Long before he was known as the guitarist in Rush, Alex Lifeson was seen onscreen arguing with his parents about his future in the 1973 Canadian documentary Come On Children.
Created by Canadian filmmaker Allan King, the movie is a document from an era when social scientists were exploring the generation gap between parents raised in more conservative times and their children, who were influenced by changes in norms brought about by the 1960s cultural revolution.
King’s film follows a group of kids, aged 13 to 19, who live together on a farm without adult supervision to see how they manage.
Lifeson, known then by his birth name, Alex Živojinović, is shown in one scene arguing with his visiting parents about his desire to pursue music. At the time, he was about 17 and had invested some three years into Rush, the group he founded in 1968 with his friend drummer John Rutsey and original bass guitar player and vocalist Jeff Jones, who would soon be replaced by Lifeson’s high school pal Geddy Lee.
“I don’t want to make a bunch of money,” Alex says at one point. “Like, if I make a lot of money, that’s great. But I’m not gonna go to university and get a big degree… I don’t wanna drive around in a big car and get people to go, ‘Hey, there goes Alex! He’s loaded with money, and wow, he’s really set himself up great!’
“I don’t see why I have to go through all the bullshit of high school to learn music,” the teenage Alex continues. “I’m just gonna hang around and feel it for a while. And then I’ll learn it.”
Asked how he’s feeling at the moment, Alex replies, “Right now, I feel a little angry… I notice a lot of parents have this great difficulty in listening to their kids, and it is so true. I’m just saying it would be so great if parents just sat down and listened to what kids say.”
“I have said to you, Alex,” counters his father, “and I remember exactly: I want you to be free, to expand. I don’t want you to grow up with a fear, or some terror, of anything. What do you want? That’s what I want to know, really.”
Lifeson, of course, ultimately succeeded in his goal. After sticking it out on the Ontario music scene, Rush released their self-titled debut album in 1974 on their own label, Moon Records. Soon after the group signed with Mercury Records and released 1974’s Fly by Nightthe album that put them on the map.
Along the way, Lifeson not only made great music, he also established himself as a guitar hero, inspired by players like Rory Gallagher, whom he befriended over a couple of tours, and Jimmy Page, whom he met in the mid 1990s.
Forty years on, in 2015, Rush called it quits, but not before selling tens of millions of records and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
As for Lifeson, he’s a celebrated guitarist with a signature model electric guitar, Epiphone Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess Standard.
He’s also a member of Envy of None, whose second album, Stygian Wavzcomes out March 28. As Lifeson tells Guitar Playerhe was initially reluctant to present Envy of None as his new group, as it felt more like a project. But the band’s latest album changed all that.
“Maybe I held back a bit,” he says. “I didn’t want to be in another band. I was already in one band my whole life, and I wasn’t ready to be in another band. I always think of a band as this unit that goes out and travels and works and plays live and all that — maybe that was the difference.
“But now I’m saying that we function as a band and we think conceptually as a band, and I don’t feel that conflict anymore.”
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