R.E.M. Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Michael Stipe has revealed that he is still working on his debut album, despite a number of delays in his creative process over the past 12 months. In a new interview with New York Times, the former R.E.M. frontman reassured fans that his previously announced solo album is still in the works, but that personal circumstances including family emergencies, house moves and a bout of Covid have slowed the process.

Daniel Craig’s final Bond film hit cinemas – and we finally know (maybe) who his successor is.As reported by The Sun this morning, 33-year-old British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, has been offered the role, with 007 production company Eon expecting him to put pen to paper “in the coming days”. His first outing as cinema’s most famous spy is expected to start filming this year, after it was delayed by the Hollywood strikes that disrupted shooting schedules in 2023.“Bond is Aaron’s job, should he wish to accept it.

R.E.M. surprised fans last night by reuniting during a tribute gig celebrating their classic debut album ‘Murmur’ – see footage and images below.All four members of the band – Michael Stipe, Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills – made an unexpected return at the 40 Watt Club venue in their home city of Athens, Georgia yesterday (February 8).The 460-capacity space was hosting the latest show of actor Michael Shannon and musician Jason Narducy’s current tour – which sees the pair play 1983’s ‘Murmur’ in full along with a handful of their favourite R.E.M.

R.E.M., Steely Dan, Timbaland and more have been announced as inductees into the 2024 class of Songwriters Hall Of Fame.Yesterday morning (January 17), the Songwriters Hall Of Fame announced five new inductees through CBS‘ Mornings programme. Leading the charge are Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry, who formed R.E.M.

Mike Mills has revealed that R.E.M has “plenty of vault songs” yet to be released from the band’s catalogue.Mills recently appeared as a guest on LPM’s podcast Kyle Meredith With... to discuss the 25th-anniversary edition of ‘Up’, the band’s first LP following drummer Bill Berry’s departure.While on the show, the former bassist revealed that R.E.M have many vault songs waiting to be released and said: “There’s a reason you haven’t heard most of it”.

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hole frontwoman Courtney Love – and Hawk – the son of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk – reportedly applied for a marriage license last month in San Diego county.Though very little is known about the ceremony, marriage documents obtained by TMZ, revealed that the ceremony reportedly took place on October 7 and was officiated by R.E.M frontman and Cobain’s godfather, Michael Stipe.This marks the second time Cobain has been married. Back in 2014, she married Isaiah Silva of The Eeries.

R.E.M. have announced a 25th anniversary reissue of their 11th studio album ‘Up’ – find all the details below.The Michael Stipe-fronted band released the original version of the record back in 1998, marking their first project since the amicable departure of their founding drummer Bill Berry.Co-produced by R.E.M.

Blur, R.E.M., Garbage, Idlewild and more are set to reissue albums from the 1990s for next month’s National Album Day.As announced earlier this year, National Album Day will take place on October 14 and feature a special spotlight on the ’90s.Other artists set to reissue records on the day include Fatboy Slim, Bob Dylan, Wu-Tang Clan, Jeff Buckley and more.This year marks the sixth edition of the event – which originally launched in 2018 – and seeks to shine a light upon the artists and albums that defined the 1990s.

Soccer Mommy has shared a Taylor Swift cover and announced new covers EP ‘Karaoke Night’.Sophie Allison’s new EP will land on September 22 via Loma Vista and also feature versions of tracks by Slowdive, R.E.M. and Pavement, alongside a recently released cover of Sheryl Crow’s ‘Soak Up The Sun’.To announce the EP, Soccer Mommy has covered Taylor Swift track ‘I’m Only Me When I’m With You’, and said: “I really wanted to cover this song because it’s one of my favourites from Taylor’s first album.“I listened to that record so much when I was a kid and I think it had a lot of influence on me then.”Listen to the cover and see the tracklist for ‘Karaoke Songs’ below.1. ‘Here’ (Pavement cover)2. ‘Soak Up The Sun’ (Sheryl Crow cover)3. ‘Dagger’ (Slowdive cover)4. ‘I’m Only Me When I’m With You’ (Taylor Swift cover)5. ‘Losing My Religion’ (R.E.M. cover)The new EP follows Allison’s most recent studio album, ‘Sometimes, Forever’, which arrived last summer.Last year, she also released a demo version of the song ‘Darkness Forever’, which featured a nod to Taylor Swift by dubbing it ‘Sophie’s Version’.

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has revisited his cover of Sinéad O’Connor‘s ‘The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance’ in tribute to the late star.The acclaimed Irish singer and activist died this week (July 26) at the age of 56, her family announced.

