Mood Lifters – A Tribute to Rush Tour.
Canadian three-piece Rush defined the power trio in progressive rock circles. For many musicians, there is no greater pinnacle of musicianship as found in the vast discography of Rush’s works. Sadly, their 2015 R40 Live Tour, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of celebrated drummer, the late Neil Peart, aka ‘The Professor’, joining the band, proved to be their last tour for what is known as the definitive line-up.
The influence of Rush continues, and is widespread, as evidenced by American tribute bands YYNOT and Xanadoodz – A Tribute to Rush, who effectively joined forces to create Southern Californian Rush tribute band Mood Lifters. Australian Rush fans had to travel overseas to see Rush perform live in their day, so for those on a budget, the appearance of a well-versed tribute band such as Mood Lifters – A Tribute to Rush hitting our shores to tour the country, is very welcome. As the bass and vocals duties are understandably split between vocalist Rocky Kuner and bassist, Isamu Kakitani, Mood Lifters is a four-piece. In true three-piece tradition, we spoke to Kuner, guitarist Ben King, and drummer Mat Miranda, and they do know their Rush material.
You’ll be touring here fairly soon. It sounds like you’ve been to many places, so now you add Australia to it.
Ben King: Yeah, this one’s super exciting. I’ve never been to Australia, so I was just thrilled when the opportunity came up. I don’t know how much of it I’ll see versus going from plane to van to stage to hotel, but I’ll try to squeeze as much of it in as I can during the trip.
Your drummer has made life hard for himself playing Neil Peart’s drum parts.
BK: Yeah, he does a good job of it. We had our full run through rehearsal last night. We said, ‘Look at the wall, that’s the crowd. We’re doing the whole show, go!’ and didn’t break character until the intermission in the end, just to make sure we were okay with that. So Mat was working hard during that. We got it pretty well tightened down, so he doesn’t get a lot of breaks and a lot of chances to drink water between these songs.
Were you able to attend the last ever Rush shows in 2015?
BK: You’re talking to someone who did.
Rocky Kuner: I’m not sure if I was at the last show, specifically, but I was there towards the end of the last of their touring. But I wouldn’t say I was at the last show, though.
BK: From talking with your uncle, you were at the second to last show at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.
RK: He would know because I was really young when I went.
BK: I went to every Rush show in LA from 1984 to their last show, except for the second to last show that I think Rocky went to because I couldn’t get tickets to it. As soon as I had trouble getting tickets to that one, I gave up and went straight to trying to get the last show [at The Forum in Inglewood, Los Angeles] tickets. I’m really glad I got to that last show. It was amazing. They were just on fire, and you knew it and I didn’t have any doubt in my mind that that was going to be the last show. So, it was a tough, emotional night. But it was also spectacular way for them to end their career, it was just spectacular.
Well, Australia’s never had them tour here, however I believe that it had to do with the logistics of getting Neil’s kit over here without exorbitant expenses.
BK: Yeah, is there a plane big enough? There’s a lot of theories about why they didn’t tour there, but one thing’s for sure is a sort of a vicious cycle, I guess. If they didn’t tour, then the radio stations didn’t play them and then the records didn’t sell, and then maybe because records weren’t selling, they didn’t feel the need to tour. It just kept going, I guess, like that. But, if you saw their productions, for those that were lucky enough to leave Australia and see them elsewhere, they were extremely elaborate stage productions. I would think to bring something as big as they had going in those later tours, say for the last two decades, to Australia to play maybe five, six, seven cities versus going to Europe and playing 35 shows, and going to the US and playing 35 to 40 shows, it made more sense to go to those places. But we’re thrilled to come over there and hopefully people that have been longing to see what Rush comes off like live are going to be very happy and impressed.
How do you choose which songs to play?
RK: Well, I would say that it depends on how long we have to play because we usually have the timestamps on every song that we know how to play. So, we try to figure out what will fit in the set list. But then also we think about what we’ve already played before2, saying, ‘Maybe fans want to hear something new or something we haven’t played before.’ So, we do try to keep it spicy. We try to do a newer song or two every show, to keep the variety happening. We try not to just stay in one era. We try to expand our range and go with a little bit of everything from their whole career. I feel like that’s kind of how we do it, based on how we’re feeling and what the vibe is at each venue.
