Watch as Rush legend Geddy Lee goes native with bassists from Metallica, Primus, Nirvana and Hole in new TV show Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?

Geddy Lee TV show
(Image credit: Paramount Plus)

Rush bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee has teamed up with film maker Sam Dunn (Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Iron Maiden: Flight 666) for a new four-part TV documentary series, Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?

The Paramount+ series will feature Lee taking a deep dive into the lives of Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, Primus bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, and former Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, making music, and taking part in a range of extracurricular activities, from canning tomatoes with Novoselic, to surfing with Trujillo.

“I’m trying to show the world that a bass player can do many things,” a deadpan Lee says in the trailer. “Join me as I travel to the homes of four bass legends and dive deep into their lives. And their inspirations. Plus some fun making music, as I try to answer one really important question: Are bass players human too?”

“The idea for this show was born out of interviews I did for my first book The Big, Beautiful Book of Bass,” says Lee. “I was struck that these accomplished musicians also lived incredibly interesting, multifaceted lives offstage. Who knew bass players were so effin’ human?”

Who indeeed?

Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? will premiere on Paramount+ on December 5 in the US and Canada, and December 6 in the UK, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

You may like

Watch the trailer below:

December also sees Lee undertaking a run of spoken word live shows in the UK.

The Geddy Lee In Conversation evenings will feature Rush's frontman reading key passages from his long-awaited memoir My Effin' Life and sharing thoughts and stories with a guest interviewer. Attendees will also have the chance to participate in a special Q&A, with Lee answering their questions directly.

The tour calls at:

Dec 10: Wolverhampton The Civic At The Halls
Dec 13: Sheffield City Hall
Dec 14: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Dec 17: Portsmouth Guildhall
Dec 18: London Barbican

"Writing this book has meant spending so much time living in the past," Lee says. “I’ve never lived my life looking anywhere but forward, which is why I resisted doing this kind of thing for so long. Being in a band all those years was reassuring because it was an ongoing thing. It felt like it was forever.

"There was always unfinished business: the next record, the next set design, the next tour. It’s been the theme of my life. But you need a lot more determination to proceed in the world of music without the comfort of your bandmates, and I can only hope that finishing this book will release me to return to what I do and love best."

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

Read more
Guitarist Alex Lifeson, bassist Geddy Lee and (behind) drummer Neil Peart from Canadian progressive rock band Rush perform live on stage at the Odeon in Birmingham, England during their 'Farewell To Kings' tour on 12th February 1978
"I felt sad to see such joy in Neil’s face when we were down to the last few bars of our last song we played together": A Farewell to Kings - Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson look back on 50 years of Rush
Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson in 2018
“I’d rather be remembered for our legacy than returning as the top Rush tribute band”: Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are jamming together – but they have no plans to resurrect Rush with a new drummer
Geddy Lee on the roof of Waterstones bookshop in London
"I really felt like I let our British and European fans down": Geddy Lee gives fans "a straight answer" about the end of Rush
The cover of Classic Rock 336, featuring Rush's 'starman' logo
Celebrating 50 Years Of Rush: an exclusive new interview with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson - only in the new issue of Classic Rock
Rush posing for a photo in 2007
Rush got emails "from all kinds of drummers" minutes after the death of Neil Peart
Rush share unboxing video for new Rush 50 box set
Latest in
Vera Farmiga in 2021
The Conjuring star Vera Farmiga announces debut album with her heavy metal band The Yagas
'Emo' Ed Sheeran busking
Watch Ed Sheeran cover Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club on the New York subway while disguised as an emo busker
A close-up shot of the Marshall Major IV on-ear headphones on a turquoise, blue and black background.
I’ve never seen the Marshall Major IV headphones this cheap before - get them for half price in Amazon’s big spring sale
Evanescence in 2025
Evanescence release new song Afterlife from Devil May Cry TV series soundtrack, have their next album in the works
Tony Banks
“You only have to hear the opening sweep to reach for your lighter and wave it in the air”: Tony Banks' greatest Genesis moments
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
Latest in News
Vera Farmiga in 2021
The Conjuring star Vera Farmiga announces debut album with her heavy metal band The Yagas
'Emo' Ed Sheeran busking
Watch Ed Sheeran cover Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club on the New York subway while disguised as an emo busker
A close-up shot of the Marshall Major IV on-ear headphones on a turquoise, blue and black background.
I’ve never seen the Marshall Major IV headphones this cheap before - get them for half price in Amazon’s big spring sale
Evanescence in 2025
Evanescence release new song Afterlife from Devil May Cry TV series soundtrack, have their next album in the works
Bruce Dickinson in 2024 and a painting of William Blake in 1759
“This deluxe edition contains actual soil from the grave of William Blake”: Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson is releasing a comic book compilation with dirt from the resting place of one of England’s most famous poets
Steven Wilson in 2015 and Playboi Carti in 2025
“I’ve been touring around indie record stores, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s even heard of Playboi Carti”: Steven Wilson comments on chart battle with superstar rapper