and recorded the drums, replacing the tracks that were not standing up to scratch.
Matt really slotted in very well. A lot of the song structures were fairly together when he added his drum parts. I was so impressed with him, I can't begin to tell you. He has such a great sound and impeccable taste and such a strong groove, he is really fun to play with. So, from a bassist point-of-view, it was really great locking in with Matt, it was a great experience. A different experience then with Neil (Peart), but none the less, very inspiring.
CB - So he came in to lay down the drums after you guys had the basic tracks laid down?
GEDDY: We wrote these songs, and took so long recording them in our home studios, that we had pretty final structures by the time Matt was available. Matt would play to the song structures and so many of his drum parts took the songs to a new place that I went in to lay new bass tracks just so I could play with him.
CB - As a professional musician, where do you prefer to be: The studio or the Stage?
GEDDY: I like them both, but I like writing more than anything.
CB - Do you miss the roar of the crowds after four years? Is there still - pardon the pun - a 'rush' of emotion when you get on stage, the crowd goes nuts and the lights go up?
GEDDY: There totally is! I think the most enjoyable tour I have ever done in a long, long time was the last tour, TEST FOR ECHO. Do I miss it when I am not there? Ummm.... In an abstract way, I do. But, in a wearying way, I don't. I could easily see myself doing another tour and enjoying it, and if that did not happen, I don't think I would cry about it.
CB - I've always appreciated RUSH's very dry sense of humor. I was very surprised when I saw that you and Alex (Lifeson) contributed a song for the SOUTH PARK movie, BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT. How were you approached by the SOUTH PARK producers to do the tune? Did Trey Parker and Matt Stone get a hold of you and Alex? Are they RUSH fans?
GEDDY: Yea, Matt Stone is a major punter. He's a big RUSH fan and he actually got a hold of us through our band photographer, Andrew MacNaughtan (http://www.andrewmacnaughtan.com/). They bumped into each other at a party. I got a call when I was at Ben's house as we were laying down tracks that they wanted to record the Canadian National Anthem for the movie. It was the whole 'Blame Canada' thing, so we called them back, had a funny conversation, agreed to do the project and Alex and I spent two days in his home studio (Writer's note: recorded on Alex's Mackie d8b), and we put it together.
CB - Well, being that the election results in the USA are still not finalized, many of us are concerned that our next president will be from South Park.
GEDDY: You can take our Prime Minister instead, that should settle the whole issue!
CB - Long after we are all gone, how would you want Geddy Lee, singer, songwriter, and musician, to be remembered in the music history books, and how do you want RUSH to be remembered?
GEDDY: As a comic in all seriousness, I have to say... that is a very hard question to answer. (Laughs). I guess, we were people who were just dedicated to trying to get better. Music is all about wanting to be better at it. If you have some magical chemistry that actually makes people find the music you make compelling, that is a big bonus. It's elusive and it's hard to know when that is going to happen. But, I think that's how I feel about it. Boy, that's a nice philosophical way to end the interview.
(END)
