He briefly mentions his solo record - "We’re finishing it very soon, actually – that’s an exclusive!"
Hello Michael, how are you? Good. I’m in Athens, Georgia, I’m in the studio right now working on some solo songs. It’s been a really good month for me here.
Excellent. How do you find it when you’re working on solo work, forging a way ahead and then get drawn into having to look back for reissue campaigns? It’s okay. I mean, particularly today, I didn’t realise when we set up these interviews that it was going to be exactly 10 years since R.E.M. disbanded. This is the 10th anniversary of our calling it a day as a band. So it’s kind of wild.
Ah! How’s it been for you doing these reissue campaigns over the past few years? Are you someone who naturally looks back? I’m not someone who naturally looks back, thank you for asking. I have to say that being able to listen to and talk about this material 20 or 25 years on has been really eye-opening for me. It feels fresh. I’m able to examine, really from a great distance thanks to time, my own work and look at it not from the perspective of having just done it and having regrets or having just done it and being really proud of it, or excited about what happened, but really looking back and, and going ‘well, that was a bit of a misstep but these aspects were triumphant’. Every record that we made, we did the very best thing that we could possibly create at that moment. I really enjoy observing the work from a great distance.
What’s been the most surprising thing you’ve learned about going back to it? Honestly, it was like 2008 when I realised that I had a very distinctive voice.
You were pretty slow on the uptake there Michael. I know! I realised the way that I write and the way that I put words together is very different and the way that I enter into music as a singer, often melodically, is very, very different, so there’s that, but I didn’t realise the sound of my voice itself was really that unique. And so I look back and there are choices that I made, particularly with some of the earlier material where I was responding to what I saw as a lack of recording ability, I guess. The microphones were not treating me well. In fact, it wasn’t the microphones as much as it was mixes to make things clearer, changes you could make now that were not available at the time technically. I’m sorry, I fell asleep in the middle of that, it was so boring.
No it wasn’t, I enjoyed it! You asked me a really interesting question and I just rambled on about microphones. But I like being objective, I like looking at the work objectively and I’m able to do that. From time to time, I will get a shiver up my spine, or that feeling in the back of your neck, that you get listening to really great work. And, you know, when you then are able to acknowledge, like, ‘wow, that was me that made that’ - well, I don’t feel like me 25 years ago so it’s a little weird to separate myself from the person that I was then, but I’m able to do that creatively and artistically.
That brings up another question – are you surprised at how you’ve been able to detach yourself from it? Yeah, because I put every ounce of my heart and soul and body into every single one of those songs, I really gave everything that I had. And so I feel like the melodies of the most tiny little part of those songs, the little string hits or the little percussive elements are a part of my DNA, I listened to them 100,000 times in order to write to them, to sing to them, to mix and to then master them and release them and then cover them live. It feels like a part of my DNA now so to be able to objectively look at is pretty great. I’m really looking at the recording, and I’m looking at I’m looking at the craftsmanship, the artistry maybe is a better term, that went into the writing and the arranging of the work.
When you listened to New Adventures In Hi-Fi again for this reissue, what were the first things that came flooding into your head? I hadn’t listened to it probably since we put it out. I sat down, turned off the lights, lit a candle or whatever the fuck we do these days to listen to an album from beginning to end without checking my phone, without also watching a TV show and reading a news article at the same time. I sat down and listened to it. I was shocked at the sequence and I was also surprised at how much the album references the American West and the couple of years that I called Los Angeles home instead of New York. There’s also historic aspects that pop up in songs like How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us.
A lot of New Adventures… was written on the Monster tour. What was your headspace lyrically at that point? I was really tagging along. I mean, I was so focused on the tour. I say this with all the love in my heart for every drummer who’s ever sat behind a drum kit but being the frontman requires a different level of psychic energy to really create the mood and the atmosphere that’s required for a successful live performance. And so the whole recording while soundchecking thing was really much more Peter, Mike and Bill and our producer who would come out. That was really more of their thing. I felt like the only thing that I wrote really during that was a part of Leave.
But you also started playing Departure and Undertow on that tour? Departure did happen on that tour, that’s true. And I think Undertow was maybe written before the tour. I wrote Departure in San Sebastian, Spain. It was written about River Phoenix. I was upset I couldn’t share this thing with him that I knew he would have loved. It’s the same month that I picked up the phone and called Patti Smith for the first time. It was a very auspicious moment. I would have never prior to that felt enough courage to call Patti Smith and say “hello, my name is Michael Stipe, I’m the singer from R.E.M. and I’m a great admirer of your work.” But that was the first time we spoken. Anyway, yeah, I wrote that song for River.
But in the main you weren’t writing much on the road? No, the real writing happened afterwards. Things came out, like Departure. I mean, that just happened upon me. But most of the writing that I do has nothing to do with me or is not at all autobiographic. That was like E-Bow The Letter, it was just real life inserting itself into my job. And there was this piece of music that happened to fit it and, and boom, suddenly, there’s a pop song. I’m just walking into my kitchen because if I don’t eat something, I’m going to faint before we’re done.
Please don’t faint. Hang on a second. Sorry for the sound.
