Neil Peart Named "Best Prog Drummer/Best Educational DVD" - Modern Drummer, July 2012 issue

The results of Modern Drummer's 2012 Readers Poll are included in their July issue, and Neil Peart won both "Best Prog Drummer" and "Best Educational DVD":

"As the old joke goes, if an entry for progressive rock drummer were in the dictionary, it would be Peart's face that you'd see. Neil's a bona fide cultural touchstone, nearly forty years into his career - but somehow he seems more active than ever. Last year saw the Rush drummer/lyricist appear on MD's December cover, release the book Far and Away: A Prize Every Time, participate in the legendary Canadian band's Time Machine tour, release the DVDs Taking Center Stage and Fire on Ice: The Making of the Hockey Theme, and anchor the first drum solo week on Letterman.

-Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One" Now In Paperback - RUSH inside

The paperback edition of last year's sensational Ready Player One (think Charlie And The Chocolate Factory meets The Matrix), the debut novel by Ernest Cline, hits bookstores today.

The writer of the geek-fest Fanboys, Ernest Cline is a hard core Rush fan, and among the tons of 80's references throughout the book, RUSH serves as a major plot device and is a guaranteed, well, rush, for any Rush fan.

In addition, to commemorate the release of the paperback, Ernest Cline is giving away a Delorean!

"[Cline] has hidden an “Easter egg” in the text of both the hardcover and paperback editions of Ready Player One. If readers can find this hidden clue, it will lead them to the first of three increasingly difficult video game challenges. The first person to complete all three of these challenges will win the grand prize, a 1981 DeLorean automobile, complete with a Flux Capacitor! Ernest Cline will be driving this DeLorean Time Machine across the country on his book tour this June, so contestants will have a chance to see the grand prize in person at each of his book signings." - For details visit Ernest Cline's blog.

Ted Leo's Life With Rush: Closer to the Heart - Spin.com

Spin.com has posted an article "Ted Leo's Life With Rush: Closer to the Heart" by Ted Leo, an American punk rock/indie rock songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has played in the bands Citizens Arrest, Chisel, The Sin-Eaters, The Spinanes, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Ted talks about his life-long love of Rush, including scenes of his life where the music of Rush was present and how it affected him. 

- Thanks to John @ Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

Get a Sneak Peak at Clockwork Angels: The Novel, and Meet Kevin J. Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson will be at the Book Expo America in New York City this week signing a special limited edition sampler booklet of Clockwork Angels: The Novel.

The booklet includes the first three chapters of the novel (which roughly cover the song “Caravan”), the lyrics to “Caravan,” three full-color paintings by Hugh Syme, and original introductions by Neil Peart and by myself.  The Expo is at the Javitz Center in New York City, Monday–Thursday June 3-7; Kevin will be signing a limited number of the booklets at the ECW booth, #2740, from 2:30–3:30 PM on Tuesday and from 10–11 AM on Wednesday. - Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

Geddy Lee Video Interview with Stormbringer

Austria's Stormbringer.at recently conducted an interview with RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee in Cologne, Germany. Over 16 minutes long, Geddy talks about the album, the tour, and confirms the band has no plans of retiring.  You can watch the video here. - Thanks to Blabbermouth.net for the headsup!

"Geddy did better when Rush fired him" - ClassicRock.com

ClassicRock.com has posted a sample from the new Classic Rock Rush Fan Pack:

"The bassist and singer was dismissed long before the Canadian outfit made their first recording. It happened even before they’d become a three-piece. The band’s new manager, Ray Danniels, who is still with them, carried out both the firing and re-hiring...He says: “That was pre-history really. We hadn’t recorded yet and were still in our embryonic stage, and Ray came along. He had no real reputation yet as a manager or anything. He was just kind of an agent working in Toronto.

“So he started directing the band and he just thought I wasn’t suitable, for whatever reasons he had. I don’t know whether it was the way I looked, or my religious background – who the fuck knew?

“Anyway, he influenced them and they went along with it, Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey, and I was out. They kicked me out.”

