Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee recently announced that Rush would be back on the road, and the first question was obviously: how do you replace someone as irreplaceable as the late Neil Peart? The answer was Anika Nilles, a praised German drummer who had previously toured with Jeff Beck. In an interview with CBC News, Lee recalled that she actually didn't grow up as a fan of the band, but she is a hard worker and learned the songs quite well. Geddy Lee reveals their new drummer was not a Rush fan "Well, I'm a bit overwhelmed right now, to be honest. Alex and I took a long time trying to figure out if we could actually do this ever again. And when we did finally decide, of course people were optimistic, but we really didn't expect the kind of overwhelming response our announcement has brought forth out of our fanbase. It's just been a remarkable few weeks around our homes, but very exciting — very exciting." "Well, of course it was a very difficult decision to go back on the road, and that was the main stumbling block, obviously. How do we replace the irreplaceable, so to speak? And we have been fortunate to have been introduced to the name Anika Nilles through one of my road crew — my bass tech Skully [John McIntosh], who was on tour with Jeff Beck, and she was the drummer for Jeff Beck on his last tour. And he came home from that tour raving about her." He continued: "So when we made the decision to see what it's like to play with another drummer, we contacted her, and she's just a fantastic person. And she came to Canada and we very surreptitiously snuck into a studio and worked out for about a week. And by the end of it, we were convinced that this would be a go for us. Yeah, she's just a tremendous player." "When she first came over here (to Canada), we started playing some of the songs, trying to translate Rush music to someone who didn't really grow up as a Rush fan; she was not a Rush fan. She knew, of course, of Neil's playing — every drummer knows who Neil is, or Neil was, I should say — so it was a bit of a daunting task." "And we had to go through each song and explain the nuances of the song and the idiosyncratic nature of how our songs are put together. So at times she was a bit overwhelmed, but she's an incredibly hard worker. She's got great technical facility and she's just got a really positive attitude, and that's really good for Alex and I to be around right now," Geddy Lee said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efR6bvqX5yw&t=283sThe post Geddy Lee reveals their new drummer was not a Rush fan appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.