R.E.M.‘s Mike Mills has responded to Alex Jones’ claim that all artists asked to “pledge themselves to Lucifer” before signing record deals.Speaking on his own biblical news channel His Glory, provocateur and commentator Jones said that he believes musicians have to “reject Jesus Christ” and “pledge” themselves to the devil before inking deals.“It happened to Mark Dice, it happened to me, it happened to a bunch of other people I’ve talked to — before you’re offered a national TV show, before you’re offered a major record deal — they get you in a room and they say, ‘Listen, we want you to reject Jesus Christ and pledge yourself to Lucifer,'” Jones said.He added that he had an “off the record conversation” with record executives who, he said, confirmed the theory.“You’re sitting there in the meeting in a high rise building around an office table, and you’re like, ‘Are you kidding?’ And they’re like, ‘No, we’re very serious,'” he went on. “I tell viewers that story, you know, 20 years ago, and they go, ‘No, that’s insane.’ No, that really happened.”In response, Mills jokingly confirmed the theory in a tweet which you can see below.Can confirm.

R.E.M.’s debut EP ‘Chronic Town’ have been announced by The Black Crowes‘ Rich Robinson.Set to take place on December 14 and 15 in Georgia, the two concerts will double as benefit shows with proceeds going towards Planned Parenthood. The first event will be at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, while the following night’s concert will head to the Coca-Cola Roxy in Atlanta.On both nights, Robinson will feature in the house band, which also includes the Black Crowes bassist Sven Pipien and drummer Barrett Martin, and comedian David Cross will host.The all-star line-up also includes Darius Rucker, John Cameron Mitchell, Fred Armisen, Kevn Kinney, Lenny Kaye, Mitch Easter, Steve Wynn, David Ryan Harris, Elf Power, Pylon Reenactment Society, and more.

Death Cab For Cutie returned to their Live From Home streams this week – watch them cover R.E.M. and debut new song ‘Pepper’ below.During the first COVID lockdown in 2020, Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard launched the Live From Home series, which saw him stream to fans at 4pm every single day, sharing covers and raising over £200,000 for local charities in the Seattle area.Ahead of the release of their 10th studio album, ‘Asphalt Meadows’, this Friday (September 16), the band returned for a special edition of Live From Home on Monday night, which carried on Gibbard’s trend of mixing originals with cover versions.During the set, the band covered R.E.M.’s ‘Near Wild Heaven’ and shared a version of unreleased ‘Asphalt Meadows’ track ‘Pepper’.Check the full performance out below.Speaking to NME this month, Gibbard discussed how his Live From Home performances gave him structure and belief during the pandemic.“I was just feeling so anxious and watching too much news,” Gibbard told NME of his headspace in the early pandemic before ‘Live From Home’ began.

Michael Stipe has released track ‘Future If Future’ – his debut solo track, which originally arrived in 2018 – on the world’s first commercially available bioplastic 12″ vinyl.Produced by Brian Eno, the split single also features ‘Oh My Heart’ by Beatie Wolfe. Proceeds from the single go towards Eno’s EarthPercent.

Michael Stipe has announced a special split single with Beatie Wolfe in aid of climate emergency charity EarthPercent.Founded by Brian Eno in 2021, EarthPercent aims “to offer simple and innovative ways for businesses and artists to donate to the most impactful organisations addressing the climate emergency”.The organisation marked EarthDay this April by releasing numerous exclusive tracks that had been donated by such artists as Stipe, Coldplay, Eno, Anna Calvi and Jarvis Cocker‘s JARV IS… via Bandcamp.Proceeds from sales of those songs went towards funding EarthPercent’s five core areas of work: “greening music, energy transition, climate justice, legal and policy change, and protecting nature”.Today (August 31), it’s been confirmed that the former R.E.M. frontman will release ‘Future, If Future’ – his debut solo track, which originally arrived in 2018 – on the world’s first commercially available bioplastic 12″ vinyl.The record also features ‘Oh My Heart’ by Beatie Wolfe, and will be available to pre-order here from this Friday (September 2).

R.E.M guitarist Peter Buck and Soundgraden‘s Kim Tahyil surprised fans when they joined The Black Crowes on stage at the latter band’s Seattle show earlier this week – watch the performances below.Both revered musicians appeared during the encore at The Black Crowes’ Chateau Ste. show at the Michelle Winery Amphitheatre in Woodinville, Washington, on Wednesday (July 20).Buck came out as a guest for a cover performance of his band’s ‘The One I Love’, sticking around as Thayil came out for the collective to perform a rendition of Velvet Underground‘s ‘Rock And Roll’.The Black Crowes posted a 12-minute video of the collaborative performances on their Instagram, which can be seen below.A post shared by @theblackcrowesThe Black Crowes had announced their reformation in 2019 for a ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ 30th anniversary tour, of which Wednesday’s Seattle-area show was a part of.They had shared news of their disbandment in 2015, with guitarist Rich Robinson saying the split was due to a disagreement with his brother, frontman Chris.

