Rush announces new album, tour

LOS ANGELES, April 19 (UPI) -- Canadian rock band Rush has announced plans for a 2012 North American concert tour to support its upcoming 20th studio album, "Clockwork Angels."

The 33-city tour is to begin Sept. 7 in Manchester, N.H., and will wrap up Dec. 2 in Houston, Texas, with stops along the way in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Columbus, Bridgeport, Philadelphia, Saskatoon, Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tampa, Live Nation said.

The album is set for release June 12. It is the rock trio's first new collection of original material in more than five years and their first studio release via Anthem/Roadrunner Records. Rush -- comprised of singer-musicians Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart -- was founded in 1968.

"'Headlong Flight' was one of those songs that was a joy to write and record from beginning to end," Lee said in a statement about the first single off the band's new album.

"Alex and I had blast jamming in my home studio one day before the second leg of the Time Machine Tour and I did not revisit that jam until a year later. Alex and I assembled the song to be an instrumental and its original title was 'Take That Lampshade Off Yo Head!' But once we saw the lyrics Neil had written for 'Headlong Flight,' I knew that the spirit of the lyrics matched the instrumental perfectly and it was just a matter of making them fit and writing the melodies."