R.E.M.'s Original Lineup Reunites For First Interview In 30 Years

American indie rock pioneers R.E.M. are set to reunite for their first interview in 30 years, with the footage airing on CBS Mornings tomorrow (14 June).

The band’s original line-up – singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry – is gathering to commemorate their induction into the Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame (an honour they deserve for Country Feedback alone). Berry departed the band in 1997, and R.E.M. continued as a three-piece with studio and live drummers before amicably disbanding in September 2011.

While the full interview isn’t online yet, CBS Mornings has shared a teaser of the band discussing the honour of their music entering the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.

Buck said, “We lived and died on the strength of our songs, so this is a huge honour.”

Mills added, “It is the hardest thing that we do, and it’s the thing that we’ve worked on most from the very beginning.”

Berry, talking about the realities of being a band trying to make money in the early days, said, “Because we had to. I mean, really early on, just to put food on the table, we had to write songs as fast as we could.”

After being asked if they look back at their impressive body of work, Mills answered, “It’s so self-indulgent to do that, none of us are really quite that self-indulgent,” before Stipe cut in: “OK, I am” to laughs.

“And then I wind up on YouTube and I watch some live performance, I’m like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we did that,’” he added. “Like, we did. We did things! And we did it really well from time to time.”

You can watch the teaser below. Australian fans can watch the interview once it goes live on CBS Mornings via Paramount+.

In December 2022, Stipe said his first solo album “should come together” throughout 2023.

Following silence after the band’s disbandment, Stipe quietly returned in October 2019 with his first glitchy solo single, Your Capricious Soul. He followed the song with another single, Drive To The Ocean, released on his 60th birthday on 4 January 2020. He released another track that year, No Time For Love Like Now, recorded with Big Red Machine (aka Bon Iver and The National's Aaron Dessner).

Also, in 2022, Stipe released the world's first ever commercially available bioplastic vinyl. 

In their first group interview in nearly 30 years, all four original members of R.E.M. tell @AnthonyMasonCBS about crafting their enduring catalog, ahead of their induction into the @SongwritersHOF.

Their exclusive conversation airs tomorrow on CBS Mornings. pic.twitter.com/Vesa9vTiWJ

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 12, 2024