Lochhead on Marketing · 2026-06-12 · 17 min
There are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who find their place, and there are those who have to make one. The story of Anika Nilles and her role in the return of Rush is one of the most compelling examples of category design, elite preparation, and radical originality that rock music has ever seen. It is a story about refusing to compete on someone else's terms and instead showing up entirely as yourself. When Neil Peart died in January of 2020, most people assumed Rush died with him. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson said as much. But what happened next offers a masterclass in how legends think, prepare, and ultimately perform. Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing . The number one charting marketing podcast for marketers, category designers, and entrepreneurs with a different mind. The Wrong Question Everyone Was Asking For years, the rock world kept asking the same question: who can replace Neil Peart? It felt like a reasonable question, but it was entirely the wrong one. Neil was a category of one. He was technically the most demanding drummer many had ever seen, obsessive about precision, and compositionally sophisticated in a way that felt almost inhuman.
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