Friday, September 30, 2011 2:58am ET by  
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REM's Mike Mills explains why the band called it a day

Last week, REM announced that they would no longer be working on music together and their bassist, Mike Mills, explains why.

In an interview with David Fricke from the Rolling Stone, Mills goes into great detail about the group's mixed emotions over the split:

"There is a great deal of sadness, but it's really celebratory. There is sadness because I will never play on the same stage as Peter and Michael again. We're doing this for good reasons, and we end up looking back at all the fun, the joy and the incredible opportunities we had".

He says that there is no specific reason for the split:

"It's not because we have to or we can't stand each other or we suck. We're happy. But we're done".

The band, who were together for 31 years, decided that it was time to call it a day during the summer. They recorded three new songs for their upcoming greatest hits CD, 'REM, Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982- 2011', which is set to be released on November 15. 

They delayed the announcement so that they could do it properly:

"We wanted everything set up the way it should be. And we were excited to find three really good songs to put out as a farewell".

Two of the three tracks, 'Hallelujah' and 'A Month of Saturdays', were demo tracks for their last album, 'Collapse Into Now'. The third new track is 'We All Go Back To Where We Belong', which will be released as a single on October 18.  

Check out this interview with lead singer, Michael Stipe, at 2011's SXSW Festival and REM performing 'Everybody Hurts' live at Stirling Castle, Scotland: