Earlier this month, on the night before kicking off a tour, Jason Narducy celebrated his 55th birthday, heading out for dinner and a few light beers with the band and crew.
“I was in bed at like 10:30,” he said with a laugh.
So he was a responsible rock star?
“Define rock star,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll show you my bank account.”
Narducy, who has toured with indie luminaries Bob Mould, Superchunk and Sunny Day Real Estate, is back on the road with actor Michael Shannon and friends, celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s “Life’s Rich Pageant” by playing it in its entirety and more.
“I think it’s, top to bottom, just an incredibly strong, powerful record,” Narducy said.
The collaboration between Narducy and Shannon started with a full performance of R.E.M.’s debut album, “Murmur,” in 2023 in Chicago in what was supposed to be a one-off show. Demand led to tours for “Murmur” and “Fables of the Reconstruction.” (And “Reckoning” got played in its entirety once in 2024 in San Francisco.)
The latest tour began Feb. 11 in Denver and runs through March 16 in Bloomington, Ind., with about two-thirds of the shows sold out. There are still tickets available for their Pittsburgh stop on March 9 at Mr. Smalls Theatre, with comedian Bobcat Goldthwait opening. Both shows sold out in Athens, Ga., the home for R.E.M., whose members (Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry) have jumped on stage in the past.
“I feel like we’re being pretty ambitious with this, and what I mean by that is it’s 28 songs that maybe five of them we’ve played before, so 23 songs we’ve never played on stage,” Narducy said. “I love that. I love that challenge, and I think it’s a great band, and we play well together.”
In a phone call last week from Denver, Narducy spoke with TribLive about “Life’s Rich Pageant,” Shannon’s performance, playing with R.E.M. and more. Find a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity and length, below.
When you think about “Life’s Rich Pageant,” what is it that stands out the most?
That band has made so many great records in their career, and there’s just something about this one that really speaks to me. I’m a fan of all of them, but this one is relentless in its creativity and scope and maybe the first time that Stipe has told stories this directly in a lot of cases. The one time I got to see R.E.M., they opened with “Begin the Begin,” and it’s just that song and that performance that I saw them do, it felt like a band trying to prove themselves, which is pretty cool for a band that was already awesome. (laughs) And I love that about them. They’re a lot tougher than people realize. If you go back to those early performances, and even when I saw them in ‘02 or ‘03, they were just ferocious. One of the reasons I’m excited about this tour is that unlike a lot of great records, I think this one is sequenced really well for a concert, opening with “Begin the Begin” into “These Days” into “Fall on Me” into “Cuyahoga.” That’s quite an opening, and then it closes with “Swan Swan H” and “Superman.” It’s just perfect.
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Do you remember hearing that album for the first time?
I don’t remember hearing it for the first time, but a friend of mine had seen them on the Fables tour at the USC Pavilion and raved about it, and then he either played me “Driver 8” or “Can’t Get There From Here.” One of those songs was the first R.E.M. song I heard, and I liked it. But it wasn’t until “Document” that I bought my first R.E.M. record, and I loved that so much that I went back. And I would say that “Life’s Rich Pageant,” of those first five, is the one I listen to the most.
You’ve been doing these performances for a few years now, so do you feel more comfortable in R.E.M.’s clothes or skin or whatever you want to call it now?
We’re definitely not trying to get into their clothes or their skin. (laughs) It’s always felt comfortable. I love these guys in this band, and it doesn’t feel like high stakes to me. The music is sacred. We work really hard at getting inside of it and doing the best we can to come close to maybe capturing the spirit of a band that no one can sound exactly like. It’s kind of low pressure. We’re up on stage smiling because we love these songs so much, and it’s pretty cool that so many people also want to celebrate it that way. This project, this was not some labored-over, conceived idea. It was us just playing shows in Chicago and then promoters around the country reaching out, saying, hey, would you come bring this here? (laughs) It’s pretty cool how organically it happened. We’re really enjoying going to different cities and playing these songs that we love. It’s not something really to be nervous about. It’s just fun.
When you say low pressure, like no nerves, what about when the guys from R.E.M. jumped up on stage with you, did that change at all?
Is there anything more about validating? (laughs) If anything that’s just kind of like, oh, I think we’re doing something OK here. They wanted to get up here, great. I think not being nervous around them has more to do with who they are than anything, which is just people with humility. I will never not be able to look at them and think of these people that I admired for decades, and they will always be that to me. But they’re real disarming as people. They’re real present, and it just feels comfortable real quickly. They’re really good at making you feel like you’re a part of the tribe, even though I personally know I’m not a part of the tribe. They do a real good job of making you feel comfortable.
I know that Michael Shannon has a tough job with all the Michael Stipe stuff, so how would you describe him as a performer?
He works really hard at this. He works really hard at everything. He treats it like all of his work, which is just a ton of research, a ton of practicing, a ton of preparation. Some people are like, oh, well he’s an actor. Of course he can front a rock band, and that’s just not true. Some people have that gift, and some do not. Michael is compelling. I’m on stage watching the audience, and they can’t take their eyes off of him, so he’s a natural. I think people probably can tell how much he cares about this music.
As a guitarist, what did you learn about Peter Buck and his playing on this album? Songs like “Underneath the Bunker” and “I Believe,” they have some unusual sounds in comparison to some of the other songs.
I don’t play on “Underneath the Bunker.” I’m playing a shaker. (laughs) I’ve been listening to his music for decades, and this project allows me to really get inside in a way that I never did before. Every time we do one of these tours — this is only the third, it’s not like it’s been going on forever — I learned something from it. He’s a master. He’s such a unique guitar player. And really, I think all of his parts, I see them as songwriting, whether he wrote the song or not, his part is like this completely other melody and contributes to the spirit of the song. It’s so fun getting inside these songs and doing our best to interpret them.
It seems inaccurate to describe this as a cover band so how would you describe it? Is it carrying the torch? Are you filling a void for the people who didn’t get a chance to see R.E.M.?
It’s six people who love this music, it’s that simple. I don’t know, I read so many different interpretations of what a tribute band is. I thought a tribute band was a band that dressed up like and played the same instruments as the band. And a cover band was just you’re not dressed up and you’re not doing the moves and you’re not doing the outfits. But then somebody else defined a cover band as a band that plays cover songs from different bands, and a tribute band is a band that plays cover songs from one band. The definition is kind of lost on me so I don’t define it because we don’t have to.
You were in Pittsburgh in October for a house show. What are those solo shows like?
I do living room shows. I have a great living room show host in Pittsburgh. Those shows are great for an artist like me. If I went to a Pittsburgh club and sold like 40 tickets, they’d probably hand me a check at the end of the night for $50 because they have to pay the door person, they have to pay the sound person. They have all kinds of expenses and overhead. But if I do a living room show and sold 40 tickets I get all that money, and it’s more intimate and it’s early. It’s at 8 o’clock instead of a club might put me on at like 11 p.m. or something. People can bring their own drinks, so they’re not paying $10 or $15 for a drink. I love those tours. They’re not private; they’re public but you don’t get the address until you buy a ticket and that just protects the privacy of the host.
