Bob Stinson (Tommy's brother)
GypsySoul:
BOB STINSON (1959 ? 1995)
GOD REST HIS SOUL
Vintage Guitar (mag) January 2005 Vol.19 No.03
By:? Ralph Heibutzki
Photos:? Ken Settle.
There goes A regulAr
BOB STINSON?S SECRET LIFE AFTER THE REPLACEMENTS
THE MEMORY OF BOB STINSON still exerts a tidal pull on those who worked with him, even a decade after his passing.? Singer/guitarist Ray Reigstad is no exception.
?If I met someone who was like Bob Stinson now, I would still be in a band ? it?s like driving a Ferrari on acid,? Reigstad laughs.? ?Nothing compares.?
Stinson played in numerous bands after leaving the Replacements in June, 1986, but none released an album with him.? Live gigs ? mostly around the Minneapolis area, where he was born and raised ? would remain Stinson?s primary exposure until his death in February, 1995.
As a result, few people outside of Stinson?s stomping grounds heard his post-Replacements music.
Feeling the late guitarist deserved better, in 2000, Reigstad and drummer John Reipas issued Stinson Boulevard, a collection of demos recorded by their ?art blues? band Static Taxi.
Reigstad and Reipas met Stinson in May, 1985, as the Replacements were recording Tim, their first Warner Brothers album.? The trio hit it off instantly, and spent the summer jamming on Golden Earring and Guess Who covers.
The reality check came as Stinson slept off a hangover on their couch, and his new 19-year-old cohorts spotted an ad for a Replacements gig.
?It was 7:30: ?Oh, ****, he?s supposed to be down right there now!? Reigstad recalls.
Stinson made the gig ? barely.? But such hijinks lent an inevitable air to his departure, even if many diehard fans felt he?d been made a scapegoat for the band?s dissolute ethic.
Life With Sonny
In 1987, Stinson formed Model Prisoner with Sonny Vincent, a veteran of New York?s ?70s punk scene who had moved to Minneapolis in 1981.
Stinson?s symphonic approach to guitar parts distinguished his style, though his unpredictable streak ?probably alienated people who wanted a more classic approach in their guitar heroes,? Vincent acknowledges.
Stinson didn?t have a guitar after leaving the Replacements, so he borrowed Vincent?s 1970 Les Paul Custom black beauty, while Vincent made do with a ?69 Les Paul.? They played through 100-watt Marshalls, (Stinson sometimes used Dean Markley amps).
When Stinson?s drinking problems persisted, Vincent proposed an unusual solution.
?People thought it was funny ? a band going to therapy together ? but we tried it,? Vincent said.? ?It kept us together for awhile, but still, the crazy **** didn?t stop.? In fact, it got worse.?
Model Prisoner imploded in ?88.? But the fallout didn?t deny Stinson from taking a role in Vincent?s next band, Shotgun Rationale.
Life With Ray
Between all these experiences, Stinson formed Static Taxi in 1988, with Reigstad, Reipas, and bassist Chris Corbett.
Static Taxi was supposed to break from the past, which meant playing no Replacements songs.? Stinson also mothballed the dresses and diapers of yore for scarves and vests.? To further duck comparisons to the ?Mats? twin-guitar spitfire, Reigstad concentrated on vocals.
Stinson?s guitar choices were equally eclectic:? he favored Univoxes, a Gibson Melody Maker, and a Les Paul.
?I think he paid $1,200 for it,? Reigstad said.? ?It was white and had gold inlaid seals on the fretboard.?
Stinson routed a Yamaha bass amp through his trusty Dean Markley.? He used no effects except the odd pedal or Crybaby distortion box, which had weathered a fire and often shorted out.? The sputter is audible at the start of ?Modern Joy.?
Rehearsals were also a unique experience.? After run-ins with several local studios, the band settled in a railroad boxcar, where they?d play for girlfriends, coworkers, and anyone else who?d listen.
Or they?d practice for hours, with Stinson sometimes having everyone play their parts one note at a time.? Reigstad has more than 30 rough versions of ?Modern Joy? to prove it; four months passed before Stinson felt satisfied with the results.
?That was typical.? He steered everybody down a path he?d already worked out,? Reigstad said.
The same held true for recording, such as the double-tracked solo Stinson laid down for the cabbies? lament ?We Do.?? Just when everyone pronounced the track finished, Stinson ordered the engineer, ?Patch me into an open channel and let me do it again.?
