In the summer of 2019, Redlight King recorded “Working Man” by Rush for their upcoming full-length album, Moonshine.
On choosing to cover “Working Man", founder and lead vocalist Mark “Kaz” Kasprzyk says, “I wanted to have a cover on the record, something that made sense with the 70’s rock vibe we had going on. I thought about something from The Clash, The Allman Brothers, or early Petty but nothing was quite hitting me. Our producer, Jimmy Messer stumbled onto “Working Man" one day while heading into the studio. We put it on blast and were like, that’s the one! It fits my everyman blue collar roots, and sonically it matched what we were already creating. I upped the tempo and we dropped the key a full step. We rehearsed it for a couple days and recorded it live.”
Redlight King were set to release “Working Man” on January 17, 2020 as the second single from their forthcoming album, when the news of Neil Peart’s passing hit last week.
Upon hearing the news Kaz says, “First of all, I was sad. We’ve lost so many iconic musicians in the past couple of years. I knew Neil was sick for quite some time, so I wasn’t shocked, but it’s still a tragic loss. My dad was 65 when he died of cancer, I feel for his family, loved ones and fans alike."
With Rush being a major influence of Redlight King, and their shared Canadian heritage, the band decided to move forward with the single as a tribute to the icon’s musicianship and integrity they have long admired.
"The timing was very strange,” Kaz concludes. “But I hope he would have thought we did the song justice.".