Rush’s Alex Lifeson on New Envy of None Album, Ozzy’s Final Show

Rush’s Alex Lifeson joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday (March 13) to celebrate the upcoming release of Stygian Waves, the second studio album from his band Envy of None.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“We finished the record in September, so we’ve been sitting on it for awhile,” Lifeson told Chuck Armstrong about Stygian Waves.

“We had a listening party here in Toronto and it was great … We had about 80 people and played the record in [Dolby] Atmos for the first time for an audience. It went really, really well and it sounded great.”

Lifeson admitted he’s biased, but he shared that he believes it’s not only a great-sounding album, but it’s fun to listen to. Obviously, he is excited for the world to hear it, too.

“These songs are strong and there’s great variety on it,” he said.

“It’s funny because you finish a record and you love it and a week later, it’s like, oh you know what, I wouldn’t mind changing just 80-percent of it. But with this record, I’ve listened to it so much over this time, just to be sure that we were on the right track and we were accomplishing everything we set out to do. Every time I hear it, I’m really happy with it.”

Alex Lifeson Was Going to Play Ozzy’s Final Show

In addition to diving into Stygian Waves, Lifeson reflected on the history of Rush and how they started playing together in Canada in the late-’60s, around the same time Black Sabbath began making music in England.

“Those were very early days, we were playing in high schools, eventually clubs and things like that,” Lifeson recalled.

“I don’t know if I was really a fan of Black Sabbath, but I did get a couple of records back then and I enjoyed listening to them. I respected Tony [Iommi’s] guitar playing … There was an interesting parallel for their beginnings and our beginnings.”

As Lifeson shared this, he quickly pivoted to discussing Back to the Beginning, the concert that will capture Ozzy Osbourne’s final show as a solo artist and the final show of the original Black Sabbath lineup.

READ MORE: Billy Morrison Reflects on Friendship With Ozzy

“We were asked to be part of it and we’d agreed to do it, but other things came up and sadly, we had to back out of it,” Lifeson said.

“It would have been a lot of fun. We enjoy playing with other people and it gets Geddy [Lee] and me together to do stuff.”

What Else Did Alex Lifeson Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• How he ended up jamming “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” to the tune of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” with Barenaked Ladies at a recent benefit show: “We rehearsed and boy, we were in stitches during rehearsals laughing so much because those guys are brilliant. They’re so funny.”
• Why he’s comfortable letting Stygian Waves define Envy of None right now: “We were unified in direction … I felt a lot freer in the way I tried to express the guitars on this.”
• What’s next for Envy of None: “As we were sitting in the green room and we were talking about working in the future, the release [of Stygian Waves] is March 28, we’re going to start working on our next record on March 29.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Alex Lifeson joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, March 13; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.