The tone of my voice does this to people. Haha! I was up all night. I’m in the studio currently and I’m wildly adrenalized. I stay up until seven in the morning most nights because I work nights but then I had to be up early to go on the radio. I’m just going to eat some rice but I’ll try and enunciate.
What do you remember about those huge summer UK shows in 1995? Radiohead were supporting at the second Milton Keynes show, was that the first time you met them? Yeah, I think we met backstage. I went and presented myself to Thom and then he presented me to the rest of the group. I think we were we were sunbathing together outside of the dressing rooms. It was a beautiful summer day.
That’s the first gig I ever went to. I was 14 and stood there at the front for about 11 hours. Are you kidding? Wow, well that’s auspicious, Jesus Christ. It was R.E.M. and Radiohead and who else?
The Cranberries and Sleeper. Oh my God, what a bill. God bless Dolores and her spirit.
At those mammoth shows, what was going through your mind at stage-time approached? You know, those giant outdoor things, they’re really fun but it takes a different type of kind of psychic energy to pull the audience towards you through the entire course of a set. There’s something about being enclosed with a group of people, it creates a different kind of psychic energy and performance energy. The open-air stuff is a bit more dispersed and so you have to really reach the back rows, you have to be at the back of the field, near the toilets and near the T-shirt stands, engaging those people as much as those who are 14 years old and sitting right up front, like yourself.
My favourite song from New Adventures… and one of my favourite R.E.M. songs of all-time is E-Bow The Letter. It still sounds so fresh. How did that come to be? Thank you. I agree. Yeah, it came from a letter. I mean, I didn’t have to write it, it was written, so it’s a recitation more than a song part. I found one phrase and repeated it and that became the chorus. It happened very organically and very naturally. I remember the moment on stage during the soundcheck when the guys were playing this new piece of music and Peter was exploring this new device that he got called an E-bow, which you hold against a string that creates this never ending tone. I recited this letter I’d written over the top and that became the song.
Fear is a big theme of that song. At that point, what was your biggest fear? Well, I was born into fear and, and so fanatically and as a person outside of the work that I do, one of the great challenges for me in this lifetime is to overcome fear. I just put out a book of photographs actually which is exactly about that theme. It’s a series of portraits of people who I consider to be fearless and extremely brave and vulnerable at the same time. It’s a theme that I explore over and over and over again. And if you go back through R.E.M. lyrics, you’ll find that fear is there from the very beginning. It’s in the chorus of a song 9-9 off of Murmur, it’s in 7 Chinese Bros. concerning relationships, the sad ending of relationships - that’s too much! Anyway, the theme of fear is one that’s ever present. I am proud to say that as a 61-year-old, I’ve become much better with being courageous and less fearful.
That’s reassuring. I’m able to place it somewhere and kind of step back from and distance myself from it and acknowledge it as something that’s there, but not something that has to guide my every action or reaction.
Looking at the decision to release E-Bow The Letter as the album’s lead single now, it feels like it set a new blueprint for what rock bands could do with their lead singles, rather than choosing the song with the catchiest chorus. Oh my God Niall! Well, if we helped spearhead that, then I’m very, very proud of having done that. It was audacious. It was incredibly courageous and I’m really glad that we jumped off the cliff together.
Are there any younger bands out there that you see carrying on the spirit of R.E.M.? Yes. Over the years, dozens, tens of dozens. You know, we are men of limited talents. The sum of our work was possibly greater than the parts, but within that that we have many, many triumphs, and I’m just very super proud of them. I’m also proud of the times that we fell on our face. It’s all part and parcel.
Thanks for your time Michael. Yeah, thank you for your comments.
I look forward to hearing your solo record! We’re finishing it very soon, actually – that’s an exclusive!
“Do not postpone happiness”
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
Brian Eno has announced he is releasing a single with Michael Stipe next week for Earth Day:
On Earth Day this year – 22 April – the producer, artist and activist plans to light up the internet with previously unheard music to direct attention and funds towards the climate crisis. Approximately 100 artists will release material exclusively via Bandcamp - with the platform dropping its usual 15% cut to 10% – and the proceeds being distributed among causes at the forefront of the emergency.
“I’ve just finished a piece this morning with Michael Stipe,” says Eno, revealing an exclusive collaboration with the former REM singer called Future If Future. “This will be the first time I’ve worked with him, though I did sing with him once on Saturday Night Live or something like that,” smiles the 73-year-old, in his west London recording studio. “I’m very pleased with the way it’s gone. It’s a very good song, a very Stipe song. Beautiful lyrics, extraordinary piece.”
“Do not postpone happiness”
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
Brian Eno has announced he is releasing a single with Michael Stipe next week for Earth Day:
On Earth Day this year – 22 April – the producer, artist and activist plans to light up the internet with previously unheard music to direct attention and funds towards the climate crisis. Approximately 100 artists will release material exclusively via Bandcamp - with the platform dropping its usual 15% cut to 10% – and the proceeds being distributed among causes at the forefront of the emergency.
“I’ve just finished a piece this morning with Michael Stipe,” says Eno, revealing an exclusive collaboration with the former REM singer called Future If Future. “This will be the first time I’ve worked with him, though I did sing with him once on Saturday Night Live or something like that,” smiles the 73-year-old, in his west London recording studio. “I’m very pleased with the way it’s gone. It’s a very good song, a very Stipe song. Beautiful lyrics, extraordinary piece.”
