Grammy.com's Nick Krewen has issued an interview with RUSH frontman Geddy Lee. An excerpt follows:

Q: Your first concert for the upcoming tour is September 7th in Manchester, NH. Is touring easier these days?

A: "Easier? I find it more stressful than when I was younger. I think the physical part of it takes its toll on me, and the other guys I know for sure. Staying healthy becomes a more difficult challenge, and as the tour winds on, nerves fray in a different way than they used to. Although, you have more confidence than when you were younger, and more command of your instrument [and], as a result, more command of your audience's attention, which makes it easier. There is kind of a physical price you pay as the tour winds on, whereas when I was younger I could be in almost any condition, get out there and bang it off. I'm grateful for the audiences that we have, wherever we go. But it's a difficult thing for me to do right now."

Q: With a new album and such a vast catalog, how do you choose the set list?

A: "Oh man, it's hard. You rehearse it all and then you start whittling it back. It just becomes tougher every year. It's a good problem to have because it's the result of a long career, but it's hard to pick the songs. You don't want to disappoint people by leaving their favorite song out. At the same time, you try to [play] a [new] old song. Trying to keep the balance is tricky."

Read the full interview at this location.

Rush have released an official lyric video for the single, 'The Wreckers', featured on the band's new studio album, Clockwork Angels. The video can be seen below:

Rush will embark on their Clockwork Angels Tour, beginning September 7th in Manchester, NH. A complete list of confirmed dates can be found at this location.

Ticket package sales for the upcoming tour close 10 days prior to each show date. A limited number of packages for select dates remain at this location.

ECW Press has unveiled two exciting special editions of Rush's Clockwork Angels: The Novel (ECW Press, September 2012), the landmark literary collaboration between Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart and bestselling SF author Kevin J. Anderson. These two numbered special editions of Clockwork Angels: The Novel are now available.

Courtesy of RollingStone.com, the first chapter of the book is available online. An excerpt can be found below:

The best place to start an adventure is with a quiet, perfect life . . . and someone who realizes that it can't possibly be enough.

On the green orchard hill above a sinuous curve of the Winding Pinion River, Owen Hardy leaned against the trunk of an apple tree and stared into the distance. From here, he could see – or at least imagine – all of Albion. Crown City, the Watchmaker's capital, was far away (impossibly distant, as far as he was concerned). He doubted anyone else in the village of Barrel Arbor bothered to think about the distance, since only a few had ever made the journey to the city, and Owen was certainly not one of them.

"We should get going," said Lavinia, his true love and perfect match. She stood up and brushed her skirts. "Don't you need to get these apples to the cider house?" He would turn seventeen in a few weeks, but he was already the assistant manager of the orchard; even so, Lavinia was usually the one to remind him of his responsibility.

Still leaning against the apple tree, he fumbled out his pocket-watch, flipped open the lid. "It won't be long now. Eleven more minutes." He looked at the silver rails that threaded the gentle river valley below.

Lavinia had such an endearing pout. "Do we have to watch the steamliners go by every day?"
"Every day, like clockwork." Owen thumbed shut the pocket-watch, knowing she didn't feel the same excitement as he did. "Don't you find it comforting that everything is as it should be?" That, at least, was a reason she would understand.

"Yes. Thanks to our loving Watchmaker." She paused a moment in reverent silence, and Owen thought of the wise, dapper old man who governed the whole country from his tower in Crown City.

Click here for more.

Anderson commented recently about the novelization of Clockwork Angels album: "Imagine if someone had written the novel of The Wall, Tommy, or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when those classic albums were released. For Rush fans, Clockwork Angels is that project. I worked together with Neil to flesh out the epic story told over the course of the music, as well as the artist Hugh Syme whose paintings fill the CD booklet. In a young man's quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life."