OFFICIAL REPLACEMENTS / TOMMY STINSON Thread

[Chris Axl]

And Fortus says he doesn't want to tour this summer....

Please don't post bullshit.

[CheapJon]

And Fortus says he doesn't want to tour this summer....

Please don't post bullshit.

Big Pat - Will you be doing any touring this summer? If so,with who?

Richard Fortus - I don't really want to tour right now. I'm going to be doing some shows with the Furs and possibly some more shows with X Japan and also with a Danish band called the Storm. I played on their record and they are good friends. Other than that, i'd much rather be at home playing on different records and composing film/ads and video game scores, as well as writing with different artists.

however this thread is about tommy and the replacements not fortus plans for the summer.. and btw long time no see chris

[GypsySoul]

[GypsySoul]

[GypsySoul]

[Chuzeville]

http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/36087

Speculation fodder.

[Smoking Guns]

Well, we know Stinson's plans..... I hope to catch this show too!

[FunkyMonkey]

The Billboard Q&A: The Replacements' Tommy Stinson

April 22, 2008, 11:30 AM EST
Wes Orshoski

Paul noted that you and Chris Mars probably got a lot more emotional than he did while listening to these reissues, and going over potential bonus tracks. His point being that he never really left it behind, whereas you guys moved on to new bands and careers. I wonder, do find yourself going through something of a Replacements renaissance at the moment?

I guess to a degree. And, boy, he hit it on the head. He's been playing all that stuff live since we broke up. I haven't played any of it since then. I mean, I played a couple of songs with Paul when we got together once about two years ago, and played a couple songs together when he was doing that "Open Season" soundtrack. I haven't listened to it, thought about it or played it since we broke up, whereas he was playing those songs during that whole period. It makes perfect sense, but, no, I'm not really going through a renaissance [laughs]. That's a bit heavy handed. But, I have to say, it was really great to listen to that stuff, hearing my brother and I laughing in the background. That stuff, particularly, was kind of emotional to listen to.

Of the bonus tracks on the new CDs, are there any that you're particularly happy to see being unearthed?

You know, a lot of those outtakes that are on the first four [reissues] are things that I haven't heard in forever, and a lot of it was a lot of fun to go through. Peter [Jesperson, former manager, producer of the original four albums and the new reissues] had the arduous task of whittling it down and figuring out what was worth listening to and checking out. Because once we got all the scraps together, and once we got it all up, there was a lot of unlistenable stuff. But a lot of it was stuff that was really fun to listen to and go back to.

Any one track stand out?

Geez, probably more than one. "You're Getting Married," some of the rockabilly stuff. I had forgotten about "Oh Baby." It sort of shows that weird contrast that we sort of grew into, as things went on. There's some where Paul is wanting to be solo guy [laughs], to the rockabilly underpinnings of a lot of that stuff.

What does the Replacements -- that name -- mean to you? It is sort of a loaded thing for you?

No, not really, not at all. I'm proud of what we did, I respect what we did. It's kind of weird to think that it's gonna be 20 years since we broke up. It's so far back in the recesses of my mind -- except for this year, because we're going through all those outtakes and stuff -- that it kind of makes you go, "Oh, that's right. I was in that band." It makes you pause and go, "Oh, yeah, we did something back then." But I don't sit down and ponder it and I certainly don't get all giggly about it.

It seems like the myth of the Replacements has eclipsed the band itself. Do you sometimes get lost in that myth?

Certainly. Here's my whole problem with the whole mythology of it all -- when I get people coming up to me saying, "I saw this show back when, and you guys were so f*cked up. You didn't even play any of your songs. It was the greatest show I ever saw" [laughs]. It's like, "Well, dude, that just sounds bleak. How could that possibly have been the greatest show you ever saw? You must be really living a small life." Seeing that, thinking that was the greatest thing ever, as opposed to somebody coming up and saying they liked a certain record or song -- that they mean something to them. To me, that's the mythology that we actually lived up to. I think we actually were a really good band at times. I think the songwriting speaks for itself. I think that side would be accurate. I think people have built up the other side to be something way more than it was.