For anyone interested in getting any of the Earth Percent tracks (Stipe included), they will no longer be available by the end of this coming week.
Manchester 17.8.09, Manchester 21.6.12, Copenhagen 10.7.12, Manchester 28.7.12 (EV), Phoenix 19.11.13, San Diego 21.11.13, LA 23.11.13, LA 24.11.13, Vienna 25.6.14, Leeds 8.7.14, London 6.6.17 (EV), London 18.6.18, Krakow 3.7.18, London 17.7.18, Dublin 3.7.19 (EV)
My old college roommate snagged a ticket and went! He’s a huge fan. Mills and Buck played on stage while Berry and Stipe watched from the back. My buddy said the show was a blast!
I was at both shows, both were fantastic! In some ways some guests felt very random, like what is Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish's history with REM or Athens? Or maybe he's just a huge fan, but I did LOVE his version of World Leader Pretend. And John Cameron Mitchell (of Hedwig & the Angry Inch fame) was a fucking STAR!!! I don't even love the song "Low" but he made it sound like Bauhaus covering REM and it was fun!
I spoke to many of the musicians after (but was soooo bummed not to get to talk to Bill Berry at all). One of the guest keyboard players said Michael Stipe pulled her aside and just said so earnestly "I don't think you all understand how much this all means to me... " All the original members really loved the events!
And Peter Buck's Baseball Project, the drummer Linda Pitmon? She freakin' rules! They played a few too.
It was also such a reunion of sorts. If I saw someone who looked REALLY familiar I just walked up to them and asked - several legendary Atlanta folks, and a few from elsewhere, like hte guy who used to own Maxwell's in Hoboken was there.
REM fans, check it out! The Baseball Project, a band that includes two original REM members Peter Buck and Mike Mills as well as REM auxiliary member Scott McCaughey, has a new LP coming out in June. Here's a recent photo left to right, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, [don't know, probably friend or producer], Linda Pitmon, and in front Scott McCaughey:
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
REM fans, check it out! The Baseball Project, a band that includes two original REM members Peter Buck and Mike Mills as well as REM auxiliary member Scott McCaughey, has a new LP coming out in June. Here's a recent photo left to right, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, [don't know, probably friend or producer], Linda Pitmon, and in front Scott McCaughey:
Brian I think that's Mitch Easter, who both produced earlly REM albums and also was in - was it Let's Active? A band that was popular in REM's early days.
I saw Linda Pitmon play at the REM 40th anniversary events, and she slays! I will definitely check out the Baseball Project whenever they come near!
REM fans, check it out! The Baseball Project, a band that includes two original REM members Peter Buck and Mike Mills as well as REM auxiliary member Scott McCaughey, has a new LP coming out in June. Here's a recent photo left to right, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, [don't know, probably friend or producer], Linda Pitmon, and in front Scott McCaughey:
Brian I think that's Mitch Easter, who both produced earlly REM albums and also was in - was it Let's Active? A band that was popular in REM's early days.
I saw Linda Pitmon play at the REM 40th anniversary events, and she slays! I will definitely check out the Baseball Project whenever they come near!
By gum, I think you're right, JH!
I was listening to Murmur just last night for the thousandth time and thinking about how much Mitch Easter's production added to that amazing record- really as though he was a fifth member of the band.
Another lesser known Mitch Easter record I came up a few weeks ago is this one by Primitons. The songs are not real consistent but the good ones are great and Easter's production throughout, of course, is excellent.
Thanks for pointing out Mitch in the photo! Very cool and good call!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
REM fans, check it out! The Baseball Project, a band that includes two original REM members Peter Buck and Mike Mills as well as REM auxiliary member Scott McCaughey, has a new LP coming out in June. Here's a recent photo left to right, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, [don't know, probably friend or producer], Linda Pitmon, and in front Scott McCaughey:
Brian I think that's Mitch Easter, who both produced earlly REM albums and also was in - was it Let's Active? A band that was popular in REM's early days.
I saw Linda Pitmon play at the REM 40th anniversary events, and she slays! I will definitely check out the Baseball Project whenever they come near!
By gum, I think you're right, JH!
I was listening to Murmur just last night for the thousandth time and thinking about how much Mitch Easter's production added to that amazing record- really as though he was a fifth member of the band.
Another lesser known Mitch Easter record I came up a few weeks ago is this one by Primitons. The songs are not real consistent but the good ones are great and Easter's production throughout, of course, is excellent.
Thanks for pointing out Mitch in the photo! Very cool and good call!
No problem Brian, but don't give me too much credit for recognizing him, I forgot to say he was part of those 2 "Chronic Town 40th Anniversary" shows and was introduced onstage a couple of times, so that's why I recognized him. I knew his name from being a mega REM fan, but before last month if you'd shown me a current photo of him I'd have had no idea who he was Yes, it really was amazing his production! That "5th Member of REM" seemed to go for Mitch Easter first, and then for Scott Litt when he started producing them. Each of them, their sound is so tangible though different.
You and I both will be keeping a look out for Baseball Project shows!
