One year before he died, Neil Peart no longer spoke or walked

Godsmack vocalist and guitarist Sully Erna spoke about his last meeting with drummer Neil Peart in an interview with WAAF radio, saying he couldn’t walk and talk. The legendary Rush musician passed away last week, aged 67, due to brain cancer diagnosed 3 years ago.

Erna, who became friends with Peart over the years, revealed that he probably did one of the last interviews with the musician. According to the Godsmack frontman, the drummer suffered a lot in his final periods of life.

He said:

“I think we did one of the last interviews with Neil. When he agreed to speak to the director of this documentary, which we are doing about my life story. He sat in his drum kit and talked about the way that Shannon and I (Larkin, drummer of Godsmack) we played, as we impressed him. Soon after that, I knew he was sick “, said Sully Erna, initially.

The Godsmack leader pointed out that he had known about Neil Peart’s illness “for some time”, but was asked, “out of respect for Neil and his privacy”, to keep it a secret. “However, I knew that when they were finishing Rush’s final tour, that he was sick,” he said. The tour ended in 2015 and, according to reports by Rush members, the diagnosis came between 2016 and 2017.

Then Sully Erna gave details about Neil Peart condition in his later year:

“I heard about a year ago that he was in a wheelchair and was unable to speak.”

“It was getting more and more sad for me. Then I got a call about his death. They would not release until Friday, but they told me. So i chose to honor the request for silence and be quiet”, he declared.”

Godsmack musician said that when he learned of the death of his idol, it was as if part of his life also ended at that moment. “He was a tremendous influence for me. I can’t even explain how much this guy meant to me and the size of his inspiration and influence on me as a musician.”