A year ago to the day, Neil Peart left us.

Neil Peart was an artist in every true sense of the word, and the impact and influence he has had on me as not only as a musician, but as a person is profound.

He was regarded by many as the best drummer in the world, and for good reasons. He could hit the hell out of the drums, his technique was astonishing and his musicality was adventurous and audacious. Furthermore, he never stopped refusing to learn. At the height of his career, he teamed up with Freddie Gruber to enhance his drumming skills further. Over the 4 decades he played with Rush, he was always evolving.

He was also the lyricist for the band and has penned some of my favourite songs of all time. There is of course the highly conceptual and fantastical lyrics of the albums they did in the 70s but their transformation into the 80s led to truthful observations with pinpoint accuracy. In ‘Limelight’ he explores the notion of fame and his difficulty coming to the terms with it. He never wanted to be famous, he just wanted to be good. In ‘Subdivisions’ he tackled the idea of being an outcast within school and society, an anthem for every Rush fan who has felt that sense of alienation. I could go on for hours about this. Within Peart’s lyrics were a curiosity for the way the world and humans work. You will only find a minimal amount of love songs amongst the 167 songs that they wrote.

Neil Peart was also an avid reader and a motorcyclist. He is not your typical image of the rock and roll star. He would motorcycle between gigs, spend his downtime reading and turned up to each show with an untempered sense of professionalism and discipline.

Neil Peart was also an author. He wrote travel books about the time he spent on his motorbike and it was actually travel that offered him catharsis and healing when tragedy struck. In the late 90s he lost his daughter to a car crash and his wife to cancer ten months later. In response, he retreated into a solitary journey that took him across Canada and all the way down the west coast of America. The book that documents this (‘Ghost Rider’) digs deep into the world of what commenced afterwards and how he found the will to carry on and start a new family.

Undeniably, the most tragic part of his untimely passing of 67 years old is that he had not had more time with his family and his young daughter. He had done everything and more for Rush and their loyal fanbase.

As I continue my career as a musician, I often think about the values that Neil Peart held and how he presented himself to the world. Although he is gone, his legacy remains with the many musicians and people he has inspired.