The Neil Peart documentary No One’s Disciple is on its way and the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has put a trailer up on YouTube.
The two-minute video opens with an extended Peart solo, followed by archive news reports of the drummer’s death in 2020, after which Geddy Lee laments that “After Neil passed away, we never really were able to pay tribute to him, and that weighed on me a lot.”
There are also archive interviews from Peart himself: “When I started to get around 11 or 12 years old I was banging around the house and smashing up pots and pans, and my parents got the idea that I liked to hit things with sticks.”
And Alex Lifeson and Lee reflect on their early days as a trio. “I remember thinking that there’s no way this guy’s cool enough to be in our band,” says Lifeson. “And he started playing triplets. Really cool, really fast,” adds Lee.
The doc also features contributions from a number of Peart’s contemporaries and, well, disciples in the drum world. “I once asked him how do you get the air drummers?” says Stewart Copeland. “They’re all doing it with him! I want that!”
“The drum parts are so iconic and… straight-faced,” says Chad Smith of the Chili Peppers. “He was a stone cold assassin!”
There’s also footage of Smith, Copeland, Danny Carey of Tool and Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree recreating some of Peart’s parts with Lifeson and Lee. “I thought I was fit,” remarks Copeland after his workout on the kit.
“Not so easy, is it?” answers Lifeson, tongue firmly in his cheek.
No One’s Disciple will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 16. After it’s shown on Canadian TV, it will presumably make its way around the world on various streaming platforms, though no details have been confirmed as yet.
