Tommy Stinson Talks To MMM About Alex Chilton

March 22nd, 2010

MMM EXCLUSIVE: The Replacements? (and Guns N' Roses) Tommy Stinson Talks To Us About Alex Chilton

As you?ve surely heard by now, the great Alex Chilton of Big Star, the Box Tops, and a long solo career died last Wednesday at his home in New Orleans of a heart attack at age 59. While Chilton?s songs have been stuck in many people?s heads over the past few days, so too has the Replacements? ode to the man, ?Alex Chilton,? which appeared on the band?s classic 1987 album Pleased to Meet Me. For a while in the ?80s, Chilton was an associate of the ?Mats, whose members (especially frontman Paul Westerberg) had cited him as a strong musical influence ? Chilton played guitar on another tune from Pleased To Meet Me, ?Can?t Hardly Wait,? and had also overseen some early sessions for the ?Mats? previous album, 1985?s Tim, though that album was ultimately produced by Ramones drummer Tommy Erdelyi (still, Chilton sang and played on Tim, notably on ?Left of the Dial.?) Chilton and the Replacements also played some shows together here and there.

Over the weekend we caught up over the phone with former Replacements bassist (and for the past year a resident of Philadelphia) Tommy Stinson ? who was in Chile performing with Guns ?n Roses, of which he?s been a member for 12 years now (still weird to think of, we know) ? to talk about Alex Chilton:

Thanks for taking some time to talk, man.

No problem, it?s my pleasure.

Like a lot of people, I?m pretty bummed out about the death of Alex Chilton?

Man, it came as a huge shock to me. I mean, it wasn?t even that long ago that [legendary Memphis producer] Jim Dickinson [who helmed Pleased to Meet Me] passed away, and yeahhh?it?s kinda strange that it happens so quickly.

How did you find out that Alex had died? Did someone call you?

I woke up and both my manager and my girlfriend had e-mailed me right around the same time that he had passed away, and I quick checked it out and sure enough it was true. I had a friend tell me that he was gonna be going down to South By Southwest with Big Star and he was really excited. It?s just?weird.

What was your immediate thought when you heard the news?

Just?fuckin? bummer. How did that happen? And in the context of me traveling, I?m always listening to Big Star, I?ve always got all his shit on my iPod. I was listening to it, and then just to hear he was gone it was sort of a weird out-of-body, like, geez, how is that possible? I was just listening to him. You can?t make sense of it right off the bat.

Obviously you?ve suffered through the deaths of friends of yours, associates of yours, your brother [and original Replacements guitarist] Bob [Stinson]. How have you dealt with that over the years ? the deaths of people you?re close to or worked with and so on?

You know, I think there?s a time in one?s life when death starts to happen more often. I mean, I?m only 43 so I?m not, like, sittin? around pondering being an old man all that often [laughs], but I fear that that day has come where people who were influential or were some part of my life, they start knockin? off. You start thinking about it, and I don?t feel old, really, but it?s like, that day comes and it starts happening more often and I ain?t looking forward to that. And it?s really hard to be fuckin? nine million miles away from family and friends when that shit happens.

You were a pretty young guy when you started making music, so yeah, some of the well-established people you worked with back then ? producers and other musicians and people like that ? they?re probably getting up there in years, I would imagine. And obviously a lot of your musical influences and so on.

Yeah. The hardest one, and the one that made me really freak out, was when Joe Strummer died. That was like a fucking kick in the head. He was 50. You know? When I think in terms of that, Alex was 59 and Joe Strummer was 50. There?s not a great life expectancy for rock and roll to begin with, and I?m sitting here going, well, I?m only 43 but shit, that could be like 69 by regular age. It just puts things into a perspective that?s not real good. Like, I didn?t really sign up for that part of the rock n roll life [laughs].

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http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/music/2010/03/22/mmm-exclusive-the-replacements-and-guns-n-roses-tommy-stinson-talks-to-us-about-alex-chilton/