REM fans, check it out! The Baseball Project, a band that includes two original REM members Peter Buck and Mike Mills as well as REM auxiliary member Scott McCaughey, has a new LP coming out in June. Here's a recent photo left to right, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, [don't know, probably friend or producer], Linda Pitmon, and in front Scott McCaughey:
Brian I think that's Mitch Easter, who both produced earlly REM albums and also was in - was it Let's Active? A band that was popular in REM's early days.
I saw Linda Pitmon play at the REM 40th anniversary events, and she slays! I will definitely check out the Baseball Project whenever they come near!
By gum, I think you're right, JH!
I was listening to Murmur just last night for the thousandth time and thinking about how much Mitch Easter's production added to that amazing record- really as though he was a fifth member of the band.
Another lesser known Mitch Easter record I came up a few weeks ago is this one by Primitons. The songs are not real consistent but the good ones are great and Easter's production throughout, of course, is excellent.
Thanks for pointing out Mitch in the photo! Very cool and good call!
No problem Brian, but don't give me too much credit for recognizing him, I forgot to say he was part of those 2 "Chronic Town 40th Anniversary" shows and was introduced onstage a couple of times, so that's why I recognized him. I knew his name from being a mega REM fan, but before last month if you'd shown me a current photo of him I'd have had no idea who he was Yes, it really was amazing his production! That "5th Member of REM" seemed to go for Mitch Easter first, and then for Scott Litt when he started producing them. Each of them, their sound is so tangible though different.
You and I both will be keeping a look out for Baseball Project shows!
Did you get to got to one of the Chronic Town 40th Anniversary shows? I would have loved that!
Good point to about Scott Litt- another terrific producer!
I saw several posts on FB celebrating Michael Stype's birthday recently. 63! Gosh, how did that happen already! I look at pictures of him and some of the other people from that era, all a half generation behind me who seemed like kids to me when they started making records and now they are grey! How time flies!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
REM fans, check it out! The Baseball Project, a band that includes two original REM members Peter Buck and Mike Mills as well as REM auxiliary member Scott McCaughey, has a new LP coming out in June. Here's a recent photo left to right, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, [don't know, probably friend or producer], Linda Pitmon, and in front Scott McCaughey:
Brian I think that's Mitch Easter, who both produced earlly REM albums and also was in - was it Let's Active? A band that was popular in REM's early days.
I saw Linda Pitmon play at the REM 40th anniversary events, and she slays! I will definitely check out the Baseball Project whenever they come near!
By gum, I think you're right, JH!
I was listening to Murmur just last night for the thousandth time and thinking about how much Mitch Easter's production added to that amazing record- really as though he was a fifth member of the band.
Another lesser known Mitch Easter record I came up a few weeks ago is this one by Primitons. The songs are not real consistent but the good ones are great and Easter's production throughout, of course, is excellent.
Thanks for pointing out Mitch in the photo! Very cool and good call!
No problem Brian, but don't give me too much credit for recognizing him, I forgot to say he was part of those 2 "Chronic Town 40th Anniversary" shows and was introduced onstage a couple of times, so that's why I recognized him. I knew his name from being a mega REM fan, but before last month if you'd shown me a current photo of him I'd have had no idea who he was Yes, it really was amazing his production! That "5th Member of REM" seemed to go for Mitch Easter first, and then for Scott Litt when he started producing them. Each of them, their sound is so tangible though different.
You and I both will be keeping a look out for Baseball Project shows!
Did you get to got to one of the Chronic Town 40th Anniversary shows? I would have loved that!
Good point to about Scott Litt- another terrific producer!
I saw several posts on FB celebrating Michael Stype's birthday recently. 63! Gosh, how did that happen already! I look at pictures of him and some of the other people from that era, all a half generation behind me who seemed like kids to me when they started making records and now they are grey! How time flies!
Yes, in an insanely gorgeous stroke of luck, I was in Atlanta for a week for my job the same week of these shows. Went to both, the 40 Watt on a Wed night and Roxy Theater on a Thurs. about 80% same sets but very different energy and a few more guests for the bigger Atlanta show. It was such a trip! For me it was a bit like a reunion, though some familiar faces walking around I couldn't place, I just knew I knew them from somewhere. Like one guy, I said "I saw you enough times that you look INCREDIBLY familiar, but I canNOT place you" and he said "I used to own Maxwells in Hoboken" and I was like "Yup, bingo!" And to know the 1st night that all 4 original members were at the 40 Watt, even though only Peter Buck & Mike Mills got onstage... it was special.
Total surprise (for me): one of my personal most emotional 8ish minutes was Darius Rucker (of Hootie & the Blowfish)'s versions of "World Leader Pretend" and "I Believe". I danced my ass off AND cried! And the guy who wrote the book & did the movie of "Hedwig & the Angry Inch" which was then on Broadway (or maybe off-Broadway?), John Cameron Mitchell, he also was incredible in his voice and performance (wearing a pleated girls' scouts skirt & Cruella DeVille hair!).
REM fans, check it out! The Baseball Project, a band that includes two original REM members Peter Buck and Mike Mills as well as REM auxiliary member Scott McCaughey, has a new LP coming out in June. Here's a recent photo left to right, Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, [don't know, probably friend or producer], Linda Pitmon, and in front Scott McCaughey:
Brian I think that's Mitch Easter, who both produced earlly REM albums and also was in - was it Let's Active? A band that was popular in REM's early days.
