R.E.M News Update

"Aftermath" B-sides feature songs from Athens rehearsals
Source: R.E.M.hq


As previously announced, the second single from "Around the Sun" will be "Aftermath." B-sides for the single were recorded in the Athens Rehearsal Studio during the summer and include "High Speed Train," "So Fast, So Numb," and "All the Right Friends." Brett Eliason recorded the tracks which were mixed by Jamie Candiloro. The single will be released in late November (November 29th in UK, according to MHV.co.uk).

Here are the configurations:

International Maxi CD in slimline packaging:
1. Aftermath
2. So Fast, So Numb--live from rehearsals
3. All the Right Friends--live from rehearsals

International 2-track CD in baby pack:
1. Aftermath
2. High Speed Train--live from rehearsals

UK 2-track CD in slimline packaging (altered cover):
1. Aftermath
2. High Speed Train--live from rehearsals

Latesr News

"Aftermath" hits radio stations next week
BBC Radio 2 website announces that the second single from "Around The Sun" will be the next week's Record Of the Week on Radio 2. So, expect it on your local radio stations soon!

so you are not coming to Hannover in February? I thought I would finally meet you in person there.

New dates in Europe
Source: R.E.M.hq

R.E.M.hq has officially announced new dates in Europe. The dates are:

JUNE 2005 -
Sunday 5th June Graz, Freizeitzentrum, Schwarzl, Austria
Tuesday 21st June Gothenburg, Tragarn, Sweden
Wednesday 29th June Dresden, Elbufer, Germany.

Tickets are already onsale.

Everybody Hurts: Only The Rich Won On Election Day, Says R.E.M.'s Mike Mills
11/11/2004
The Ottawa Citizen

Crushed, disappointed and devastated.
That's how R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills describes his reaction to last week's U.S. presidential election. Mills and his bandmates Michael Stipe and Peter Buck worked tirelessly to convince voters to oust GeorgeW. Bush. Along with acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Dixie Chicks and Pearl Jam, R.E.M. was part of the Vote for Change tour, which hit battleground states in the weeks leading up to Nov. 2.

"I'm very disappointed in America, to be quite frank with you," Mills said during a phone interview Tuesday. "It was pretty crushing. Not just for myself, but so many people put so much effort into trying to get John Kerry elected that I felt bad for all of them, and I felt bad for the people of the United States of America.

"I think they allowed themselves to be blinded by this fear of terrorism, and they voted against their best interests."

He is still struggling to find a glimmer of hope for Americans facing the next four years.

"I think it's going to be really bad," Mills says. "For rich white guys, it's going to be great. For everybody else, it's not going to be so good. I think the deficit is going to be so enormous that people can't even comprehend how big it's going to be. I mean, you can't cut taxes and pay for this war."

Still, a thoughtful band like R.E.M. is unlikely to turn into an aggressive mess like Gwar to vent their frustrations. On a theatre tour of North America to promote the understated, and widely underrated, new disc Around the Sun, it appears the best way to cope is to dig into the music.

What makes their concerts special, Mills says, is the spark between musicians. The core trio is touring with extra personnel, including the Posies' Ken Stringfellow and Minus 5/Young Fresh Fellows frontman Scott McCaughey.

"There's a certain chemistry that occurs when this particular batch of musicians gets on stage together," he says, "and the thing that makes it work is the energy between the audience and musicians."

Through the music, they're determined to prove it's not the end of the world. And if it is, they feel fine, to paraphrase the old R.E.M. hit.

"We knew that if we lost we were going to have to eliminate the sadness by putting on a rock show, and just reminding people that the world must go on," Mills says. "Nothing's over. There's no permeation of the atmosphere by sadness or anything like that. You have to move on and you have to celebrate life, which is what we're doing."

In Canada, R.E.M. is playing smaller Canadian markets for the first time since the early days, and isn't averse to moving into arenas, such as tonight's concert at the Ottawa Civic Centre. Other stops include London, Toronto, Montreal, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.

R.E.M.'s Canadian tour kicked off in London this week on an unusual note. On Monday, the night before the first concert, the band members had a rare night on the town. They ended up in a bar jamming with a London-based freeform art-noise group called Nihilist Spasm. "It was nothing but improvisation," Mills says. "You just get up there and start making noise. That was huge fun for us since we don't really do that on stage. We're not the most improvisational of bands. The thing that keeps it fresh for us is that we do change the set every night."

