UPDATE - 8/13@4:25PM: When I first read the article I had missed one key part of the interview where Neil talks about how he'll approach his drum solo on the upcoming tour (thanks Earthshine_sf). Here's what he had to say:

... [In the past], my ambition was not a humble one, to try to play with superhuman perfection in the studio and then reproduce that every night. Once I had defined myself as a compositional drummer, I thought, "Well, I want to be an improvisational drummer." I think in the recorded drum parts on this album, you can sense the excitement and danger: "This guy never played that before, and he just barely made it." I'm going to cut myself completely loose this tour; I'd always composed and choreographed a tour solo and then improvised within that framework, and this time, I'm throwing that out.

----- snip -----

Mike Doherty of Maclean's magazine recently sat down with Neil Peart at the band's Toronto rehearsal studio to discuss the Clockwork Angels album among other subjects. When asked about his current take on the concepts of fate, circumstance, and free will, Neil had the following to say:

I remain the optimist: you just do your best and hope for the best. But it's an evolving state of mind. I still totally believe in individual rights and individual responsibility and in choosing to do good. On the liberal side of things, they go to an extreme of how people need to be led, and they can't handle freedom. Pure libertarianism believes that people will be generous and help each other. Well, they won't. I wish it were so, and I live that way. I help panhandlers, but other people are, "Oh look at that-why doesn't he get a job?" While I believe in all that freedom, I also believe that no one should suffer needlessly. A realization I had lately: it is impossible to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and be a Republican. It's philosophically absolutely opposed-if they could only think about what they were saying for a minute. That's when you get caught up in the webs of what people call themselves and how they behave. You just become adaptable and try to lead a good life in ways that make sense, regardless. Because I know at the end of it, if I'm going to meet Jesus or Allah or Buddha, I'm going to be all right.

You can read the entire article/interview at this location.

NOTE: Posts over 10 years old are partially archived. All comments, images and other embedded media have been removed.