SPILL FEATURE: A LIFE BEYOND RUSH – A CONVERSATION WITH ENVY OF NONE’S ALEX LIFESON

A LIFE BEYOND RUSH

A CONVERSATION WITH ENVY OF NONE’S ALEX LIFESON

“It took me off the golf course because golf, as much fun as it sometimes is, is a horribly devastating soul-wrecking game, and I was playing too much, so it got me off the golf course and into the studio,” Alex Lifeson laughs about Envy Of None’s new album Stygian Wavz.  Known for being the guitarist of Rush, Lifeson is now part of the supergroup Envy Of None. Lifeson is joined by singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne, Andy Curran of Coney Hatch, and highly acclaimed producer and engineer Alfio Annibalini. Stygian Wavz is one of, if not the finest, rock record you will hear all year. In this interview, Lifeson chats about Stygian Wavz and Rush’s unforgettable cameo in I Love You, Man.

Stygian Wavz is their second album, the follow-up to their debut, Envy Of None,  and it means a lot to Lifeson. “The first record helped me with this, but Stygian Wavz really reinforced it: I have a life beyond Rush,” he smiles. “This is refreshing for me and inspiring. I’m playing guitar as much as I’ve ever played, if not more. I’m playing three or four hours a day now, which I’ve been meaning to do forever… It’s just got me into a whole other frame of mind that’s super, super creative. I just want to work. I can’t work enough. This is all due to Stygian Wavz. It gave me focus, and it gave me purpose for the year or more that we worked on it.”

Lifeson finds Envy Of None is more unified with Stygian Wavz. “The debut record was a new thing,” he comments. “It was just four people getting together to make some music and see where it goes. With Stygian Wavz, we’ve become a unit, a proper band. In fact, when I got the mastered version in sequence and put it on, I thought, ‘Oh my God! This sounds like a band! This doesn’t sound like a bunch of people.’ It’s cohesive. I think we’re very unified in what the direction is, what we want to hear, and how we want to present the music. Maiah has really blossomed with this record, too. I think she’s really stepped up her game big time.”

Envy Of None is still a relatively new thing for Lifeson, and he finds it super exciting and fun, as he reflects, “We’re just starting out in this recording career and having very diverse backgrounds; big hair band, progressive, great producer/engineer to handle that end of it, and then Maiah comes way out from that singer-songwriter and folk world – Just all the contrasts, and when it blends together, it’s really cool.”

The debut album was done remotely. Stygian Wavz was primarily done the same way. “It’s a very efficient way to work,” comments Lifeson. “I like to work on my own when no one’s in the room, and I can focus on what I’m doing, and if I don’t like it, I can just erase it and start over again. No one’s over my shoulder going, ‘Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you try that?’ That can be quite distracting when you’re formulating what is in your own brain.” Envy Of None did some work in the studio together. He continues, “Maiah came up. She was going to do vocals extensively, but we ended up hanging out and getting to know each other on a more personal level. So, we didn’t get much work done. That’s why it’s better to work this way.”

One of Lifeson’s favourite moments from the record is in “The Story”. “Right after that solo when Maiah re-enters, that is the absolute core of the message of the song and the most important part,” he exclaims. “It’s very driving, and she’s very plaintive in the delivery. The solo kind of leads up to that. It’s an ascending solo, so it rams up to this crescendo and then falls into her lap, and she drives the message home.”

STYGIAN WAVZ ALBUM REVIEW

Lifeson’s guitar work in Envy Of None is more subtle than with Rush. However, there are some instances where he delivers some breathtaking guitar solos. In “Clouds”, he unleashes a mesmerizingly thrilling earworm guitar solo. “Throughout my time in Rush, solos are very important, and I think I’ve performed some really signature solos like “Limelight”, for example, but they’re always in in service of the song,” he states. “I don’t want a solo to be just a moment of flash to show off your skills. There are millions of guitarists on Instagram and TikTok who play like crazy maniacs who can do so much, and I think that’s flashy, but really, where’s the soul in it? Where’s the connection to something? I think the solos on this record, particularly the one in “Clouds, ” is not some big, flashy shreddy solos. It’s very emotive. It’s dark. It’s menacing. It has all these things that really help enhance the song.”

Finding a rock song released this year as ambitious as “Stygian Waves” will be tough. “It had that character to it that was EDM in a way, and we thought what could we do to make it cooler and really expand it,” states Lifeson. “Maiah had just returned from her trip to India. She went as a chaperone on a student trip. It was an amazing experience for her. She came back with so many inspirations, so there was a little hint of that, and when she wanted to do a vocal treatment that didn’t include lyrics, we were all for it. We thought what a great way to end the record on this really powerful musical note. As the parts came together, her little opening, I got an oud, and I’d never played an oud before. I wanted to use it. I could hear it in the song before I actually played it. I incorporated that, and it just took a life of its own – The heavy industrial guitars, I can’t hear it another way now. They were just so perfect for it. The song is super dynamic and very cinematic, too. Lots of different parts that meld and blend and overlap.”

“New Trip” sees the band going in a different direction stylistically. “That’s a complete departure,” notes Lifeson. “It’s very soft. It’s very gentle. It’s sunny. It’s evocative. It just takes you on a trip and there’s something soothing about that. We worked really hard to get that feel. Alf did a thousand mixes of that song – It was very, very difficult to get that sunny, super calm, relaxed feel like you’re on a trip or getting away from everything holding you down in life, and that’s really how we wanted that to come across.”

There is no denying that Rush is legendary. They gave us many timeless songs like “Tom Sawyer”, “Closer To The Heart”, “Limelight”, and “The Spirit Of Radio”. Rush also appears in I Love You, Man, one of the most memorable cameos from a band in a movie ever. “We’ve been friends with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel we knew prior to that,” comments Lifeson. A call from the director changed everything. “John Hamburg and his people reached out to our management that they’re making a film, and it’s a comedy centered around these guys who are very different from each other and their common love for Rush. They thought we wouldn’t be into it. We were like, ‘Oh my God! Absolutely! For Sure! Whatever you want, we’re in!’ Later on, they asked, ‘Would you be willing to be in the film?’ They really didn’t think that would fly. We were in L.A., and we were playing two nights at The Forum with a night off in between… We did a 12-hour day of shooting in that ballroom. The version of “Limelight” that we played because we had to sync everything was the version we played the night before, so it was a fresh version of the song. We were on the stage playing, and they’re filming, and you’re miming of course, and Oh my God, so many times we had to put our heads down. We were laughing so hard watching what Paul and Jason were doing. They are just so hilarious. That movie is one of the best comedies I’ve ever seen.”

Lifeson is very proud of Stygian Wavz and is looking forward to playing some shows. “I think the quality of the music and the writing is very strong, and I would love for enough people to listen to it so we can put something together and play some dates,” he states. “There’s a lot of press that makes note of the fact that I’m playing solos again after sort of taking a break, and maybe that will draw some Rush aficionados into checking Envy Of None out.”

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Photo Credit: Richard Sibbald