?[The engineer] put his hands over his face: ?I can?t believe this!? The guy just did exactly the same thing twice, note for note,?? Reigstad said.
Aside from one trip to Las Vegas, Static Taxi remained a well-kept secret at house parties and local clubs.? But the band had a hard time getting gigs.
?Bobby?s fans were loyal,? said Stinson?s mother, Anita Stinson Kurth.? ?You?d see the same people at the shows, no matter how small the show was.
?But he?d been there, done that.? And he didn?t want to do it again,? she added, recalling her son?s yearning for the big leagues.
But Static Taxi found no takers for its demo tapes.? Although he never missed a gig and worked as a line cook, Stinson?s reputation gave people reason to avoid him.
?The weird thing is, 1986 to 1991 was probably his most calm time,? Reigstad said.? ?He was very clear, and knew what he wanted to do.?
Stinson quit Static Taxi in early ?91, after a falling out with Corbett.? The band continued without him for eight months.
?He always said he had demons,? Reigstad said.? ?Apparently, the booze and the coke held those demons for many years.? But eventually, it took age to hold?em back.?
The Bleeding Heart Life
Despite these problems, Stinson joined Vincent once more in 1992 for a poorly-paid European tour.
?Bob practiced hard before the tour,? Vincent said.? ?He wanted it to be great, and it was.? But it came with every sort of madness imaginable!?
Following the experience, Stinson formed his last band, the Bleeding Hearts, after an encounter with 21-year-old singer/guitarist Mike Leonard.? At the time, Stinson was using an imported Fender Stratocaster or black Gibson Explorer through a Roland Spirit 10A amp.? Leonard used a ?59 Les Paul Junior and a 50-watt Hi-Watt amp for gigs, and a Supro amp for recording.? In keep with the Bleeding Hearts? rootsy ethic, they shunned effects.
The band played locally for a year before beginning an album at Terrarium Studios.
Being a ?small amp, bigger sound? advocate, Leonard cringed when Stinson insisted on bringing a full Marshall stack, but everything went fine and the band nailed down eight songs in three days.
But Stinson?s new band would offer no more refuge from his past.? In July ?93, Spin magazine published an article that focused on Stinson?s post-?Mats troubles, including his divorce and the birth defects of his son, Joey.
A group photo, with Stinson looking all of his 34 years and then some, compounded the article?s drift that he that he was marking time in an average band.
?Dan Corrigan did the photos,? Leonard said.? ?He?s a nice guy, but I remember he said, ?You?ll never be the Replacements.??
The album was finished in August, 1993.? And for reasons that remain murky, the owner of Fiasco Records took the tapes, and never released them.
The next month, Stinson quit after a gig at the 7th Street Entry.? The door only came to about $25, but ?Bob took it upon himself to get paid for the band and go home,? Leonard said.
By then, they no longer lived together.? ?He had moved in, basically, with the dealers, so it was pretty much impossible to have [his addiction] be under control.?
The day before he died, Kurth recalls seeing her son at the Uptown Bar, where she has worked for more than 20 years.
?The last words he said to me was, ?I?m tired of screwing up relationships.? I?m? going for help.?? And of course that never happened.?
Out Of The Black
On the surface, Stinson?s death finalized his descent from the rock and roll radar, seemingly resigned to drifting, with no stable home or income.? But the outpouring of emotion that greeted Stinson?s death told its own story.? The funeral drew 250 people, including all of the former Replacements.? Kurth took pains to set the record straight about his death; the medical examiner indicated Stinson had no drugs or alcohol in his system when he died.
?His organs just quit, and that was the end of it.? His body said, ?No more.??? She also worked to raise money for a memorial park bench at Stinson?s favorite fishing spot, Lake of the Isles.
Although the Replacements gave Stinson his greatest story, Vincent feels there is more to the story.
?Whenever and wherever there are young musicians looking for real role models of the true rock and roll feeling and spirit, Bobby will be there for them to discover and be inspired by,? he said.
After the Bleeding Hearts, Leonard joined another Twin/Tone act, the Magnolias.? He continues to play around Minneapolis, and would like a proper release for the Bleeding Hearts? album.? He also toys with releasing the dozen or so practice tapes laying around.
