Interview with leader of REM, who publish tomorrow the new album "Collapse into now." The music and other forms of expression, the crisis and rebirth in thirty years of activity. "I think of Kurt Cobain, not all to do it '. And fears for the future: "I'm not afraid of dying or growing old. But I think what we are doing to the environment, and matricide against the Earth"
With that frame and glazed eyes may be the ideal actor for a remake of Falling Down. But as soon as he finished his conversation partner and peer support glasses on the table, Michael Stipe, the person becomes more gentle and friendly in the world. The leader of REM, who released the new album tomorrow Collapse into now (some tracks were co-Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Peaches and Joel Gibb of Hidden Cameras), does nothing to hide his 51 years as soon as completed. And white beard, bushy eyebrows, his face marked by too much for a few wrinkles of his age. "Beautiful, I like it," says leafing through the booklet of the new CD that was in his hands for the first time yesterday morning in Milan. "The photos that Anton Corbijn has shot in Nashville are extraordinary."
This time, at the behest of Stipe, REM have made it big: everyone of the twelve tracks will be accompanied by a short film directed by famous directors and actors. What Überlin, for example, is directed by Sam Taylor-Wood and starring Aaron Johnson (director and actor Nowhere Boy, the film about John Lennon). He is holding a British newspaper that (correctly) on the cover screams: "The best REM album in the last twenty years." He smiles sarcastically. "To tell the truth every time we go into the studio we do so with the intention of affecting our masterpiece. But this time, are honest, we did not expect it would come so well."
There are many other ideas this time around the usual album, photo projects and even movies.
"Everything came street doing, we did not start with the idea of \u200b\u200bputting so many irons in the fire. I am one who follows his instincts every day. And I try to ignore the other "I" do not want to seem schizophrenic, but when I create I try not to listen to the most vigilant of Michael, the one that pretends to know exactly what it will do tomorrow, the more anchored in reality, privilege the voice of the child, the one that for most of the time goes unheard and disregarded. "
The disc was recorded in Berlin, New Orleans, Portland and Nashville. How important is the location for the success of an album?
"The decisive factor, especially New Orleans, which is where we ended together to develop ideas - Peter Buck and Mike Mills have families, are less free to me. We intend to work in Rome but we did not find a free study for that period. I wanted to give a more Mediterranean character to this record after I had spent a long holiday with my partner in Spain, France and Italy. I will not venture to say cliche, but I feel very close to the way in which Italians are related to art and artistic respond to stimuli. It 'a kind of brotherhood and intimacy that I have always felt, as a boy. "
You have always been interested in other art forms. He has produced films, take pictures constantly and now wanted to accompany each song this cd with a mini-movies. E 'reaction to the crisis of the disc or an attempt to dodge the routine?
"Music is a medium and a formidable artistic event, but I recognize the same power to other forms of expression. What I wanted this time was to raise the level imagery to music, going above and beyond the stereotypical video clips, then the commercial promotion of the song, creating a different approach to the work of the band. Three videos are already online one, the others will arrive in three weeks. "
What is today, for her, the perfect idea of \u200b\u200bthe artist, the one that was made after thirty years of career?
"When I was in high school taking photographs. Poi arrivò il punk, Patti Smith e gli artisti che gravitavano intorno al CBGB's di New York. A quindici anni fui rapito dalla musica. In quel momento era il mezzo ideale che mi permetteva di rappresentare il mio caos interiore, di esplorare la mia sessualità, una cosa che all'epoca, vivendo nella piccolissima Athens, in Georgia, era assai complicata. Il punk mi diede forza, mi fece sentire protetto anche se in maniera astratta, perché tutto avveniva nella mia testa, non ero ancora mai salito su un palcoscenico. Ma già all'epoca trovai nella musica una community - per usare un termine oggi tanto in voga - in cui rifugiarmi e alla quale appartenere. Quando venne il momento dei R.E.M., Peter mi disse: "Hai frequentato il liceo artistico, dunque tutto quel che appartiene a quella sfera è compito tuo, noi pensiamo al rock", e fin da allora mi sono sempre occupato del corredo visivo della band oltre alle canzoni. Ma, chiaramente, per molti anni la musica ha assorbito la maggior parte del mio tempo, solo ora posso permettermi il lusso - ed è chiaramente un privilegio - di dedicare altrettanta energia a progetti paralleli come questi dodici film. Questa facilità di saltare da un medium all'altro è una caratteristica del nuovo millennio, un'esigenza del pubblico oltre che degli artisti. Non ha niente a che fare con l'ambizione che un cantante può avere di diventare attore (o viceversa) - cosa che nella maggior parte dei casi trovo imbarazzante, anche se Miguel Bosé è allo stesso time a good actor and a pop star. For many artists it's just a matter of business for me has only one artistic motivation. Do not take pictures or go around with the camera because I want to do it, but because I have to do it, is an inner part of my job. "
Have you ever heard of prey routine during his long career?
