Progressive-rock drummer, educator and composer Anika Nilles gained popularity after posting a series of professionally produced YouTube videos in the early 2010s.Jay Raynolds/Supplied
In a surprise announcement Monday, the long retired Canadian rock band Rush revealed its plans for a reunion tour next summer. The short North American jaunt, dubbed Fifty Something because the band released its first album 51 years ago, starts June 7 in Los Angeles and includes 12 arena shows in seven cities, including the lone Canadian stop at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena on Aug. 7 and Aug. 9.
Of particular interest is German drummer Anika Nilles, who has toured with the late guitarist Jeff Beck and who will join Rush for the tour. Legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart died of glioblastoma, at age 67 on Jan. 7, 2020. Given Peart’s iconic status as a virtuoso musician, Nilles has big drums to fill on the band’s first tour since 2015.
Who is she?
Nilles was born into a drum-happy family in Aschaffenburg, Germany, in 1983, one year after Rush’s Signals album and one year before Grace Under Pressure. The progressive-rock drummer, educator and composer first gained notice on a series of professionally produced YouTube videos in the early 2010s. In 2015, she was named by DRUM! magazine as the year’s best up-and-coming drummer. She has written for several drum magazines and serves as a department head at Popakademie Baden-Württemberg, a public music conservatory in Mannheim, Germany. Nilles records and performs with her band Nevell. She has released four albums under her name: 2017’s Pikalar, 2020’s For a Colorful Soul, 2022’s Opuntia and 2025’s False Truth.
Why did Rush pick her?Open this photo in gallery:
Nilles was named by DRUM! magazine as the year’s best up-and-coming drummer in 2015.Marius Mischke/Supplied
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper in 2023, Rush singer-bassist Geddy Lee praised a number of well-known drummers including Tool’s Danny Carey and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith. He also mentioned a lesser-known timekeeper: “I heard this drummer the other day, I think her name is Anika. She played on the last Jeff Beck tour, and I thought she was terrific.” Lee’s longtime bass tech, John (Skully) McIntosh, worked on the Beck tour, and later raved about Nilles to Lee. “So, I kind of looked her up, and she’s all over YouTube,” Lee said Sunday at a press event at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “And then we started talking about playing again, so I said, ‘check her out.’”
Were there other candidates?
Undoubtedly. Possible leading candidates were the aforementioned Carey and Smith, along with Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl. They all played with Rush in 2022 at Los Angeles’s Kia Forum during a star-studded tribute to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
While promoting his 2023 memoir My Effin’ Life, Lee said he received several “inappropriate” messages from drummers offering to step in after Peart’s death. “That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly.”
Was there an audition process?
It was more of a feeling out process than a formal audition, according to Lee. “No matter who the drummer is, they all have their own perception of what it’s like to play a Rush song, and they may not line up with the way we play Rush,” the 72-year-old bassist said at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “So, whoever we were going to choose was going to be difficult, and there was going to be like a translation. And so, we very secretly brought Anika to Canada … it wasn’t an audition, because at that point we weren’t really sure that we were going to tour. It was all an experiment.”
Can she play?
Yes. Here she is performing Wild Boy, her submission for the finals of the 2014 Hit Like A Girl Contest.
And here she is on a 2018 video for Shine, a more Rush-like exhibition.
Who are her influences?
Nilles’s has said Toto member and ace session drummer Jeff Porcaro is a big inspiration. She’s also talked about Stanton Moore, Carter Beauford and Jojo Mayer, along with non-drummers Sheryl Crow, Prince, Joe Satriani, Joss Stone and Dave Matthews.
“For me, music is all about emotion,” Nilles told the website 15 Questions. “On drums, that emotion comes through in dynamics − playing with sound and silence just as much as with notes. And of course, it’s also about the player’s touch. When all those elements come together, that’s when I really feel the beauty of music.”