Steve Brown: Guitars, Pedal Keyboard & Vocals

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Steve got his first guitar at eight years old — inspired by his big brother who had a 12-string. His school band went on to tour Europe and Steve knew then what he wanted to do with his life. He was first introduced to Rush and rock at age 13 by a friend who loaned him 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Led Zep 4, Black Sabbath's Greatest Hits and Back In Black — what a baptism of fire that night became!

He first saw Rush on the Signals tour and has caught them on every UK tour since plus shows in Boston, Toronto and Amsterdam. Since hooking up with online forums such as TRAC (The Rush Atlantic Connection) every show has been a blast catching up with like-minded fans from all over the globe.

Steve started RUSHfest Scotland at the end of 2013 and now brings hundreds of fans to Scotland every year and has produced 2 volumes of Songs For Neil albums. Profits from these events and album sales have so far raised over £78k for cancer charities. Vol.3 will be released on 12 Sept 2023.

Steve turned full time professional musician in 1993 and has gigged every weekend since, from bowling alleys in Thurso, to amphitheatres in Japan, to dodgy late night TV shows like this one with his original rock band Seeing Red back in 1991.

Gear:

Favourite Rush albums:

Least favourite Rush album: Favourite Alex moment:


Eoin de Paor (John Power): Vocals, Bass & Keys

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Raised in a musical environment in which Chopin and Tommy Makem and the Clancy brothers or The Chieftains were equally likely to be thundering from his Dad’s piano or Bang and Olufsen, John / Eóin (he answers to either) was taught his first guitar chords at the age of 4 by family friend, Harvey Broadbent. Given the racket subsequently created, Harvey’s emigration to Australia shortly afterwards was probably a wise move…

Classically trained on the piano from the age of 7, John naturally gravitated towards strings and by 12 had written off any instrument that wasn’t portable as “Furniture”. Since the piano definitely fell into that category, his musical course was set and Guitars, Basses, Violins, Mandolins (and the flute?!) have occupied his time ever since though keyboards have never quite been disposed of…

Introduced to Rush aged 12 by a school friend, early dabbling in classical guitar (inspired by John Williams and Sky) were replaced by the desire to learn Alex’s parts. Unable to do this convincingly on a ¾ sized classical, he reasoned (with the laughable ignorance of youth) that the bass line must be easier to play and the rest as they say, is hysterical…

Having played in a variety of styles and genres over the years including an Irish folk band and the composition of two Theatrical scores for Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet (where he discovered to his surprise that Classically strained string quartets do NOT improvise — who knew?) whilst holding down the teaching day job, he was ready for something a bit different. The invitation to join Counterparts, ten years ago at the time of writing, allowed a return to those brilliant bass lines and it was like coming home. He is honoured to be a member of moving Pictures and delighted to have the excuse to pass the Failte gu Alba sign more regularly.

He first saw Rush at the Birmingham NEC on the Show of hands tour and is somewhere on the video on Geddy’s side about half way down. In his dotage, he continues to find new inspiration in many genres and is particularly fond of Francisco Tarrega, Issac Albeniz, Irish folk, Radiohead and Muse but it’s the Canadian prog trio who remain the constant in his musical life.

The great Jazz pianist, Jacques Loussier (his arrangement of Air on a G string accompanied a well known cigar advert) once said that in his opinion, J S Bach wrote the greatest rock bass lines in history. I like Jacques but he was wrong. The greatest bass lines in history were written by a Canadian…

Gear:

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Least favourite Rush album:
Favourite Geddy moment:

This Bio was brought to you by the letters P and B and was written in the pub with a pint of Guinness close at hand…

Jamie Dunleavey: Drums & Percussion

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Jamie has been playing drums since she was 13, after her dad taught her a few Led Zeppelin beats on a rainy day. She studied music at university in Edinburgh, where she developed an obsession for the music of Rush and admiration of Neil Peart's drumming.

She went on to play drums professionally for original and wedding bands in Edinburgh, as well as teaching.

Her drumming heroes include The Professor - Mr Peart, John Bonham, Pierre Van Linden, Matt Gartska and Joey Jordison.

Gear:

Favourite Rush albums:

Least favourite Rush album:
Favourite Neil moment:

Ciaran Whyte: Dep Drummer

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On the odd occassion when Jamie isn't available — this fine young lad helps out.

Ciaran got his first drum kit when he was 8 years old, accompanied with lessons at the Graham Laurie School of Music in his home town of Paisley, Scotland. He continued with lessons throughout his education, and began gigging in his early teens through his parents who had a ceilidh band and also led a contemporary worship band at a church on a Sunday morning. In essence, Ciaran was always surrounded by music, so a career in the industry was always on the cards. After a brief meander to Glasgow University for a year to study maths, he then shifted his focus entirely on becoming a full-time musician, and 6 years later, he is continuing to live the dream (as long as the dream involves freezing yourself half to death on streets around Scotland as you busk to try to earn enough money to survive in the winter.)

Oh, and, of course, Rush played a big role in sparking Ciaran’s dream of pursuing a career in music. His dad sat him down when he was a wee boy and stuck Red Barchetta on the CD player, and from that moment onwards, Ciaran was mesmerised by the chops of Neil Peart and always inspired him to keep playing.

Gear:

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Least favourite Rush album:
Favourite Neil moment:

Photos by Graeme Ogle, William Winsborough, Cat O'Brien and Pete Forster