Automatic Baby
What organization did Mike Mills join in 1993?
Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills ( born December 17 , 1958 ) is an American multi-instrumentalist , singer , and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M . Though known primarily as a bass guitarist , backing vocalist , and pianist , his musical repertoire also includes keyboards , guitar , percussion instruments and occasional lead vocals . He contributed to a majority of the bands musical compositions . Early life . Michael Edward Mills was born to Frank and Adora Mills in Orange County , California , and moved to Macon , Georgia , when he was 10 years old . Mills met Bill Berry , who would later be his bandmate in R.E.M. , in Macon . Mills and Berry started out in bands together . Early projects included the band Shadowfax ( later called The Back Door Band ) . Mills attended the University of Georgia in Athens , which is where R.E.M . formed . Career . Mills is credited with being the chief composer behind many of R.E.M.s songs , including Nightswimming , Find the River , At My Most Beautiful , Why Not Smile , Let Me In , Wendell Gee , ( Dont Go Back To ) Rockville , Beat a Drum , Be Mine , “Electrolite” , and Whats the Frequency , Kenneth? . In particular , R.E.M.s 2004 album Around the Sun was heavily shaped by Mills piano and keyboard contributions . Mills is also responsible for the prominent backing vocal and harmony parts found within the bands back catalogue , with his vocal contributions arguably being most noticeable on 1986s Lifes Rich Pageant and 2008s Accelerate . In addition to providing backing vocals , he has also sung lead vocals on the songs Texarkana , Near Wild Heaven , The Clique cover Superman and The Troggs cover Love is All Around . R.E.M . had been talking about disbanding since 2008 , and eventually did so in 2011 . Since then , Mills said there is no possibility of an R.E.M . reunion . Mills described it as 31 wonderful years and the opportunity to end it on our own terms . Mills continues to write music and perform with friends on various projects . In 2012 , Mills contributed piano playing to a Record Store Day single released by Drive-By Truckers member , Patterson Hood , in protest of a Walmart development being built in Athens , Georgia . Mills is a member , along with Steve Wynn , Scott McCaughey , Peter Buck , and Linda Pitmon , of The Baseball Project . Mills also performs as part of singer-songwriter Joseph Arthurs band . On April 3 , 2014 , while performing with musical guest Joseph Arthur , Mills broke the news that David Letterman would be retiring in 2015 . Mills took a band self-portrait that he posted to Instagram and did a short interview about breaking the story Since 2010 , Mills has played with a rotating group of musicians for a series of concerts built around Big Stars seminal album , Third/Sister Lovers . Known as Big Stars Third , the concerts have taken place in London , Sydney , Chicago , Seattle , Los Angeles , and New York . A longtime Big Star fan , Mills wrote the liner notes for the 2014 reissue of the bands first two releases , 1972s #1 Record and 1974s Radio City . In 2016 , he toured to support a Concerto for Violin , Rock Band , and String Orchestra with childhood friend Robert McDuffie . Musical style . Mike Mills melodic approach to bass playing is inspired by Paul McCartney of the Beatles and Chris Squire of Yes ; Mills has said , I always played a melodic bass , like a piano bass in some ways . . . I never wanted to play the traditional locked into the kick drum , root note bass work . Mills has more musical training than his bandmates , which he has said made it easier to turn abstract musical ideas into reality . During R.E.M.s career , Mills often harmonized with Michael Stipe in songs ; in the chorus for Stand , Mills and Stipe alternate singing lyrics , creating a dialogue . Discography . - 1984 – Hindu Love Gods – Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight/Narrator . - 1985 – Full Time Men– Full Time Men , organ on One More Time - 1987 – Warren Zevon – Sentimental Hygiene on Sentimental Hygiene , Boom Boom Mancini , The Factory , Trouble Waiting to Happen , Detox Mansion , Bad Karma , Even a Dog Can Shake Hands , and The Heartache - 1987 – Waxing Poetics– Hermitage , production - 1988 – Billy James – Sixes and Sevens , production - 1988 – The Cynics – Whats It Gonna Be/Roadrunner ( live ) - 1989 – Indigo Girls – Indigo Girls , bass guitar on Tried to Be True - 1989 – Vibrating Egg – Come On in Here If You Want To , writing and performance - 1990 – Mike Mills wrote music for Howard Libovs short film Men Will Be Boys - 1990 – Kevn Kinney – MacDougal Blues - 1990 – Hindu Love Gods – Hindu Love Gods - 1990 – Hindu Love Gods – Raspberry Beret - 1991 – Nikki Sudden – The Jewel Thief - 1991 – Nikki Sudden – I Belong to You - 1991 – The Troggs – Athens , Andover - 1991 – Robbie Robertson – Storyville , singing on Shake This Town - 1992 – Jane Pratt Show theme music - 1993 – Automatic Baby – One - 1993 – The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream , piano on Soma - 1993 – Three Walls Down – Building Our House , production - 1993 – Three Walls Down – Steps/Wooden Nails/Faith in These Times ( live ) - 1994 – Backbeat soundtrack - 1994 – Victoria Williams – Loose , vocals on You R Loved - 2000 – Christy McWilson – The Lucky One - 2006 – Various artists – Big Star Small World , bass guitar on The Ballad of El Goodo , with Matthew Sweet - 2006 – Mike Mills and Sally Ellyson – Jesus Christ , a Big Star song covered for a charity single for the Red Apple Foundation - 2007 – Mudville – Iris Nova , piano on Eternity - 2008 – Modern Skirts – All of Us in Our Night , production on Motorcade - 2008 – The Baseball Project – - 2009 – Favorite Son soundtrack – Gift of the Fathers - 2009 – Jill Hennessy – Ghost in My Head , backing vocals on Erin - 2009 – The Baseball Project – Homerun EP - 2010 – Various artists – The Voice Project , cover of Billy Braggs Sing Their Souls Back Home - 2011 – The Baseball Project – - 2011 – The Baseball Project – The Broadside Ballads - 2012 – Jason Ringenberg – Nature Jams – vocals on one track - 2012 – Patterson Hood & The Downtown 13 – After Its Gone/Unspoken Pretties – performance on A-side , single released for Record Store Day - 2014 – The Baseball Project – 3rd Personal life . Mills is an avid fantasy sports player , with interest in NFL , NBA , and PGA teams , among others . He is also a fan of his alma maters football team , the Georgia Bulldogs . Mills is engaged to Jasmine . He is an atheist .