Actor Michael Shannon and his musical partner Jason Narducy have been touring in celebration of the music of R.E.M. since 2023, and R.E.M.’s Mike Mills says the shows have given him some insight into his own band.
“One of the ironies about being in R.E.M. is that I could never see my band play. I could never truly know the effect our music had on our fans, or what it might have felt like to see us at any point in our musical journey, especially the early days,” he writes on Instagram, noting that he “was able to get an idea of what it might have been like to see R.E.M. perform” thanks the pair and their band.
He adds, “This band not only reinforced what I thought we sounded like, but gave me an idea of the power, and the joy, of an R.E.M. show.”
Mills notes that Shannon and Narducy aren’t “imitators” or “copycats,” but “seriously talented musicians, and a real band who loves our music as much as we do, and that love shows in their performance.”
Mills has joined them on stage during their tours, and he says getting to play with them “was more fun than I’ve had doing almost anything in quite a while.”
Finally, Mills adds, “Thank you, guys, for being so much more than a mirror, for being a great band, and for keeping the joy of our music alive for us, and for our fans.”
Shannon and Narducy’s most recent R.E.M. tour was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s fourth studio album, Lifes Rich Pageant. They will kick off another leg of the tour in September.
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