BURBANK, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Warner Bros. Records) - In keeping with its theme of giving fans an advance peek of everything related to its latest album "Accelerate," best-selling rock band
R.E.M. aired footage from the forthcoming video of its new single, "Man-Sized Wreath" at the band's sold-out show at Madison
Square Garden on June 19th. The video was directed by the Toronto-based Crush Inc., who most recently directed the video for R.E.M.'s second single "Hollow Man."
"Process Transparency is the catchphrase I've used throughout 'Accelerate,' and it's become our guiding principle," says R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe. "From the Dublin rehearsals up through streaming the album pre-release, to the various websites we've launched enabling participation, we've chosen to flip the tables and make our process visible to the world. This demystifies without crushing mystery or steering focus. Creativity exists within all of us; at the same time it's mercurial; we all know that. Technology allows R.E.M. to share how we do it; it feels more real, more honest, more immediate. It's where I'm at now. We all are."
Since before the release of "Accelerate" on April 1st, R.E.M. has been actively engaged in providing an interactive experience for fans by launching a series of websites in conjunction with the album. The first, www.remdublin.com, lets fans in on the band's rehearsal process by enabling them to post their own reviews, photos, and links to videos recorded during R.E.M.'s five-night stand at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in July 2007. Three other sites were launched prior to the album's release: www.ninetynights.com and www.supernaturalsuperserious.com, which both featured high-definition video footage that fans could download and edit into their own original clips, and www.remaccelerate.com, which featured "Supernatural Superserious" audio and video, "Accelerate" artwork, tracklisting, and pre-order information, plus tour news. The most recent site, https://tour.remhq.com, aggregates and archives fan-created content - including live YouTube videos and Flickr photos, review blogs, and real-time reports via Twitter messages - created during and after each stop on R.E.M.'s current 2008 U.S. tour in support of "Accelerate."
"Accelerate" - R.E.M.'s 14th studio album - debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album charts. Clocking in at a crisp 34 minutes, it has been called "a classic blast of rock and roll from a band at a new peak of its powers" by Rolling Stone, "a breathless tumble of hooks and harmonies" by the New York Times, and proof that "amplified, guitar-based songs can bring people together and even form the basis for a larger life," by the Los Angeles Times.