I saw Linda Pitmon play at the REM 40th anniversary events, and she slays! I will definitely check out the Baseball Project whenever they come near!
By gum, I think you're right, JH!
I was listening to Murmur just last night for the thousandth time and thinking about how much Mitch Easter's production added to that amazing record- really as though he was a fifth member of the band.
Another lesser known Mitch Easter record I came up a few weeks ago is this one by Primitons. The songs are not real consistent but the good ones are great and Easter's production throughout, of course, is excellent.
Thanks for pointing out Mitch in the photo! Very cool and good call!
No problem Brian, but don't give me too much credit for recognizing him, I forgot to say he was part of those 2 "Chronic Town 40th Anniversary" shows and was introduced onstage a couple of times, so that's why I recognized him. I knew his name from being a mega REM fan, but before last month if you'd shown me a current photo of him I'd have had no idea who he was Yes, it really was amazing his production! That "5th Member of REM" seemed to go for Mitch Easter first, and then for Scott Litt when he started producing them. Each of them, their sound is so tangible though different.
You and I both will be keeping a look out for Baseball Project shows!
Did you get to got to one of the Chronic Town 40th Anniversary shows? I would have loved that!
Good point to about Scott Litt- another terrific producer!
I saw several posts on FB celebrating Michael Stype's birthday recently. 63! Gosh, how did that happen already! I look at pictures of him and some of the other people from that era, all a half generation behind me who seemed like kids to me when they started making records and now they are grey! How time flies!
Yes, in an insanely gorgeous stroke of luck, I was in Atlanta for a week for my job the same week of these shows. Went to both, the 40 Watt on a Wed night and Roxy Theater on a Thurs. about 80% same sets but very different energy and a few more guests for the bigger Atlanta show. It was such a trip! For me it was a bit like a reunion, though some familiar faces walking around I couldn't place, I just knew I knew them from somewhere. Like one guy, I said "I saw you enough times that you look INCREDIBLY familiar, but I canNOT place you" and he said "I used to own Maxwells in Hoboken" and I was like "Yup, bingo!" And to know the 1st night that all 4 original members were at the 40 Watt, even though only Peter Buck & Mike Mills got onstage... it was special.
Total surprise (for me): one of my personal most emotional 8ish minutes was Darius Rucker (of Hootie & the Blowfish)'s versions of "World Leader Pretend" and "I Believe". I danced my ass off AND cried! And the guy who wrote the book & did the movie of "Hedwig & the Angry Inch" which was then on Broadway (or maybe off-Broadway?), John Cameron Mitchell, he also was incredible in his voice and performance (wearing a pleated girls' scouts skirt & Cruella DeVille hair!).
What great, great stories about those shows! Thank you for sharing! Truly awesome. So glad or you to have been there!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
JH6056 said: You and I both will be keeping a look out for Baseball Project shows!
To my beloved Bandcamp community --
Well, tomorrow is another solid sender BC Friday! I had originally planned to have NEIL (Vol. 2) ready to unleash, but I'm going to hold off for now. And by the way, Neil (Vol. 3) is well on the way too. Just trying to organize what makes sense when to open the flood gates. There'll be a crash on the levee, mama!
Meanwhile The No Ones new second full-length comes out in March, but it's o.k. to pre-order it tomorrow! the-no-ones.bandcamp.com/album/my-best-evil-friend The new single "Phil Ochs Is Dead" will be available Feb. 7. It's a classic slice of folk-rock -- I happen to know some of you out there will dig it.
The Minus 5 is just lurking in the shadows -- but we shall be very present at times this 2023 with some choice live shows and lots of records of some sort or another. And did I mention the Baseball Project? Oh, I will! Stay tuned, and thanks always for everything -- Scott
Athens 2006 / Milton Keynes 2014 / London 1&2 2022 / Seattle 1&2 2024 / Dublin 2024 / Manchester 2024
JH6056 said: You and I both will be keeping a look out for Baseball Project shows!
To my beloved Bandcamp community --
Well, tomorrow is another solid sender BC Friday! I had originally planned to have NEIL (Vol. 2) ready to unleash, but I'm going to hold off for now. And by the way, Neil (Vol. 3) is well on the way too. Just trying to organize what makes sense when to open the flood gates. There'll be a crash on the levee, mama!
Meanwhile The No Ones new second full-length comes out in March, but it's o.k. to pre-order it tomorrow! the-no-ones.bandcamp.com/album/my-best-evil-friend The new single "Phil Ochs Is Dead" will be available Feb. 7. It's a classic slice of folk-rock -- I happen to know some of you out there will dig it.
The Minus 5 is just lurking in the shadows -- but we shall be very present at times this 2023 with some choice live shows and lots of records of some sort or another. And did I mention the Baseball Project? Oh, I will! Stay tuned, and thanks always for everything -- Scott
Whoooo hooooooo a mention!! Good lookin' out Pap! Now we just need actual dates... to plan around....
Thanks @Bandcamp for waiving their cut of all sales today (Midnight to Midnight Pacific Time). It's a great day to pre-order upcoming limited edition vinyl reissues of The Baseball Project’s Vol. 1, Vol. 2 & 3rd! thebaseballproject1.bandcamp.com/music
And don’t forget the brand new BBP album coming out on Omnivore Records June 30 — come see us on the road in August!
