Geddy Lee may have spent most of his adult life in the arena stage limelight, but as the co-founder of the legendary Canadian rock trio Rush will tell you, every great band's story usually begins in a family basement or garage.
And a major part of that story is often deciding who’s going to forego the glamour of guitar solos and hold down the bottom end by picking up the bass.
“Frankly, that’s what happened to me,” recalls the distinctive singer and musician, Toronto Blue Jays booster and now author with a new book devoted to the instrument he’s become forever associated with.
“I was playing guitar with a few little pals, and we couldn’t even call ourselves a garage band because we didn’t have access to a garage. We were playing in my buddy’s apartment — in his bedroom — so it was low-level, early days rock music, trying to play the Rolling Stones songs and that kind of thing.
“Our bass player’s mother didn’t like him associating with kids with long bangs, who parents saw as degenerate types, so the others looked around the room and pointed at me and said,
‘You be the bass player!’”
Book signing in Halifax
Such is the stuff of rock legend, and the start of a journey chronicled in Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass: A Compendium of the Rare, Iconic and Weird. From his first four-string — a Japanese-made Canora bass bought with money earned working in his mother’s Newmarket variety store — to an expansive collection of carefully crafted vintage instruments, the book celebrates the artistry found in their creation as well as elevating the importance of the bass in giving rock, soul and jazz thrust.
On Saturday, Dec. 14, Lee will make a rare personal appearance in Halifax for a book signing at Coles in Halifax Shopping Centre, a ticketed event that will include a copy of the book, at 4 p.m.
Much of the book is what Lee has jokingly been referring to as “#bassporn” on social media, with Richard Sibbald’s artful, up-close photos of rare Fenders and Rickenbackers getting the kind of glossy treatment usually reserved for models and Italian sports cars. But Lee finds his groove as a writer by exploring the history of the instrument and interviewing musicians he admires like Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Primus’s Les Claypool and his first major influence, Bill Wyman from the Rolling Stones.
Event tix avail now: https://t.co/epOjjM1Gl9 pic.twitter.com/9ObHdxoNts
— Rush (@rushtheband) November 23, 2019
“That was such a wonderful moment for me, because he was the first bass player whose playing I tried to mimic in my life,” says Lee, who considers Wyman’s contribution to rock and roll underrated in the grand scheme of things.
“He was what I like to consider a stay-at-home bass player. He held down the rhythm section, and he’s not a big fan of guys like me that wander too far across the blue line. He’s an interesting chap, but also a very important bass player in the growth and the history of popular music.”
Bass heroes
Throughout the book, Lee honours his own obvious influences, like the volcanic rumblings of the Who’s John Entwistle and Chris Squire’s complex rhythmic contributions to prog pioneers
Yes, as well as the in-the-pocket R&B genius of Motown bassmaster James Jamerson and Stax Records/Booker T & the MGs lynchpin Donald (Duck) Dunn.
It’s Entwistle, the Ox, who looms largest among Lee’s bass heroes, from meeting the man himself on a handful of occasions to being able to play his famous “Frankenstein” Fender made out of five other instruments which had been smashed onstage in a typical Who frenzy.
“I was invited to play the Who’s 50th anniversary benefit concert for the Teenage Cancer Trust in London, with a bunch of guests like Eddie Vedder and one of the Gallaghers, I can’t remember which one,” he says with a chuckle about the event where he met Entwistle’s guitar collection curator Alan Rogan, who put Lee in touch with the current L.A.-based owner of the famous Frankenstein.
“I went over to the guy’s house, I think he was in the movie business and had collected a lot of cool instruments, and there was the Frankenstein. I plugged it in, and oh my God, it sounded so Entwistle. I can’t even begin to explain how exciting it was, we plunked around and jammed for a bit, and I got to play it for a while.”
The makers
The book itself dedicates each chapter to a particular manufacturer, from the earliest models created by the Henry Ford of guitars, Leo Fender, to the violin-shaped Hofner that became iconic in the hands of Paul McCartney. As a collector, Lee says he appreciates well-worn road warriors with scuffed finishes and well-earned wear-and-tear as much as he does the mint condition “case queens” that look like they just came off the music store shelf.
The distinctive Rickenbacker brand favoured by Lee for many years also gets its share of love, especially the 1964 Rickenbacker 4001s, especially beloved by Brits like McCartney, the Kinks’ Pete Quaife and Squire, whose use of it directly inspired the Rush bassist’s devotion.
“I go on a bit about it in the book. When I finally got one, that was a pinnacle moment for me, because it’s so iconic,” says Lee, who acknowledges that while it may have been one of the first electric basses to look cool on its own, he never considered the instrument itself to be an uncool thing to play.
“I was the lucky one, I had two less strings to deal with, and I get to wander all around the neck. Being the bass player in a three-piece band is a wonderful job, if you can get it, because you have multiple roles.
“You have to knit yourself to the drums and create a foundation, but when the guitar player goes off, in order for it not to sound empty in the background, you have to get busy, and there’s nothing a bass player loves more. Unless you’re Bill Wyman, of course.”
If you go:
Tickets for Geddy Lee’s Dec. 14 Big Beautiful Book of Bass signing at Coles in Halifax Shopping Centre are $89.30 (plus tax and fees, for a total of $103.04) only available online and will not be available at the store.
Tickets will include a copy of the book, and can be exchanged for numbered wristbands on the day of the event, starting at noon. Further details about the signing available at the link.
