IT'S 11.30 on a Friday night, and most people are out drinking in bars or tucked up in bed. Not me. I'm at home waiting excitedly for a phone call from REM guitarist Peter Buck.

Several cups of coffee later, the phone rings. "Good morning Pat. Peter is ready to speak with you now."

At the end of a crackling line from Los Angeles is a musician from one of the most successful and influential bands of all time.

Emerging from the ashes of the late '70s punk scene, REM formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980.

However, it took a decade for the band to break through and find mainstream success.

By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience mainstream success, REM were viewed as pioneers of the genre and had a strong influence on bands like Nirvana.

The band released their two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic For The People (1992), which veered from the established sound with a string of hit singles like Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People and Everybody Hurts.

With original band members Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and formerly Bill Berry, REM have sold millions of records worldwide over the past three decades - although Peter Buck is also well known in this country for being cleared of assault charges and drunkenness in a so-called air rage incident on a trans-Atlantic British Airways flight in 2001.

Thankfully, the man on the phone tonight is in high spirits, so to speak, as he talks about how the band has recently rediscovered parts of its considerable back catalogue.

"We all sat down together and made a list of a whole bunch of stuff from the early days that we hadn't played in a long time.

"It was all just to see where we came from, and it was pretty inspiring to play those songs," he buzzes.

His obvious passion is reflected in the tempo and energy of REM's current album, Accelerate.

It's their 14th record and reached number one in both the UK and America earlier this year as the music press hailed a long overdue return to form.

"The process had gotten long-winded, so we returned to that place before our lives got messed up," says Peter.

With the creative spark reignited, REM play a sell-out show at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, on Wednesday, August 27, as part of a four-date UK stadium summer tour.

The band are not simply relying on their impressive back catalogue to wow fans.

"The set list is at about 90 songs at the moment. Some are from the early days that we never play and others are brand-new," says Peter.

As well as relishing the chance to play fresh material on the road, I get the sense REM have lost none of their passion for highlighting social and political issues.

"It'll be good to be playing live outdoors - we're counting on global warming to keep the weather warm for us," quips Peter.

So what of the songwriting that continues to produce so much worldwide acclaim and success?

The guitarist concedes that each member of REM is given an equal vote in the writing process, although Michael Stipe works as the band's chief lyricist.

"We try to get Michael excited and that's what happened on the last album - by working separately and then coming together as a whole."

Peter has a well-documented penchant for British music, and I ask if his musical relationship with Stipe is anything like that between The Smiths' Morrissey and Johnny Marr.

I had no way of knowing how opportune my curiosity would be at that very moment.

"I'm meeting Johnny Marr in a month, I'll ask him then actually, I'm looking at him right now, I'll find out for you," says Peter.

After a brief commotion as the phone is passed over, I get my answer in Marr's distinctive Mancunian accent: "Hello. Yes, it's very much like working with Morrissey."

It emerges that Johnny's band, Modest Mouse, is opening for REM on the American leg of the tour, which explains the welcome appearance of another rock legend in the interview now is that a coincidence, or what?