R.E.M. are set to reissue their 1982 debut EP ‘Chronic Town’ in August to celebrate its 40th anniversary.The band’s first EP featured five songs – ‘Wolves, Lower’, ‘Gardening At Night’, ‘Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)’, ‘1,000,000’ and ‘Stumble’ – and was originally released on August 24, 1982 as the follow-up to their 1981 debut single ‘Radio Free Europe’.R.E.M.

Slipknot’s Corey Taylor covered songs by R.E.M., Chris Isaak and more during an acoustic set at Florida’s Spookala horror convention yesterday (May 14).The musician performed a 12-song set at the event, which took place at the Ocala Equestrian Center in Ocala.Among the tracks on the setlist were covers of R.E.M.’s ‘The One I Love’ and Isaak’s ‘Wicked Games’, plus Audioslave’s ‘Getaway Car’ and the theme to SpongeBob Square Pants. Taylor also played a handful of songs by Stone Sour and Slipknot’s ‘Spit It Out’.The performance only featured two songs from Taylor’s 2020 solo album ‘CMFT’ – ‘Black Eyes Blue’ and ‘Silverfish’.

Micheal Stipe has opened up about a lyric change from R.E.M’s hit song, ‘Losing My Region’.He was talking to Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast when he revealed a key change in the lyrics to the classic song from 1991.Rubin asked Stipe if he knew the song was special when writing it, something he denied. “We released it as a first single thinking it was going to set up the next song,” he said.

R.E.M.‘s Peter Buck has recalled how his favourite guitar was stolen by an associate of the band, only to be returned by a Finnish biker gang.Buck has been synonymous with Rickenbacker guitars across his career with R.E.M.

R.E.M., Yo La Tengo and the dB’s came together over the weekend to pay tribute to Big Star.The group of musicians – which included R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan, the dB’s’ Chris Stamey, Skylar Gudasz, Brett Harris, Charles Cleaver, Crispin Cloe and original Big Star drummer Jody Stephens – gathered at St.

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual misconduct.The Posies’ frontman Ken Stringfellow has apologised to the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, but still denies the allegations against him.The musician, who has also performed with R.E.M.

Content warning: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual misconduct.Ken Stringfellow of the Posies, who’s also played with Big Star and R.E.M., has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women.

The Velvet Underground and Nico, has officially been released, with new covers from St.

Michael Stipe has put an end to any suggestions R.E.M. could reunite, insisting that the band’s break-up ten years ago was permanent.During an interview with radio station WNYC to discuss the new Velvet Underground tribute compilation, Stipe responded to a 2019 Rolling Stone article that speculated over the likelihood of R.E.M.

Jason Isbell has announced details of his new record, ‘Georgia Blue’.The album – marking his eighth overall, including five LPs at the helm of The 400 Unit – is also Isbell’s first covers album. It is dedicated to songs by bands, artists and musicians from the American state of Georgia.Today (September 16), Isbell has shared the album’s lead single: A cover of ‘Driver 8’, a 1985 single from R.E.M.

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Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder has shared a new cover of R.E.M.‘s 1992 track ‘Drive’ – you can listen to it below.The reworking of the lead single from R.E.M.’s eighth studio album, ‘Automatic For The People’, features on the soundtrack for Flag Day, a new crime drama directed by Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn.Staying faithful to the original, the Pearl Jam frontman delivers a reverent rendition of ‘Drive’, adding a hint of eeriness, due mostly to Vedder’s smokey vocal tone.

Michael Stipe has spoken about R.E.M.’s classic song ‘Losing My Religion’, saying he “didn’t realise it would be a hit single”.The band released the track in 1991, with it hitting Number Four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US and Number 19 on the Official UK Singles Chart.In a new interview with the New Yorker, Stipe was asked about some of the lyrics in the track and his “kind of old-fashioned diction” in phrases like “losing my religion” and “wear it on your sleeve”.“I wasn’t actually

R.E.M. are celebrating their 40th anniversary by reissuing the original version of their classic debut single ‘Radio Free Europe’ – the first time since 1981 that the single has been re-released.

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Michael Stipe has shared a first-take demo of a new song called “No Time for Love Like Now.” The track is a collaboration with the National’s Aaron Dessner. Watch the video below.

Former R.E.M. and King Crimson drummer Bill Rieflin has died aged 59, according to his family.

Bill Rieflin, best known as the drummer for Ministry, King Crimson, and R.E.M., has died of cancer, according to his friend and collaborator Robert Fripp. He was 59.

Bill Rieflin, a remarkably versatile drummer whose work over the past 30 years spanned Ministry, R.E.M., Swans, Nine Inch Nails and King Crimson, among many others, has died after a battle with cancer, according to friends and social-media posts from several artists he performed with. He was 59.

Even though he starts off by singing verses from the 1987 hit “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine),” ex-R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe strikes a balanced, cautious-but-optimistic tone with a “4 Coronavirus Rules” public service announcement posted on his website and excerpted on Twitter (below) on Tuesday. First and most important, those rules are: