The Tommy Stinson Interviews and Articles thread (If you have one post it here)

[Christos AG]

This is the thread for all Tommy Stinson interviews and articles...

[Layne420]

Where's Tommy?
Updated 00:21 PDT Mon, Sep 06 2004
While Axl Rose puts the final touches to Chinese Democracy (that phase of the production process is scheduled through 2007), Guns N' Roses bass player Tommy Stinson is touring with a backup band, then solo, through October.
 Stinson is probably known to many GN'R fans only as the guy who was standing next to the drum kit during the newest version of the band's few live shows. But to others, Stinson is known as one of Minneapolis's fearsome four, The Replacements, which he formed at the age of 13 with his brother Bob, Chris Mars and Paul Westerberg.
 After that storied, drunken escapade, three of the original members took off to do solo projects, with Bob passing away after years of hard living. Stinson formed Bash & Pop, which was basically his project.
 Last year, he borrowed some mobile equipment from Frank Black (of Pixies fame) and started recording. That led to the solo album Village Gorilla Head, which led to this tour.
 Stinson kicked things off at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill August 28 with his opening act, Alien Crime Syndicate, which also acts as Stinson's backup band. The tour stops include his home city of Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Philly, New York, and Hoboken, N.J., plus dates in England, Scotland and Ireland.
 Stinson tours Europe through October in a solo acoustic show, playing with Jesse Malin.

Funny how they say through 2007?

[Mysteron]

Funny how they say through 2007?

That's sarcasm

[Layne420]

Yeah I figured that after but it could be true

[bad_apples]

now that would be kinky 

[Eeebs]

Well, Tommy will be appearing on a radio station tomorrow afternoon - if anyone in Ontario is interested in checkin' it out, well, it is on 107.1 at about 3 in the afternoon. 

[chineseblues]

Well, Tommy will be appearing on a radio station tomorrow afternoon - if anyone in Ontario is interested in checkin' it out, well, it is on 107.1 at about 3 in the afternoon.?

if anyone can record this, I can host it for people to download.

[Pandora]

Is it www.q107.com ?

If so I'll try to rip the stream.

[west_coast_offense]

http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_09.09.04/music/qa.html


Bassist Tommy Stinson was 14 when his former band, The Replacements, recorded their 1981 slacker-punk classic, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash -- and he was still only 24 when the Mats self-imploded in 1991, after the slacker-MOR classic All Shook Down. Since then, Stinson's fronted the underachieving Bash & Pop, the non-achieving Perfect (whose long-shelved debut, Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe, is out Sept. 14, a mere seven years after it was recorded) and has recently released his first solo album, Village Gorilla Head, an archetypal young-punker-hits-almost-middle-age record. From 1997, he's also played bass for the petrifying behemoth that is Chinese Democracy-era Guns N' Roses. We caught up with Stinson on the tour bus with his backup band, Alien Crime Syndicate, somewhere the hell in America.



This is your first solo tour -- how's life on the road treating you?

I'm totally fucked. We're travelling from Phoenix to Denver, and it's been a straight, 14-hour drive. Every tour there's one of these bad routing things -- you just have to suck up and suck dick. I don't even drive, and the guys up front are fuckin' dying. I just sit at the back and loiter. [The noise of an engine stopping is heard.] I think we hit a dead end.



It's been 11 years since you last released a full-length album (Bash & Pop's Friday Night is Killing Me). What took you?

I couldn't find the right guitar chords. I've been working on demos, but I only thought about putting a record together last March. The lyrics on a couple songs, like "Someday," date back from when I moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago. It just took me a decade to get the chords right.



The lyrics on Village Gorilla Head are pretty downbeat.

They're very reflective of the trials and tribulations of a young postmodern poet. [Laughs uncontrollably for about 20 seconds.] Or maybe just an old man.



The Perfect record is finally coming out, but does Axl Rose plan to release Chinese Democracy in his lifetime?

We don't have a release date right now, but I'm out of the loop. I'll probably hear about it on CNN. That's also where I'll hear about the next tour.



Who's a better boss, Paul Westerberg or Axl Rose?

Axl, definitely. It's more of a collaborative effort with him. Paul would come into the studio and say, "This is the how the song goes, and this is how you play it," end of story. But I actually helped write some stuff on the Guns N' Roses record... or at least it was there last time I listened. 



There's a song on Chinese Democracy called "TWAT."

Actually, it's called "There Was a Time." But we shortened the title to fit on the setlist.

Since the Pixies reunion has been a sell-out success, have there been moves to get The Replacements back together?

I've heard some talk about that, but I hope I squashed the rumours adequately. I don't want to close off the idea, but for the next few years I'm busy doing my own thing. If there's a need to do it, or a want to do it, it might make sense. But certainly not now.

[5thofwhiskey]

The Perfect record is finally coming out, but does Axl Rose plan to release Chinese Democracy in his lifetime?

We don't have a release date right now, but I'm out of the loop. I'll probably hear about it on CNN. That's also where I'll hear about the next tour.


that is the craziest statement i've heard yet. out of the loop. on cnn.

when this album ever pops it will be very interesting.


 . . . . .th

[dave-gnfnr2k]

He is being sarcastic. And the CNN part does not refer to the album it referrs to Democracy in China.
He is just being a wise ass.

[Will]

The CNN part actually refers to the album AND the next tour. Maybe he's just being honest. No one can say for sure. The only sure thing is that no one knows when Chinese Democracy will be released.

[dave-gnfnr2k]

^^ No i dont think it does, i think he was using word play to fuck with the interviewer.

[madagas]

Why does this shock anyone? It is Axl's album and the decision to release the record is solely his and Geffen's. The tracklisting will also be decided by Axl. Tommy has a good idea of what will end up on the record but Axl could change his mind at any moment...or the record label could suggest changes. Not a big deal.

[gnrvrrule]

Sounds pretty honest to me.  He's absolutely right about that too; Axl is running the show.  All of the other band members are off doing their own thing, and it's Axl's call as to when and where they tour and when the album comes out.  He also says that some of the parts he wrote are on the album "or at least it was there last time I listened."  That's not a good sign at all.  Although he did say a few days ago that he had listened to it recently, so who the hell knows what to believe.  The bottom line is that it is extremely hard to be optimistic at this point. 

[Spirit]

There's a song on Chinese Democracy called "TWAT."

Actually, it's called "There Was a Time." But we shortened the title to fit on the setlist.

This is a confirmation of a track that actually will appear on the album, right?

[ppbebe]

And?Which setlist is it? for what?

BTW I didn?t know CNN was the quickest media for music news.

[dave-gnfnr2k]

And?Which setlist is it? for what?

BTW I didn?t know CNN was the quickest media for music news.

Set list for the live shows. Most times they abbrievate the song titles.
Ie like this
Jungle
Easy
nighttrain
scom
Kohd?

etc etc

Even if tommy knew the release date, he cant tell us, so why bother even asking

[coondogg]

You're reading way too much into the CNN comment. You go from that to Democracy in China? Think about how that sounds. 

I think it needs to be taken for what it's worth; Tommy and everyone else has no idea what's going on. This is the Axl show and that just the ways it's going to be.

[Jonx]

Agreed, i think he was just messing with the interviewer about the CNN comment. China is probably gonna become a fully fleged democracy before we get this damn album..... maybe thats what Axl is waiting for!!!!

Can hardly blame Tommy for doing this, he is probably getting tired of having to give the same answer to the 'when is chinese democracy coming out' question.

About the Setlist, that means they may have already rehearsed this or at least written it into a provisional setlist!

Jonx