R.E.M. Halfway Done With New Album

Michael Barclay of the Toronto Eye spoke with R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and asked him why the new album they’re recording in Vancouver is taking so long. “We started working on it last fall, then focused on two new songs for the Best of…, then back to the new CD and now we’re breaking it up with the tour. If we went back into the studio tomorrow, we could finish it in a month, but we want to write some more songs and make it a better record. We were working three months on, three months off, so it hasn’t really been that long. I’d say we’re about half way there.”