Russ Ryan
Toronto born and raised, Russ saw out the seventies playing the downtown bar circuit. However, he developed a reputation for fixing guitars, not playing them. “A sound man, Ross Tuskey watched me fix guitars, he gave me a call to work with Boy’s Brigade as monitor engineer,” says Russ. Unfortunately his monitor skills were not as apparent as his guitar skills. “I graduated to guitar,” he says… “they fired me and re- hired me!” He went from there to another SRO band, this time Coney Hatch, and also worked with Honeymoon Suite, Platinum Blonde and Lou Pomanti. While he was aware of Rush, he wasn’t a fan and never saw them live. “Great musicians but not my cup of tea,” he says. “I was seeing George Benson!”
Following many years on the live circuit, Russ started with Rush as bass tech on the second half of the ‘Test For Echo’ tour, following a call from Jimmy Johnson. The timing could have been better – going on tour was the last thing he wanted to do at that point. “I’d just finished with the Scorpions,” he explains. “It didn’t sell well, the band was miserable, I had to decide, did I want to get straight back?” A second call from Liam was followed up with another from Jimmy. “Trust me, do it,” they said, so Russ decided to bite the bullet. Not once has he regretted the decision. “These guys just don’t get any better,” he says. “There’s a family vibe, like a whole bunch of buddies that like to get together and tour, and have a great time. You don’t even see arguments among the crew!”
In particular, Russ was surprised at the simplicity of the bass rig. “Is this ever simple,” he thought. Geddy’s bass is piped through a speaker simulator, and even the sound levels are pretty much fixed. “Any EQ will not change the rest of the tour,” says Russ. “We set it up on Day 1 and that’s the way it stays!” Russ is also responsible for the washing machines and vending machine, set up to fill the gaping hole left by Geddy’s amps. If nothing else, the appliances offered a perfect opportunity to wind up journalists who asked what they were for. “Geddy looks for the dry, clean sound,” they would explain, then try to keep straight faces as the humour slowly dawns… Russ picked up a credit for studio work on Geddy’s solo album ‘My Favorite Headache’. “I did a lot of guitar maintenance for Ben Mink,” he says.