Recent Tommy Stinson Discussions

Will

851 weeks ago

Re: Tommy Stinson

w. The Replacements Discography

Discography

GNR Discography

Noteable Appearances

History

The best rock n' roll, like any creative endeavor, comes from a blend of natural talent, determination, unconventional life experience and doing your homework. Tommy Stinson has a pretty generous measure of all four.

Few would dispute that Tommy comes from one of the most influential and respected schools of rock there ever was. In 1980, at the age of 13, along with his brother/mentor Bob, Chris Mars and Paul Westerberg, he founded legendary Minneapolis band The Replacements.

By the time The Replacements broke up in 1991, after eight totemic releases and hundreds of live shows, he'd had several careers' worth of experience - and he was still only 24.

Without missing a beat, he switched to rhythm guitar and formed the Stones-ey, Faces-esque group Bash & Pop, recorded an album and hit the road again.

In 1993, Tommy moved to Los Angeles and discovered a new community of musicians. Looking for something "poppier" and more collaborative, he formed a new band and called it Perfect (at first playing guitar, then moving back to bass).

In February of 1995 his brother Bob passed away. Though not entirely unforeseen, it was devastating nonetheless. Part of Tommy's therapy was to immerse himself in his work. Perfect played live regularly around L.A., toured some, cut an E.P. in 1996 and an album in late 1997. In a classic case of record label fumbling, the album ("Seven Days A Week") was shelved and Perfect disbanded.

A Replacements double disc entitled "All For Nothing/Nothing For All" was released in October 1997 by Reprise. The "Nothing For All" disc, a collection of outtakes recorded during the bands major-label (Sire) years, included one track written by Tommy called "Satellite" which also featured Tommy on vocals.

In 1998 Stinson appeared on Puff Daddy's "It's All About The Benjamins (Rock Remix)" along with Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Tommy can be seen playing bass for the song in the music video.

It was then that Tommy was invited to join Guns N' Roses, a position he holds to this day - rehearsing, co-writing, recording a soon-to-be-released album and playing live whenever called upon to do so.

As it turns out, in the complex world of GN'R, Tommy has a fair amount of downtime. In 2001 he made a guest appearance on Whiskeytowns "Pneumonia" album, aswell as appearing on Jesse Malins "The Heat" in 2004.. He's learned a lot these last six years and his musicianship has improved in leaps and bounds. His wide range of experience shows on Village Gorilla Head. Tommy puts it simply, "I wanted as much different stuff as I could put into one album."

Village Gorilla Head (2004) is music made by a very skilled artist who has loved, lived and breathed music for most of his life. There's a sophistication and maturity that will surprise a lot of people who, perhaps, weren't expecting it from the boy spark-plug. But before we get too serious about it all, let's not forget - Tommy Stinson still plays rock n' roll 'cos it's fun, and that's downright contagious. 2004 also saw the release of the previously unreleased Perfect album "Seven Days A Week", albeit remastered, one song short and retitled as "Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe".

In 2006 another "Best Of The Replacements" album was released, by record label Rhino, entitled "Dont You Know Who I Think I Was". Whilst the original Best Of only contained music from the bands major-label years this release spanned the Replacements entire catalog; aswell as including two new songs that saw Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars recording together once again under the Replacements moniker.

The Open Season soundtrack, also released in 2006, featured 10 Westerberg originals, 2 of which ("Love You in the Fall" and "Right to Arm Bears") feature Stinson. A third song entitled "Wild as I Wanna Be" was also recorded by the pair, though Sony failed to include the recording due to Westerberg "sounding ill". For the films premiere held in LA Paul and Tommy played live together for the first time in 15 years.

"We get back together to open up for a cartoon, in front of a bunch of people who never heard of us," Mr. Westerberg says. "That's fitting."

In 2007 Trance music composer Brian Transeau teamed up with Tommy to write the score for the movie "Catch and Release" - which, considering the backgrounds of the composers turned out to be light and undemanding, with little or no influence from either the trance music or rock scene. Synths, strumming acoustic guitars and soft pianos dominated proceedings, and as befits the tone of the film, the music is hopeful, subtly upbeat and reconciliatory. (Source: Amazon). October 2007 saw Stinson cover the Rolling Stones "You Cant Always Get What You Want" for TV series Californication.

After years of waiting the long-suffering Replacements fans were also finally gifted with reissues of the bands first four albums in 2008. The remastered discs included hours of unreleased demos and alternate takes, and both Tommy and Paul Westerberg actively promoted the reissues by granting interviews. Reissues of the bands major-label albums (Tim, Pleased To Meet Me, Dont Tell A Soul, All Shook Down) are also expected to be released, complete with more outtakes and demos, late in 2008.

August 2008 saw Tommy unofficially guest on Westerbergs solo EP 3oclockreep. The ~25 minute online-only release included over 10 minutes of the Replacements (circa-1989) recording classics including "We Know The Night" and "If Only You Were Lonely" with Tom Waits.

This biography was originally based on Peter Jespersons article written Spring 2004. We revised the article to include additional releases.