Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson has defined why he performed fewer guitar solos within the later years of the band’s profession.

Talking on Q with Tom Energy [via Ultimate Guitar], Lifeson explains why the later years of Rush noticed a decreased variety of guitar solos, and a rise in using synthesizers on albums like 2007’s Snakes & Arrows and 2012’s Clockwork Angels.

“I used to be reluctant even in Rush in direction of the tip, I used to be not enjoying almost as many solos,” he says. “That was a part of the way in which we did issues. There was all the time a spot for a solo, whether or not we used it as a solo or not. It was there, and I’d do a solo.

“After which, within the later years, I simply wished to get away from that. As a result of I didn’t wish to carry a lot consideration to that. I don’t know, perhaps I used to be considering loopy, nevertheless it simply appeared that approach on the time. So, going into [Envy of None] the music was so completely different. I simply wished to be within the background. And my job was to be part of this factor, not this man from Rush.”

Lifeson shaped Envy of None in 2021, alongside Coney Hatch’s Andy Curran, who performs bass and sings, lead singer Maiah Wynne and guitarist and keyboardist Alfio Annibalini, the group launched their self-titled debut album in 2022. That was adopted by 2023’s That Was Then, This Is Now EP, and their second album, Stygian Waves, was launched in March this yr.

Whereas Rush weren’t releasing new materials following the band’s retirement in 2015, it grew to become clear that any potential future Rush exercise would by no means occur when the band’s drummer, Neil Peart, handed away in January 2020 following a three-year battle with mind most cancers. Lifeson has beforehand mentioned that he and remaining Rush bandmate Geddy Lee have been “bombarded” with drummers providing to interchange Peart following his loss of life.