Neil Peart ― Discography: Solo and with other musicians

Max Webster often opened for Rush in the 1980s, and Max Webster's lyricist Pye Dubois co-wrote lyrics for several Rush songs, including "Tom Sawyer," "Force 10," "Test for Echo," and "Between Sun and Moon."

In the Moving Pictures tourbook, Neil wrote:

"Toronto, July 28, 1980. An intense thunderstorm raged outside all day long, while indoors a storm of a different kind was brewing. In the studios of Phase One, two complete sets of equipment crammed the room, and two complete bands filled the air with a Wagnerian tumult, as Max Webster and ourselves united to record a song for their album, called Battlescar."

"Champion (of the World)" fits Peart's style well, with some interesting side stick and bass drum syncopation at the beginning.

This song showcases Peart's compositional abilities, with him playing his malletKAT and other assorted percussion. The result is dynamic piece that echoes the 7/8 riff "Natural Science" riff in the verses.

During the Hold Your Fire tour, Peart would add the "verse" section of "Pieces of Eight" to his drum solo as call and response between the malletKAT and his acoustic drums. On the Vapor Trails tour, he added the chorus section of "Pieces of Eight."

In the May 1987 Modern Drummer article, "The Quest for New Drums" Peart wrote:

"Like many percussionists, I had long harbored a secret wish to create a piece of music using only percussion instruments, and this looked like the key to that dream! I practiced with the KAT for a few days and then, when I had a free day, recorded a "demo" of a marimba piece I had been working on over the summer.

...The piece is entitled "Pieces Of Eight" because of all the different time signatures it ended up meandering through. I hadn't thought about that too much just playing the marimba, until I had to learn it on drums! With only a day to record it all, I didn't really have time to play it more than a couple of times through, so that, too, was a good challenge.

I find it interesting as a drummer to work with a melodic instrument and think melody as well as rhythm. You can really get into some wild areas! In a way, I wish I hadn't been so obsessed with drums alone in the beginning and had acquired more knowledge of music theory. But I suppose in this day and age you do have to specialize!"

Credits:

Recorded and mixed at Elora Sound Studios

Engineered by Jon Erickson

Technical Assistance by Jim Burgess, Larry Allen, and Tony Geranios

One hot night in a village in Togo called Assohoum, in November 1989, I laid out my sleeping bag on an adobe rooftop and lay looking up at the bright stars in the perfect silence of an African night ― no traffic, no television, no radio, just scattered conversations of distant dogs. As I was dozing off, a drum rhythm echoed from across the valley, two hand-drummers playing an interlocking pattern, and it stuck in my head, only to emerge later as the basis for a rhythm I used in a Rush song called "Heresy."... Later, the same rhythm became the foundation of a solo piece I created in the early 90s to serve as a backing track while I practiced my marimba playing, called "Momo's Dance Party." A version of that little etude appears at the end of my instructional video, A Work in Progress.

"Momo's Dance Party" was also inspired by a real-life experience on that same African journey, a trip with guide David Mozer and his Bicycle Africa tour group through Togo and Ghana, which ended with me cycling on alone to meet my family in the Ivory Coast, at (of all places) a Club Med. ... David had visited Agbo Kope once before, when he reconnoitered this tour, and had met Momo, and ambitious young man who had received some education away from the village. Momo seemed to be the only villager who spoke the colonial language of French, and he seemed to be trying to put his village on the tourist map.

...The woman of the village cooked nearby on clay firepits, preparing us the usual dinner of rice and "mystery meat" stew (which I had dubbed in Cameroon as "rice with junk on it"), and in the evening, the entire village gathered to put on a show for us... The grand finale was the village choir, the rich voices of the men and women, harmonizing beautifully, accompanied only by one man playing a shaker, and another playing a metal disc with a stick. This syncopated pattern hypnotized me at the time, and remains in my memory as one of the most musical performances I have ever heard. Even fourteen years later, I can still conjure the aural image of those blended voices and that simple percussion accompaniment.

Peart began using the melody of "Momo's Dance Party" in his drum solo starting on the Roll the Bones tour. The first recorded version appears on "The Rhythm Method" on Different Stages.

In 1992, Peart participated in the Buddy Rich Scholarship concert, a move that astonished many in the drumming community, given that he is first and foremost a rock drummer. But with the Buddy Rich Band he was stretching into jazz. After that experience, Peart was inspired to play more music with a big band.

In an interview in the February 1995 Modern Drummer with William F. Miller (WFM below), Peart (NP) explained how the project came about:

NP: ...It came around full circle for me, when, in 1991, Buddy's daughter, Cathy, asked me to perform with the big band for the scholarship show. While I was very intimidated it sounded like an enormous challenge and an opportunity to actually play some of this music I loved. I went into that experience for that reason, basically as a good way to challenge myself. I hate when things get too safe.

WFM: But what led you from that point to getting so involved in a much larger project like Burning?

NP: Actually, to be perfectly honest, all I wanted was a very selfish thing—the chance to play big band music again! In my darkest little mean heart of hearts all I wanted was to feel the excitement of kicking a big band. I wished somebody would make a record so I could have the opportunity to play with Buddy's band again under more controlled circumstances than a live concert, and I guess I realized I was the one to do it! That truly was the germ of the whole thing.

Burning for Buddy - Volume II was released after the first volume sold reasonably well. In all, 39 songs were recorded for the Burning for Buddy sessions. Eighteen were released with Volume I, and 13 were released with Volume II. (If you do the math, this means there are still nine unreleased songs from the Burning for Buddy sessions.)

One thing to note on this CD is that Peart actually went back in to the studio with Buddy's band after the original sessions and recorded "One O'clock Jump." One reason for this was that he had studied with Freddie Gruber for over a year and wanted to mark his progress with a jazz recording.

At the end of 2009, Peart recorded a new version of "The Hockey Theme" for TSN networks. For the recording and song, Drum Workshop built him a new hockey-themed drum kit. According to the DW drums article:

The set is airbrushed in Lacquer Graphics with NHL logos and ultra-custom Ice Blue hardware. DW Custom shop Artist, Louie Garcia comments, Neil told me he wanted to begin a new masterpiece with this kit. He really wanted it to represent the game of hockey, incorporating center ice and the face-off circles. And for the look of ice, we with went with a pearlescent color called Blue Frost. It really is a unique kit"

A new DVD was released in October, 2010, "Fire on Ice: The Making of 'The Hockey Theme."