The Liquid Kosmos

Thou shall not fear Counterparts

He looked more like Tennessean celebrity columnist Brad Schmidt than Alex Lifeson, but he obviously knows how to play and the girl next to me liked his black leather pants. I'm talking about the lead guitarist for "Counterparts" - a Rush tribute band.

Yeah, I know what you are saying, "what on earth would a hipster like me be doing at a show like this?" Well, I am, in fact, kind of a Rush connoisseur. It started back in the day with "Fly By Night" and continued through "Moving Pictures" when I took a new direction in my musical tastes.

Rush began to intrigue me in the late 70's after the school burn-out* turned me onto FM radio. He was the best guitar player in our class and claimed that Rush was the band of note in those days. My first purchase was "2112".

I listened to that record hundreds of times and while I didn't understand the mechanics of music or how to play it, I knew there was something about Rush that was difficult. Three people putting out a complicated symphony that a mainstream audience could enjoy.

It was Neil Peart who caught my ear first. He plays with force and intricacy at once. It's the kind of drumming that I cannot grasp, but relish everytime I hear it.

I would eventually pick up drums and can hold my own, but STILL cannot understand what is going on with Peart. The other night I was talking with some drummer friends of mine (who actually get paid) and they were saying how they don't feel any soulfulness in his drumming. Like it was simply written on paper and articulated by amazing chops. I disagreed, but they were coming from the Latin drumming perspective, which helps me understand their point, but none-the-less doesn't explain how a drummer that is continually put in the upper echelons of drumming lore does not play with soul.

So, as you can imagine I was paying close attention to the "Counterparts" drummer and he was wicked in many respects. He played with speed that I can only dream about and had amazing chops to pull off some of the things that Peart did. But there was one small problem. He was doing it on an electronic kit.

In the day, Neil Peart's set looked like the inside of your local drum store. He played 360 degrees of craziness and used about 100 different instruments to get his signature sounds... The Counterpart's drummer did it by flipping a switch and my biggest problem with electric drums is they always sound perfect. Acoustic drums are not that easy to play.

Aside from the fact that he sort of "fudged" the part and his cymbals were rubber, he was pretty amazing. As I mentioned, there is no way I could even come close to what he did. I can't hear the breaks, let alone play them.

Rush is sort of a "musician's" band in the sense that even if a bass player hates the music, they respect Geddy Lee's talent. Before the show several friends of the band told me that the Counterparts were "really good," and all I would say is they'd better be to attempt something like this. Promoting yourself on the radio, playing at Nashville's premiere live music venue, and on top of that it is your first show as a band - yes, the pressure was on, and for the most part, they delivered.

The singer had a vague resemblance to Geddy Lee both in physical stature and voice. But his congruence with the latter many times reminded me of when Lee was in a stretch of his career when he wasn't sure if he would sing anymore. It almost seemed like it was painful for the Counterparts singer. But, the truth is - it probably was.

I don't know "jack" about playing bass, but this Geddy Lee impersonator (I really should get names when I decide to write about a band) was a "hell-of-a" bass player (how's that for insightful praise?). I'm not quite sure he played the same gear either, but that's up to you fanatics to decide.

The Counterparts is a talented trio. They went after one of the hardest cover challenges in rock and roll history - and they are obviously passionate about Rush's music - but there was something missing.

In my opinion, I thought they were fun, but they just weren't that tight. There were several times when I saw them looking at each other with a hint of confusion and disappointment that they "missed" it. They are good, yes, but if they want to pull this off and do it right, they have a lot of practicing ahead of them.

My guess is it was first show jitters and rightly so. Rush fans are STILL rabid and they know when things aren't right. And things aren't quite right - yet.

* He's now a born again Christian.

posted by The Oscillator @ 3:23 PM