BK: We do try to view the setlist more as events; what’s going to be a special experience for a particular show, depending on how much time we have. For longer shows, we like to stretch out and do things that other tribute bands don’t do, maybe even Rush didn’t do very often because they’re big chunks. We’ve had some three hour shows where we came right out of the box with opening song being “Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage” [A Farewell to Kings], followed by second song, “Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres” [Hemispheres], and that’s 29 minutes or so back to back, but that’s a special experience for people. Rush hadn’t done that since maybe the last Hemispheres tour, and I think one tour after that where they did those long pieces. We do what we call the Sphere trilogy. Some people think there’s a fourth, but we’ve done the Sphere trilogy a few times. We picked kind of experiences that we know Rush fans have always kind of clamoured for, and try to surprise them, delivering some fun pieces.
I believe that Alex [Lifeson – Rush guitarist] has said that his most difficult song to perform is “Natural Science” [Permanent Waves]. Does that correlate for you, or is it something such as “La Villa Strangiato” [Hemispheres]?
BK: I find “Natural Science” is a challenging song, but “La Villa Strangiato” is more difficult for me to play. That is a tour de force from a guitar standpoint, and some of their songs are just really difficult from a timing standpoint. It is not so much the elaborate parts but keeping your brain straight. A song like “Headlong Flight” from the Clockwork Angels album is extraordinarily difficult from a timing standpoint. There’s all kinds of strange little twists put in there during that one. Then, from a guitar solo standpoint, the most difficult solo for me, if you really commit to getting it note for note, is “Cut to the Chase” from the Counterparts album. Alex was very influenced by Eric Johnson at that point. They had toured together on the prior tour [Roll the Bones], and he put on his best Eric Johnson, and got 24 frets on his PRS [Paul Reed Smith] guitar, starting up super high. It was a very difficult solo and very fast. I remember the album.
It’s interesting you mentioned the Counterparts album, because the opening track is “Animate”, which is fantastic, and I believe it was Neil’s favourite song. Mat, do you have an attempt at that one?
Mat Miranda: That one we have not done, and I am not too familiar with it, at least not yet. I’ve heard the title get thrown around a lot. I know it’s definitely a favourite amongst a lot of fans and I’m always excited to learn new songs and discover new ones. But unfortunately, that one I am not familiar with, not yet.
BK: I think eventually that one will find its way into our list. We’ve been gradually adding songs about a rate of two per show, for the shows are spread out far enough and the list has grown and grown. That one just hasn’t made it to the list yet. But I think it will at some point. That’s a great song. I just remember when I was sitting outside the record store, having walked out with the Counterparts cassette, back in the nineties, and just sat down in my car thinking, ‘What am I going to get?’ It had been quite a few years of the synth phase for Rush there. I just
sat down on my car and I plugged that into the deck, not planning to leave the record store parking lot until I heard the whole thing, and with the liner notes, I just couldn’t believe that song. I mean, it was just so hard compared to everything they’d been doing, you know, such a true gritty song, that it was an experience.
Yes, I certainly remember Hold Your Fire and songs like “Time Stand Still”, but as good as it was, with all the synth work, was it real Rush?
BK: Well, it was to me. I took the ride with them, and I kind of enjoyed the changes, you know, but I was ready to go back to the guitars when they were ready to go back to the guitars.
For the vocals, approaching Geddy Lee’s [Rush bassist] material must be challenging, and perhaps Rocky, you’re lucky you don’t have to sing and play bass at the same time. But how did you approach the arrangements?
RK: It’s a great question. I feel like one of my strongest skills is imitating people or mimicking things I hear, and somehow, for me, as a vocalist, I’m really good at hearing him saying certain things and really trying to match his phrasing, his timbre or tone. I don’t really understand how I’m doing it sometimes, but I just try to put myself in his shoes, I guess, and just embody how he would be singing and how I think it feels to sing that stuff. That’s how I approach it but it’s a little weird to describe as it is more like a study. I almost try to study his voice and try to match it as best I can. It’s hard though, so I definitely work with my vocal teacher all the time on my range because he has such a big range in his whole career where he’ll jump. He’s also a man, so he’s got that advantage of going [to] real low [notes] in places that I’m not used to going, and then he sings way up yonder, so I have to keep up with those things. I feel that I’ve improved as a singer just learning all of the material and trying to take on or embody that as best I can.
Certainly true. Neil’s lyrics sometimes were not just insightful but could be quite cutting or acerbic. Maybe some people don’t pick up on that until they really read the lyrics to see how he’s really getting stuck into a subject. Do you think the average music fan understands his lyricist songwriting skills?
