My first introduction to RUSH happened during a summer vacation when I was around 14 or 15 years old. My cousin handed me a tape of Chronicles and said, “This is the greatest band in the world”. I had received an electric guitar a couple of years earlier and had discovered Eddie Van Halen shortly after. At that time I was very much into the 1980’s guitar shred scene and for some reason RUSH just didn’t resonate with me.

A couple of years later, before attending Berklee College of Music, a friend of mine asked me to go with him to The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA to see RUSH during the Test for Echo tour in 1997. This was probably not the best presentation of RUSH. That day, at The Gorge, it was so windy that, from where I was sitting, Alex’s guitar signal was being blown away. I could barely hear him half the time.

So fast-forward to 2010. I had left Berklee College of Music, moved to Harrisburg with Julie to pursue performing in the Julie Schreiber Band and started a guitar instruction business. RUSH had not been a big part of my life yet. There where a few RUSH covers that we would consistently perform in the Julie Schreiber Band like “Freewill”, “Tom Sawyer”, and “Limelight”. Performing their music really helped me to grow a much larger appreciation for it.

Eventually, a family member asked Julie and I to go with him to the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY to see RUSH during the Time Machine Tour. This is where my passion for RUSH was really ignited. After returning home from that experience I started to realize how Rush’s catalog had been resonating in my memories more than any other music I had heard over the years. Since that show I have been a passionate RUSH fan and have not missed a tour since.

During the few months that proceeded that concert I had thought quite a bit about starting or being in a RUSH tribute band. It wasn’t until I met Ffej Herb at a friend’s party that the reality of that happening seemed like a real possibility. Ffej and I both expressed our excitement to each other about it and agreed it would be a challenging but thrilling adventure. The first version of Solar Federation’s lineup came together in our first rehearsal about a year later.

After rehearsing a few songs the core members of the band, Ffej, Mike and I knew they had found kindred spirits who wanted to perform RUSH’s music to a high standard and the rest is history.