Neil Peart -- The Latest News

Neil Peart has penned a new article called "The Heart and Soul of a Drumset." The first chapter "Bass Drum Heartbeat" is available on the DW website.

In addition, there's a great video of Neil talking about the DW "X shell" and hybrid kit. In the video, there's a time-lapse sequence of Lorne Wheaton setting up the Snakes kit. Pay close attention to the song playing in the background.

Thanks to Rushisaband for the head's up.

Labels: Drum Workshop, drums, videos, web article

Rush.com has added a video interview with Lorne "Gump" Wheaton, Neil's drum tech. In the video, Lorne goes over the entire setup, including the backstage area.

To watch the video, go to Rush.com and click Multimedia. The interview with Lorne is listed on the right side as Rush Backstage - Welcome to Bubba Gump. See screenshot below for more information.

Labels: cymbals, drums, Rush.com, Sabian, videos

There are a lot of interesting bits of news about Neil and Rush that I thought I'd compile into one update.

• Snakes & Arrows hit #3 on the Billboard 200, #3 on the Canadian charts, and #13 in the UK. Read the official Anthem release.
• The official "Far Cry" video is now available on YouTube. The video was directed by Chris Mills.
• The reviews of "Snakes & Arrows" have been coming in over the past few weeks (mostly positive). I've been compiling them on my "Snakes & Arrows" page. Thanks to Rushisaband.com for tracking down many of these reviews.
• While Geddy and Alex continue to do a lot of press for "Snakes & Arrows," Neil has also done some interviews. You can listen to a radio interview on IcebergRadio.com. There are also two interviews with Neil: Toronto Star: Closer to the Heart and Globe and Mail (although you now need to purchase the Globe story to read it all).
• The "Snakes & Arrows" MVI disc is confirmed to release on June 5. A few short clips of the documentary have made it to YouTube: clip 1: Alex working on guitar overdubs and clip 2: Geddy singing and entire band playing The Main Monkey Business.
• Andrew MacNaughtan has Neil Peart prints for sale (signed by Neil himself): Neil Peart Retrospective 2006 - $95.00 (sale); Neil Peart Snakes & Arrows Recording Session - $325.00; Neil Peart African Drum - $275.00 (sale).
• Finally, you should be able to find the Drum! issue with Neil on the cover at newsstands now.

Labels: Andrew MacNaughtan, audio interview, magazine article, newspaper interview, press release, Rush SnakesArrows, videos