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Throughout the summer of 1968, Alex and John played some dances and parties as The Projection. There was no bass, no keyboards, and no real singer. The Projection was just Alex pretending to be Hendrix or Clapton, and John pretending to be his own hero, Keith Moon. The projection was all about two teenage friends having fun. �We were just a basement band,� Lifeson later said of The Projection. �We played parties; we never played for money or anything; and we were horrible. But we knew about a dozen songs and we knew how to play them really badly. We just kept repeating them over the course of the night until everybody would leave! But, you�ve got to start somewhere, and you may as well start in your own basement so you don�t have to walk home from there.� When The Projection was starting out, Alex still didn�t have an amplifier of his own to play through. So whenever The Projection was going to play at a party, Alex would call Geddy and ask to borrow his amplifier. Peart later described those conversations, as he understood them: �Hello?� �Hello, can I speak to Geddy please?� �Just a minute�.... �Hello?� �Hi Geddy, its Alex here!� �Oh, hi man, how�s it going?� �Great, just great! Listen, ah, my band has a gig tonight at the coffee house, and I was wondering, like, if we could borrow your amp?� �Oh. Well, okay, I guess so. But be careful of it, okay?� �Oh yeah! Of course! Could we pick it up at about six-thirty?� �Sure. I�m not going anywhere.� �Great, thanks a lot, eh! That�s really nice of you.� �Yeah, sure. See ya.� �Okay, �bye.� Gary had started out as a rhythm guitarist, and owned some cheap guitars and an amplifier. But shortly after he joined his first band, the band�s bass player quit. They had enough guitarists; what they needed was a bassist. By sheer necessity, Gary was demoted two octaves. He became a bassist. �I was voted in as the new bass player,� he said. �I begged my Mom for 35 bucks to buy a bass and after much whining she gave in as long as I worked it off, working Saturdays at her variety store. She was not too keen on me becoming a musician. My dad had passed away when I was 13, so Mom�s was the only opinion that counted!� |
| Late in the summer, The Projection decided to augment their lineup to broaden their sound. So in August 1968 they brought in Jeff Jones to play bass and sing. Adding a third member changed the nature of the relationship. With a third member, it wasn�t �The Projection� any more. It was time for a name change. Jeff, John and Alex started bandying about names for their band in a brainstorming session. Many names were suggested, but they weren�t finding a name that they all liked. John�s older brother, Bill Rutsey, was listening in on the discussion. After hearing so many names suggested and then rejected, Bill offered his own suggestion: �Why don�t you call it �Rush�?� Succinct, memorable, powerful. A lot of energy is suggested by that simple word. It was just what they were looking for in a name. And so the first incarnation of Rush was born: Alex Lifeson on guitar, Jeff Jones on bass and vocals, and John Rutsey on drums. �We had a repertoire of about fifteen songs like �Gloria� and �Satisfaction,� fairly simple numbers,� said Lifeson. �It was a lot of fun, but we never played anywhere except for a few parties. If someone would have a party, we�d get one of our mothers to drive.� And then, in September 1968, Rush got their first small break. �We got a fairly regular gig at a drop-in center every Friday night,� Lifeson said. The gigs were to be played at the Coff-In, a youth centre that was held in a local Anglican Church basement. Rush played their first paying gig at the Coff-In on a Friday night, and then split the money. The next Friday, just a few hours before their second Coff-In show was to begin, Jeff called Alex to say he was going to a party instead that night. Suddenly Rush was without bass and vocals, and they were to go onstage in just a few hours. They would need somebody to fill in, and that person would have to be available immediately. �Alex called me up, and in those days when Alex called it was usually to borrow my amp,� Geddy said. �But this time he wanted to borrow me, to play a local drop-in centre along with John Rutsey that very night.� Peart later described that phone call, as he understood it: �Hello?� �Hello, can I speak to Geddy please?� �Just a minute�.... �Hello?� �Hi Geddy, its Alex here.� �Oh, hi man. How�s it going?� �Great, just great. Listen, ah, my band has a gig at the coffee house tonight, and I was wondering, like, if you could come and play bass?� �Sure, I�m not going anywhere.� �Great! Pick you up about six-thirty?� �Yeah, okay. See you then.� �Great! �Bye!� Although he was already a friend with Alex, Geddy had never met John until that day when Geddy arrived for practice before the show. �We rehearsed for a couple of hours and did the gig,� Geddy said. Rush had a great time that second Friday night performance at the Coff-In. Alex and John felt that their last-minute stand-in on bass and vocals was a winner. Geddy had won them over. By backing out of a paying gig at the last minute, Jeff had let them down severely. He had shown that he couldn�t be counted on, and didn�t take the shows as seriously as Alex and John. Alex and John asked Geddy to become a full-time member of Rush, and then asked Jeff to leave the band. |