R.E.M.’s Bill Berry Is Back Behind the Kit in New Band

R.E.M. is a hard act to follow, which clarifies why drummer Monthly bill Berry has never been in an additional comprehensive-time band since his 1997 departure — until finally now. Berry has teamed with Five Eight’s Mike Mantione in The Lousy Finishes, whose debut album, The Power and the Glory, will be produced Jan. 20 on New West Data.

The Lousy Finishes are rounded out by bassist Dave Domizi, keyboardist Geoff Melkonian and guitarist/mandolinist Christian Lopez. The task was at first a usually means to work on songs for a possible Mantione solo album, but a run-in with Berry in their shared household foundation of Athens, Ga., led to a sequence of jam periods and a pivot to a group challenge.

“In quite early 2017, a probability pedestrian come upon in downtown Athens identified me face to deal with with a single Mike Mantione,” Berry recollects. “At that point it had been about two many years considering the fact that I’d associated myself with the history-creating process and listed here was a guy Peter Buck a short while ago described as ‘the unsung hero of Athens rock and roll’ providing an chance to enjoy in the activity once more. It was energizing to at the time yet again engage in with leading-notch musicians. This document is special for me in that it was the only a person with which I was associated, that was written, rehearsed, recorded, produced and mastered in Athens.”

The initially one from The Ability and the Glory is “All Your Close friends Are Dying,” the Lance Bangs-directed video clip for which was filmed at Berry’s household and characteristics cameos from community heroes these types of as R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Pylon’s Vanessa Briscoe Hay. The Glands’ Frank McDonald and producer/Sugar bassist David Barbe.

https://www.youtube.com/observe?v=VDU-tmoRqvQ

“The tune and the video clip are a celebration of Athens,” Mantione suggests. “The track is also a tribute to Major Star and The Glands. I’m actually singing it to a close friend who skipped this specific overall performance of the Significant Star Third album and I’m warning my close friend not to miss stuff for the reason that everyday living doesn’t past incredibly long. The cameos were just the most exciting. I received to push about Athens with so numerous great friends. We have been meant to appear glum, but after they got into the van with me, laughter would erupt. Athens experienced an unbelievable, beloved nearby vegetarian restaurant identified as The Grit which shut a working day before we shot the very last of the cameos. We do a generate-by of The Grit as form of a farewell nod.”

The Poor Finishes will play their initially reside exhibit Nov. 27 at Nuci’s Space in Athens. The location is “located in the shadow of” St. Mary’s Steeple, the final remnant of the 1871-period church where R.E.M. played its first display on April 5, 1980.

“I was so grateful to be able to file this album with my mates,” Mantione claims. “I’m a bit of a fanboy of Bill’s and pretty considerably so is absolutely everyone else in the band. One particular of the insane factors is to be in a room with Monthly bill, look at him function, and hear tales about the albums that described anything I know and enjoy about audio. I will never forget how thrilled I was on the very first working day of recording.”