Newsgroup: it.fan.musica.rem
Titolo: Breve video intervista su mtv.com

Come segnalato nella news da remhq (
http://remhq.com/news_story.php?id=718
), 
su 
mtv.com
 è presente una breve intervista a Mike, Michael e Peter corredata 
da un articolo su Accelerate.
Qui il video 
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1584160&vid=219061
Qui la pagina dell'articolo 
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1584176/20080326/id_0.jhtml
R.E.M. Accelerate Into The Future After 28 Years Of Songwriting
Singer Michael Stipe says there's 'an energy and an urgency' to the new 
album, which they recorded in just nine weeks.
By James Montgomery, with additional reporting by John Norris
When R.E.M. were recording their new album, frontman Michael Stipe decided 
that he wanted to call it Future Tense, a title that would've worked on at 
least two different levels.
For one, a lot of the songs he'd written for the record dealt with the 
ideals he'd clung to when he first formed R.E.M. back in 1980 - youthful 
optimism, the belief that music could bring people together - and the way 
those ideals translated into being a band in 2008, a time when everything 
feels fractious and chaotic and pretty much irrevocably broken. Speaking or 
thinking in the future tense ("We will overcome," "We must continue"), he 
reasoned, seemed rather naive.
On the other hand, he also found himself writing about the current state of 
our nation - about the mess in Iraq, the Katrina recovery - and about the 
legacy George W. Bush will leave behind when he exits the White House in 
January. Stipe foresaw a series of messes that could take decades to clean 
up. He foresaw the future. And it will be tense.
"There's an energy and an urgency to the record," said Stipe. "To me it 
references a memory of punk rock, and the spirit of that, and what we all 
came out of, and what inspired us to start a band. It's not specific to the 
late '70s or anything like that, it's more of an imagined memory of that 
energy and that urgency. Couple that with the fact that I'm a very 
sentimental person, but I'm not necessarily nostalgic. And how memories 
affect me now, and in the future, is something that I find really 
interesting. And it's something I try to explore and exploit in my 
contributions to this band."
Of course, they ended up calling the record Accelerate (perhaps the biggest 
sign that after all these years, R.E.M. still operate as a democracy, not a 
monarchy), a title that has as much to do with all of the above - we live in 
an accelerated culture, where fears blow by at breakneck speeds - as it does 
with the way R.E.M. chose to make the record: loose, raw and in just nine 
hectic weeks. And they did this on purpose, because they had to.
"We had a clear directive," Stipe said. "We were communicating on a level we 
have not communicated on in some time, and I think we were saving the band, 
each of us. We each felt like this record was that important, to us and the 
future of R.E.M. and the legacy we leave. On our last tour in 2005, we 
looked at how the songs off Around the Sun really worked great live, more so 
than they did on the record. And we kind of set forth with an idea of how to 
make this record that way. So we did it really fast, and really raw and in 
your face."
"When [drummer] Bill [Berry] left the band [in 1997], it was one of those 
things like, all of a sudden, everything you know is wrong," added bassist 
Mike Mills. "We didn't know what kind of band we were. All of our methods of 
making records didn't exist anymore. So we made records we wouldn't have 
been able to make if Bill were still in the band, for better or worse. And 
in doing so, we were able to find our equilibrium and find out what it means 
for R.E.M. to be a three-piece band. And finally, it took us to this place 
where we were able to say, 'OK, that was fun, but enough of that. It's time 
to make a really fast rock-and-roll record. We've got nine weeks, and that's 
all we've got. '"
And that crackling, "live" feel is readily apparent throughout Accelerate - 
all 32 minutes of it - from the punchy guitars and breathy vocals of lead 
single "Supernatural Superserious" to the breakneck chorus of "Horse to 
Water" (which the band dubbed "The Joan Jett Song" during recording 
sessions). There are moments that recall jangle the band had in its nascent 
period, and moments that sound like fiery, late-'90's "What's the Frequency 
Kenneth." And there are moments that sound like the Replacements. But if you 
ask the members of R.E.M., they'll tell you it sounds like nothing they've 
ever done before.
"I think it's a better record than we've made recently, but we've never made 
a record this way. We never made one that sounds like this," said guitarist 
Peter Buck. "Even going back to Murmur, we didn't go into the studio and cut 
it live, real fast. For a first record, Murmur is totally overdubbed."
"People tell me it sounds like a return to form, but I don't understand 
that," added Mills. "We wouldn't even know how to return to anything at this 
point. I can't imagine anything less interesting than going back and doing 
something you'd already done before. This is R.E.M. 2008, nothing more, 
nothing less."  (minchiata del secolo, imho)
And the '08 version of the band isn't afraid of ruffling a few feathers, 
either. A trio of songs on the new album - "Houston," "Until the Day Is 
Done" and "Mr. Richards" - address the failures of the Bush administration 
and mistrust in the American political system as a whole. It seems that even 
after nearly 30 years, Stipe is still having no problem coming up with 
topics to sing about (or sacred cows to skewer).
"In the 28 years of writing songs, there are very few that are 
autobiographic. On this record, the only real part of me is in the song 
'Until the Day Is Done,' which is looking at the mess the current 
administration had left this country with, and wondering how long it will 
take to dig ourselves out of it," Stipe added. "And then there's a song like 
'Mr. Richards,' which, to be honest, you can pretty much pick any senior 
administration official of the current administration, and put them in the 
place of 'Mr. Richards.' He's one of those politicians that you really want 
to see behind bars."
Despite all the tension that went into making Accelerate, R.E.M. claim that 
they feel better (and closer) than they have in years. And because of that, 
they find themselves in a position most bands of their stature - and 
tenure - don't these days: promoting a record that's every bit as good as 
everything they've done in the past, which, given their back catalog, is a 
pretty impressive feat.
"I'm just totally thrilled by the fact that we got inducted into the Rock 
and Roll Hall Of Fame last year, and we had this record just sitting there 
ready to come out of us," Mills said. "So it's exciting to know that you can 
be recognized for a body of work, and to be able to come out with something 
that's just as good as anything you've done in the past. That's phenomenally 
thrilling to me."
Accelerate, due April 1, is the band's 15th album.

 Qui il videohttp://
www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1584160&vid=219061
N.B.: l'intervista sembra breve ma in realtà è divisa in 5 parti, per
un totale di quasi 20 minuti.
Very interesting, indeed