This holiday season, Geddy Lee's new autobiography My Effin' Life is quickly becoming the gift that keeps on giving. Outside of sparking an all-out Rushaissance, the book has also provided an intimate glimpse at life behind the scenes for the Toronto-founded rock giants.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the group's frontman, bassist and keyboardist revealed that, from the late 1970s to early 1980s, he was hitting the proverbial "slopes" anywhere and everywhere he could — in the middle of his own concerts while late drummer Neil Peart had the audience's attention.
"In the cocaine years, coke was everywhere. Like, during the drum solo, you do a line," he said. "I really didn't do any coke before a gig because I could feel it in my throat, and that was hard on my voice. Occasionally, maybe after sound check, you might do a bump and then you get on with your day, but it was mostly towards the end of the night when you felt like you had earned a bit of a reward, so you'd get high."
He credited his ability to ditch the habit to his upbringing in Newmarket, ON, by his late single mother.
"It's an insidious drug, and it really moves quietly and quickly through an entire crew, an entire organization. It was very dangerous, and it took me a while before I realized the trap I'd slipped into," he recalled. "Thankfully, I was well brought-up by my mom. I realized, 'I'm behaving like a losing dog here. I have to stop.'"
A cocaine-free Lee is currently in the midst of a tour promoting My Effin' Life that most recently stopped in Montreal en route to Vancouver today (November 23). He'll close out the trek with a hometown Q+A at Toronto's Massey Hall on December 7.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the group's frontman, bassist and keyboardist revealed that, from the late 1970s to early 1980s, he was hitting the proverbial "slopes" anywhere and everywhere he could — in the middle of his own concerts while late drummer Neil Peart had the audience's attention.
"In the cocaine years, coke was everywhere. Like, during the drum solo, you do a line," he said. "I really didn't do any coke before a gig because I could feel it in my throat, and that was hard on my voice. Occasionally, maybe after sound check, you might do a bump and then you get on with your day, but it was mostly towards the end of the night when you felt like you had earned a bit of a reward, so you'd get high."
He credited his ability to ditch the habit to his upbringing in Newmarket, ON, by his late single mother.
"It's an insidious drug, and it really moves quietly and quickly through an entire crew, an entire organization. It was very dangerous, and it took me a while before I realized the trap I'd slipped into," he recalled. "Thankfully, I was well brought-up by my mom. I realized, 'I'm behaving like a losing dog here. I have to stop.'"
A cocaine-free Lee is currently in the midst of a tour promoting My Effin' Life that most recently stopped in Montreal en route to Vancouver today (November 23). He'll close out the trek with a hometown Q+A at Toronto's Massey Hall on December 7.
