Bill Berry thinks back to when he left REM
Last week i REM gave an interview to CBS Mornings with the host of the program Anthony Mason who anticipated the inclusion of the band from Athens (Georgia) in the Songwriters Hall of Fame where they then performed offering an acoustic version of their great success “Losing My Religion”.
The four – Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Bill Berry – they hadn't played together since 2007, that time too it was on the occasion of another ceremony, that of their inclusion in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. The band officially broke up in 2011, but the last tour took place in 2008. At that time the REM However, there were already three of them left because the drummer, Bill Berry, had left them in 1997, following what happened at the concert on March 1, 1995, in Switzerland. Berry collapsed on stage due to a brain aneurysm. (read the story here)
That accident, even though Berry later recovered and initially returned to the band, made him reflect on whether he should continue living the life of a musician. Bill told himself that maybe it was time to let it go and, as mentioned above, he did so a couple of years later
The most touching moment of Mason's interview concerned himself Bill Berry and when asked if he ever had second thoughts about leaving the band, Bill replied, unable to hold back his tears: “Of course, I did.
It was a weird moment for me, and I made it weird for these kids too. I won't use that as an excuse. Maybe it reduced, maybe that thing in Switzerland, a brain aneurysm and a successful surgery, it might have lowered my energy level. Up until that point I was type A, hyperactive, I no longer had the drive I once had to do this thing. Yes I had to give up, at that moment I didn't regret it. I regretted it a little later. It happened a long time ago. It happened more than a quarter of a century ago.”