R.E.M. Too Tired To Tour

In a couple of new interviews the band have confirmed that they will not be hitting the road at any time in the near future to support the release of their new album, Collapse Into Now, which is released this week.

"I’m not really sure that touring sells records," Buck said in an interview with Beatweek. "What sells records anymore? It seems like less and less people are buying albums, so do what you want."

Although the guitarist said that he, Michael Stipe and Mike Mills wouldn’t be touring immediately, he didn’t completely rule out live appearances in the near future.

"We’ll just see what happens," he said. "But it does seem like we've toured a lot in the last eight or 10 years. To some degree it felt like we’d just been doing kind of the same thing we did last time. You just don’t really want to repeat yourself in that way."

Bassist Mike Mills confirmed the touring decision in a new interview with German Rolling Stone: "We won't tour," he said. "It makes me sad, but the last tour was exhausting – 2008 was a very long year ... I love touring, and of course I would appreciate the money, but at this point in time it would not be the right thing for us to do." Frontman Michael Stipe shared the sentiment. "I just don't want to," he said. "You have to listen to your instinct."

(Gibson)