REM TO THE FUTURE

2011-03-10 - Herald Sun (Australia)

REM are tip-toeing cautiously into music's social networking era, writes Cameron Adams

IT'S an interesting time for REM.

Their 15th album, Collapse Into Now, has just been released.

Bassist Mike Mills is happy, but realistic

“It's impossible to sell albums these days.” Mills says.

“It's too bad. I wish all the people who download music for free would do their work for free. Whatever work they do for a living. I wish they'd stop being paid for it It'd be great but that's not going to happen.

“The good thing is it makes bands tour. That's really the only way to get paid, to get out there and play. We've always felt touring was the best way to promote-our music and show the band off. We stiff feel that way. If I was to offer a young band any advice, it's to get out on tour and play.”

Slight problem: REM have already warned fans they won't be touring Into Now.

Their 2008 world so gruelling (it Australia — Mills apologises, citing the tyranny of distance and extending an already long schedule), they're not ready to do it all again just yet

“It was a big decision to make but not a difficult one,” he says. “The last tour — it didn't break us but we were certainly damn tired at the end of it. For REM to go out on tour, you have to be 100 per cent committed to it otherwise you're short-changing the audience and the songs and yourself. We tour when our gut tells us to; our gut is not saying ‘yes' right now.”

So how do you promote an album without touring?

“We don't tour to promote records. We tour because we feel like touring,” Mills says.

“If we have a bunch of new songs, that usually makes you want to tour a little more. But there's no tour this time.”

Instead, they're doing the rounds of the media Mills and guitarist Peter Buck are handling the music press; frontman Michael Stipe is refusing all music press requests.

“Michael's not doing any music press, he's doing art and fashion and photography magazines. Peter and I cover the music world The word gets out there one way or

“But, really, if you haven't heard of REM yet, you probably never will. The record's out there, REM's out there, we'll see if people respond.”

However people respond. Mills knows it's harder to judge success these days, with sales falling and illegal downloads rising.

“You want people to . like your work With the fact no one buj records any more, it' a little less exciting Back then you could tell how many people were enjoying the record These days everyone's lifting the record and there's no stats about how many times it's been picked up,” he says.

“There's no gauge about the response, but we know it's a good record. The people J respect who've heard it say it's great, and I tend to agree with them.”

Collapse Into Now features guests including Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith and Peaches — “A filthy woman,” Mills says. “I love her.”

The album is the last hurrah for REM and Warner Bros. In 1996 the band signed one of the last “superstar” deals in the music industry, worth $80 million.

Those days are over.

Despite christening the deal with 1996's New Adventures In HiFi, and supplying the much-loved Reveal and Accelerate, the band's record sales have fallen and, in line with many bands of their vintage, radio hits have sadly dried up.

Mills says the band have had no talks with Warner Bros — or any other label.

"We have made absolutely zero plans for the future,” he says.

“We have the option of doing nothing or doing everything. There's a world of possibilities. You could make your own record label find an imprint... anything is happening in the music world. The old paradigms are gone.”

Mills is tom about whether REM's future will involve playing nice with the internet.

“I know a whole lol of really good people who don't have jobs any more because of downloading,” he says.

“I know it's hard for bands to pay their bills because they can't sell records.

“It's broken down barriers between artists and their audience. You interact directly over your website or Facebook page. That direct connection is a good thing. It gets bands out on the road and people coming to the shows,”

However, he's not a social media fan — “I don't tweet, I don't have a Facebook page I just wish they'd called it something other than tweeting. that's one of the things that bugs me about it” he says.

“There's some good things that can come out of Twitter It had a lot to do with the soda! uprisings in the Middle East there's mobile food trucks tn LA who let people know where they are via Twitter. The trivial, mundane stuff hke how you slept or what you had for dinner, who cares?"

Later this year REM tans will be treated to a 25th anniversary reissue of the classic Life's Rich Pageant album, bursting with bonus material

“There''s some lovely extra content There's a CD of the demos, which are pretty interesting — there's a version ot Fall On Me which might be better than the one on the actual record. But that's the way of the world; record companies re-release every big album for an anniversary ”