RK: I don’t know. That’s great, I think maybe people that really take the time to listen and understand the band, and especially Neil would. If you understand him as a person, you can understand his lyrics a lot more, and where he’s coming from and what he’s reading, I guess, because a lot of it is from just knowledge of things. But he has profound lyrics that are very deep and spiritual. I really enjoy the lyrics of all the songs because I feel like they resonate with me in some ways. I hope that an average music fan would be able to listen to Rush and really appreciate that stuff, but it depends on the music fan.
BK: Yeah, it’s like one of those phrases, ‘I came for the musicianship, and I stayed for the lyrics.’ I mean, once people get hooked, and they hear that, they will say, ‘Oh, this band has a great sound, or an interesting sound,’ but then they really start listening to it and they’ll say, ‘Well, wait a minute, what’s he saying there?’ Neil worked extraordinarily hard on those lyrics. He didn’t have a throwaway word in his entire career. It’s not just from the meanings of the lyrics, but if you examine the structure of it, it’s quite beautiful, because he has so many twists on phrases that fit so perfectly in the song and say multiple things with one line.
“Roll the Bones” and “Dreamline”, are good examples of that, where you’ve got a story going on, but at the same time, he’s making comments that are philosophical and to some extent, metaphysical.
BK: Yeah, absolutely and, you know, he was funny. He was very much not religious. He was very sort of vehemently atheistic. But he was open to reason and fascinated with spirituality. When he wrote in his books where he would drive across the country, he would keep track of church signs that he would see, and so he wrote a lot of songs where he actually had a respect for religion without believing in it. I think that was interesting. Listen to a song like “Faithless” [Snakes & Arrows]. He was saying in that song, ‘I’m not a religious person, but I share the same characteristics of hope and love and so forth.’ So, he recognized the good, what should be good about religion, and that serves that purpose. But he also recognised sometimes it has a bad aspect, and it causes people to do horrible things.
Does being a Rush tribute band present a requirement to replicate their sounds with their musical equipment and effects? Presumably you have to make concessions and find ways to do it on a budget.
MM: I know one of the first things on joining a tribute band that I’m sure would come across anyone’s mind, was thinking of having to replicate the whole kit and whatnot. I think our main thing is that we definitely try to dial in the sound as close as possible. I don’t think you exactly need to have any specific, exact kit, whether it’s cymbals or this and that to replicate the sound. When it comes to more electronic stuff, with the drum pads I use, I definitely try to get as close as I can with any of those sounds, and effect sounds – any electronic drumming sounds. When it comes to the acoustic kit itself, and cymbals, I’m more focused on making sure that I can try to do my best to replicate the parts that he’s playing, such as the grooves, his kick drum patterns, the drum fills, and the specific different fills from verse one to verse two and all that. My focus has always kind of been we’re trying to replicate that.
BK: My feeling from a guitar standpoint is that you can’t come out of nowhere and play something that Alex Lifeson played. But you can’t play a flying V and do a Rush tribute, even if it allows you to get very close to the sound, because people want to feel a genuineness to it. We don’t take it as far as having to look like them, or to wear wigs, and maybe throw kimonos on, or wear the exact outfits that they wore. That is because Rush was about the music. It was 100% about the music, and they didn’t put on [social] airs. They were themselves, and so we try to be ourselves. But as for the equipment, I think it’s important to get in the neighbourhood. But then I don’t really try to tone match Alex Lifeson. I try to play what I think is the best sounding guitar for the material, and I just believe that if you try to do that, you’re going to end up very close to what Alex Lifeson did because that’s what he was trying to do; make the best sounding guitar sounds for that particular material. So that’s really how I approach it. There are times when people will say, ‘You were spot on and matched that Grace Under Pressure sound.’ But it’s not like I tried. It’s not like I sat down, played the album and then dialled in my settings to try. What I heard is the best guitar sound for those songs, and I’ve heard the songs a million times, and then ultimately it ends up sounding like the original material.
Do you think if Alex or Geddy were in the crowd at one of your performances that you’d suddenly become rather nervous?
BK: Oh, yeah, I don’t think, and it would be miserable because I don’t think I’d hit a correct note. From the entire time after I noticed that, you know, I would definitely struggle throughout.
RK: I would just hope that I wouldn’t know until after the show.
I’m just curious as I’m sure that must happen where existing artists check out tribute bands if they’ve got a night off and they just happen to be in the same city, if they’re still a touring entity. There’s a lot of these bands around.
