R.E.M. reunite to give first group interview in 30 years

Over a decade after their breakup, alternative rock band R.E.M. will be appearing in their first group interview with all original members in over 30 years.

The interview is set to be aired on CBS Mornings on June 13, the same day the band are due to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York.

After Bill Berry left the band in 1997, R.E.M. continued as a three-piece before officially breaking up in 2011.

The band members pursued individual projects until a few months ago, when the band got back together onstage in their Athens, Georgia hometown, to support Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s set of R.E.M. covers.

Guitarist Peter Buck mentioned the importance of their collaborative process in a preview of the interview on Instagram.

He said they “lived and died on the strength of the songs, so this is a huge honour”.

Michael Stipe also marvelled at the amount of ground the group covered during their tenure.

“I wind up on YouTube and watch some live performance, I’m like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we did that’. Like, we did things, and we did it really well from time to time,” the frontman said.

 

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In the early ’80s, R.E.M. became one of the faces of underground college rock following the release of their debut album Murmur.

The rock band saw further success in the ‘90s with Automatic for the People, Monster and New Adventures in Hi-Fi and became a favourite of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke.

'70s jazz-rock pioneers Steely Dan and acclaimed hip-hop producer Timbaland will also be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.