Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Interview! Whet Your ?Appetite? 
- Guns N' Roses Head to Atlantic City

Bassist Tommy Stinson 
talks new GNR album, his old band the Replacements and what Axl Rose is really like.

Feb. 22, 2012

Tommy Stinson is asking some questions about the fashionable Paleo diet since he?s hoping for some extra energy. That?s understandable since the Guns N? Roses bassist is working around the clock. 


When the former member of the seminal 1980s alt-rockers the Replacements isn?t on the road with Guns N? Roses, Stinson is working on solo material or touring with Soul Asylum. At the moment he is caring for his four-year old, who has walking pneumonia.


?There is so little time for everything,? Stinson tells Atlantic City Weekly while calling from his home in New York?s Hudson Valley. ?I need more energy.?


The busy performer talks about Axl Rose, the future of Guns N? Roses ? which just finished off a five-night New York City run and will perform Friday, Feb. 24, at the House of Blues in Atlantic City ? and why a Replacements reunion is unlikely.


How difficult is it to juggle all of your musical obligations?


It?s not easy. Guns tends to book a lot of things fairly last minute. I?ll have solo stuff booked and I?ll have to cancel it.



Is there a backup for you with Guns N? Roses?


I?m not going to miss anything with Guns since it?s been my main gig for the last 14 years, but if I had to miss, the person I could call is [original Guns N? Roses bassist] Duff [McKagan]. He would do it and the old fans would get a kick out of it. But I?m good with all the Guns dates.



One album in 14 years isn?t much of an output. Any chance that Guns N? Roses will put out anything since Chinese Democracy finally was released?


I really hope so. I would like to put out more than one album in 14 years. But people don?t know how much trouble we had with Interscope [Records]. They didn?t make it easy on us. But there?s a good chance something will be out. We?re writing and Axl really likes some of the stuff [guitarist] DJ [Ashba] has come up with. Guns has a future and I think it includes an album. I?m fine with playing the old Guns songs I had nothing to do with when they were recorded. I?m all about Chinese Democracy, too, but I want new Guns N? Roses songs.



What?s Axl Rose really like?


First of all, Axl Rose is part of a dying breed, a real rock star. There just aren?t rock stars anymore. He?s a really good guy, great to work with. If that wasn?t so I wouldn?t be working with him for the last 14 years.



When we last spoke a decade ago, you told me that there was an 80-percent chance that the Replacements would never reunite and if you did, it would be only for the money. Is that still true?


[Laughs] I think it?s less than a 20-percent chance we?ll get back together. I think there is a much better chance that there will be another Guns N? Roses album than there will ever be a Replacements reunion.


But it?s not as if you had an ugly breakup.


Not at all. We just walked away from it.



What if Coachella offered the Replacements $5 million, which they dangled in front of the Smiths, to reunite?


We would have to consider it. I don?t know if we?d do it. But it?s not like we?re on bad terms. Every couple of years we talk about what it would take for us to come back, but we?re not doing it.



Music culture has chanced a great deal since you were with the Replacements. It appears that most fledgling artists are desperate for wealth and fame and the Replacements were the antithesis of that.


I would agree with that.


It?s all over the Mats lyrics, such as ?I Don?t Know.? You could almost see Paul Westerberg sneering as he sings: ?one foot in the door/ the other one in the gutter/the sweet smell that you adore/I think I?d rather smother.? If that doesn?t say I?ll pass on the brass ring, I don?t know what does.


Yeah, we didn?t go for the brass ring, but we didn?t think it was reachable anyway. 



I always thought I missed the mythic great Replacements show since the Mats were often a drunken mass, which angrily stopped midway through songs. But I realized years after you called it a day that those were the great shows since each show was different. It was happening in front of everyone.


We were genuine and Paul is like no one else. It was great to be in a band with him.


When Chinese Democracy was just some Flying Dutchman of a project, did your old pal Westerberg ever call you to see what was going on?


He called and joked and said, ?Maybe I should produce the album.? He didn?t. He won?t produce the next Guns album either. I?m looking forward to the next album. It?s a good time to be in Guns N? Roses.



You?re squeezing in a date at Philly?s MilkBoy following the Atlantic City Guns N? Roses date. [Wednesday, Feb. 29, at MilkBoy, 1100 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. $10; 9pm.] 


Yes. I?m really looking forward to that. I?m only going to be on for about 35 minutes. It?s a Pete Donnelly [NRBQ, Figgs, Soul Asylum, Graham Parker] show and it?ll be fun. I just don?t know exactly what I?ll do yet. I?m just glad I have the chance to do it.

http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/arts-and-entertainment/features/Whet-Your-Appetite-guns-n-roses-head-to-atlantic-city-tour-concert-house-of-blues-140029973.html

Cool that he's looking forward to recording the stuff DJ & Axl have come up with.  I just hope that doesn't mean they're ditching the other Chinese Democracy era tracks.  :no:

What we're looking to be ditched is the record label.

We'll see what they do.  I hope not, either.

