RUSH's Geddy Lee called into Rolling Stone earlier this week to chat about the new Rush DVD Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland, the band's new album and the possibility of a 2112 tour. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

Rolling Stone: What's the status of the next album?

Lee: "We're almost finished writing. We wound the machine back up about three weeks ago. After a sluggish start, we've had a very fruitful couple of weeks in terms of writing. I'm very pleased with the direction that the material has taken. And I think we have one or two more songs that we'd like to write, and then we'll start recording in earnest. Hopefully we'll have all of the recording done before Christmas. Then we'll mix it some time in the next year, and then get it out."

Rolling Stone: Wow. So it'll be out sometime early next year?

Lee: "Yeah. I hope it'll be out by the spring anyway."

Rolling Stone: Is the sound of the album similar to Snakes and Arrows?

Lee: "I think it's a little different than Snakes and Arrows. It's not finished so it's hard to say exactly what it will sound like in totality, but I think that the direction of "Caravan" and "BU2B" sort of points in the direction that we're going."

Rolling Stone: With a new album in the spring, will you be touring in the summer?

Lee: "Well, there will be a tour. I can't tell you exactly when. Maybe the summer or maybe the fall. We need some time to organize all that, but we have started to do that at the same time. But yes, there will be a follow-up tour to support the record."

Read the entire interview here.