Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee of Rush in the film Neil Peart: No One's Disciple. The documentary premiered last week at the Toronto International Film Festival.TIFF/The Canadian Press
For their new documentary on the late Rush drummer Neil Peart, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn recruited four top-flight drummers to play songs from the band’s catalogue with surviving band members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson in a studio. The idea was to have the performances, not talking heads, speak to Peart’s virtuosity.
Neil Peart: No One’s Disciple premiered last week at the Toronto International Film Festival and makes its debut on CBC and CBC Gem this week. It succeeds as a celebration of the lyricist and musician, who died of brain cancer in 2020, not because of the tasty jams but in the way the guest drummers were humbled by the task at hand.
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“That beginning was tricky, man,” Tool’s Danny Carey said after a problematic run at the overture to 2112. King Crimson’s Gavin Harrison wrote out detailed charts before even attempting Dreamline from the 1991 album Roll the Bones. “When you get into the details of it, you realize how much thought went into every drum part,” he said. “There’s no extra fat lying around. It’s all very lean.”
Stewart Copeland of the Police wrestled with the compositional complexities of 1982’s New World Man: “The drums fill aren’t challenging to play. They’re challenging to remember!” And while Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith pounded out Working Man with no issues, he was breathing heavily after it was over.
Lifeson, left to right, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and Lee arrive on the red carpet at TIFF last Wednesday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Lee refers to the four guest timekeepers as Peart’s “drum brothers,” and compares drummers in general to baseball catchers and hockey goalies. “They see a kinship to each other,” he explains.
In a way, the film is not only a tribute to Peart but a requiem for kick-drum people overall.
“There’s a sense that people don’t really know what it means to be a great drummer,” McFadyen said during a recent video call alongside co-director Dunn. “There’s a lot of talking in documentaries. We wanted something more experiential.”
Scot McFadyen, left, and Sam Dunn arrive on the red carpet at TIFF. The directors of the Neil Peart doc co-own a production company behind other rock documentaries.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
McFadyen and Dunn co-own Toronto-based Banger Films, the production company behind such rock docs as Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Iron Maiden: Flight 666, Super Duper Alice Cooper and a pair of Rush films, 2010’s Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage and Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland.
The documentary was conceived and the performance scenes were filmed in Los Angeles before there was any talk of the Rush reunion tour Lee and Lifeson are currently undertaking with drummer Anika Nilles and keyboardist Loren Gold. The co-directors suspected something was up, though.
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“From the moment we stepped into the jam room on day one with Gavin Harrison, it was clear that Alex and Geddy had been playing a lot longer and a lot more than they’d let on,” Dunn said. “I was struck by how good the songs sounded.”
Lifeson and Lee are on a Rush reunion tour with drummer Anika Nilles and keyboardist Loren Gold.Mark Blinch/Reuters
While the studio sessions are bound to be catnip for Rush fans, the soul of the film rests in the thoughtful portrait of Peart. The drummer, nicknamed the Professor, was known to be private, even standoffish. He was leery of fans and wrote about it in the song Limelight: “Cast in this unlikely role, ill-equipped to act with insufficient tact / One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact.”
In the film, Lee comments on Peart’s unapproachability. He says he spoke to the drummer about it, telling him he couldn’t have it both ways − the applause without the contact. “You live on the stage and you pay the price,” Lee said.
Lee even calls it a character flaw in Peart, which is a surprising admission in a film that very easily could have slipped into hagiography.
“The film is mostly a celebration, but it’s not all adulation,” McFadyen said.
On the other hand, through interviews with those who knew him well (such as Jethro Tull drummer Doane Perry and childhood chum Brad French), the Peart that ultimately emerges is a loyal friend and a generous colleague. Other than drummer Nilles, only people close to Peart were interviewed.
“That was intentional,” Dunn explained. “The idea was a tighter sketch of what Neil was like as a person. We felt we were giving as intimate a portrait as we could.”