Then there’s the No Ones titanic new album out on Yep Roc end of this month. We call music MY BEST EVIL FRIEND because it is — you couldn’t have a better and more treacherous life partner, right? Beautiful purple and orange double vinyl and slimmed-but-sexy CD available now to pre-order: the-no-ones.bandcamp.com/album/my-best-evil-friend
This next one is not available YET but keep an eye out for all-new MINUS 5 release via Yep Roc & Bandcamp in June. We will be continuing our Neil Young fixation with Calling Cortez (Neil Vol. 3) — a wanton blend of McCaughey originals and Young Man’s Fancy favorites. Scott The Hoople's NEIL (Vol. 2) will show up on this very site later this year...
Tickets on sale NOW for No Ones / Minus 5 dates in Northwest, Norway, and UK, June 16 thru July 8. Yes indeed.
I'll shut up now. Thanks for listening, forever - Scott
Athens 2006 / Milton Keynes 2014 / London 1&2 2022 / Seattle 1&2 2024 / Dublin 2024 / Manchester 2024
There will be a 40th anniversary of Murmur performance at the Metro in Chicago with Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy and friends July 30th. Will definitely be there!
CBS This Morning June 13: "we will never reunite" that same evening: reunites for a performance of Losing My Religion
LIARS
LOL, good one!
Of course what they mean was reunite for more than the one time to show gratitude for the (well deserved) award. Other than possibly Bill Berry, they've all moved one- Peter Buck with solo albums, The Baseball Project, Filthy Friends, The Minus Five, and production, Mike Mills with The Baseball Project and other part-time groups (more than I can keep up with), Michael Stipe with his solo album and photography projects. Even Bill Berry has been busy on and off with The Bad Ends.
Not that it wouldn't be cool for the four of them to work together again, but I highly doubt it.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Comments
https://thenewcue.substack.com/p/the-new-cue-92-november-22-michael
He briefly mentions his solo record - "We’re finishing it very soon, actually – that’s an exclusive!"
Hello Michael, how are you?
Good. I’m in Athens, Georgia, I’m in the studio right now working on some solo songs. It’s been a really good month for me here.
Excellent. How do you find it when you’re working on solo work, forging a way ahead and then get drawn into having to look back for reissue campaigns?
It’s okay. I mean, particularly today, I didn’t realise when we set up these interviews that it was going to be exactly 10 years since R.E.M. disbanded. This is the 10th anniversary of our calling it a day as a band. So it’s kind of wild.
Ah! How’s it been for you doing these reissue campaigns over the past few years? Are you someone who naturally looks back?
I’m not someone who naturally looks back, thank you for asking. I have to say that being able to listen to and talk about this material 20 or 25 years on has been really eye-opening for me. It feels fresh. I’m able to examine, really from a great distance thanks to time, my own work and look at it not from the perspective of having just done it and having regrets or having just done it and being really proud of it, or excited about what happened, but really looking back and, and going ‘well, that was a bit of a misstep but these aspects were triumphant’. Every record that we made, we did the very best thing that we could possibly create at that moment. I really enjoy observing the work from a great distance.
What’s been the most surprising thing you’ve learned about going back to it?
Honestly, it was like 2008 when I realised that I had a very distinctive voice.
You were pretty slow on the uptake there Michael.
I know! I realised the way that I write and the way that I put words together is very different and the way that I enter into music as a singer, often melodically, is very, very different, so there’s that, but I didn’t realise the sound of my voice itself was really that unique. And so I look back and there are choices that I made, particularly with some of the earlier material where I was responding to what I saw as a lack of recording ability, I guess. The microphones were not treating me well. In fact, it wasn’t the microphones as much as it was mixes to make things clearer, changes you could make now that were not available at the time technically. I’m sorry, I fell asleep in the middle of that, it was so boring.
No it wasn’t, I enjoyed it!
You asked me a really interesting question and I just rambled on about microphones. But I like being objective, I like looking at the work objectively and I’m able to do that. From time to time, I will get a shiver up my spine, or that feeling in the back of your neck, that you get listening to really great work. And, you know, when you then are able to acknowledge, like, ‘wow, that was me that made that’ - well, I don’t feel like me 25 years ago so it’s a little weird to separate myself from the person that I was then, but I’m able to do that creatively and artistically.
That brings up another question – are you surprised at how you’ve been able to detach yourself from it?
Yeah, because I put every ounce of my heart and soul and body into every single one of those songs, I really gave everything that I had. And so I feel like the melodies of the most tiny little part of those songs, the little string hits or the little percussive elements are a part of my DNA, I listened to them 100,000 times in order to write to them, to sing to them, to mix and to then master them and release them and then cover them live. It feels like a part of my DNA now so to be able to objectively look at is pretty great. I’m really looking at the recording, and I’m looking at I’m looking at the craftsmanship, the artistry maybe is a better term, that went into the writing and the arranging of the work.
When you listened to New Adventures In Hi-Fi again for this reissue, what were the first things that came flooding into your head?
I hadn’t listened to it probably since we put it out. I sat down, turned off the lights, lit a candle or whatever the fuck we do these days to listen to an album from beginning to end without checking my phone, without also watching a TV show and reading a news article at the same time. I sat down and listened to it. I was shocked at the sequence and I was also surprised at how much the album references the American West and the couple of years that I called Los Angeles home instead of New York. There’s also historic aspects that pop up in songs like How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us.
