Michael Stipe Will Sing Again, But Without R.E.M Bandmates [Video]

After thirty one years together, influential alternative rock group R.E.M broke up in September, 2011 leaving their adoring fans in shock and wanting more as reported by the Inquisitr. In the three years since the band split, front man Michael Stipe has been reclusive and although he admits to not liking nostalgia, he took some time to reflect on his former band’s three-decade-long career in a new interview on CBS This Morning and stating that he will sing again but not with the band.

“That’s maybe an exclusive, but I think I will sing again… Not soon … maybe … I don’t know.” He went on to say, “I love my voice and I think it’s still… I think it actually got better as I got older. Although he’s not sure when he will sing again, He is sure that R.E.M. will never reunite, “I love those guys very much and I respect them hugely as musicians and as songwriters and everything, but I just don’t want to do that thing that people do,” adding that he “despises nostalgia.”

Despite dashing hopes of a reunion with his longtime bandmates, he revealed he does still sing, but it happens to be in the privacy of his own home. “I sing in the shower. And I’m not bad,” he said. “You would be surprised at my play list.” Stipe talked candidly about how he does miss being on stage and has the urge to perform. “When I go to see bands perform live, that’s when it’s hard for me,” he said. “I look up on the stage and I think ‘I wish I was there.'”

The interview went over the history of the band from its inception in Athens, Georgia in 1979. The group members included Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, and drummer Bill Berry. R.E.M quickly became a popular band on the college circuit which lead to regular radio and video play and becoming fixtures on MTV. Stipe discussed his legendary career, a journey that is chronicled in the new six-DVD box set REMTV that was released last month. The box set features footage from various MTV appearances from 1983 to 2008, The set also includes a new documentary on the band, named “R.E.M. by MTV,” by Alex Young (producer, director) and Dave Leopold (editor). The documentary is a collage of various R.E.M. appearances not only on MTV, but on several programs according to Wikipedia.

R.E.M was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.