Rush were still laying the foundations of the band they’d become playing local drop-in centres with Lifeson, Rutsey and Lee’s brother-in-law Lindy Young on piano. After being dropped Lee formed a new outfit and joined them on the low-end live circuit.

“I started a blues band,” he says, “and I was, frankly speaking, doing better than they were. Then I got a call from John and he said, ‘Can we get together?’ Basically, ‘Can you come back? We’re sorry.’

“They had to go through whatever they went through. We tried it again and that’s really when the band started. We became this three-piece and we were really going in the same direction.”

 - Thanks to Tony Riviere for the headsup!

Neil Peart's "News Weather and Sports" - June 2012

Neil Peart has posted his first "News Weather and Sports" update since January, this one is titled "Where Words Fail, Music Speaks".

Neil talks about RUSH's receiving both the Ronnie James Dio Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement this past April 11th in Los Angeles (originally, Neil intended to not appear out of shyness ("because I’m me"), but effectively was forced to appear when Alex bowed out), and the Governor-General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts in Ottawa on May 4th.

Neil talks at length about both events, and of meeting Pete Townshend (including a back history of how as a teen, Neil was basically obsessed with The Who).

Neil also tells of how on April 16 at Henson Studios in Hollywood (where Clockwork Angels had been mixed), Neil recorded the drum track for the song "Instamatic" with Matt Scannell for the upcoming Vertical Horizon album.

The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits (1974-1987) Back In The Billboard Top 200

Riding the Clockwork Angels wave, The Spirit of Radio:Greatest Hits (1974-1987) has re-entered the Billboard Top 200 at #161 for the week of June 9, 2012.

The collection originally rose to #62 on the chart before dropping out of the Top 200 after 8 weeks when it was first released in 2003.

For more on this release, click here.  

- Thanks to John at Cygnus-X1.net for the headsup!

Clockwork Angels: The Novel Official Press Release

Preorder Now

Here is the official press release for Clockwork Angels: The Novel from ECW Press. Note, this announcement includes the news that the novel will also be released as an audiobook narrated by Neil Peart.

LANDMARK CROSSOVER PROJECT:

NEW RUSH ALBUM CLOCKWORK ANGELS TO FEATURE ACCOMPANYING NOVEL BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

The new Rush studio album, Clockwork Angels, is accompanied by a full-length “steampunk” novel written by bestselling SF author Kevin J. Anderson and Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.

In an innovative combination of music and literature, the new album Clockwork Angels by legendary rock band Rush has been converted into a full-length “steampunk” science fiction novel by international bestselling SF author Kevin J. Anderson and Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.

Stewart Copeland of The Police Discusses Rush - MusicRadar.com

Stewart Copeland discusses Rush in a new interview with MusicRadar.com:

"I didn't actually listen to Rush albums, and I couldn't tell you one from the other – although Neil is a good buddy. [laughs] We agreed to disagree on certain things, and it is a measure of his greatness as a human being that he is completely over whatever my feelings might be about Rush.

"This truly is the case: He's never heard me say a wonderful thing about his band. He's read a few comments that I wish he hadn't read. In unguarded moments, things tend to slip out. Musicians tend to be snippy about one another, and I'm generally not. I generally love all music and all players.

"There was a time when bands like Rush were the epitome of what The Police were theoretically against, which was an overemphasis on musicality. Our ethos in the early days was about the primal scream and that musical technique was a distraction from that mission. There may have been a few comments that I might have made regarding Rush's position on that debate, and it is really, really to Neil's credit that he's over that debate. And we get along great."

For the full interview click here.

Got a question for Alex Lifeson? Tell Total Guitar

Total Guitar will be talking to Alex Lifeson this week and they want your guitar questions. If you have a question for Alex let them know on Facebook or e-mail. If they pick your question, it will feature in a future issue of Total Guitar and you'll win a set of D'Adario strings. - Click here for more.

Alex Lifeson talks Rush's Clockwork Angels track-by-track with Musicradar.com

Alex Lifeson walks us through Clockwork Angels track-by-track in a new interview with MusicRadar.com.

