Rush: Alex Lifeson Talks "Clockwork Angels" In New Interview

Mick Burgess of Metal Express Radio recently sat down with Alex Lifeson of Rush to talk about their new studio album. Read excerpts below:

In a few weeks’ time your latest album "Clockwork Angels" will be released. Are you looking forward to finally getting it out?

Yeah, it`s been a long project.  We released a couple of songs before the last tour and that`s the first time that we`ve done something like that where we`ve recorded a couple of songs from a record that hasn`t been released yet.  It was kind of fun to get those songs out, to work them and play them and have a peak into what the project was going to be.  It was great for getting us back into writing which we did last fall where we got into the bulk of the writing and where the whole story started to come together.  That`s where we got a sense of where the album was going.

You once said that the recording of "Moving Pictures" was a difficult process as was "Hemispheres".  How do you feel about "Clockwork Angels"?  Has this been a fairly smooth record to make?

It was.  The only funny thing about it was that it was so spread out.  We did little spurts here and there but once we got into the meat of it, it was really a joy to make. We had a great time and had a lot of fun making it and it was very vibrant in the studio.  It was great working with Nick Raskulinecz.  He is such a music lover, so enthusiastic.  He`s such a great presence to be around in the studio.

"Clockwork Angels" sees you really spreading your wings.  There`s elements of vintage Rush in there with complex arrangements and mood changes while keeping that contemporary feel of your later albums.  Was this the plan when you first started discussing ideas with Geddy?

I don`t know really.  I`m never sure what the plan is.  We sort of start on the day and it takes its shape and we kind of go with it.  I think probably with this record, we really wanted to play and wanted to stretch out a little bit.  We wanted to have fun playing and also to strip things down a little.  I think "Snakes and Arrows" in retrospect was a little bit dense because it was written on acoustic guitar which played a major role in the production. We layered a lot of acoustics and electrics and I think we got just a little cloudy at times.  I really like the record but with hindsight of living with it for a while we realised that we kind of overcooked it a bit.

"Clockwork Angels" is really a step or two on from "Snakes and Arrows" then?

Yeah, we really wanted to strip it down and have more of a three-piece feel to it.  There`s no rhythm guitar during the guitar solos and such like which are things you end up doing as you like the sound of it because you like all the colour but it`s not always necessary and I think the album comes across as a lot more powerful as a result.

Read the entire interview here.