Acknowledged as pioneers who established the style of different rock, R.E.M.’s output contains 15 albums and has earned members Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Invoice Berry a everlasting spot within the cultural zeitgeist.
A star-studded tribute to the American rock band’s 1983 debut, “Murmur,” at Chicago’s Metro final summer season, commemorated the album’s fortieth anniversary. However the present was headlined by an unlikely duo: Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon and veteran rock guitarist Jason Narducy.
Whereas Narducy is a lifelong musician whose bragging rights embrace inspiring a younger Dave Grohl to pursue music, Shannon is finest identified onscreen for his roles in movies like 2017’s “The Form of Water” and 2008’s “Revolutionary Street.” Launched to one another a decade in the past in Illinois via a mutual buddy, singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks, they’ve collaborated annually to cowl a traditional album in full for one-night-only affairs, with Shannon offering vocals for performances of information like “The Queen Is Useless” by the Smiths and “Zuma” by Neil Younger & Loopy Horse.
As a nod to the place the place their friendship fashioned, the pair have saved their annual concert events inside Illinois state strains. Till now.
Shannon and Narducy are taking their present on the highway, with their first Bay Space present scheduled for San Francisco’s Nice American Music Corridor on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 1-2, as a part of this 12 months’s SF Sketchfest.
Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Associates Play R.E.M.: “Murmur.” 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1. $45-$50. “Reckoning.” 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2. $45-$50. Nice American Music Corridor, 859 O’Farrell St., S.F.
SF Sketchfest 2024: Via Feb. 4. Numerous venues in San Francisco. For a full schedule of occasions, together with a listing of choose exhibits out there to stream, plus ticket data, go to www.sfsketchfest.com.
“It’s actually an act of devotion on my half,” Shannon advised the Chronicle in a joint video interview with Narducy — calling from Brooklyn and Evanston, Unwell., respectively — about his strategy to channeling Stipe, R.E.M.’s frontman. “I’ve misplaced depend, frankly, of what number of instances I’ve listened to the file. Once we did the Chicago present, I’d exit and stroll for 10 miles, simply listening to the file again and again.”
How does one put together to deal with tracks like “Radio Free Europe” and “Discuss Concerning the Ardour”? Shannon sees a mixture of reverence and spontaneity as the perfect recipe to do “Murmur” justice.
“I take it very significantly,” he stated. “I need to ship the file to the perfect of my means. I’m not making an attempt to do my model of it or put my stamp on it.
“Actually, it’s what I say about performing too: The most effective you will be at performing is to be invisible. It’s the identical factor with the music. I don’t need folks to even be fascinated about me, as a result of it actually doesn’t have something to do with me.”
Narducy admires Shannon for his willingness to immerse himself in initiatives and praised his bandmate’s current efficiency within the off-Broadway manufacturing of Samuel Beckett’s “Ready for Godot.”
“It was a extremely entertaining present that (Shannon) utterly immersed himself in for nearly two months,” Narducy stated. “These initiatives the place we study a file are like a mini model of that. It’s a incredible studying expertise to get inside a file so deeply.”
Although Shannon and Narducy are set to tour their “Murmur” efficiency in a handful of different cities following their SF Sketchfest debut, San Francisco is the one place scheduled for 2 performances. For his or her second native date, they plan to pay homage to R.E.M.’s second album, 1984’s “Reckoning.”
“We’re stoked,” Shannon stated. “We performed some (of these ‘Reckoning’) songs on the gig in Chicago, so we received a little bit of a jump-start on it. Now I’ve received to study the remainder of them.”
Since “Murmur” runs solely round 40 minutes lengthy, some “Reckoning” cuts in addition to tracks from R.E.M.’s first EP, “Power City,” have been certainly utilized to fill out the set checklist in Chicago. However for his or her upcoming exhibits, Shannon and Narducy — together with guitarist Dag Juhlin, bassist Nick Macri, pianist Vijay Tellis-Nayak and drummer Jon Wurster rounding out the band — stated they’ll be switching issues up with a rotating choice of different songs from R.E.M.’s catalog every evening.
In current months, Shannon has saved a busy schedule, following his “Godot” run with a January live performance at Chicago’s Metro, the place he carried out the songs of Brian Eno. It hasn’t left the 2 a lot time to arrange for his or her subsequent set of gigs, however that’s apparently how they prefer it.
“We make some extent of rehearsing … not a lot,” Shannon stated. “It’s like Japanese sand portraits or one thing — it simply works.”
For Shannon, it’s not an idea restricted solely to his music endeavors. Years in the past in Chicago, he remembers a manufacturing of Edward Albee’s one-act play “The Zoo Story,” throughout which he and his co-star would do no rehearsals beforehand.
“We realized our strains and confirmed up and did it,” he stated. “It is a comparable situation.”
“I’m actually wanting ahead to that course of,” Narducy chimed in. “There’s the room, the vitality, the harmonics and people varieties of things all flying round, however there’s additionally the hazard of what we’re going to throw in that we haven’t finished but on the tour.”
“That’s what’s thrilling about it,” added Shannon. “The ephemeral nature of it. There are tribute bands that play year-round and crank out one gig after one other. I don’t assume I might take pleasure in that as a lot. That is actually an journey.”
Zack Ruskin is a contract author.
