Drummer Anika Nilles “Nailed All Those Songs” by Fifth Day of Rehearsals
While it’s impossible to fill the iconic shoes of the late Neil Peart (one of the greatest drummers of all time), RUSH are confident that their new drummer Anika Nilles has what it takes to handle the high-pressure job.
In a new interview with the UK’s Absolute Radio, guitarist Alex Lifeson and singer-bassist Geddy Lee opened up about their initial rehearsals with Nilles, and how she quickly proved she is the right person to sit behind the drum kit on the band’s upcoming reunion tour.
“She’s a wonderful person,” said Lifeson (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “So that was half of the quest, can we find somebody that’s gonna be really fun to be with? She’s really a lovely person. She laughs easily. She felt immediately comfortable. I think she was quite nervous in those first few days… But she worked really hard. She prepped for it. She had five songs, and we went through those songs. But by the fourth day, Ged and I, we talked and we weren’t quite sold on it. There was something that just wasn’t there quite. And we talked to her about the importance of the feel that Neil had in his drum arrangements. And then on the fifth day, which was the final day that we rehearsed — bang! — she just nailed all those songs. And that turned everything around.”
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He continued, “And we again got together at the studio and thought, ‘Okay, this is really gonna be worth doing. Let’s talk to her about it.’ And we brought her in and asked her if she’d be willing to continue. And she was really enthusiastic about it. And then we just continued throughout the year. That was in March. And then we got together in June and August and November, and [we went through] more material. And she was feeling more settled.”
Lee added, “But that was the moment that the final tumbler clicked into place. On that day he’s describing, it was very much like that. We had all these questions, and that day those questions were erased. And we knew we had someone that would be fun to travel with us down this road. That’s when we had to get serious — ’cause we were starting from scratch. We had no crew, really. We had no management. We had to learn about the modern state of touring: how are we gonna put this show back on the road? So, it’s been a lot of work, but we’ve surrounded ourselves with some great people. And now we’re on that road.”
Lifeson and Lee went on to say that RUSH, with Nilles and newly added keyboardist Loren Gold, are preparing 40 songs for the tour, with the intention of mixing up the setlist each night.
Lee explained, “Obviously there are the big songs that people know and love that we will have to play regularly and we want to play regularly. But there’s gonna be a turnover — about 40-percent of the set will be different night to night to night. I think we have five different days’ worth of sets.”
RUSH will kick off their reunion with an extensive 2026 North American tour that will run from early June through mid December (pick up tickets here), followed by a recently announced international tour in 2027.
Watch RUSH’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson speak with Absolute Radio below.
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