Tired Pony, Still Bucking.

“Well, I love those songs. But I never want to play ‘Losing My Religion’ again. ‘Man on the Moon,’ it’s a great song. But it’s five minutes long and I’ve played it a couple thousand times.” Two years after R.E.M. called it a day, Salon checks in with the still-prolific Peter Buck. “You know, I kind of like the fact that maybe I’m done saying things to the public. I’m just finished.” (Buck Photo via here.)

Passing the Buck.

“It’s funny. Johnny Marr has a place there, and we are kind of friends. I walked into this ice cream shop, and the guy goes, ‘Jesus, what a weird day.’ He goes, ‘Johnny Marr walked in here like 20 minutes ago, and now you. Is this like indie guitar 80s day or something?’” While cutting a few demos in the Portland area, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck discusses the band’s songwriting process, and his aspirations for the next record. “There are some really pretty acoustic things, some really total noisy rock, and some kind of poppy stuff. It runs the gamut. Ideally, if it were me making all the decisions, I’d say the record would be a lot broader than the last one. But still, I want to do it really quickly and immediately and not do a huge amount of overdubs.“

Crying like a fire in the sun.

R.E.M. talk Around the Sun and, in discussing their dwindling popularity Stateside, pay credit to Bob Dylan. Notes Peter Buck, “In 1975, people thought he was going to be president. Now he plays 3,000 seat theatres. His last two records are the best things he’s done in years. So I won’t calculate who our audience is. I’ll take whoever I can get at whatever level I can get them.'”