Here's just some of the much longer article/interview with Tommy...
Here Comes a Regular
Tommy StinsonJanuary 30, 2012
While playing on a freelance session, Stinson heard that Axl Rose was in need of a new bassist for Guns N? Roses. He tried out, got the gig, and for the last 14 years has toured and recorded as a member of one of the planet?s most famous rock bands. His tenure with GNR has included work on the act?s legendarily trouble-plagued sixth studio album, Chinese Democracy (Geffen Records), which took a torturous 17 years to release. Many have put the disc?s trying saga down to Rose?s reputation as an erratic band leader, but Stinson insists it?s not the cause. ?Everybody loves to hang shit on Axl, but he?s a really serious, perfectionist-type guy,? Stinson says. ?What happened was, we were led to believe [label head and producer] Jimmy Iovine was going to be more involved with the album, but he lost interest. So Geffen brought in [Queen/Cars producer] Roy Thomas Baker, who just had us re-record all the songs three or four times, which mostly didn?t work and ended up costing $10 million. In the end, the [band] ended up producing it ourselves.? The album went on to sell over one million copies after finally appearing in 2008, and the group continues to tour in its support. Since 2005
Stinson has also performed with his old Minneapolis scene mates in Soul Asylum, stepping in for fallen bassist Karl Mueller. The remaining Replacements reunited briefly in 2006 to record two new songs for a best-of album.
Stinson and his wife, Emily Roberts, moved to Hudson last year with their four-year-old daughter. ?Emily has relatives in the area, and we just fell for the town when we came up to visit,? says Stinson, who also has a 22-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. ?So we found a place we liked and saved up for it.
Everyone?s been really friendly here, and we?ve met a lot of cool people. It?s definitely more my style than some white-bread suburb.? The musician recently released One Man Mutiny (2011, Done to Death Records), his second solo album after 2004?s Village Gorilla Head (Sanctuary Records). Divided between storming, Stonesy rockers (?It?s a Drag,? ?Meant to Be?) and longing ballads (?Come to Hide,? the title track), One Man Mutiny was produced by Phillip Broussard, Jr. (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer) and features Guns N? Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed and guitarist Richard Fortus, as well as Emily on vocals and her uncle, Chip Roberts, on guitar. The singer has plans to promote the record via solo appearances at the South by Southwest and North by Northeast conventions, and to perform as part of an upcoming Timkatec benefit concert.
?I?m very happy. I?m in the best spot in life I?ve ever been,? Stinson says. ?I?m really busy, but I?m not a rich guy. I still don?t have what anyone would call a ?real? job. I?m still lookin? for one of those. [Laughs.]?
Not too hard, though.
?Nope.?
One Man Mutiny is out now on Done to Death Records. Tommystinson.com; Timkatec.org.
http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2012/2/Music/Here-Comes-a-Regular?page=1
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