HELLO-
April 1980
MIKE MILLS and I were arch-enemies originally, and that's the honest truth. When we were 15 we hated each other because he was like the class nerd, straight As, and I was just getting into drugs and stuff. A friend of mine was a guitar player, he lined up this jam session and said, "Take your drums over to this house," so I did. I spent half an hour setting up my drums and we were waiting for the bass player, and who should turn up but Mike Mills! If I'd played guitar, I would have packed up and left but I looked at the drums and thought, I'm stuck here. We shook hands and promised to put the past behind us and became best friends.
The two of us moved to Athens in January of 1979 and later that year a mutual friend tried to get us together with the others. The first time Mike didn't show up but I saw Peter [Buck] at a party a few weeks later and we agreed to give it another shot. We got together and it was magic, but it nearly didn't happen. Michael said he really liked my eyebrows and that's the reason he thought we should get together.
A friend, Kathleen, begged us to play for her birthday party [April 5, 1980]. We didn't want to do it. Three bands played that night. We were so scared, saying "You know that its not too late to back out." By the time we got through God Save the Queen, that was the second song, we were fine.
GOODBYE-
October 1997
I NEEDED to go ahead and be honest with these guys, 'cos we always have been in the past. I had songs I had written and prepared before Hawaii [April 1997], but basically I just sat out and watched waves. I'm just not as enthusiastic as I have been in the past about doing this any more. I've been doing this for 17 years, and it's been great. I have the best job in the world. But I'm kind of ready to sit back and reflect and maybe not be a pop star any more.
We met in Athens at the start of October to go over material for a new album, to rehearse those songs, and the first day I said, "There's something I've got to tell you," and I told them. I offered to stay if they were going to break up the band, I think their feeling was, "Look, if this isn't fun, don't do it - it isn't jail."
This may have something to do with the fact that I went through surgery. Physically, I'm in great shape. But there was a kind of spiritual ordeal I went through, and I don't know if that's what caused this; it may have. Lying in a hospital bed for three weeks made me look at things a little differently and shift priorities. I used to be so excited about going into the studio I couldn't sleep the night before. But I was getting to the point where I couldn't sleep because I was worried abbot why I wasn't happy. The idea of doing yet one more tour and spending three months in a studio... There's not a window in any studio I've ever been in.
Making music has always been a pleasure; I've done it all my life. I'm not sure if I'm capable of doing anything else. Maybe I'll play drums for my cat. Maybe three years from now I'll form a Bachman Turner Overdrive tribute band or something. I don't know. I want to find out. I'm not going to know until I stop. Water will find its level if you let it go, and I feel like I’m opening the floodgates.
We always said that we'd break up the band if one of us ever left, but we also said we'd do this until it wasn't fun any more. It's not as much fun for me any more but it's still fun for these guys. The food thing is, I'll be able to see an R.E.M. show for a change.
Interview by Rob Jovanovic and Miriam Longino
