It is rare to find a new hard-rock band that does anything more than copy the styles of established hard-rock bands. Rush, which is currently at the Whisky, is one of those fledgling groups with an alarming disregard for originality.
This copycat trio from Canada opened Wednesday night. Lead singer Geddy Lee was trying to sound like Rod Stewart and Humble Pie's Steve Marriott, but succeeded only in mangling lyrics with his flat, screechy voice. The playing of guitarist Alex Lifeson dissatisfyingly mirrored the style of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.
Rush's flagrantly derivative music was neither interesting nor listenable. It was amplified many decibels beyond what is comfortable for even the heartiest ears.
The opening act, the Butts Band, played a lot of mundane material that seemed even worse because of the group's colorless singers. The most inept singing was done by the female keyboards player, who demonstrated her lack of vocal control on several solos.
Two of the band's six members are drummers. The two of them were not even as effective as one good drummer.