As previously reported, in a new Q&A with Rolling Stone's Andy Greene, Rush drummer Neil Peart discusses the band's new album, Clockwork Angels, among other topics. An excerpt follows:
Q: What gave you the initial idea to make this a concept record?
A: "The nice thing is that it sort of grew in the telling. It started with a conversation in 2009. We got together in Los Angeles and started to think about our next year. One of the projects we discussed was doing a compilation of all of our instrumentals, which Geddy suggested. I said, 'Yeah, maybe we could make a new one to go with it. Maybe something a little more extended'.
Those words "a little more extended" in the course of this comfortable conversation got me thinking. I said, 'Well, I've been thinking lately about this setting'... And I explained this whole steampunk thing to the guys and they seemed kind of intrigued. So I started working, and the story came together organically.
The Seven Cities of Gold always fascinated me. Southwestern US history especially fascinates me. The whole spur of the Spanish exploration of the Southwestern US was the search for these mythical Seven Cities of Gold. The Spanish ones would go back to Mexico City and say, 'I saw it! I saw it! I just couldn't get to it, but I could see this city of gold in the distance!' They kept believing it and sending expeditions.
Another story that fascinated me was the Wreckers. This Daphne Du Maurier novel Jamaica Inn describes these people called "The Wreckers" on the coast of the Cornwall in Britain. They would not would not only plunder shipwrecks, but they would actually put up a fake light and attract the ships in a storm to crash on their shores so they could loot them. It's just a shocking example of inhumanity, and it happens to be a true story. I wove it all of that into the story of this album."
Read more at Rolling Stone.
Clockwork Angels is out now as a regular CD, digital download and deluxe double-vinyl version.