A lot of New Adventures… was written on the Monster tour. What was your headspace lyrically at that point?
I was really tagging along. I mean, I was so focused on the tour. I say this with all the love in my heart for every drummer who’s ever sat behind a drum kit but being the frontman requires a different level of psychic energy to really create the mood and the atmosphere that’s required for a successful live performance. And so the whole recording while soundchecking thing was really much more Peter, Mike and Bill and our producer who would come out. That was really more of their thing. I felt like the only thing that I wrote really during that was a part of Leave.
But you also started playing Departure and Undertow on that tour?
Departure did happen on that tour, that’s true. And I think Undertow was maybe written before the tour. I wrote Departure in San Sebastian, Spain. It was written about River Phoenix. I was upset I couldn’t share this thing with him that I knew he would have loved. It’s the same month that I picked up the phone and called Patti Smith for the first time. It was a very auspicious moment. I would have never prior to that felt enough courage to call Patti Smith and say “hello, my name is Michael Stipe, I’m the singer from R.E.M. and I’m a great admirer of your work.” But that was the first time we spoken. Anyway, yeah, I wrote that song for River.
But in the main you weren’t writing much on the road?
No, the real writing happened afterwards. Things came out, like Departure. I mean, that just happened upon me. But most of the writing that I do has nothing to do with me or is not at all autobiographic. That was like E-Bow The Letter, it was just real life inserting itself into my job. And there was this piece of music that happened to fit it and, and boom, suddenly, there’s a pop song. I’m just walking into my kitchen because if I don’t eat something, I’m going to faint before we’re done.
Please don’t faint.
Hang on a second. Sorry for the sound.
The tone of my voice does this to people.
Haha! I was up all night. I’m in the studio currently and I’m wildly adrenalized. I stay up until seven in the morning most nights because I work nights but then I had to be up early to go on the radio. I’m just going to eat some rice but I’ll try and enunciate.
What do you remember about those huge summer UK shows in 1995? Radiohead were supporting at the second Milton Keynes show, was that the first time you met them?
Yeah, I think we met backstage. I went and presented myself to Thom and then he presented me to the rest of the group. I think we were we were sunbathing together outside of the dressing rooms. It was a beautiful summer day.
That’s the first gig I ever went to. I was 14 and stood there at the front for about 11 hours.
Are you kidding? Wow, well that’s auspicious, Jesus Christ. It was R.E.M. and Radiohead and who else?
The Cranberries and Sleeper.
Oh my God, what a bill. God bless Dolores and her spirit.
At those mammoth shows, what was going through your mind at stage-time approached?
You know, those giant outdoor things, they’re really fun but it takes a different type of kind of psychic energy to pull the audience towards you through the entire course of a set. There’s something about being enclosed with a group of people, it creates a different kind of psychic energy and performance energy. The open-air stuff is a bit more dispersed and so you have to really reach the back rows, you have to be at the back of the field, near the toilets and near the T-shirt stands, engaging those people as much as those who are 14 years old and sitting right up front, like yourself.
My favourite song from New Adventures… and one of my favourite R.E.M. songs of all-time is E-Bow The Letter. It still sounds so fresh. How did that come to be?
Thank you. I agree. Yeah, it came from a letter. I mean, I didn’t have to write it, it was written, so it’s a recitation more than a song part. I found one phrase and repeated it and that became the chorus. It happened very organically and very naturally. I remember the moment on stage during the soundcheck when the guys were playing this new piece of music and Peter was exploring this new device that he got called an E-bow, which you hold against a string that creates this never ending tone. I recited this letter I’d written over the top and that became the song.
Fear is a big theme of that song. At that point, what was your biggest fear?
Well, I was born into fear and, and so fanatically and as a person outside of the work that I do, one of the great challenges for me in this lifetime is to overcome fear. I just put out a book of photographs actually which is exactly about that theme. It’s a series of portraits of people who I consider to be fearless and extremely brave and vulnerable at the same time. It’s a theme that I explore over and over and over again. And if you go back through R.E.M. lyrics, you’ll find that fear is there from the very beginning. It’s in the chorus of a song 9-9 off of Murmur, it’s in 7 Chinese Bros. concerning relationships, the sad ending of relationships - that’s too much! Anyway, the theme of fear is one that’s ever present. I am proud to say that as a 61-year-old, I’ve become much better with being courageous and less fearful.
That’s reassuring.
I’m able to place it somewhere and kind of step back from and distance myself from it and acknowledge it as something that’s there, but not something that has to guide my every action or reaction.
Looking at the decision to release E-Bow The Letter as the album’s lead single now, it feels like it set a new blueprint for what rock bands could do with their lead singles, rather than choosing the song with the catchiest chorus.
Oh my God Niall! Well, if we helped spearhead that, then I’m very, very proud of having done that. It was audacious. It was incredibly courageous and I’m really glad that we jumped off the cliff together.
Are there any younger bands out there that you see carrying on the spirit of R.E.M.?
