Interviews – Audio
Click to listen; right-click to download (in mp3 format).
1. Mike Mills and Bill Berry, 1983
The interview was conducted by an unknown journalist on the occasion of R.E.M.’s third gig as the support act for The Police (15 August 1983 – Scope Auditorium, Norfolk, VA). It was released on bootleg CD R.E.M. – Close Up. The interview is absolutely brilliant – Mike and Bill were such a great double act as youngsters, and it’s especially funny to hear them swear that they’ll NEVER use synthesisers on their records!!! Lol it was year 1983, and they were sick to death of all those synth-pop bands…
Part 1, 11.3 MB
Part 2, 11.2 MB
Part 3, 12.6 MB
Part 4, 11.6 MB
2. R.E.M. in Japan, 1984
This rare interview was recorded in Tokyo, October 1984, when R.E.M. toured Japan for the first time. The interviewer’s name is Steve Harris (the same as the bassist of Iron Maiden lol). For all of you who adore the young R.E.M. it’s a must!
Part 1, 11.5 MB
Part 2, 11.5 MB
Part 3, 11.5 MB
Part 4, 2.29 MB
3. Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, 1985
The interview was conducted by Tony the Greek on Piccadilly Radio (23 June 1985). It was released on untitled picture disk in 1987, and later reissued on CD Shiny Chatty People. Peter is in his usual chatterbox mood, but the other two do manage to squeeze in a few answers.
Piccadilly Radio, 16.5 MB
4. Peter Buck and Mike Mills on MTV 120 Minutes, 1998
All three members of R.E.M. talked to MTV on 21 October 1998, while promoting their eleventh album Up; however, Michael Stipe was interviewed separately from Peter and Mike, so I’ve only uploaded their musings here.
Part 1, 2.24 MB
Part 1, 1.55 MB
Part 1, 1.83 MB
Part 1, 1.27 MB
5. Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, Rock in Rio, 2001
A great interview taped on the occassion when R.E.M. headlined the second night of the massive Brazilian festival and played the biggest gig of their entire career. Being who they are, R.E.M. also used the opportunity to campaign for some good causes. As for the setlist, it mostly consisted of greatest hits, but they also premiered two songs from their upcoming album Reveal – “The Lifting” and “She Just Wants To Be”.
Part 1, 8.99 MB
Part 2, 9.22 MB
6. Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, The Panel, Melbourne, 2001
One of the funniest R.E.M. interviews ever, filmed for the Australian Channel 10 TV show The Panel on 30 May 2001. Our boys talk about their freshly released album Reveal, and then perform an acoustic version of “I’ve Been High”.
The Panel, 9.48 MB
7. Mike Mills talks to Neil Chase, 2001 and 2005
Mike was interviewed by the Hong Kong based journalist twice – first time they talked on the phone in 2001 when Reveal was released; the second time they met in person when R.E.M. played Hong Kong during their Around The Sun tour (20 March 2005).
2001, 4.17 MB
2005, 2.69 MB
8. Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, BBC Radio 1, 2003
Mike and Michael talk to BBC Radio 1′s Jo Whiley on 26 June 2003; the interview was squeezed in between the band’s two night stint at London’s Brixton Academy and the Glastonbury Festival headlining gig.
BBC Radio 1, 4.93 MB
9. Mike Mills @ Live 8, 2005
Mike was interviewed by BBC’s Chris Evans minutes before they were to play at the massive Live 8 concert at London’s Hyde Park (2 July 2005); he called the experience “overwhelming” – quite!
Live 8, 3.17 MB
10. Mike Mills on BBC Nottingham, 2005
Dean Jackson interviewed Mike before one of the final shows of their Around The Sun tour (6 July 2005 – City Ground, Nottingham). Lol at Mike for confessing that he had forgotten lots of could-have-been-good-songs because he couldn’t bother to write them down!
Nottingham, 9.98 MB
11. Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, iTunes Specials, 2005
This was done as a part of the band’s promotional activities following the release of their thirteenth album Around The Sun. The guys talked about some of their favourite songs, and how their songwriting process has evolved over the years (decades, actually).
The Beginning, 2.37 MB
The Cause And Effect Of Pageant, 3.57 MB
The Biggest College Band In The World, 1.84 MB
Reaching Clarity In Lyric Writing, 2.04 MB
The Impact Of Bill Berry Leaving The Band, 3.15 MB
Coming Full Circle, 3.58 MB
Inside “The Outsiders”, 1.42 MB
A Profound Love Of Music, 1.66 MB
12. Mike Mills on Moderately Priced Winos Podcast, 200?
This isn’t exactly an interview: it’s more like “Musicians having fun (and wine)”! Mike joins Miles Zuniga and Tony Scalzo of the legendary Austin band Fastball for episode 5 of their podcast, dedicated to discussing – and consuming – various sorts of wine. Mike proves himself to be quite the connoisseur! In the immortal words of Miles Zuniga, “We taped this episode at the Driskill Hotel. It’s supposedly haunted, but the only thing scary was the amount of wine we put away. It was 2005 Burgundy and so far I’m believing the hype.” Cheers!!!! *gulp* *hic*
Podcast
13. Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe on NPR’s Fresh Air, 2008
In April 2008 the trio were promoting the freshly released Accelerate. The interview with NPR’s Terry Gross is priceless, if for no other reason than because Peter Buck finally confesses, after almost 30 years of denying it, that he WAS actually influenced by Roger McGuinn and the Byrds!!!
Part 1, 8.38 MB
Part 2, 7.94 MB
Part 3, 4.92 MB
Part 4, 16.8 MB
14. Mike Mills on BBC Radio 5 Live, 2008
This lengthy and insingtful interview was conducted the night after R.E.M.’s Cardiff show, during the U.K. leg of their Accelerate tour (25 August 2008 – Cardiff International Arena).
Part 1, 10.6 MB
Part 2, 10.2 MB
January 27th, 2011 at 10:56 am
REM IS MY FAVORITE BAND THANKS FOR MUSIC!