R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe on “CBS This Morning.”
Among other things he says it’s unlikely that R.E.M. will ever reunite. “That will never happen,” he says.
I bet they do.
And he talks about how shy he was when the band first got famous and it sounds like he’ll do a solo album at some point.
“I think I’ll sing again,” he says. “Not soon.”
—
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
One of my favorite bands of all time, and one of the most important to emerge during the ’90s, Sleater-Kinney are back from an eight-year hiatus and will release a new album, No Cities To Love, on January 20, 2015.
During the break Corin Tucker has released to Corin Tucker Band albums and devoted time to her family. Most recently she was recording and performing as part of a supergroup with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck that they were calling super-Earth. Carrie Brownstein played in Wild Flag and co-created and co-starred in “Portlandia.” Weiss has played drums in a number of situations including Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.
First song to be released is “Bury Our Friends,” with a lyric video featuring director and longtime Sleater-Kinney friend, Miranda July.
“Bury Our Friends”:
In an email to NPR, guitarist/singer Carrie Brownstein wrote:
“I feel like creativity is about where you want your blood to flow. Because in order to do something meaningful and powerful there has to be life inside of it. Maybe after The Woods that blood had thinned; we felt enervated, the focus had become disparate and diffuse. We drifted apart in order to concentrate on other elements of our lives and careers. Sleater-Kinney isn’t something you can do half-assed or half-heartedly. We have to really want it. And you have to feed that hunger and have the energy to. I’m not saying we need to be in a dark place to be in Sleater-Kinney. In fact, we could be in the best places in our lives. But we have to be willing to push, because the entity that is this band will push right back.
“We had no desire to revisit sounds and styles and paths we had treaded before. But in order to move forward, Corin and I worked together in a way that was more reminiscent of earlier albums like Dig Me Out. Meaning that we would write just the two of us and then bring songs to Janet later on in the process. I think we had to go back to an earlier model of writing in order to reacquaint ourselves with the language of the band. It’s a sonic vernacular that isn’t easily translated into other contexts in which we’ve played. This was a very deliberate writing process, there were many edits and iterations of the songs. We thought a lot about melody and structure.
“I spent a lot of time writing choruses for this record. Melody is what I was most picky about. I really drove Corin crazy sometimes. We would have choruses that we would work on for hours, days, maybe on and off over a matter of weeks. And we’d think we had solved it, but then I would listen to it later on and decide to discard it, that it wasn’t good enough. I did that with my guitar parts too. In the end we were all more scrutinizing with our own parts than we ever have been. I think we didn’t want to take any second of the song for granted, everything had to have an intention and earn its place.”
No Cities To Love Track List:
1. Price Tag
2. Fangless
3. Surface Envy
4. No Cities To Love
5. A New Wave
6. No Anthems
7. Gimme Love
8. Bury Our Friends
9. Hey Darling
10. Fade
And there will be a tour:
2015 Tour Dates:
02-08-15 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory
02-09-15 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
02-10-15 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
02-12-15 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02-13-15 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
02-14-15 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02-15-15 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
02-17-15 Chicago, IL @ Riviera
02-22-15 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
02-24-15 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
02-26-15 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
02-28-15 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
03-01-15 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
03-18-15 Berlin, Germany @ Postbahnhof
03-19-15 Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Paradiso
03-20-15 Paris, France @ Cigale
03-21-15 Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix
03-23-15 London, UK @ Roundhouse
03-24-15 Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
03-25-15 Glasgow, UK @ O2 ABC
03-26-15 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
—
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
R.E.M. will release on November 24 a 6-DVD set that features all of the group’s live performances on MTV dating back to 1991 – plus lots of outtakes.
I’m an R.E.M. fan from way back, you know, “Radio Free Europe” days.
While I never cared much for MTV, I was always glad to see R.E.M. videos there, and they gave R.E.M. a lot of coverage.
So it’s very cool that, finally, all of MTV’s R.E.M. coverage will be available. So much good stuff!!!
Check out two live performances — “Everybody Hurts” and “Drive” — from the 1993 MTV Video Awards.
The set will also include a brand new documentary, “R.E.M. By MTV,” put together by MTV using archival footage. According to R.E.M.’s website, “Drawing exclusively on archival events, the film traces R.E.M. and MTV in real time, which makes it feel as exciting and immediate as it did when it was happening.”
