Spin.com's David Marchese has issued a new interview with RUSH bassist/singer Geddy Lee, in which he discusses their upcoming tour and new Clockwork Angels album. An excerpt follows:

Q: On the Time Machine tour that you guys finished last year, you were playing the entirety of 1981's Moving Pictures. This time you'll be playing a lot of new material. Do you have to psych yourself up for the fact that fans are not going to have the same response to the songs simply on account of lack of familiarity? Are you in a different headspace going into this year's tour?

A: "We're very excited about doing this stuff — more so than the old stuff — but we're not sure how much patience the audience has for it. We're not sure how much they will dig it. I think the fact that we played two songs (from Clockwork Angels) and put them in the show (last year), and saw that there was such an immediate reaction emboldened us. It gave us confidence when we were finishing the record to think of maybe playing a big chunk of it live."

Q: Can you talk about any of the plans for the stage show?

A: "Yeah, 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."

Read the full interview at this location.

Rush have been confirmed for Sweden Rock Festival 2013. It will mark the band's first appearance at a European festival in 35 years.

Sweden Rock Festival 2013 will take place June 5-8 in Sölvesborg, Sweden. It is a four-day festival with a total of 80 bands performing on five outdoor stages. Tickets will be made available September 25th. More info can be found at www.swedenrock.com.

Rush recently announced their first set of European dates in support of their anxiously-awaited new album, Clockwork Angels, which will be released on June 12th via Anthem/Universal in Canada and their debut for Anthem/Roadrunner Records in the US. The first revealed shows are for next year and include:

May

22 - Manchester, England - Arena
24 - London, England - O2 Arena
26 - Birmingham, England - LG Arena
28 - Sheffield, England - Motorpoint Arena
30 - Glasgow, Scotland - SECC

June

4 - Cologne, Germany - Arena
6 - Berlin, Germany - O2 Arena

Clockwork Angels will be available as a regular CD, digital download and deluxe double-vinyl version. As previously reported, Colorado-based sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson has written a novelization Clockwork Angels, which is due via ECW Press on September 1st. The hardcover novel is 264 pages in length, with author credits going to Kevin J. Anderson and Rush drummer Neil Peart. Check out the cover below. Amazon pre-orders for all are at the bottom of the page.

Clockwork Angels is Rush's first new collection of original material in over five years. Marking their 20th studio album, the album lyrically chronicles a young man’s quest across a lavish and colourful world of steampunk and alchemy as he attempts to follow his dreams. The story features lost cities, pirates, anarchists, an exotic carnival, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life.

The recording of Clockwork Angels began in April 2010 at Nashville’s Blackbird studios with Grammy Award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, DEFTONES) – who also collaborated with the band on their last studio album, 2007’s Snakes & Arrows. Rush co-produced both records.

The songs 'Caravan' and 'BU2B' were completed during that first session and performed nightly during Rush’s wildly successful Time Machine Tour, which ran from June 2010 to June 2011. Work on Clockwork Angels resumed in the fall of 2011 at Revolution Recording in Toronto after the tour’s finale, with additional strings (arranged by David Campbell) recorded at Hollywood’s Ocean Way Studios earlier this year.

Clockwork Angels tracklisting is as follows:

'Caravan'

'BU2B'

'Clockwork Angels'

'The Anarchist'

'Carnies'

'Halo Effect'

'Seven Cities Of Gold'

'The Wreckers'

'Headlong Flight'

'BU2B2'

'Wish Them Well'

'The Garden'

Check out a 30-second trailer below:

The official lyric video for 'Headlong Flight' is currently streaming in its entirety (7:20!) on YouTube below:

All dates for Rush's 2012 Clockwork Angels tour can be viewed here.