A couple of years back Sonic Reality released their Neil Peart series drum sample instrument library Neil Peart Drums Volume 1: The Kit. It features drum samples from Neil Peart himself and was produced with the help of Rush producer Nick Raskulinecz. Over the last several months Sonic Reality's Dave Kerzner has been working with a number of artists on a prog-rock project called Sonic Elements which utilizes the drum samples from Neil Peart Drums Volume 1 to create cover versions of several Rush tracks and tracks from other prog-rock artists. The project just announced via their Facebook page over the weekend that they'll be releasing a 5-song EP of these Rush covers called XYZ: A Tribute To Rush on April 21, 2012 (4.21.12) digitally and as a limited-edition CD. The featured tracks will be Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight and a bonus track titled Trifecta. The performers include Rik Emmett (Triumph), John Wesley (Porcupine Tree), Billy Sherwood (Yes), Randy McStine, Matt Dorsey, Dave Kerzner and Neil Peart Drums from Sonic Reality. Trifecta is an original track written by Billy Sherwood and Dave Kerzner that uses the drum track from YYZ. You can listen to samples from the project below or on SoundCloud, and to keep up on their progress follow them on Facebook. Thanks to Eric at Power Windows for the heads up.

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