AS FAR AS Alex Lifeson is concerned, the band to which he devoted five decades of his life is over, but that doesn’t mean he’s done as a musician. The former Rush guitarist is hard at work on new music in his well-stocked home studio, recording guitar parts for the second album by Envy of None, the band he co-founded in 2021 with bassist Andy Curran (formerly of the Canadian rock band Coney Hatch), keyboardist/guitarist Alfio Annibalini, and the talented 27-year-old vocalist Maiah Wynne. He’s also started his own custom equipment company, Lerxst, which sells guitars, amps, and pedals capable of reproducing his classic sounds. At the same time, he reveals to Rolling Stone that he’s been jamming with his best friend and bandmate, Geddy Lee — but that definitely doesn’t mean they’re planning a tour, despite Lee’s best efforts to the contrary.
Geddy mentioned you had some health issues recently. How are you doing?
Yeah, it’s just some stomach issues. I had surgery 10 years ago for a hiatal hernia and that failed after a few years, and then I had the surgery again last July and it was very complicated. It was much longer. So I’ve had some complications and issues since then. I had nausea for nine months. I lost a little bit of weight. It is what it is and it’s permanent. So I just have to learn to live with it and work around it. It’s changed my diet. I don’t drink anymore. I certainly don’t smoke or anything like that. Well, I don’t smoke cigarettes [laughs]. It’s been a challenging year, but I think I’m incrementally getting better. And like I said, I’m learning to live with it.
I love wine and I’ve been a collector for, boy, 40, 45 years. So that was a little bit difficult to give it up, and I will have a glass of wine once in a while. I pay for it, but I will have it once in a while. But I do find that I feel a little more clear-headed when I get up in the morning, not that I was a heavy drinker.
Does cannabis help with the nausea at least?
Does it ever! Yeah. They gave me the kind of meds they give for cancer patients for nausea. They’re pretty powerful and they have their own issues, side effects. But I find that just a puff or two will take the edge off that nausea. ‘Cause for me, it was quite bad. It would lay me out for three or four hours when I had those episodes. Anyways, doing much better now.
I was in the ICU for three days. Got Covid coming back from Florida and boy, I was sick. Developed pneumonia, never been that sick, but got through it. And I slept so much over those three days that about a week after I recovered from the Covid, I felt amazing [laughs]. I’ve been on medication that is very challenging for my immune system, so I’m not taking any chances. I’m completely vaxxed, and I had Covid again a little over a year ago, and it was, I didn’t even notice it. I stayed in bed. It was like a cold. The worst part of it was watching Netflix all day for that day.
The physical illnesses can’t have helped, but even without them, you’ve had to go from being the guy in Rush to figuring out who you are after being the guy in Rush. What’s that been like for you? It can’t have been a minor thing.
No, it’s not a minor thing. You know that after we ended Rush in 2015, Ged and I still felt like we had lots of gas in the tank. We weren’t ready to retire or to finish. Then a year later, it got complicated with Neil’s illness. I kept writing and playing, but I didn’t really dedicate myself to it too much. I played a lot of golf in the summer. And I got to the point where I thought, is this it? After 50 years of being a musician, I’m just going to be a crappy golfer into my older age? And that really got to bug me after a while.