You were so young when you were in the band. Give me an example of a moment when you found yourself as an underage kid in a situation that you probably shouldn't have been in for a kid your age.

Sittin' on the trailer hitch of our van, as we pulled up to CBGBs, smoking a joint with some fuckin homeless guy named Cleveland. For all intents and purposes, I shouldn't have been talking to him -- because I didn't know him -- and, secondly, I probably shouldn't have been smoking anything with him either. It was kind of a strange, but awesome situation, because he was a very sweet homeless guy that wasn't like you'd think a homeless guy would be. That was my first real foray into what the streets of New York had to offer and it gave me culture shock at the same time.

When you listen to these reissues as a block, what do they say about you guys as a band, as four young guys?

I think it really shows -- especially those four records, and maybe even the first one more than the other three in the first batch -- where it all came from for us. Some of the stuff that caught me off guard, which I hadn't f*ckin' listened to in for-f*ckin'-ever, was the sort of Stones-y guitar interplay between Bob and Paul. As beat to sh*t as it was, it was a part of it that I never caught. I never really thought about it. But there were subtleties in that. There were subtleties in the sort of rockabilly underpinnings of that stuff that we didn't go into a whole lot, but went into enough, because that was sort of part of the musical background to some degree.

I think it really tells the story of what The Replacements were about. We weren't really afraid to do anything in particular, and that was that was the beauty of it. And I think the outtakes kind of show that. I think the sh*t that's gonna kind of bum Paul out -- having the solo cassette demos officially out there -- I think they really tell a part of the story. It really shows where he comes from, and what he might have been thinking on his own, but was too scared to do, or too scared to do try with the band, because it was just too naked or whatever.

What can people expect on the second batch of reissues?

We're going through it right now. Some of it's already been out there on "All for Nothing, Nothing for All." Some of it's pretty bleak, but we found some good stuff. And hopefully it'll be out sometime in the fall.

A lot of fans bellyache about the latter records, which have a fanbase of their own.

You know, to each his own. Some of the people who like the latter stuff can't even stand the earlier stuff, because it didn't sound very good. That's the beauty of it. That's the beauty of the whole catalog. We kind of grew and changed and for all intents and purposes we were actually able to grow and change and go through all that sh*t without cutting our legs cut off, like happens now. I heard Bono say in an interview that the music industry should take a long, hard look at itself and see what it's done, because if U2 had come out right now, they wouldn't have gotten anywhere. You know, we didn't get very far, but we did our thing. However much we left on the plate or left people to go through years later remains to be seen, but I think we had a good little run.

Is there a sense that you left things a little unfinished?

Nah. I think we left it before it left us, and I think that was the way to do it.

Between "Open Season" the two new tracks on "Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?," you and Paul have reunited twice in the studio in recent years. And I'm guessing that you've surely received a sizeable offer or two from the producers of Coachella, so...

Yeah. We actually talked about it again this year, and I think there was a consensus that, you know, maybe it wasn't the right time [to reunite], or maybe it is the right time. Paul and I were kind of in cahoots talking to them, talking to [his manager] Darren [Hill], and there were some things thrown out, and there were other festivals that wanted it too if we were gonna do it. At the last minute, it just didn't seem like the right thing to do, so we didn't do it.

According to Paul, there's pretty much zero chance that Chris Mars will be a part of any reunion. There's no chance of convincing him to return to the drum stool?

Nah. I think Chris is perfectly happy being an artist, and I don't think that he really likes playing drums. I think he's done with that, and that's kind of what he said to me when I talked to him about it. Originally, we were just talking about doing some songs together, and going into the studio, and he didn't even want to do that. He didn't even want to come play. He goes, "Look, man, I got my drum set in the basement, and I hate 'em, I don't even like to look at 'em. I haven't played 'em in three years. I've moved on from that." And it's like, "Fair enough." Honestly, for me, Paul and I finished out the thing as the only two guys left of the four, and I don't really think it's that kind of thing where I make a big deal about it if Chris didn't want to play. If we wanted to go and play some shows and call it the Replacements or whatever we choose, then we should do that anyway. And that's kind of what it's about. I don't think it really matters. I think Paul and I have something to offer each other still. I think that's pretty obvious when we get together.

Your brother died in 1995, years after being ejected from the band. For all of those fans who never had the opportunity to see your brother play live, what did they miss out on?

They missed out on the element of craziness that he brought. And he was probably the most musical element of those first four records, aside from the writing. We were a meat-and-potatoes rock band, in terms of our playing. And I think he was really the standout in all that in those early years. He really was an exceptionally good guitar player.

Complete interview here: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003792309

[FunkyMonkey]

And here is some of Paul's interview....

The Billboard Q&A: The Replacements' Paul Westerberg

April 22, 2008, 11:30 AM EST

When you and Tommy had reunited to record a few songs for the "Open Season" soundtrack, Sony Pictures' Leah Vollack was in the studio with you, when she was called on her cell phone. She quickly got rid of the person on the other line by saying, "I'm in the studio with the Replacements," at which point you and Tommy looked at each other somewhat shockingly, sort of unaware of the reality of the situation to fans. The Replacements, or the last version of which, was indeed in the middle of a reunion. That reality scared you?

Yeah, you know, the Replacements scare me. Tommy came over here [to Westerberg's home in Minneapolis] about a month ago, and we sat down and talked, and that was a scary thing, because, you know, so much has happened, and we've grown. Yet, it was the same goddamn conversation we had before we hired [final drummer] Steve Foley in the bar. So things change, and yet he was pitching me, like, "We should play and do all this," and I'd respond by saying, "Who's gonna play the f*ckin' guitar?" It's been the question from day one, since Bob left the band.

So we left it like that, sort of hanging there, sort of, like, "Well, we'll find that guitar player somewhere." But it's like, "No we won't." He's dead. And the drummer doesn't want to play. To me, if we've ever gonna do this thing, he should come and play drums. But he doesn't want to play drums anymore than a guy wants to get on a scooter or a skateboard after he reaches a certain age, and I can dig that. But my bit was a little bit more. And he said, "You have my blessing to go play," but, for me, without him playing the drums, it wouldn't be close. Me and Tommy, yeah, we're the frontmen in the end, and we had Steve and [latter era guitarist] Slim [Dunlap], who were just sort of hired hands. But Chris was a big part of the whole thing, especially in the beginning of the humor and the push-the-envelope chaos. He was very much one of us.

Paul, it really sounds like you want a Replacements reunion to happen.

Not as bad as Tommy [laughs]. When it came down to just me and Tommy [being interested in a reunion], my first thought was, like, "Okay, we're the Replacements, we'll do me and you, and we'll put the name on the ticket, and [then] we'll audition a bass player and a drummer for every single song, so it will be Tommy and Paul, and a cast of thousands. Ya know, THE REPLACEMENTS." We laughed about the idea, and thought about the reality of it, and it's like, "Is that gonna work? Nah."

To me, it has to be something like that, or some long lost soul that we haven't thought of yet to come in and man the helm. You know, they're going to release [the final four Replacements albums], too. And so if I was ever going to play, I'd like to play once the whole shooting match is out, because I don't think I could physically get up there and bellow these 18 songs [from] that first record. That was enough. That's just sheer youth there. I can't find that in a bottle or a pill. I'm just too creaky for that.

You don't think there's any chance you and Tommy could convince Chris to play one last tour?

I don't think so. If we did it, I'd probably have to play drums, and Chris would have to play guitar, something as absurd as that. He'd probably be up for that. But, you know, I don't want to put the pressure on him, and make it sound like, "I'm ready to go, as soon as Chris is." I'm very hesitant about dragging the name out there, and what damage we could do to the legend. Whenever we did, someone would want something else. If I went up there straight, they'd want us wasted. If we were f*cked up, they'd want us to be this or that. I don't know. The records hold the key to the whole thing. I wish they would have come up with some better pictures [in the packaging for the first four reissues]. I was disappointed that I had seen every one of the photographs before. I wish they had some new pictures. This was of course well before cell cameras and everything. That was the thing that built the band -- the legend -- that people would say, "Oh, god, you missed it?!" The photographs and the bootleg tapes. There's got to be tons of great pictures out there and stuff that maybe they'll try to hunt down for something else.