Ali

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what DJ & Axl can write together...It's just that there's still all those songs they recorded during the CD years that we still haven't heard.  I doubt a lot of the fanbase would happy about not getting to hear The General, Atlas, Thyme, Soul Monster & Seven and all the others.  Other than Dizzy saying how good they are and that he hopes they come out soon, we haven't heard anything from Axl, which is what matters the most.

I would really like to hear those songs as well with Bucket and Finck, plus the title Down By The Ocean which the title just sounds epic lol

Some1 suggested a digital download for the CD era material.

What about a use your illusion scenario, 1 album of brand new stuff, the other of CD era stuff released at the same time?

I think they want to put out an album.. Just wonder if the label will allow them to.

In my opinion, their best bet is to release the rest of the CD sessions as Chinese Democracy II, and then record a completely separate album with the current lineup.  This would ensure that both albums would flow and represent their respective eras & players well. 

Next question should be "...but who  will be (or already is) the producer of the next album ?"

ME!


Now I'll give you a minute to get off the floor laughing. I know I have no experience, and I'm not even sure what a producer  does, but I feel like I'm an alright dude, and should be given the opportunity to work with the new GNR. Right?


Right?



Oh, if you guys don't buy into this idea, how am I gonna get Axl and DJ to sign off on it!?

I think the best way to do it would have to be if Axl wants to record DJ's album then do that and add maybe a couple of the older songs on that CD if the styles fit and it flows nicely, but first re-release chinese democracy with bonus tracks being the older songs and a proper booklet and artwork and what not. Win-Win.

Any new music would be fantastic, I really don't care what it is, but that would be ideal^^^^

Great news!

I think a new GN'R album from Guns N' Roses is a hard thing to comprehend for fans, simply because it's been so long since we've heard new material. Don't forget, all of the songs on CD except for Sorry and This I Love were known by fans for a good few years before the album came out. I hope that in the case of a new album, it comes out with the bulk of the material being completely knew and unheard by fans, that would be awesome.

My hope is that when they announce a new album, they start playing 1 or 2 songs from it. But then the other 11 songs or so are kept secret until the release day of the record.  I can't even imagine how godly it will be for Guns N' Roses to release a new album, because the journey with CD was so long and trecherous, it almost seems like an impossible feat for GN'R to release a brand new record.

Would be amazing though... 8)

I think re-releasing CD this early after initial release would sort of be like admitting defeat, you know? "Well it didn't sell too well so lets release it again.... uh lets stick on some bonus tracks and new artwork so people think it's something actually new".

Nah, Full steam ahead, I say. 3 Distinct scenarios (2 can be muddled together though)

1. Record a new album from scratch with DJ and the others. Maybe bring a few songs from earlier last decade back but redo them so the album flows (INCLUDING vocals, Axl!)

2. Compile/finish the old leftover CD tunes. This and the first can be combined, mixed fucked with. How's a double album, one with DJ/new shit, one with old bucket shit sound? Good ya? I doubt the label would release it though...

3. Well, you know, reunion.

I'm not sure what that means? Re-releasing an album that only came out recently? CD is already part of history and doing something that stupid would be just so stupid. There's no one in this world who would even consider trying.

Bands re-release albums all the time.

Could be anniversary editions, tour editions, limited editions, new formats etc etc.

Sometimes they even just put out the same album but with the latest hit single tacked onto the album. A track that wasn't part of the original release.

Nothing to do with defeat.


Personally I think the album deserves a proper release, the way it was intended to be released.

I don't care what it's called....




/jarmo

Absolutely agree, Axl and Guns rightly feel aggrieved about the release of Chinese.

For me it's the best album of all time and I would welcome a re-release with intended artwork, etc.

Question is...will we ever see this...can Guns negotiate this kind of thing?

I hope so

Re-release would be nice but please with some new songs please.

I don't think I'll buy it just for new intended art work...but that's just my opinion. You are free to buy the same again (kinda) if you want ofcourse  :beer:

I wish there was a way to make the confused Scooby-Doo noise an emoticon. This will do:  ???. Scraped was a mystery til the album dropped, Shackler's premiered in Rock Band as the band intended, and the Prostitute leak came came close enough to the end. If the World, same deal. Plus This I Love, Sorry. Beyond that... I don't think leaks really do much harm. You like music or you don't. Hardcore fans buy it no matter what, casual fans will listen to it online first or listen for a radio single.

I don't think it's an imposible feat at all. I think, honestly, if they had some label support, they could have an album out in a year. And the stupid thing is, if a new Guns album did even the numbers CD did in first week sales it would be a huge success given how low sales have gone.

I'm with you though - would be amazing :)

Agree! Less leaks would be good both for fans and the band I guess. Even it's itching in my ears to hear a new song, it ruin some of the moment if ya hear to many from an unreleased album. Maybe a mini-EP or something a little ahead of an album....

Still, I have to say the CD-songs got new life when hearing the final product! Some songs I considered as mediocre before CD, like Rhiad, sounded heavenly that day in November 2008  :)