“We wanted something that was bold and stripped down. The goal was to make it real in your face and very much the sound of a three piece – a hard rock record in the classic sense. I’m happy to say that it really did come out the way we anticipated and hoped for.”

“It is a concept record...I think the songs stand on their own, though. I can listen to them independently of the story, but when I hear everything from front to back, it really makes sense to me. So it works on lot of levels.”

“I tried to pull myself back from yielding to the temptation of layering so many guitars and things that are kind of inconsequential. It’s really about the basic rockiness of the songs, so it was a lot of double-tracking and beefing things up. No six tracks of guitars, no rhythm guitar and solos – simple little changes that made the sound more impactful.”

Click here for more.

Clockwork Angels Vinyl Album Preorder Available

The Clockwork Angels 2LP vinyl edition is now available for preorder.  The vinyl edition will feature a unique album cover, and is also scheduled for release June 12th.

Rush.com: Finland pre-sale, Sweden Rock Festival, and more

HELSINKI, FINLAND – PRE-SALE STARTS THURSDAY MAY 24 @ NOON local time!
JUNE 10 – FINLAND, Helsinki @ Hartwall Arena

VIP Tour Package
Visit: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=finland&query=detail&event=511111&interface=lne
Fan Pre-Sale
http://www.lippu.fi/tickets.html?fun=erdetail&affiliate=nfi&doc=erdetaila&erid=779381

JUNE 2nd 2013 – HOLLAND, Amsterdam @ Ziggodome
General on-sale starts July 2nd and fan pre-sale will start July 1. Links will be sent out closer to the date.

JUNE 8th 2013 – SWEDEN, Solvesborg @ Sweden Rock Festival
Rush made big news this week when they announced they would play their first European festival gig since '77! General On-Sale: September 25

Great seats are still available through our TOUR PACKAGE for some of the UK and GERMAN dates:
UK Tour Packages:
http://www.livenation.co.uk/vip/artist/rush-tickets
German Tour Packages:
Köln: www.ticketmaster.de/event/36167/?camefrom=de_va_01579
Berlin: http://www.ticketmaster.de/event/36147/?camefrom=de_va_01213

Rush Featured in PROG #26 On Newsstands Today

There are two Rush features in the new PROG magazine, issue #26 featuring Squackett on the cover, hitting newsstands today.

Besides the extensive five page feature interview with Geddy Lee, "Angels Upstairs", the issue also includes a very rare interview with Rush's long time graphic artist Hugh Syme in the "Art For Arts Sake" column.

Along with a detailed discussion of Clockwork Angels, Geddy has this to say regarding the Vapor Trails remix.

"[remixing Vapor Trails and including it in a deluxe edition of Clockwork Angels] was an idea but it's now been shifted down. Rather than remix the entire album we might now take a bunch of different songs from albums and get different people to remix them for fun, rather than just do Vapor Trails. It's an idea in flux."

- Thanks to Tony Riviere for the headsup!

Geddy Lee's Ludicrous Machines: Rush Frontman Talks New Album, Tour - Spin.com

Spin.com has posted an new interview with Geddy Lee.  In "Geddy Lee's Ludicrous Machines: Rush Frontman Talks New Album, Tour", Geddy talks about this being the first album length concept, and the difference between this album and previous concept pieces:

"I wanted the songs to be a collection that could stand on their own, outside of context of the whole story. When you look at a collection of songs like those on the Who's Tommy, you could pull "I'm Free" out of that and it still stands on its own. But in connection to the story, it takes on another interpretation. So there was a lot of discussion about that. I think at one point, Neil was a little frustrated with my determination to keep the story-line minimal in a sense...The three times we attempted side-long concept pieces in the past, the music was really like one song broken up into many parts. The thread connecting the music on Clockwork Angels is the story-line. That's the key difference."

and the lack of overdubs on this record:

"this time we wanted to restrict the way we used overdubs. We wanted it to be very much a three-piece record."

and in regards to the upcoming tour:

we're gonna expand upon the whole steampunk element that we brought on the "Time Machine Tour." We're gonna have fun with that whole kinda machinery and we're designing rear-screen things and have a fun little movies. Hopefully it can all tie together in some ludicrous way."

