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Rush<\/a><\/strong> fans know the band’s prolificacy \u2013 churning out nearly an album a year since the mid-70s. How do you find fresh inspiration after decades of relentless productivity? Geddy Lee<\/strong> and Rush<\/a><\/strong> discovered their answer by stepping back for five years before reconvening in 2001 to produce Vapor Trails<\/em>, their 17th<\/sup> studio album.<\/p>\n This hiatus proved to be a turning point for Lee<\/strong>‘s bass playing. He wasn’t idle though \u2013 producing local Toronto artists and even releasing his 2000 solo album, My Favorite Headache<\/em>. This time away fostered a significant evolution in his approach to the bass.<\/p>\n “My bass playing has gone into such a weird zone,” Lee<\/strong> himself admitted to Bass Player<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>“I’ve carried that on to a ridiculous degree.”<\/p>\n Lee<\/strong>‘s technique developed into a rhythmic and often chordal style that fit well with a layered musical approach. “I’m strumming a lot, and sometimes I end up with two or three bass tracks on each song. Rather than wait for a guitar part to fill in a melody, I’ll just go up the neck, fuzz out my bass, and have it perform that function.”<\/p>\n A departure from traditional root-heavy basslines became a hallmark of Lee<\/strong>‘s work on Vapor Trails<\/em>: \u00a0“I think that’s from the way I use bass chords: The roots are implied without necessarily having to be emphasized. Sometimes we miss that, though, so I’ll go back in and add a lower\u00a0bassline\u00a0that grounds the part. But if it’s not necessary, we live without it.”<\/p>\n Rush<\/a><\/strong> embraced the digital age with Vapor Trails<\/em>, which was recorded with Emagic Logic Audio software. Many of the songs stemmed from jam sessions captured directly onto the software, often staying intact through the final mix.<\/p>\n “People say digital is this sterile medium, but they don’t understand what it can do for you,” Lee<\/strong> reflected. “You can get a very recordable sound and just jam into the computer, and then manipulate it afterward.”<\/p>\n The album also marked a first moment for Lee<\/strong>, specifically during the recording of “Ceiling Unlimited”: “It features the first kind of ‘bass solo’ I’ve been allowed to throw on a Rush<\/a><\/strong> song. I wanted to trade off with Alex<\/strong>, but he’s very anti-guitar solo at the moment, so he didn’t want to get into that.”\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n