“One of the ironies about being in R.E.M. is that I could never see my band play. I could never truly know the effect our music had on our fans, or what it might have felt like to see us at any point in our musical journey, especially the early days.
But thanks to Jason Narducy, Michael Shannon, John Wurster, John Stirratt, Dag Juhlin, Vijay Tellis-Nayak, and their excellent crew, I was able to get an idea of what it might have been like to see R.E.M. perform.
Mirrors are strange things; when we look at ourselves, what do we really see? Probably not what others see, but at least you can tell if your hair needs combing. This band is much better than that. This band not only reinforced what I thought we sounded like, but gave me an idea of the power, and the joy, of an R.E.M. show.
These guys are not imitators. They are not copycats. They are seriously talented musicians, and a real band who loves our music as much as we do, and that love shows in their performance. They were kind (or foolish) enough to have me onstage to sing some of these songs with them, and it was more fun than I’ve had doing almost anything in quite a while.
Thank you, guys, for being so much more than a mirror, for being a great band, and for keeping the joy of our music alive for us, and for our fans.”
-Mike
photo by Jen Tiernen