Name:
Mike Bitts
Instrument:
Bass, Keys
Resides in:
Lancaster, PA
Favorite Rush album:
“For MANY years it was ‘Hemispheres’; I am an old progger at heart. Of late, however, I cannot stop listening to ‘Permanent Waves’. Perfect fusion of progressive rock and melodic songwriting. I likes it LOTS.”
Favorite Rush song:
“Always changing. Today: Natural Science. A while ago: Digital Man. A LONG time ago: side one of Hemispheres (does that count as a ‘song?). I really came to love ‘Show Don’t Tell’ when we were working on it, as well as ‘Stick It Out’, just because it’s a GREAT RIFF.”
Favorite live Rush album:
“‘Exit…Stage Left’ It was the second Rush album I bought after ‘Moving Pictures’, and it was the first time I had heard any of their songs from previous albums. I was seventeen, so of course it made a HUGE impression on me. Subsequent live albums had better production, better playing and better audio quality, but ESL is the live Rush I’ll always love best.”
BIOGRAPHY
Started out on piano. My mother was a pro singer and consequently I had great musicians in my life from an early age. Started playing bass around 1978 when disco was raging. It was the first time I was able to actually hear the bass on my little lo-fi record player. No one told me I was supposed to hate disco; it just sounded like good music to me.
Three years later: driving around w/ a high school friend. Pops in an 8-track (really) of the recently released ‘Moving Pictures’ album. I dug the first two tracks pretty much; the bass was really loud and the guy was beating the crap out of his bass strings.
Then: YYZ comes blasting through the speakers. I had never heard music like that in my life. I was completely mesmerized (and confused; I had never heard 5/4 time in ROCK before), and became a life-long fan. Well, I did fall away from the band after Grace Under Pressure, resuming my love affair w/ the release of Roll the Bones . Ffej has been patiently guiding me into digging 80s-keyboard-Rush, and it’s working out so far…