A few years ago, Restless Records reissued these four Twin/Tone albums, yet they did so without adding a single bonus track or extra liner notes, nothing. What was the point?

I don't even know if I was even aware of 'em. I was working on my own thing at the time. There's always been people working away at the little Replacements world, and I sort of stepped away from it for a long time and this is as close as I've come to stepping back to it. Restless and all that crap, it's just someone else putting out the same junk. Like, EMI will put out a Beatles record this Christmas -- you can bet on it. They're going to be pumping this crap out long after we're dead. But, no, it's great [laughs]. You said "bonus track." I stipulated in one interview that I was gonna put a disclaimer on the record, but I just sort of copped out and said, "F*ck it." See, they used to call 'em "outtakes," you know, "not suitable for airplay" or "not suitable for the 'buying' dollar,'" and I wanted people to know that everything that's called a "bonus" isn't necessarily for the better. I think, "Sorry Ma" was perfect at 18 songs, and to add 10 more to it, is, well, enticing to go and re-buy it, but I don't know that every one of those songs add to the record at all.

A couple years ago, Peter Jesperson, who produced these four reissues as well as their original counterparts, said in an interview that he had enough Replacements leftovers to compile a Replacements box. After the next wave of reissues, how much will be left?

I dunno. I got an armful and I threw 'em in the river, so that sh*t is not going to be around [Westerberg is referring to a famous story of the band stealing their masters from the Twin/Tone office and throwing them in the Mississippi River. They did indeed steal tapes and toss them in the river, but what was lost were several backup reels, and not much else of consequence]. I don't know what tapes exist where and when these songs came up, like these home demos that I supposedly gave to Peter. I don't remember doing that, but I remember sitting with my little boom box ... I have some stuff that I'm sitting on, which is a little later on in the band's career than the raw, cassette stuff. But, I don't know that it there needs to be a whole lot more out there.

Is there anything that you can't play anymore? Any songs that you can't do anymore?

Physically?

Yeah.

No. I have to warm it up a little bit, and I can always re-chord a song, or play a different chord that was on the record. I mean half the time, I don't remember what I played anyway. I can't play as fluidly, but that was never part of the act, I guess. That was something that was a little more important on record, but soloing or something like that is a little tough with the ring finger that's sort of dead. I was secretly hoping that it would end my guitar-playing life, so I would then be forced to do something else, music-wise -- you know, force myself to read music so that I could compose in that matter. But, alas, my finger came back good enough to play rock'n'roll, so it let me down, on one hand.

You don't have a label deal at the moment?

I do if I want one. I got a call from Vagrant the other day and they're ready any time I'm ready. And I've been asked to start my own label by Sony and others, like a production deal, where I would produce an artist, and release my own records as well. [Current manager] Darren [Hill] and I are kicking around the idea of selling the songs online, having like a song of the month club. That might be the best way.

Starting your own label seems like the last thing Paul Westerberg would want to do.

Yeah, well, it is, kind of. On one hand, it would be something that Darren and I could do together. I would be Jerry Wexler, and he would be Ahmet [Ertegun]. If there was the right band, I would like to go in one day and really mold a young group and help them, but I don't go out and check out things, and whenever I get sent a CD by a band, I listen for about 10 seconds, and if I don't hear it in the singer's voice, then I'm not interested. It has to come from the singer's voice. If it has the right quality, that's what gets me. So, one of these days...

It seems like there are a lot of fans of your music who have finally gotten into positions of power in the music business and they want desperately to work with you.

God bless 'em.

Complete interview here: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003792311

[FunkyMonkey]

A guide to the extras on the Replacements' new reissues by the guy who compiled them.

By CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune

Last update: April 25, 2008 - 12:01 PM
 
Corporate consolidation in the record industry has adversely affected many a band, but it actually benefited the Replacements. Yeah, of all the bands.

Minneapolis' famously almost-famous rock legends are being celebrated once again with last week's reissue on Rhino Records of their first four albums.

"It sort of all fell together and everybody got on board around the same time," explained Peter Jesperson, the former Replacements manager who compiled the reissues. "It was surprisingly easy in the end."

For diehard fans, the true value of these first four reissues is found in the 30 bonus tracks, including B-sides, outtakes, covers and demos. Jesperson started seriously wading through their old unearthed tapes way back in 1997 with Twin Cities producer Tom Herbers. He made a big push over the past year, coming up with an initial list of tracks and then getting final approval from the three surviving band members. Bassist Tommy Stinson voted against two tracks, singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg nixed another but drummer Chris Mars liked them all, Jesperson said.

There was one thing they all agreed on.

"Everyone had this unanimous reaction: 'Doesn't Bob sound great on these tracks?'" Jesperson recalled, referring to guitarist Bob Stinson, who died in 1995.

Here are the highlights among the 30 extra recordings, album by album:

"Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash" (1981)

"Raised in the City," "Shutup," "Don't Turn Me Down," "Shape Up" (demos) -- All four tracks were featured on the first cassette that Westerberg handed to Jesperson in May 1980. "If ever there was a magic moment in my life, it was hearing that cassette," the manager said. "The performance has an urgency to it, but there's also that great sense of fun. And Paul's phrasing and timing is on there, [proving] he was more or less born with that talent."

"If Only You Were Lonely" (Westerberg-only acoustic track, B-side to the first 45-rpm single) -- Jesperson recalled hearing Westerberg play this long-lost country-ish drinking ballad on a solo tour in the mid-'90s: "Half the audience was singing along to it, so obviously it lived on. You have to remember, in those days singles were still big deals. I think we sold more of the 45s than we did of the album."
"Stink" (1982 )

"Staples in Her Stomach" (outtake) -- A wry rocker about a centerfold from the same sessions as the original eight tracks on the EP. Said Jesperson: "We just didn't think it was quite as good as the rest, but it helps round it out here."

"Hey, Good Lookin'" and "Rock Around the Clock" (covers) -- These hits by Hank Williams and Bill Haley were staples in the band's live shows at the time. "People would get outright pissed when they'd play those songs," Jesperson recalled. "Punk-rock bands didn't do those sorts of songs back then. That was our parents' music. But part of [the band's] brilliance was they didn't care about any of that."

"You're Getting Married" (acoustic demo) -- Another solo track by Westerberg never issued. In the liner notes, Jesperson calls this one the Holy Grail for 'Mats collectors. "Paul was shy about showing these songs to the band, especially to Bob," he said. "We tried to record this one later for 'Hootenanny,' but I can still picture Bob playing it with his back to the band and obviously objecting to it. I felt privileged to have heard it, though. This is where I got scared of Paul's talent."
"Hootenanny" (1983)

"Treatment Bound" (alternate version) -- The rare case where the alternate is actually more polished-sounding than the one picked for on the record. "This is when we tried multi-tracking it in the studio, and it just didn't have the same feeling as the rougher version. Paul's original concept was to have me record him singing the song to the rest of the band for the first time, and capturing their reaction, but that didn't really work either."

"Lovelines" (alternate version) -- Famously lifted from the City Pages classifieds, this is the third of four freewheeling tries, featuring a few different, um, lyrics. "The first two takes really aren't very good," Jesperson said. "The fourth is what's on the record. This one isn't quite all there, but you can hear them starting to catch the wave."
"Let It Be" (1984)

"Perfectly Lethal" (outtake) -- "For whatever reason, the lyrics were never really finished. But there are like six or seven different takes of that song, so they tried. Tommy spent a lot of time going through them to find the most presentable one [for the reissue], and then we mixed it at Tommy's house. It's a good song, but I'm not sure if it would've fit the album."

