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Re: Tommy in Bass Player Mag
Great interview. I say this every time someone besides BBF speaks, but they should have been doing this years ago. The saga would have been entirely different if the fan base had got updates with this type of info on a regular basis. All we ever got was bullshit hype and excuses with the occasional joke about doing it for the money from Brain, when they could just as easily been doing these types of interviews all along.
I really like his honesty here. The swipe at Tobias was interesting. Could also be considered a dig at Finck since his resume is almost non existent(well, it was in that time frame).
The more these guys are allowed to talk, it seems to put the wait into a different perspective. Not only did the silence breed contempt, it created scenarios where the fans just put one and one together and assumed the answer was two(bullshit lawsuits by the old band one example), yet didn't realize there were many other examples of red tape stifling the project.
Nothing excuses the wait and even Tommy himself says it was dumb, but you can see how easily it spiraled out of control like a runaway train and there simply wasn't anyone on board the train to hit the brakes.
Most interesting part of this interview is the Geffen/Interscope merger and how Baker was apparently an albatross on the project. Definitely puts that supposed 2000-01 album rejection in a whole new light.
I like how Tommy seems to be evolving as an artist. More interested in achieving specific tones and he says he wasn't really into that aspect early in his career. Even though I'm not a musician, I like to see artists mention what equipment they use. Like how he mentioned the McCartney bass, as thats what Shepard used on several tracks on Down on the Upside.
Cool that he's looking forward to playing Riad. Seems like he considers that his 'baby'.
Since its obvious that Tommy is now willing to talk, I hope he goes even more in depth about the recording of Chinese Democracy.
Re: Tommy in Bass Player Mag
another important note is how he said Axl was left to his own devices by the record company and that although Axl had lots of ideas, he didn't want to be "the producer". But, on the other hand, it is pretty clear that Axl ran off alot of talented production people by taking so long. Tommy must have literally been pulling his hair out.
Re: Tommy in Bass Player Mag
Well, if Baker threw an iron rod into the spokes of the wheel at that point, its a bit more understandable how 2001 turned into 2002, turned into 2003, turned into 2004 etc. with no album ready for release.
In hindsight, it was probably a mistake for Uni to quit funding the project as it just reinforced the status quo at that juncture, and it obviously led to years of literally nothing. We're lucky that the band didn't completely implode in 2004.
Chinese Democracy was unlike any other record I've made- or would ever want to make again
There's the project in a nutshell.
Re: Tommy in Bass Player Mag
Web extra: Tommy Stinson with Guns N' Roses
How did you come to play with Soul Asylum?
We’re all old friends from high school. After [bassist] Karl Mueller passed away in 2005 from throat cancer, his widow Mary Beth asked if I’d fill in for gigs the band booked before he died. When the band went to finish the record they’d started, she asked me to do that, too. Apparently Karl had a list of people he wanted to take his place in the band, and I was on it. I like those guys a lot—fortunately I’ve been available to do shows with them the past couple years.
You just got back from playing a Soul Asylum gig in Lima, Peru. What was that like?
There’s a lot of turmoil in the government. Around town, you can feel something’s not quite right. It’s chaotic and sketchy, but we met a lot of neat people. They don’t get to see a whole lot of live music. Soul Asylum did a big press conference—it was like the Beatles had come. [Laughs.]
Aside from Guns and Soul Asylum, what else are you up to?
I have my own studio where I do my own music. I couple years ago I scored a movie for Sony Pictures called Catch and Release. That was really fun, and I’m trying to get more into that.
How did you get that gig?
I played on a track of Paul Westerberg for Open Season. The woman who hired him asked to hear some of my music, and they loved it. They couldn’t just give me the contract, since I was a new composer—it was a $40 million movie—so they had to pair me up with someone. I teamed up with BT [film composer Brian Transeau] because he’s a friend of mine, and we’ve worked together before. It was a good fit. The producers gave us ideas like, “We want something that sounds like Los Lobos.” I love Los Lobos, but I would never try to cop them—they are so good! So we’d come up with our own thing. It was a blast, writing things unlike anything I’d done before.
How does film scoring work?
Before filming starts, you sit down and draw up blueprints of where there are going to be musical moments. Then they film it, often with some sort of temporary music in place to help the producers visualize the finished product. It was a great experience … and it paid me a lot of money, which was great, too!
Do you have plans to do more of that?
I do, but it’s a hard racket to get into. And right now is a really hard time for movies. A great way to get back into it is to hit the independent film circuit, but since so many hedge funds have gone bankrupt, there aren’t many indy movies going into production right now. I’ve had to put it on the back burner, but my studio is up and ready for when I do get the call.
I like the idea of having my own studio to score movies, but I can’t really count on those jobs coming in. And I’m going to be pretty busy with Guns for the next year and a half, so I might rent it out or put it in storage. I’d like to say that I’d use it to produce bands, but there’s hardly enough time to do my own music.
What was your involvement in the new Replacements re-releases?
Peter Jesperson and Phil Broussard, Paul’s manager and I did a lot of stuff. In my studio, Phil and I mixed a lot of the extra tracks that weren’t originally mixed. Years ago the analog tapes were dumped to digital files, and we worked with those. The tapes are old, and I didn’t want to be the one responsible for messing up our first record. [Laughs.]
In 2004, you released your own record, Village Gorrilla Head. Do you have plans to do another album?
There are a bunch of songs I’ve been working on for the last few years. I might just put them up as a free download—it’d definitely simpler that way. I can’t be bothered going the record label route; that’s a big pain in the ass, and they don’t seem to know what they’re doing right now anyway.
- A Private Eye
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Re: Tommy in Bass Player Mag
Good interview, interesting to hear that the hiring of umpteen bits of equipment to achieve a better sound long attributed to being Axls perfectionism, was actually Baker. I'd love to see more of these interviews, it really would have made things so different had they done this more over the last decade.
Re: Tommy in Bass Player Mag
I'll just briefly go over this...
1) Great interview. Like Chris' radio interview awhile back, Tommy provides a ton of insight into the recording of CD.
2) If Axl had did an interview like this, and made the comments about the record company and Baker, he would've been slammed with the 'ole "excuses excuses" argument. It's sad the fanbase (on the net at least) looks more and more like the geeks they are.
3) Tommy's gonna be busy with Guns for the next year and a half. That is truely awesome, and great news.