Alex Lifeson Talks To "Metal Express Radio"

Metal Express Radio, has posted a great new interview with Alex Lifeson where he talks about Clockwork Angels, the R30 tour setlist, the Sectors boxed sets, the Vapor Trails remix, and more.

Of "Caravan" and "BU2B", Alex confirms:

"We just re-mixed them.  We wanted them to have the same character mix wise as the rest of the record.  Now they are much more attached to the whole album rather than being standalone tracks."

He also talks about the guitar solos on the title track and "The Garden":

"the solo in “Clockwork Angels” and also the solo in “The Garden” which are two of my favourite solos that I`ve ever done, were throwaway solos. After we`d written those songs and worked on the arrangements, Geddy went away for a few days, so I continued working and filling things in a little bit and I threw down a couple of solos in just a few takes and that was it."

And regarding the Classic Rock Fan Pack, he confirms it is to help sell physical product versus downloading:

"Yeah, and the great thing about it is that it gives you something to look at when you`re listening to the record.   It`s like back in those days where you`d have a beautiful album jacket in your hands.  That whole tactile experience has gone from music and at least with the Fan Pack it gives you a little bit of an opportunity to have that again."

Click here for the full interview. - Thanks to Ed at RushIsABand for the headsup!

Rush "Classic Rock" Cover Boys for July 2012

Rush is featured on the cover of the July issue of Classic Rock magazine.  The cover reads "Steampunks, Musical Scientists, Goofballs - The Rise and Rise of the World's Biggest Cult Band".  The issue has a seven page feature on the band including an interview given during the mixing of the album, as well as an album review giving it 9/10. - Thanks to RushIsABand for the headsup!

Neil Peart's "Clockwork Angels" Tour Book Essay Now Available Here

Neil Peart's tour book essay "The Future as Seen From the Past (Or: "Yesterday's Tomorrowland")" is now available for your reading pleasure. (Note, while the tour book itself is not yet available, the transcript is available on http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/artist/Rush under the "Biography" tab).

Neil tells all about the making of the album and discusses the album's influences:

"The plot draws from Voltaire's Candide, with nods to John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor, Michael Ondaatje and Joseph Conrad for 'The Anarchist,' Robertson Davies and Herbert Gold for 'Carnies,' Daphne du Maurier for 'The Wreckers,' Cormac McCarthy and early Spanish explorers in the American Southwest for 'Seven Cities of Gold.'

"Diane Ackerman's use of a few alchemical symbols as chapter heads in An Alchemy of Mind. ...you can find brimstone at one o'clock for the faith-bashing "BU2B," gold at six o'clock for "Seven Cities of Gold," earth at eleven o'clock for "The Garden," and so on. (The "U" in Rush stands for "amalgamation.")"

Thanks Stew for the headsup!

Rush.com Newsletter "Toronto Show #2 on sale Friday May 18th!"

Rush.com has just sent the following:

Toronto Second Show Ticket Details:
Tour Package - Friday May 18th @ noon local time with password "headlong" for first 24 hrs
http://vipnation.com/programs/rush
Fan Club – Friday May 18th @ noon local time until Sunday May 20th @ 5pm local time
http://rush.musictoday.com
AMEX Pre-Sale for card holders - Saturday, May 19, 2012 @ 10am - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 @ 5pm
Public on-Sale – Thursday, May 24, 2012 @ 10am

RUSHCON:
Thanks to the folks over at RUSHCON who run the 'By-the-fans, for-the-fans' event where fans have an opportunity to raise money for an important charity whilst having an amazing time learning more about the band, getting to know each other and connecting with other fans from around the world. Over the past 11 years- we hear how much those that attend enjoy it! As this second Toronto show goes on sale for October 16th, please note that RUSHCON will be held in Toronto on October 12-14th. For more details please go to http://www.rushcon.org/