" Never except in the tour. A concert by one of the displacements, the sleepless nights are efforts in the long run you pay. At first it was exciting, now sometimes I come out exhausted. I would end the slave of routine if I had not listened to what my creativity urged me to do that sort of urgency that has prompted me to write, produce, take pictures, etc ".
Since the tension is loose around the group, she is the only single of the three, it lingers on long journeys that feed his curiosity as a photographer more than that of a musician.
" Lately I have been haunted by Istanbul, and I can not wait to go back this summer. The last time I ended up in a turkish bath and collapsed behind a century. It took me hours to understand the complex dynamics of the place, a very strong ritual and occult power sexual leaving bewildered, wild and a tacit agreement that is established with a strict hierarchy between the customer, waiters and masseurs.
Being in a band may be limited for a charismatic artist like you?
"Look, I've never been tempted to do a solo album, and I assure you divide responsibilities is also a great relief when you do a job like ours. Of course, our relationship has changed, the first ten years we lived together as a family. But at this point, the distance has become a stimulus for creativity. Everything is still possible because friendship has never failed, otherwise it would be a disaster. Mike and Peter, for example, hate studying album covers, do not like doing interviews, they have the same enthusiasm that I have to jump from hotel to hotel, this is one of the reasons why I am here today to speak with her alone. "
Now could tickle the idea of \u200b\u200ba film as a director.
"No, not really. Never say never, but I know the routine of directors, an alarm clock at dawn, study light, angle, endless hours to the assembly, all of which I am bored to death. I spent a week on set with Tom Hanks and I found the whole process unbearable. When you make a hard, work on your own or with a limited group of people when you make a movie you're in a comedy in the play, because the economic resources at stake are so high that everything must be always, always, hideously from my point of view, under control. "
There are special guests on this record. Eddie Vedder and Patti Smith in the head. What is your relationship with them?
"They're both friends. Patti and I live in New York, she is my muse, the artist who inspired me with Horses in the rock, then it happens to encounter more often. Eddie is a special person, one of the items best of contemporary rock, but has lived in Seattle and we feel especially on the phone or by mail. "
Speaking of Seattle, in the golden age of grunge she had a special relationship with Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. He was the godfather of Frances Bean, their daughter, and had in mind to work with the leader of Nirvana ...
"No way did nothing because Kurt killed himself before he had time to propose in detail what I wanted to do with him. But to be honest, the idea I had come to try to pull him away from his demons, to engage in something that could save it.
What were the most difficult moments and more than happy to Michael Stipe in REM?
"In 1985 I had a great time of crisis. I was not sure of anything, you want to join a band, to withstand the pressures of celebrity. I was exhausted, discouraged, sad, depressed. Now, in retrospect, was a moment of reflection necessary to give me the incentive to move forward. Fortunately I do not have suicidal tendencies, I can touch the bottom and back without letting the feathers. Artists most vulnerable would not be re-emerged from a dark period like that - and I think Kurt back again. The happy times did not count: every morning when I open my eyes I'm happy to be alive, but now I'm an optimist, one of the most positive people I know, I can easily metabolize anger and depression. "
She is also a brilliant activist, as shown in tireless musical marathons against the Bush administration. How are you living now in America Obama?
"For years I shouted from the rooftops the misdeeds of Bush and clearly Obama's election has been a relief for those like me who advocated a radical change. I can not say today that I agree with every decision that Obama takes, but we must also appreciate the fact the White House to have someone of his stature. The weight the daily compromises that must be addressed is huge, and take a united country after inheriting two wars and a frightening global economic crisis was not an easy task. Not to mention that in the eight years before Bush had systematically dismantled the democratic system and social democrat in the U.S. as spokesmen in the world. Not perform miracles in six months. "
What is your greatest fear for the future?
" Not that getting old, but to die, but to not have more success - that I had more than enough . I'm afraid the damage that we are perpetrating against the environment. What we are doing to the Earth is nothing but a matricide. "
article from www.repubblica.it
image from www.she.sulekha.com
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