In 2007, I studied with Peter Erskine because I was doing a Buddy Rich tribute concert, and I wanted to take my big-band drumming up a level. I went over to Peter’s house with my sticks, feeling like a 13-year-old again. Neil Peart Read Quote
I don’t like lyrics that are just thrown together, that were obviously written as you went along, or the song was already written and the guy made up the lyrics in five minutes. Neil Peart Read Quote
For me, drum elements are like hieroglyphics – I think of a certain physical figure, and a little three-dimensional glyph will appear in my mind as I’m playing. Neil Peart Read Quote
I am the audience. I want to observe people. Even when I’m playing drums onstage, I’m watching people. I’m looking at them and their faces and their T-shirts and their signs. And travelling by motorcycle, especially, the world is just coming at me. Neil Peart Read Quote
We don’t want to be Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. That type of thing wasn’t what we were after. It was most important for each of us to be equal in input and output – each of us has to pull the same amount, musically, in composition and in every sense of being in the band. Neil Peart Read Quote
The government’s only functions are to protect the rights of the individual; therefore, you need a police force and an army. Neil Peart Read Quote
I expect if you’re a professional public speaker, you probably wouldn’t want to go onstage and sing and play drums. Neil Peart Read Quote
I try not to repeat myself in fills in all the Rush songs unless it is something simple or something I feel is my own characteristic thing. Neil Peart Read Quote
I think, in music, you’re always hoping that you’ll have a like-minded audience and that the music you like making will appeal to them, too. Neil Peart Read Quote
Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to play music that I liked, and even when I was in cover bands when I was a teenager we only played cover tunes that we liked. That was the simple morality that I grew up with. Neil Peart Read Quote
