RUSH Backstage Club Newsletters 1980-1994 (Book)

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RUSH Backstage Club Newsletters
1980-1994
June 2020

FOREWORD
To say that Rush has been a big part of my life would be a gross understatement. In the mid to late 70’s, I was a kid of not more than ten years, running around with my sisters at my Dad's well-worn beaten hall on the beach in Port Dover, Ontario. This venue, the Summer Gardens, was a wonderfully beaten-up indoor pavilion of sorts, and a regular summer stop on the small-town show circuit. Rush played this venue many times over the years, and it was the starting place for a relationship between the band and my family that has lasted over forty years. From that young age, I have vivid memories of various mail order businesses being run out of our family home. Both the basement and the garage were always overflowing with t-shirts, caps, books, 8-track cassette tapes, and boxes of every type. When it came time to start a mail order business for The Rush Backstage Club, my Dad wisely chose to spare our house in Dundas, Ontario and instead run the project from his office in Las Vegas.

Through these decades, many of my family members, some cousins, and a pile of friends have worked for The Rush Backstage Club. Most of these people also joined either my Dad or myself out on the road with the band during one or more of their tours. Fans may remember a few of the staff from the Vegas days. There was Virginia (my Mom), Dottie (my grandmother), Patricia (my aunt), Gail (my other aunt), Jenny (my cousin), Karla (a family friend), and the list goes on. As this was pre-internet, we all had to sort through mountains of orders and fan letters arriving in huge mail bags. It was always entertaining reading some of the letters. You had to open each and every one to check if there was a merchandise order, a letter to the band, or a question for the Rush Backstage Club Newsletter. After the sorting, the letters were forwarded to the band's management office in Toronto, and the questions were compiled for the newsletter. Packages of questions were mailed to Neil, he mailed them back with his responses, all of this was typed out, copied, then finally mailed out to the fans. It was no wonder that these newsletters only occurred a couple times per year!

Fast forward to 1999, the Rush Backstage Club office was moved to Burlington, Ontario. My Dad had passed away the previous year, and the logistics of managing the mail order business from afar was too difficult. During the move, my sister and I found several file boxes of past Rush Backstage Club Newsletters. These file boxes stayed high upon a warehouse rack until years later, when I decided to put them in some sort of order. My wife Kelly, being an extremely organized person, took on this task to meticulous detail. We ended up with a decent size stack of newsletters, in perfect chronological order, and there this stack sat on my desk for another few years. It reminds me of the words from the first newsletter, "...It has not been possible...to answer all of the mail while maintaining their...touring schedule." Between running the brimming online merchandise business, running the touring business, and being out on the road with the band, there just wasn't the time to properly sit down and think through what to do with the newsletters. In late 2019, the plan for the newsletters was set in motion. They would be compiled into a bound book, and released at roughly the same time as the Permanent Waves 40th Anniversary box sets. The historical timeline made sense with this all starting with the Permanent Waves album!

The most enjoyable part of this project has been reading, (and re-reading!) the Q&A section of the newsletters. The detail of the questions, and the care with which Neil took to write his answers, highlights the symmetry that has always existed between Rush fans and the band. The fans are highly interested in the band, and the band has always respected this enthusiasm. I think I speak for many fans when I say that Rush has always been so much more than just the music. I always want to know more, like why did Geddy play the weird looking Steinberger? Are those strange time signatures part of the reason I never get bored with any Rush song? What the heck are Didacts and Narpets? What I do know is that it has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to work so many years with Rush. Here's to many more years to come!

Patrick McLoughlin

INTRODUCTION
For Rush fans in the 21st century, access to information about their favorite hand is immediately accessible. With a simple click of a hand-held device, an inquisitive fan can quickly find information about a particular Rush song or album, or even information about a certain tour from years gone by. Longstanding Rush fans, however, know that wasn't always the case.

Soon after the release of Rush's "Permanent. Waves" album in 1980, the band saw an explosion in their popularity. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart suddenly found themselves with more hands on their time, rather than time on their hands. Thus, an official fan club, the "Rush Backstage Club," was formed, with the goal of providing fans with the information they so desperately coveted.

Membership in the Rush Backstage Club had its perks. New members would receive a personalized certificate of lifetime membership. In addition, members would receive Rush merchandise catalogues, which allowed fans to purchase limited edition clothing or memorabilia. Most notably, though, members received Rush Backstage Club newsletters, which helped keep fans aware of the latest Rush news.

As was written in the very first Rush Backstage Club newsletter, "The Rush Backstage Club has been formed to answer and inform all those who have written to Rush. It has not been possible for Alex, Geddy, and Neil to answer all of the mail while maintaining their recording and touring schedule. For these people, Rush have written a series of articles describing and explaining recording sessions, live performances, instruments and equipment as well as their origins and history. The Rush Backstage Club will also publish itineraries, discographies, concert and record reviews and photographs."

From 1980 until 1994, upwards of thirty such newsletters were delivered to members of the Rush Backstage Club. Now, in 2020, for the first time ever, the most meaningful of those original newsletters have been collected here in one self-contained book, aptly titled, "The Rush Backstage Club Newsletters 1980 — 1994." For those who joined the Rush fan community post-1994, the newsletters found here in this exclusive folio provide a wealth of information.

The first Backstage Club Newsletter featured the bio, written by Neil Peart, that told the story of the creation of Rush's "Permanent Waves" album. Authored by Neil in his inimitable style, this glimpse into the band's creative think-tank starting in the summer of 1979 was exactly what enthusiastic Rush fans desired. Each subsequent newsletter provided the perfect vehicle for the band, and more specifically for Neil, to reach out to the fans and help them feel as if they had their finger on the pulse of the band's every move. Revisiting Neil's essay on the creative genesis of "Permanent Waves" now, in the Spring of 2020, is not only insightful, but appropriate, too. Coincidentally, also in the Spring of 2020, Rush fans will be celebrating a brand-new release that celebrates the fortieth anniversary of "Permanent Waves".

Subsequent newsletters found Neil detailing life on the road during the "Moving Pictures" tour, with one titled, "Notes On The Making Of Moving Pictures," which provided fans with valuable intelligence into each song on that masterpiece album.

By July of 1985, the format of the newsletters had begun to change. It was at that time that Neil began to directly answer some of the questions that were being submitted by inquiring fans. Ensuing newsletters found here in this folio were devoted primarily to a "question and answer" format. Amidst the meteoric rise in their popularity, the band and their fans found a vehicle in which they could successfully interact.

To revisit these questions and answers now does more than simply provide insight into Rush-related minutiae. It also effectively illuminates Neil's incredible gift as a writer. The degree of Neil's articulation, education, fluency, and humor, are evident in this "question and answer" format. The seeds of his future as a published author might very well have been sown in these cherished newsletters.

In addition to the newsletters themselves, three other personal letters written by Neil are included here in these Backstage Club Newsletters. These three correspondences have never been published in any other forum, and again showcase Neil's eloquence and wit.

"Manhattan Project", from Rush's 1985 album, "Power Windows", begins with Neil asking the listener to "Imagine a time when it all began..." For Rush fans, before online websites, message boards, or other forms of social media, the Rush "Backstage Club" is where it all began. Thankfully, this printed and bound folio allows you and I the privilege to revisit that time...when it all began.

Ray Wawrzyniak