A couple of weeks ago, Alex Lifeson unveiled a new, Epiphone version of his signature Les Paul Axcess Standard.
Buried within the news of the well-appointed, affordable signature model was the unveiling of two new instrumental tracks from the legendary Rush guitarist, "Kabul Blues" and "Spy House."
Apparently though, that's not the only new music Lifeson has in the pipeline.
In a recent interview with Sweetwater, Lifeson revealed that he, former Coney Hatch bassist Andy Curran, and singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne have just about finished a new album that will be released under the name Envy of None.
“Andy approached me about four years ago, shortly after the last Rush tour, about adding some guitar on some of the things he was doing,” Lifeson revealed when asked about the project's origins. “I did that. A few months later, he sent another one, and did that.
“Then we started getting more serious, and then we found a great singer, Maiah Wynne. So we’ve basically done an album’s worth of material that we hope to release sometime soon. I’m really excited about that.”
When asked when the music might see the light of day, Lifeson said, “We’re just working on that part. All the music is recorded. We are mixing currently. We’re in a good place, but it is very challenging.
“The industry is so, so very different than it was certainly 10 years ago, never mind last year. We’ll see. Hopefully late summer, early fall we might have something. But we are very, very excited about it. It’s pretty cool stuff, I think.”
Speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock about the project, Curran said, “There’s some beautiful guitar that he’s [Lifeson] played all over it – but full transparency, it’s not Rush and it’s not Coney Hatch.
“It’s like, if you can picture maybe Massive Attack with a little bit of some electronic stuff with Nine Inch Nails influences, with this beautiful voice and some very, very dark, heavy sounds. That’s kind of what this project sounds like.”
While we wait for Envy of None's debut, you can check out excerpts from "Kabul Blues" and "Spy House" in a new commemorative video, Alex Lifeson and Gibson – A 50 Year Ride, below.
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