The new documentary about Neil Peart arrives at a particularly significant moment for Rush. More than six years after the drummer’s death, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson are back onstage, with German drummer Anika Nilles behind the kit for the band’s Fifty Something tour.
And one of the songs Nilles has had to tackle is “Tom Sawyer” — a Rush classic so closely associated with Peart that she initially wondered whether she wanted to play it at all.
“When we were going to play it for the first time, she just stopped and said, ‘Yikes. I don’t know if I want to play this one,’” Lee recalled in an interview with Planet Rock.
The moment takes on a different resonance now that Nilles has actually performed the song onstage with Rush. The band launched its Fifty Something tour in June, marking Lee and Lifeson’s first extended run together since Rush’s final show in 2015.
The tour also coincides with the arrival of Neil Peart: No One’s Disciple, a new documentary exploring the drummer’s artistry and influence. The film features interviews with Lee and Lifeson, archival footage of Peart and appearances from fellow drummers including Stewart Copeland, Chad Smith, Gavin Harrison and Danny Carey. Nilles is also featured.
Rush’s decision to retire after their 2015 R40 tour was largely driven by Peart. Speaking to Rolling Stone at the time, Lifeson said the drummer — who died of cancer in 2020 — had found it “increasingly difficult” to perform at the level he expected of himself. The anniversary run was intended as a dignified farewell.
Yet Lee and Lifeson eventually decided they weren’t finished with Rush. After Lee presented Lifeson with a now-or-never ultimatum, the pair committed to reviving the band.
They sought out Nilles after a recommendation from Lee’s guitar tech, who had worked with her while she was touring with Jeff Beck. Her background outside the traditional progressive-rock sphere offered a useful degree of separation from Rush’s past, something the duo welcomed.
Lifeson had previously revealed that countless drummers contacted them just “minutes” after Peart’s death. Nilles’ unexpected appointment proved a more thoughtful antidote.
Still, stepping into Rush’s world — and particularly its catalog — came with its own pressures.
“It’s really fun to watch Anika as she starts to know the songs,” Lee said. “It’s one thing to play it for the first time and work out what parts have to be, essentially, Neil Peart’s parts — and what parts she can make her own.
“That has been wonderful to watch, and really exciting for Al and I, because now she doesn’t have to think about it. She’s just grooving out.”
But the learning curve wasn’t always smooth.
“She didn’t know our music very well. She knew a couple of the big songs. And of course, every drummer on Earth knew Neil and his reputation,” Lee continued. “She knew ‘Tom Sawyer,’ and when we were going to play it for the first time, she just stopped and said, ‘Yikes. I don’t know if I want to play this one.’”
Released on Rush’s landmark 1981 album Moving Pictures, “Tom Sawyer” became one of the band’s defining songs and a permanent fixture of their live shows. For the recording, Lee famously swapped his usual Rickenbacker 4001 for a pawn-shop Fender Jazz Bass, while Lifeson later admitted he essentially “winged” the guitar solo — preferring spontaneity to the sterility that can come from endless retakes.
The single reached No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 25 in the U.K., but those numbers barely capture the song’s cultural impact — or the pressure it places on any drummer attempting to play Peart’s parts.
“She was kind of nervous because of the importance of that,” Lee said. “But we talked through it, we worked through it. The fills were not the hardest part for her — she could play those no problem. It’s the feel — sitting in that groove that the song has.
“She’s clued in now. It’s really lovely to see.”
The fills were not the hardest part for her. It’s the feel. She’s clued in now. It’s really lovely to see.”
— Geddy Lee
That learning process has since moved from the rehearsal room to the stage. Nilles is now performing alongside Lee and Lifeson on Rush’s Fifty Something tour, with keyboardist Loren Gold handling additional parts and helping free Lee from some of the multitasking he juggled in Rush’s classic lineup.
For now, Lee and Lifeson have framed the tour as a celebration of Rush’s legacy. They have also not ruled out writing new music together.
Lifeson, for his part, has found solace in reflecting on his late bandmate, recently describing the “serene, peaceful” process of writing a tribute song to Peart, an experience that helped him through what he called a deeply “difficult” time.
Now, with Neil Peart: No One’s Disciple revisiting the drummer’s life and influence and Rush back on the road, Nilles is helping Lee and Lifeson keep that music alive. She may have initially looked at “Tom Sawyer” and thought, “Yikes,” but she’s now playing the song with Rush onstage.
