More information regarding Rush's 2010 tour and album plans is starting to trickle in. Before getting into the new details I thought I'd summarize what we know so far. Rush met sometime in November for a band meeting to discuss their plans for the upcoming year. Alex mentioned this impending meeting in a recently published interview with Guitar Aficianado from earlier this Fall, reiterating the fact that the band plans to be active in 2010. In the wake of this meeting, Geddy Lee was a special guest at the 25th annual Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) Miracle Day charity event in early December. According to fan reports, at the event Geddy was asked about Rush's plans for an album/tour and replied that Rush plans on entering the studio very, very soon and are hoping to then tour this summer. Since Geddy's comments were made, I've also heard some anonymous reports that a couple members of the Rush road crew have been casually contacted regarding the possibility of going out on tour next year. Adding fuel to the fire, several major radio stations (Chicago's WLUP, Boston's WZLX, Philadelphia's WYSP) recently ran contests to promote the release of the Working Men live compilation where listeners could qualify for a later drawing to win tickets to Rush's next tour. And last week we learned that the biggest FM radio station in Buenos Aires (FM Rock & Pop) had reported that a major local booking agency is working on bringing Rush to Argentina for the next tour. This all jibes with reports I've been hearing from inside sources that the band is currently in the process of nailing down dates for a 2010 tour to start in the late Spring, focusing particularly on first getting to places they missed on the last tour - like South America and Atlantic Canada.

Now for the new details. We've been wondering whether Snakes & Arrows producer Nick Raskulinecz will continue working with Rush for their next album. According to reader spitneye, it looks like this will indeed be the case. He claims to have run into Nick in a Tennessee (Nick is a Knoxville native) grocery store recently and here's what he reported in the comments on last week's Friday updates post:

I live in Franklin, Tennessee and my son and I just ran into Nick Raskulineez at a local grocery store. When I walked past him I immediately recognized him as the producer of the last album Snakes & Arrows so I asked him if he was getting ready to go into the studio with the boys. He looked up with a big smile on his face and said "yes" and said that he just got back from L.A. where they all met and worked out the details. He said that they will be in the studio next month. He said the new album will be like the last album and one of the songs will have a "Natural Science" feel to it.

I can't independently confirm all of this, but it sounds plausible and I tend to take spitneye at his word. Nick's remarks seem to indirectly suggest that the band already has several songs written, which would certainly make it easier for them to get a new album out the door in time for a Spring release. I can confirm via my other sources that Rush definitely do plan on entering the studio next month and that an official announcement regarding the tour will be coming in February. One other rumor I'm hearing is that the band is considering using the tour to somehow mark the 30th anniversary of Permanent Waves (the album was released on January 1, 1980) and may even play that album in its entirety in celebration. That's one rumor I really hope turns out to be true! I'm also hearing that the Rush documentary crew will be on hand to film the band in the studio and probably some of the initial dates on the tour, like they were hoping. So my guess is that the documentary won't be out until the summer at the earliest.

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