Up Close with Mike Mills of R.E.M, Inside the Hard Rock Café Franchise, and a Live Performance by Earlimart on Special Edition of maniaTV’s All Access

On this week’s episode of maniaTV’s hit music show, All Access, host Samantha Maloney spends time with R.E.M bassist and backup singer Mike Mills, at the Spotted Pig in New York City. After a brief three-way chat between Mike, Sam and Ken Friedman (the co-owner of the Spotted Pig), Mike and Sam are left alone to chat about the history of R.E.M, what went into creating their newest album, “Accelerate”, and Mike’s personal life outside the band. Mike and Sam also talk details behind the making of R.E.M’s three new music videos, “Living Well is the Best Revenge”, “Supernatural Superserious”, and “Hollow”. The two chatterboxes end the dinner with a first kiss and a promised second date.

Following Sam’s interview with Mike Mills, viewers are treated to a Wrigley Stage 5 live performance of “God Loves You Best”, by the rock group, Earlimart. Earlimart is an independent rock band based out of Los Angeles, California, named after the town of Earlimart, California. Their sound resembles to Elliott Smith, The Pixies, and Sonic Youth.

Sam concludes the show at the famous Hard Rock Café in Hollywood, California, with Romy Melhman, the West Coast Regional Marketing Director for Hard Rock International. The two sit down to talk about Romy’s role working with top artists to benefit various charities, the history of the Hard Rock Cafe, and end the show by taking a guided tour of the rock n’ roll memorabilia that adorn the walls.

The new episode of All Access premieres this week on maniaTV.com. 

About Mike Mills

Michael Edward Mills is the bass player of the band R.E.M. Though known primarily as a bassist, piano player and background singer, his musical repertoire includes many other keyboard, guitar, string, wind and percussion instruments. He also contributes to much of the band's songwriting, and is responsible for the R.E.M.'s songs, "Find the River", "At My Most Beautiful", "Why Not Smile", "Let Me In", "Wendell Gee", "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", "Beat a Drum", "Be Mine" and "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?". In addition to providing backing melodies, he has also sung lead vocals on "Texarkana", "Near Wild Heaven", The Clique cover "Superman" and The Troggs cover, "Love Is All Around".

About R.E.M
Founded in Athens, Georgia in 1980, R.E.M. was one of the most influential rock bands of the '80s and early '90s, credited with helping to bring independent "alternative" bands into the mainstream of pop music. Known for their twang-folk rock and inscrutable lyrics, the band members are vocalist Michael Stipe (b. 4 January 1960), guitarist Peter Buck (b. 6 December 1958), bassist Michael Mills (b. 17 December 1958) and drummer Bill Berry (b. 31 July 1958). Their first LP, Murmur, was hailed by critics as one of the best rock records of 1983 and included the college radio hit "Radio Free Europe," establishing a pattern for their career. Their audience continued to grow, their albums began to produce underground hits and they toured the United States, finally breaking through to mainstream audiences with the albums Life's Rich Pageant (1986) and Document (1987). By the '90s they were mega-stars on radio and MTV, and Stipe especially became a pop celebrity. The band continues to record and perform and rock critics continue to heap praise on their work. Some of their hits include "The One I Love" (1987), "Orange Crush" (1988) and the Grammy-winning "Losing My Religion" (1991).

About Samantha
Samantha Maloney, most widely known as one of the sexiest drummers in Rock, is the host of maniaTV's flagship music show, All Access, a show which takes the viewer deep inside the world of major artists and showcases the best in new music. Samantha, a "Fame" high school alum, has traveled the world drumming for well-known bands such as Hole, Motley Crue, Eagles of Death Metal, and Peaches and has collaborated with artists such as Courtney Love, Pras, Lucy Walsh, Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan. In addition to composing and producing the original score for the award winning documentary Bounce: Behind The Velvet Rope, Samantha has also contributed her musical genius to well-known movie soundtracks, including Ridley Scott's Oscar winning film, Black Hawk Down, Prey For Rock and Roll, and the recently released, Never Back Down. Samantha has also graced the silver screen as an actor in Factory Girl and the 2008 Sundance favorite, Adventures of Power. Samantha resides in Los Angeles, California and is currently producing and songwriting for well known acts in the rock, pop and electronic genres and is in the midst of putting the final touches on her own flagship musical endeavor, The Ingenues.

About maniaTV
The maniaTV Network launched in 2004 as the world's first Internet TV network. The company produces, sells and distributes made for internet programming targeting the 18 to 34 year old audience while delivering innovative branded entertainment opportunities to leading brands and advertisers. With a state-of-the-art production studio in Hollywood, maniaTV produces groundbreaking, award-winning programming for 8+ million viewers each month. maniaTV's programming slate ranges from music and comedy, to drama, video gaming, and action sports. Leading shows include Dave Navarro's Spread Entertainment, Tom Green Live, National Lampoon's Lemmings, Arcade, and All Access. maniaTV delivers unique brand experiences within each show and has served over 50 of Advertising Age's Top 100. Through its visionary market leadership and focus on premium content and distribution partnerships, maniaTV is redefining television for the 21st Century. We like to call it "Television 2.0".

For the latest maniaTV news and updates, go to http://blog.maniatv.com/.

Contact: Jason Damata 917-279-8706 jason(at)fabricmedia.net