R.E.M. reflects on band's beginning, breakup and more in rare interview

[Music] that of course is the iconic indie rock group RM Michael stey Peter Buck Mike Mills and Bill Barry started making music more than 40 years ago they were college students in Georgia at the time well tonight they will be inducted into the songwriters Hall of Fame and they sat down with Anthony Mason for a very rare and exclusive interview an good morning good morning remem disbanded back in 2011 and the four original members have not sat down for an interview together in believe it or not 30 years but this honor means a lot to them how long have you guys been in this space 8686 8585 85 their gear is still stacked up in their rehearsal space in Athens Georgia is this everything that's left over from the tour we've got a warehouse with a lot of the bigger stuff it's been 13 years now since REM broke up I have all my shoes actually all your shoes yeah from every tour and going all the way back to 198 that's when the band formed at the University of Georgia in [Music] Athens Michael steyp on vocals Peter buck on guitar Mike Mills on bass and Bill Barry on drums a college band that would become a super group taking indie rock to the top of the pop [Music] charts what does it mean to you all to be recognized for songwriting we lived or died on the strength of our songs so this is a huge honor it is the hardest thing that we do and it's the thing that we've worked on the most from the very beginning because we had to well I mean really early on just to put food on the table we had to write songs as fast as we could the quartet found their sound quickly it felt like Kismet to me when yeah when it happened it felt [Music] right much of their songwriting was done in this studio we'd all show up at one CL and bring in any ideas that we had yeah and see if it inspired anybody else to do something with it Mills buck and Barry would write the music then give it to styp to write lyrics and Michael of course is one of the best melodists in the world I've never been called a melodist before I'm not even sure that's a word I kind of like it some songs came easily like Losing My Religion you were just messing around with the mandolin yeah and I still don't play mandolin where did you pull that lyric from so quickly no idea no idea I remember originally it was that's me in the kitchen not not the spotlight that's me in corner [Music] that's you all didn't really think that much of that song did you I love the song but we never thought it was going to be a hit it should not it's like a bumblebee they they shouldn't be able to fly in that song but boy they did fly there's the obligation of songwriting that comes with an album that you have to put out you know you're sitting there they the labels waiting for another record and and Peter bucks waiting for another record sorry guys were you the Taskmaster it's certainly not like I could get these guys to do anything to they didn't want to do somebody's got to drive the train and and we were all more than happy to have Peter be sort of our Moor in terms of well more than happy may not be the phrase that I would use looking back let's say there's a body of work that wouldn't be there had you not been pushing us as hard as you did in 1995 drummer Bill Barry suffered a double brain aneurysm on stage in Switzerland he recovered but left the band two years later RM carried on but never quite regained its equilibrium before disbanding in 2011 I think the main reason was that at that point we there wasn't anything we could agree on really musically what kind of music how to record it are we going to go on tour went for you know it's like yeah we could barely agree on where to go to dinner yeah and now we could just agree on where to go to dinner right we're also here to tell the tale and we're s we're sitting at the same table together with deep admiration and friend life life lifelong friendship a lot of people that do this can't yeah claim that why do you think that is why do you think you can all sit at this table when so many bands can't together ego and lawyers not ours theirs I think we quit at the right time this is a really good place to finish you know great tour great album go home yeah any second thoughts about that anybody ever no never no pretty happy yeah Bill did you ever have any second thoughts about walking away of course I did you did you okay yeah it that was a weird time for me I bet and I made it weird for these guys too no it wasn't weird we respected your decision 100% yeah cuz we're all sitting here friends again yeah still I mean you had some major health issues that you had to deal with yeah I'm not going going don't use that as an excuse what would you attribute it to maybe that thing in Switzerland brain yism and successful surgery it may have lowered my energy level yeah and I just didn't have the drive I once did so you knew you had to you had to give it up yes and I didn't regret it at the time um sort of regretted it a little later yeah so yeah but enough about me all four members of remem will be honored tonight for their songwriting and an exceptional [Music] catalog of 15 Studio albums have you ever sort of looked at as a body of work cuz it's pretty impressive it's so self-indulgent to do that I mean none of us are really quite that self-indulgent I am not to that and then I I wind up on YouTube uh and I watched some live performance I'm like wow I can't believe we did that [Music] and we did it really well from time to [Music] [Applause] time I got to ask the question that everybody's going to ask me if I asked which you know is coming which is what would it take to get you guys back together one more time a comet super glue super glue it ain't happening is what you're saying no no why is that it'll never be as [Music] good wow yeah you know everybody would like to see it and I'm one of the people who would love to see it you know I totally respect their decision and I kind of admire it because they but that answer wow yeah I mean well it's and it's it's emphatic across the board you know they've decided you know they did their best work they've all moved on to other things and they're and they're in a good place with it the hardest thing for to do is come to that finality so true so true Nate and I think and I that's why I admire the decision I do too you know and I admire that they've stuck to it because I'm sure people have thrown money at them and lots of it but it must be surreal and but also very satisfying to look back at what they did back in the day to say God we were really good and incredible catalog I mean it's 15 albums in 31 years yes that's a just the productivity is huge and then the quality is a I love everybody Hurts and then the answer when you said do you regret it I was I was surprised by his answer his honesty in that moment in in Bill Barry's answer yes he the only everybody in the room everybody in the room was surprised including their manager that that came out because that you know we certainly weren't expecting it and good on you for going back to it because they all said no no no and then wait wait a minute what did you say what did you say and as you can tell there's a lot here a lot of music a lot of conversation Anthony thank you

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Length: 8min 58sec (538 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 13 2024