"Temptation Eyes" and "Heartbeat -- It's a Lovebeat" (covers) -- These sugary pop songs by the Grassroots and DeFranco Family, respectively, offer more proof of the band's unpretentious musical alchemy. "There was nothing tongue-in-cheek when they did these songs," Jesperson said. "The only time they were tongue-in-cheek would be when they did a Jackson 5 cover, and that was only because they didn't have the finesse for that kind of R&B. Otherwise, they played 'em straight, which I think you can tell here."

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/18174294.html?page=2&c=y

[crazycheryl]

I've got pretty much all Replacements CD's. I really don't have the money to go out an buy all the reissues. If someone has purchased and listened to any of these, can they tell me if the extra tracks or quality is better than original? Don't mean to be rude about it but I already have a lot of stuff from them. I wish so badly they would form a reunion!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tommy can go back to Guns anytime I'm sure. Or just have them open for the next Guns tour and Tommy plays in both bands. That would be my dream come true.

[AdZ]

It's definitely worth it, they sound a lot better and the extra tracks are pretty good mostly.

[FunkyMonkey]

5.4.2008

10 Quotes from SPIN?s Story on the Replacements

On the band?s origins: ?That was the thing about the Replacements: We were all nowhere ? we came from nowhere, we were going nowhere. And the band gave us something.? -Tommy Stinson

On the band?s first gig: ?All I know is that Bob and I were in the basement doing blow, and by the time we came upstairs, Chris [Mars, the band?s drummer] had already been ejected from the premises.? - Paul Westerberg

On the band?s notorious live shows: ?I figured out that danger was what people sought. And there was a certain danger that we were capable of that wasn?t your usual thing about destruction, or ?We?re going to hurt you.? It was: What if we get up there and played a song by Hank fuckin? Williams.? - Westerberg

On the death of original guitarist Bob Stinson: ?I think of him every single day. Mainly ?cause I got a ringing in my left ear from having him blasting away next to me all those years.? - Westerberg

On their shot at major success: ?When it came our turn, we visited the record distributors and met with the radio programmers and did all of that stuff. But, in the end, we just felt like we had to piss on the guy?s shoe. Look, we got to the party. But instead of embracing it, we huddled together in the corner and said, ?Fuck it ? let?s get out of here.?? - Westerberg

On the commercial aspects of the band?s last few albums: ?The goal became simplistic and unrealistic, which was to have a hit. And that?s where we died. We weren?t made of the stuff that makes popular music. The fact that we came up short is the thing that?s kept us interesting. We?ve retained the mystique. And I don?t know how, ?cause goddamn it, we tried. We tried to have hit records there at the end. And someone was looking for us that we didn?t.? - Westerberg

On the state of his relationship to Tommy Stinson: ?The answer to the million dollar question is yes, when Bob died, something died in me and Tommy, and we?ve never been the same since. And it?s always been awkward, and it?s always been unsaid and unsayable and strange and weird between us.? - Westerberg

On aging: ?When I listen to those first few records, I hear myself, and that guy is closer to being born than I am to his age right now. And I think, ?Could I go out and do that again??? - Westerberg

On a possible reunion: ?I told Tommy, ?Let?s have auditions. Let?s you and me go onstage and play 25 songs, and we?ll have a different guitarist and drummer come up for each song, and that?ll be the show.? That would be the only thing the Replacements could do to keep up the honor of the name, rather go and just cash it in.? - Westerberg

On the future of the ?Mats: ?If Tommy pulled up in my driveway in a flatbed truck with instruments and a band and the songs ready, on the right day, I might hop on and go. If it was this afternoon, I wouldn?t. I?ve gone each and every way with it, and I really don?t know anymore.? - Westerberg

http://www.yuppiepunk.org/2008/05/10-quotes-from-spins-story-on-the-replacements.html

[FunkyMonkey]

Here is some of the interview...

