Rush fans have had to cope with lengthy delays between new studio albums over the last 15 years or so, and it looks like that will probably also be the case for the follow-up to 2012's 'Clockwork Angels.'

Guitarist Alex Lifeson discussed the band's short-term plans during a recent interview with Billboard...and as he revealed, it turns out there really aren't any. "We've committed to taking about a year off," he told the magazine. "We all agreed when we finished this ('Clockwork Angels') tour (in early August) we were going to take this time off and we weren't going to talk about band stuff or make any plans. We committed to a year, so that's going to take us through to the end of next summer, for sure. That's the minimum. We haven't stopped or quit. Right now we're just relaxing. We're taking it easy and just enjoying our current employment."

That said, Lifeson quickly admitted that boredom would probably set in well before the end of the trio's planned sabbatical, and he predicted they'd end up getting together to write some new material sooner rather than later. As for how that material will surface, he isn't sure. "It's going to be interesting to see where we do go next," he mused. "You know, the album is dying as a format. We're so used to it and we're so old school in that format, but will we get more mileage by doing a few new songs at a time, or do we do another album? It's hard to say what the future holds, and it's just changing so rapidly. It's always hard to speculate where you're going to go."

Fortunately, while we wait for the next Rush record, we have some new(ish) stuff to listen to -- namely, the 'Clockwork Angels Tour' CD/DVD package and the newly remixed version of the band's 'Vapor Trails' LP. That should tide everyone over for at least a few weeks, right?

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