As we reported towards the end of last year, Rush had planned to get together in Los Angeles to begin planning their next project. Apparently, that meeting may not have come to fruition. According to the latest from Neil Peart, the group is on the verge of gathering to begin the serious work of writing and recording. According to Peart, Rush is “in action.”

More specifically, Peart revealed that he has sent some lyrical ideas up to Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson who are said to be working together on the musical side of things; a process that is described as pretty much the norm for the group. “That’s what I’ve found in the past; if Geddy says, ‘I like these four lines,’ that to me is great. It’s not a rejection of the rest of it; it’s that those four lines happened to reach him. So I’ll build on that,” Peart explains.

The kind of project Rush will be working on still seems to be very much up in the air. Peart talked last year about how the group may go off in a different direction this time, and do something that reflects the changes in the music industry we have seen in recent years. That approach may steer them towards the production of a smaller-than-normal collection of new material followed by a tour.

Then again, they could also go in the opposite direction. Peart describes his thoughts about a band he recently saw that may lead them back towards more theme-oriented work. Perhaps it would be something more like 2112 or Hemispheres.

Peart continues: “I went to see a band called Porcupine Tree not long ago. And I was talking with (singer-guitarist) Steven Wilson. They just put out a 55- minute piece. That’s a finger to the whole iTunes shuffle thing, and he intended it as such. And I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s another way of rebelling against it — by just saying no.’ There’s too much lost in giving up the integrity of an album — what it represents to you as a musician, and as a human being, for that matter. So I like that approach. That’s very possible for a band like us. So there are no limitations; we might go big or we might go small.”

So at this point, things really are up in the air for Rush; leaving fans to wonder what’s coming next from the Canadian trio. Many will not care, as long as they are still working. Others may find themselves at odds with something that’s viewed as too much of a departure from the past. With such a loyal fan base, however, they might have to actually work at alienating any significant number of them.

This fan can safely be counted as someone who is happy to hear they are planning new material, and yeah, it would probably take something well outside the box for me to lose interest in them – you know, like switching to hip-hop or something. A pretty unlikely move for three hockey-loving Canadian boys.

Whatever direction they decide to go in, I think it will be something that does not disappoint, will keep fans engaged, and have them ready to line up for the next album, iTunes download or live show that’s available.

The full story can be accessed at The Intelligencer.