Yes. Over the years, dozens, tens of dozens. You know, we are men of limited talents. The sum of our work was possibly greater than the parts, but within that that we have many, many triumphs, and I’m just very super proud of them. I’m also proud of the times that we fell on our face. It’s all part and parcel.
Thanks for your time Michael.
Yeah, thank you for your comments.
I look forward to hearing your solo record!
We’re finishing it very soon, actually – that’s an exclusive!
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
“Put yer good money on the sunrise”
(Tim Rogers)
“I’ve just finished a piece this morning with Michael Stipe,” says Eno, revealing an exclusive collaboration with the former REM singer called Future If Future. “This will be the first time I’ve worked with him, though I did sing with him once on Saturday Night Live or something like that,” smiles the 73-year-old, in his west London recording studio. “I’m very pleased with the way it’s gone. It’s a very good song, a very Stipe song. Beautiful lyrics, extraordinary piece.”
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
“Put yer good money on the sunrise”
(Tim Rogers)
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
“Put yer good money on the sunrise”
(Tim Rogers)
https://earthpercent.bandcamp.com/track/michael-stipe-future-if-future
Two of the greats right there!
9.03-04.11 PJ20!!!
7.19.13 - Wrigley!!!
10.19.14, 10.20.14 (Yield!!)
I spoke to many of the musicians after (but was soooo bummed not to get to talk to Bill Berry at all). One of the guest keyboard players said Michael Stipe pulled her aside and just said so earnestly "I don't think you all understand how much this all means to me... " All the original members really loved the events!
And Peter Buck's Baseball Project, the drummer Linda Pitmon? She freakin' rules! They played a few too.
It was also such a reunion of sorts. If I saw someone who looked REALLY familiar I just walked up to them and asked - several legendary Atlanta folks, and a few from elsewhere, like hte guy who used to own Maxwell's in Hoboken was there.
I saw Linda Pitmon play at the REM 40th anniversary events, and she slays! I will definitely check out the Baseball Project whenever they come near!
You and I both will be keeping a look out for Baseball Project shows!
Total surprise (for me): one of my personal most emotional 8ish minutes was Darius Rucker (of Hootie & the Blowfish)'s versions of "World Leader Pretend" and "I Believe". I danced my ass off AND cried! And the guy who wrote the book & did the movie of "Hedwig & the Angry Inch" which was then on Broadway (or maybe off-Broadway?), John Cameron Mitchell, he also was incredible in his voice and performance (wearing a pleated girls' scouts skirt & Cruella DeVille hair!).
What great, great stories about those shows! Thank you for sharing! Truly awesome. So glad or you to have been there!
Well, tomorrow is another solid sender BC Friday! I had originally planned to have NEIL (Vol. 2) ready to unleash, but I'm going to hold off for now. And by the way, Neil (Vol. 3) is well on the way too. Just trying to organize what makes sense when to open the flood gates. There'll be a crash on the levee, mama!
Meanwhile The No Ones new second full-length comes out in March, but it's o.k. to pre-order it tomorrow! the-no-ones.bandcamp.com/album/my-best-evil-friend
The new single "Phil Ochs Is Dead" will be available Feb. 7. It's a classic slice of folk-rock -- I happen to know some of you out there will dig it.
And Peter and I will be taking off for the UK with Luke Haines Combo shows Feb. 20-25. Birmingham is SOLD OUT!! If you haven't heard our latest, get on it: lukehainesofficial.bandcamp.com/album/all-the-kids-are-super-bummed-out
The Minus 5 is just lurking in the shadows -- but we shall be very present at times this 2023 with some choice live shows and lots of records of some sort or another. And did I mention the Baseball Project? Oh, I will! Stay tuned, and thanks always for everything -- Scott
Thanks @Bandcamp for waiving their cut of all sales today (Midnight to Midnight Pacific Time). It's a great day to pre-order upcoming limited edition vinyl reissues of The Baseball Project’s Vol. 1, Vol. 2 & 3rd! thebaseballproject1.bandcamp.com/music
And don’t forget the brand new BBP album coming out on Omnivore Records June 30 — come see us on the road in August!
Then there’s the No Ones titanic new album out on Yep Roc end of this month. We call music MY BEST EVIL FRIEND because it is — you couldn’t have a better and more treacherous life partner, right? Beautiful purple and orange double vinyl and slimmed-but-sexy CD available now to pre-order: the-no-ones.bandcamp.com/album/my-best-evil-friend
This next one is not available YET but keep an eye out for all-new MINUS 5 release via Yep Roc & Bandcamp in June. We will be continuing our Neil Young fixation with Calling Cortez (Neil Vol. 3) — a wanton blend of McCaughey originals and Young Man’s Fancy favorites. Scott The Hoople's NEIL (Vol. 2) will show up on this very site later this year...
Tickets on sale NOW for No Ones / Minus 5 dates in Northwest, Norway, and UK, June 16 thru July 8. Yes indeed.
I'll shut up now. Thanks for listening, forever - Scott
https://metrochicago.com/event/michael-shannon-jason-narducy-and-friends-play-murmur/metro-chicago/chicago-illinois/
9.03-04.11 PJ20!!!
7.19.13 - Wrigley!!!
10.19.14, 10.20.14 (Yield!!)
that same evening: reunites for a performance of Losing My Religion
LIARS
www.headstonesband.com