This is what’s in the set:
Disc 1
UNPLUGGED 1991
(04/10/91)
Half A World Away
Disturbance at the Heron House
Radio Song
Low
Perfect Circle
Fall on Me
Belong
Love is All Around
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Losing My Religion
Pop Song 89
Endgame
OUTTAKES 1991
Fretless
Swan Swan H
Rotary Eleven
Get Up
World Leader Pretend
UNPLUGGED 2001
(05/21/01)
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) *
Electrolite
At My Most Beautiful *
Daysleeper *
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Losing My Religion
Country Feedback
Cuyahoga
Imitation of Life *
Find the River
OUTTAKES 2001
The One I Love
Disappear *
Beat a Drum *
I’ve Been High *
I’ll Take the Rain *
Sad Professor *
The Great Beyond *
Disc 2
VH1 STORYTELLERS
(10/23/98)
Electrolite
Daysleeper *
Losing My Religion
Perfect Circle
Sad Professor *
Fall On Me
I’m Not Over You *
The Apologist *
Man On The Moon
STORYTELLERS – OUTTAKES
New Test Leper
Parakeet *
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
Suspicion *
Walk Unafraid *
At My Most Beautiful *
THE CUTTING EDGE
(06/14/84)
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
Driver 8
Wendell Gee
Smokin’ In The Boys Room
Time After Time (Annelise)
Driver 8
LIVEWIRE
(10/30/83)
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)
MTV 10th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
(11/10/91)
Featuring members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Losing My Religion
VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS 1993
(09/02/93)
Including Brian Harris and Duane Saetveit
Everybody Hurts
Drive
VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS 1995
(09/07/95)
The Wake-Up Bomb
EUROPEAN MUSIC AWARDS 1998
(11/12/98)
Daysleeper *
EUROPEAN MUSIC AWARDS 2001
(11/08/01)
Imitation Of Life *
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION 2007
(03/12/07)
Begin The Begin
Gardening At Night
Man On The Moon
THE COLBERT REPORT
04/02/08)
Supernatural Superserious *
Disc 3
R.E.M. IN DALLAS
(09/19/95)
I Took Your Name
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Crush With Eyeliner
R.E.M. UPLINK AT BOWERY BALLROOM
(10/28/98)
Losing My Religion
Lotus *
Daysleeper *
E-Bow The Letter
The Apologist *
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Walk Unafraid *
Man On The Moon
Radio Free Europe
LIVE IN COLOGNE
(05/12/01)
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) *
The Lifting *
Imitation Of Life *
The One I Love
She Just Wants To Be *
Walk Unafraid *
Losing My Religion
Man On The Moon
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
LIVE IN COLOGNE OUTTAKES
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Cuyahoga
Electrolite
I’ve Been High *
Find The River
I’ll Take The Rain *
At My Most Beautiful *
So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Disc 4
R.E.M. AT THE TABERNACLE, LONDON
(03/02/99)
Losing My Religion
Daysleeper *
Walk Unafraid *
Man On The Moon
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
MTV SONIC MILAN
(05/02/01)
Losing My Religion
The Great Beyond *
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Daysleeper *
All The Way To Reno (You’re Gonna Be A Star) *
The Lifting *
I’ll Take The Rain *
I’ve Been High *
Man On The Moon
She Just Wants To Be *
Imitation Of Life *
ROCK AM RING
(06/03/05)
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Leaving New York *
Imitation Of Life *
Electron Blue *
Man On The Moon
ROCK AM RING OUTTAKES
I Took Your Name
Bad Day
Drive
The Outsiders *
Leave
Me In Honey
Wanderlust *
Everybody Hurts
Electrolite
Orange Crush
The One I Love
Walk Unafraid *
Losing My Religion
Imitation Of Life *
The Great Beyond *
Animal *
I’m Gonna DJ *
Disc 5
LIVE AT ROLLING STONE, MILAN
(03/18/08)
Living Well Is The Best Revenge *
Drive
Accelerate *
Hollow Man *
Electrolite
Houston *
Supernatural Superserious *
Bad Day
Losing My Religion
I’m Gonna DJ *
Horse To Water *
Imitation Of Life *
Until The Day Is Done *
Man On The Moon
LIVE AT OXEGEN FESTIVAL
(07/12/08)
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Drive
Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Man-Sized Wreath *
I’m Gonna DJ *
Supernatural Superserious *
Man On The Moon
R.E.M. IN ATHENS, GREECE
(10/05/08)
Living Well Is The Best Revenge *
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
Drive
Man-Sized Wreath *
Bad Day
Electrolite
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville
The Great Beyond *
The One I Love
Losing My Religion
Let Me In
Orange Crush
Imitation Of Life *
Supernatural Superserious *
Man On The Moon
Disc 6
R.E.M. BY MTV
DELETED SCENES
Peter
Politics
Golf
The Hornblower Affair
The Year 2000
[I just published my rock ‘n’ roll novel, True Love Scars.” Rolling Stone has a great review of my book in a recent issue. Read it here. There’s info about True Love Scars here.]