BK: I know Rush was aware of the very large tribute community, and Alex used to joke about when Rush would get together for their rehearsals for a tour. He said for the first week, they’d sound like a bad Rush tribute band, and then by the third week, they’d sound like a good Rush tribute band, and by the fourth week, they’d sound like Rush.
You’ve been in previous Rush tribute bands, so how did this one come about? What would you say makes Mood Lifters definitive about it by comparison?
RK: I started out in YYNOT [likely a pun reference to “YYZ” from Moving Pictures]. That was the first Rush tribute band, I was working with, and I joined that when I was around 19 years old. And it started out with just webcam video covers, like a four square, you know, like just the COVID videos. Fast forward, we were touring and doing a bunch of shows, getting established in that field, and then more people were aware of me. People like Ben were aware of me doing the Rush
tribute thing because of the Internet, since if you’re a Rush fan, you’re probably looking up Rush tributes, just trying to be in the community of that. So, when I left YYNOT, my dad, found Mood Lifters [previously Xanadoodz – A Tribute to Rush] on YouTube, and he reached out saying, ‘If you need a singer, there’s one right here,’ and then they actually said, ‘we fucking do. We need somebody.’ So, we met, and we’ve just been performing together ever since, and
now we’re going to Australia.
Do you encounter purists saying, ‘you must sing and play bass’, to replicate Rush?
RK: Look, I do play bass. Don’t get me wrong, I play instruments. I’m a songwriter, and I play guitar, bass and drums, but the Rush material is so different from normal music. It is not normal. I feel like I’m already struggling with the lyrics anyway, as I have to memorise all of these words. I’m already so concerned about the vocals being on point that sometimes I feel like if I had to do bass and keyboard, I would be lost. There’s no way I’d be able to multitask. Geddy Lee is kind of an alien in that way; he’s so special. There’s something crazy happening. I feel like whoever made people just gave him a little bit too much power, and he’s very powerful at just multitasking. I don’t know how anybody does that, but that’s cool.
Finally, you’re playing Moving Pictures in full to start the second set. When you cover an album like that and start getting into the feel and flow of the material, do you find yourself in some sort of detached mindset, starting to get taken over by the music?
BK: You know, that is a very, very insightful question because you definitely feel the difference when you’re into that album. We just rehearsed the full set last night, and to me, just looking back to last night, it feels like a special segment of what we were doing. It has a different feel to it, and we’re trying to make sure that it keeps that character of someone almost spinning a record. Looking back to that particular album and giving it special consideration, it has its own character that’s different from a lot of the Rush material. They even changed fairly significantly with Signals, the next album after it. So, it’s not like some other bands where you might get three albums in one particular style before they start thinking to do something different. Moving Pictures stands out as having its own character. So, when I’m playing it, I feel the difference of it, and it feels like one big collective work to me than doing various songs and bouncing around from the different eras.
MM: For me, there’s definitely a few songs from that album that have been a bit newer for me, and it’s definitely the first four of the ones I’ve been most familiar with. So, definitely those are ones that I’m a lot more comfortable with, and they’re definitely so much more fun to just enjoy, in a sense. A bit more with the latter songs, as mentioned, I’m still just getting a little more familiar and comfortable with them. So, I’m still a lot more in focus mode when I’m in the middle of playing those specific songs. So that’s how it is for me. But, overall, as the album itself obviously is such a great album, it’s definitely going to be a special section moment of our set. We have a little fun, little bits we’ll be including with going through that album, without giving too much away. It’s definitely going to be a fun time once we get to playing that from front to back.
RK: I agree. There’s probably just one new one that I’m not quite used to completely, but it’s
growing on me to the point where, since yesterday, especially during our rehearsal, I almost got
really emotional during our whole run through, because we were really just running through it, and it almost felt like how you describe where you’re kind of detached, but you’re in it, you’re out of your body a little bit. I felt very happy about doing justice to the music, making sure that we are into it, and we play it, and we feel it. Plus, there’s the message they’re trying to get across, are getting across, and we’re just being a vessel to deliver it, you know? It felt really good to rehearse everything, and I’m just excited. The shows are going be really special. So, just buckle up, they’re going to be special, for sure.
BK: Absolutely. Well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.
No worries. We’ll see you very soon.
BK: Thank you.
RK: Nice to meet you.
BK: Take care. Bye.