The Rush For Snakes & Arrows Will Begin On May 1

02/16/07 7:00pm

Snakes & Arrows, Rush's first new collection of original material in almost five years, will make its way into stores on May 1.

The Toronto power trio co-produced the Anthem album last fall with Grammy Award winner Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver). Lead single "Far Cry" should arrive at rock radio stations in mid-March.

Drummer Neil Peart told Billboard.com that some of the lyrics in the new songs were inspired by the motorcycle trips through the U.S. that he wrote about in his book, Roadshow: Landscape With Drums.

"Just seeing the power of evangelical Christianity and contrasting that with the power of fundamentalist religion all over the world in its different forms had a big effect on me," he said. "You try to put your own way of seeing the world into some kind of congruence with other people's, and that's difficult for me. I mean, I see the world in what I think to be a perfectly obvious and rational way, but when you go out into it and see the way other people think and behave, and express themselves on church signs, you realize, 'Well, I'm not really part of this club.'"

Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Peart will launch a summer North American tour, their first since their 30th anniversary shows in 2004, in support of Snakes & Arrows. Dates will be announced in the coming weeks.

Rush have sold more than 35 million albums and played in front of millions of fans around the globe since the release of their self-titled debut LP in 1974. Snakes & Arrows will be the hard rock band's 18th studio effort.