The freeform approach brings to mind the legend of their last performance in Ottawa 19 years ago. During a 1985 Barrymore's show, the story goes, the band played five or six of their own songs, then chucked the setlist to run through cover songs, from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Creedence Clearwater Revival, and even a version of Moon River, according to one second-hand report.

"It was not unusual for us to do that," chuckles Mills. "We always busted out a few covers, but I seem to recall that night, for some reason, we just went a little crazy and decided to play a whole bunch of weird stuff."

From Amazon.com
According to Amazon.com, everything from 1988's "Green" through 2001's "Reveal" as well as the "In Time: The Best Of R.E.M." compilation is getting a double-disc re-release with bonus tracks next year. There are no any further info on these reissues, except they'll be released by Rhino (a part of the AOL/Time-Warner family) on January 25th and will cost about $25 in USA, 25 Euro in Germany, 19 Euro in France and 15 pounds in UK (all prices from Amazon store).

So, start putting aside money!

World tour support announced
Source: R.E.M.hq


Support has been firmed up for most of the band's 2005 World Tour, R.E.M.hq reports.
R.E.M will be joined by Joseph Arthur, Brainstorm, Bright Eyes, and The Thrills on various legs of next year's tour.

Opening acts for the UK and Ireland, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, and other locales will be announced in the coming days.

JOSEPH ARTHUR

Jan-7-Lisbon
Jan-8-Madrid
Jan-9-Barcelona
Jan-11-Marseille
Jan-12-Geneva
Jan-13-Basel
Jan-15-Milan

BRAINSTORM

Jan-16-Bolzano
Jan-17-Ljubljana
Jan-19-Zagreb
Jan-21-Belgrade
Jan-22-Budapest
Jan-23-Prague
Jan-25-Riga
Jan-26-Tallinn
Jan-27-St. Petersburg
Jan-29-Helsinki

THE THRILLS

Jan-31-Stockholm
Feb-01-Oslo
Feb-03-Rotterdam
Feb-04-Oberhausen
Feb-05-Hannover
Feb-07-Antwerp
Feb-08-Paris
Feb-11-Vienna
Feb-12-Stuttgart
Feb-13-Leipzig
Feb-15-Berlin
Feb-16-Copenhagen
Feb-17-Hamburg

BRIGHT EYES

Mar-24-Christchurch
Mar-26-New Plymouth
Mar-29-Brisbane
Mar-31-Sydney
Apr-3-Melbourne
Apr-6-Adelaide
Apr-8-Perth

Open air dates added to World Tour
Source: R.E.M.hq

R.E.M.hq reports that the band has added two shows in Spain, a date in Germany, and a further show in Ireland to their 2005 World Tour. The added dates are as follows:

May 27--Torrevieja (East of Mercia), Spain--Campo De Futbol De Torrevieja
May 29--Gijon, Spain--Hipodromo De Las Mestas
June 1--Magdeburg, Germany--Dom Platz (26th Novemer On Sale Date)
June 19--Dublin--Ardgillan Castle (3rd December On Sale Date)

Winter UK/Ireland Tour support announced
Source: R.E.M.hq

According to R.E.M.hq, Athens band Now It's Overhead will support R.E.M in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the Winter leg of the band's 2005 Tour at the following shows:

02.19.05--Apollo, London
02.21.05--Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield
02.22.05--SECC, Glasgow
02.23.05--NEC, Birmingham
02.25.05--Odyssey, Belfast
02.26.05--Point, Dublin
02.27.05--Point, Dublin





Two more shows added in South Africa
Source: R.E.M.hq

R.E.M will play second-night shows in both Cape Town and Johannesburg this coming March while on tour in support of Around the Sun. The band confirmed yesterday that they have added shows on March 5th at the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town, South Africa, and at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg, South Africa, on March 11th. [/b]

I finally watched "Aftermath" video. Sweet jesus, how lame can it get, Now even "All the Way To Reno" looks like a masterpiece. This "Around the Sun" era is a complete disaster!