R.E.M. were “not creatively out of gas” when they split.

The ‘Man on the Moon’ rockers’ bass player, Mike Mills, says their acrimonious split in September has seen them finish “on a creative high” and he is glad he will remain friends with ex-bandmates Michael Stipe and Peter Buck.

He told The Daily Beast: “It seems amicable because it is. We are not creatively out of gas. We are not pissed off at each other. There are no issues. The whole point of it is we’re walking away on a creative high and on our own terms.”

The band decided to quits after fifteenth album ‘Collapse Into Now’, and singer Michael Stipe has told how liberating he has found it not to be in a band, and ruled out a solo career.

He told Rolling Stone magazine: “Who says I have to be a songwriter? I’m in a place right now where I don’t know what the future holds for me It’s unfathomable to me right now. What would it sound like? Watered-down R.E.M?”

Michael is now working on a new documentary film about internet celebrity and is also working as a sculpture artist.