Mon: 05-19-08

Interview: Paul Westerberg

Pitchfork: Talking to Tommy a couple of years ago, I got the impression that after all that hard work, after all those miles on the road, that what he's doing right now [as a member of Guns n' Roses] is in some ways his reward. Finally play arenas, get kept on a retainer...

PW: If you talked to him more recently you might get a different vibe. But you know, that's fairly true. It was a couple of years ago that he probably felt that. But now he's thinking more artistically. I heard a batch of his songs he sent me. I added a few things and sent it back. He wants to be more of an artist now. That's just the way it goes. You're a performer for ten years straight, then you want to go home and actually write a tune or whatever. But he more than any of us is sort of built for the stage. If he goes without performing for a long time then he can't stay still.

Pitchfork: He's a little younger.

PW: But when I was his age, 40 or 41...I was ready to hang it up at about 35. And I did. But I came back five or so years later. I needed six years off from facing an audience. I remember one show specifically, some college, and the applause stopped before I could even make it to the wings. I told myself, I've got to get the hell out of here. Nobody can miss you unless you go away. That's how it starts when you're a little baby band - you have no real applause. You get past the boos and jeers and bottles, then get to the point where the applause was so thunderous...it'd get to the point where we had given two encores and were in the dressing room, with Chris putting his hands over his ears, shouting, "tell the fuckers to go away!" Sure enough, they did.

Pitchfork: Famously, the last show the Replacements ever played, here in Chicago, was marked by this real sense of deflation. Like a balloon losing its air.

PW: We had to do that show, too. That was a make-up for what I did on radio. I thought I was on some college station, and of course I was on [Chicago radio mainstay] XRT. I played "Little Village" by Sonny Boy Williamson, with all the "motherfuckers" in it and everything, and we got in so much shit for that that we had to come back and play the Milwaukee Fest, too! [laughs] Not all bands know it when it's happening, but that last tour was our traveling farewell. It was not very fun, and by the end we knew it. By then, it was Steve [Foley] on drums and Slim [Dunlap], who apparently cared less about the band than he pretended to back then. He and I were already going our own ways. Tommy wanted to go solo. Everyone thinks it was me, but that's not true, really. That's essentially how the band sort of broke up. There was nothing I wanted to do other than what I was doing. It's not like my first solo record didn't sound "Replacements"-y. The shock was that Chris' and Tommy's records didn't sound more different from the Replacements.

Pitchfork: It's out of your control, but people always look to the singer as the leader of the band.

PW: It was that one fucking poster in Europe...if they ever make a movie about us, that was "the moment." The German promoter comes in and shows us the poster with me, "Paul Westerberg and the Replacements." In German or whatever. Tommy ripped it in half and said "that's fucking it" and stormed out. I thought, there it is, we're done.

Pitchfork: The reunion rumors have been pretty strong as of late. A couple of years ago you were supposedly approached to play Coachella...

PW: I guess so. I mean, we've been offered...Chris, he doesn't want to play. He's moved on with his life to the point where he won't move back and do this. So that leaves essentially Tommy and I. I don't think we would go back and use any of the other Replacements guys. We'd probably find someone else. That's what's kept us wondering, the magic question: who's going to come and play the lead guitar? We could dismiss it, like we did on Pleased to Meet Me. That was our fucking Let It Bleed, where I played all the guitar. But I don't know.

Pitchfork: People hear the records, and they hear 1981, or 1985, or 1989, but here we are in 2008 and it doesn't seem all that long ago.

PW: It's true. I've listened to all the stuff, and I'm constantly recording and playing down in the basement, and my voice is starting to sound really good lately. There's cracks and scratches in my voice that have been there since I was 19. It hasn't changed that much. It hasn't changed like Robert Plant, having that voice and now singing an octave and a half lower. Mine's a little different, but that screaming voice is still there. It's just a little embarrassing to put on for 40 minutes straight.

Pitchfork: Do the Replacements make you any money?

