Just A Minute With: R.E.M. musician Mike Mills

Musician Mike Mills of ''R.E.M.'' addresses the audience after being inducted during the 22nd annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, March 12, 2007. R.E.M. has just released their first live CD/DVD to generate some buzz ahead of a new studio CD next year that will have a political tone coming just before the U.S. election.

LOS ANGELES Oct 31 (Reuters Life!) - Alternative rock stalwarts R.E.M. have just released their first live CD/DVD to generate some buzz ahead of a new studio CD next year that will have a political tone coming just before the U.S. election.

The three-disc set, imaginatively titled "R.E.M. Live," is drawn from two shows at The Point in Dublin in February 2005, and mixes old favorites like "Man on the Moon" and "Losing My Religion" with newer material.

Bass player Mike Mills, who formed R.E.M. in 1980 with singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and drummer Bill Berry, told Reuters that "R.E.M. Live" is partly designed to "just get a buzz going" before the envisaged spring 2008 of a studio CD, a follow-up to 2004's "Around the Sun:"

Q: Why release this 2 years after the event?

A: "Well, there are several reasons for putting it out. There are a lot of songs on our last couple of records -- they were very studio-sounding records, which is not a bad thing -- but there a lot of songs that we did live that are very different live. And we wanted to give those songs an airing. The other thing is, we wanted to use it as a springboard into next year when we have another CD coming out. It's just a kick-start of interest, generate some interest and just get a buzz going for the CD that comes out next year."

Q: Do you have specific memories of The Point shows?

A: "A few. In the middle of a tour, it's kinda hard to have specific memories of anything. It was the end of the European tour. We were about to head off to South Africa, so we were all going to somewhere where it was warm, and we were all excited about that. Being the end of the tour, you might put a little extra into it."

Q: There are couple of political songs on the record -- "Final Straw" and "I Wanted To Be Wrong." Are you continuing in that vein with the songwriting for this next record?

A: "I would say that there's probably a couple of songs on the next record that are fairly political. It's hard not to, when you write about the world around you or even the world inside you. With the egregious behavior of our government, there's no way that cannot be part of what we see and feel."

Q: During the last presidential election, you hit the campaign trail for John Kerry. Do you plan to do a similar thing next year?

A: "It's a little too far in the future to be thinking about that, specifically. But the great thing is, I don't think we're gonna have to. I think he's already hung his own self with his rope, so I don't think we're gonna have to do anything to get the good guys in there, I hope."

Q: I guess that depends on your version of the good guy -- Clinton? Obama? Edwards?

A: "You know what? Any of them is better than what's in there now."

Q: You'll take what's on offer?

A: "Any Democrat I'll vote for."

Q: Have you ever thought of doing a solo album?

A: "I've kicked it around. I don't have a burning drive to do it. I would say that I'll probably do one eventually. My energy and my best songs all go to R.E.M. right now. That has and always will be my focus."