PW: A little bit. They asked me if they could use "Can't Hardly Wait" for a Toyota commercial. I sort of hemmed and hawed, because basically they don't have to ask my permission. They own the mechanicals, and they own half of the publishing, so if I say no they can do it anyway. That kind of stuff will generate a little income for me, the writer. The records have actually picked up in the last ten years, as far as sales go, so for as much as we put into them we're certainly getting it back. We never made any money on tour. None of us came out of the school of economics. We took it for granted that a rock and roll band gets ripped off. We've tried to shake that tree a couple of times, but what can we do? We never signed a contract with Twin/Tone. That haunts us this day. We were 19, 20-- Bob and I, the oldest and the smartest, we didn't know anything about contracts and shit like that. You look back, when you're sort of idle in your middle years, and think, we should have made some money.

Pitchfork: Is what your music has meant to so many any consolation for missed opportunities?

PW: Oh, yeah. I listen back, and I hear what's there, and I know in my heart, in my gut, that we were the real deal. No one can take that away. You can call us buffoons, or clowns or whatever. But when we wanted to, we were as good as anybody.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/50618-interview-paul-westerberg

[GypsySoul]

Blender >> JUNE 2008

[jarmo]

Rhino Reissues, Expands Replacements' Sire Albums



/jarmo

[bazgnr]

New Paul Westerberg album w/ 49 minutes of music, on sale at Amazon.com for 49 cents.  That's right, 49 cents.

http://www.prefixmag.com/news/new-paul-westerberg-features-49-minutes-of-music-f/20075/

[jarmo]

Replacements drummer Steve Foley dies
Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:41pm EDT

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Steve Foley, who played drums with the Replacements at the tail end of the alternative rock band's career, died during the weekend of August 23 in Minneapolis. He was 49. According to local media reports, Foley died after accidentally overdosing on prescription medication.

The 1990 selection of Foley, who played in such Minneapolis bands as Curtiss A, Wheelo and Snaps, as the substitute for original Replacements drummer Chris Mars has become the stuff of legend.

According to Jim Walsh's oral history "All Over But the Shouting," frontman Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson bumped into Foley at a local bar and procured a ride from him to an audition. In the car was a copy of the brand new Replacements album "All Shook Down," prompting Westerberg and Stinson to look at each other and then exclaim to Foley, "You're already in."

Foley toured with the band until its final show on July 4, 1991, in Chicago's Grant Park. Afterward, he and his brother Kevin joined Stinson's band Bash & Pop. Of late, he was working as a car salesman in Minneapolis.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, visitation will be held 11 a.m. Friday (August 29) at Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapel in Edina, Minnesota, with burial to follow at Lakewood Cemetery.

Reuters/Billboard


 

R.I.P.




/jarmo

[GypsySoul]

Replacements drummer Steve Foley dies
Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:41pm EDT

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Steve Foley, who played drums with the Replacements at the tail end of the alternative rock band's career, died during the weekend of August 23 in Minneapolis. He was 49. According to local media reports, Foley died after accidentally overdosing on prescription medication.

How very sad. 

God bless his soul.

R.I.P.

[FunkyMonkey]

Paul Westerberg posts two more tracks

By Eric R. Danton on August 29, 2008 11:58 AM

The former Replacements leader has been busy lately. In July (or, in his parlance, an extra-long June), Westerberg made available 49 minutes of new music for 49 cents.

Now he's back with two new mp3s he's made available here. The first, "Finally Here Once," is one compact song. The other, "3oclockreep," is 20 minutes of overlapping fragments, songs and, intriguingly, an outtake with Tom Waits from the sessions that resulted in "Date to Church," available on a Sire sampler released in 1989 and, soon, on a reissue of "Don't Tell a Soul."

The Waits portion features Westerberg, Waits and bassist Tommy Stinson messing around on "If Only You Were Lonely" and Waits singing some of "We Know the Night."

Both mp3s are available for $3.99; separately, the cost is $3 for "3oclockreep" and 99 cents for "Finally Here Once."

So, Paul. How about a tour? 

http://blogs.courant.com/eric_danton_sound_check/2008/08/paul-westerberg-posts-two-more.html