?Might as well get his stuff out there, ya?know?? It?s not like we?re going to make a million dollars off it or anything,? he said.
Reigstad has kept busy sending CDs to Japan, where audiences never saw the Replacements.
?People are just starting to realize what he was trying to do,? Reigstad said.? ?That?s all I can really say.? He was just in the wrong time.?
- Ralph Heibutzki
Special thanks to Patty Dean, Anita Stinson Kurth, Mike Leonard, Ray Reigstad, and Matt Tomich. VG
GypsySoul:
Vintage Guitar (mag) January 2005 Vol.19 No.03
MY FAVORITE THING
THE BOB STINSON DISCOGRAPHY
The Replacements
Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash? Twin/Tone Records TTR 8123? 1981
Stink? Twin/Tone Records TTR 8228? 1982
Hootenanny? Twin/Tone Records TTR8332 1983
Let It Be? Twin/Tone Records TTR8441 1984
The Shit Hits The Fans? Twin/Tone Records TTR8443 1985 (Cassette only, recorded live at The Bowery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 11/11/84
Tim? Sire 25330 1985
Singles
?I?m In Trouble? / ?If Only Was Lonely?? Twin/Tone Records TTR 8120 1981
?I Will Dare? / ?20th Century Boy? / ?Hey Good Lookin?? (12" single) Twin/Tone Records TTR8140 1984
W/Sonny Vincent/Shotgun Rationale
?Time Is Mine? / ?Wheel Of Fortune? / ?Eerie Responsible? Dog Meat Records (DOG021) 1991 (Bob plays guitar solo on ?Time Is Mine?)
Beyond Rebellion
D.D.R. Records/RTD 1991 (German only)
7" single: Flight 13 Records 1997 (German-only: B-side is mid-?80s Model Prisoner lineup of Bob and Sonny, plus Mike Henderson, Jim Michels, Jeff Rogers, Eric Magistad)
Static Taxi
Stinson Boulevard (Rock X-Change Music: RXM004, 2000)
Closer 2 Normal (Birdman Records: BMR043, 2003)
Outtake City (Rock X-Change 005, 2003) As the title says: rough mixes, including three otherwise unreleased songs: ?Wet Candy,? ?Noon Am,? and ?Ditch Me.?
The Bleeding Hearts
The Bleeding Hearts 1993 (Unreleased)
(Gypsy note: I edited out two sections - ?Replacements Tribute Albums? & ?Related Websites?)
-Ralph Heibutzki VG
GypsySoul:
Vintage Guitar (mag) January 2005 Vol.19 No.03
Photos:? Ken Settle.
Music Is My Life
THE STORY OF THE REPLACEMENTS
BY RALPH HEIBUTZKI
THE MEETING BEGAN WITHOUT ANY EXPECTATIONS.? Jim Dickinson vaguely realized his production of Big Star?s final album, Sister/Lovers, seemed to impress the band now courting his services over breakfast in Memphis ? the Replacements.? * ?Paul [Westerberg] was, of course, drinking a screwdriver at 9:30 in the morning,? Dickinson laughs.? ?I was wearing one of my flannel shirts, and Tommy says, ?Look, he?s just like us.?? Paul said, ?He?d better be wearing a flannel shirt.? But he?s not like us.??
The band?s major label debut, Tim, has crashed and burned at #185.? Fans wondered if lead guitarist Bob Stinson had quit or been booted from the band he?d started in 1979 with his brother, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Chris Mars, and singer/guitarist Westerberg.
For Dickinson, the sessions that yielded Pleased To Meet Me (1987) gave the band a blast of self-confidence when it needed one most.
?Westerberg told me later, when they started,? Dickinson beams.? ?They were gonna break up, and they got trapped into the songs.?
Patty Dean keeps in touch with the excitement as supervisory curator for the Minneapolis Historical Society?s music collection.? One of her recent projects involved posting fliers and handbills donated by Mars and former manager Peter Jesperson onto the society?s website.
The band?s legend has grown exponentially since its breakup in 1991, but the interest isn?t only being fueled by the old guard.
?It?s neat to see that a lot of their fans are in their early twenties, or teens.? It?s pretty ageless stuff,? said Dean.
Read About Your Band?
Bob Stinson (born December 17, 1959) began playing at 12 when his mother, Anita Stinson Kurth, got him an acoustic guitar for Christmas.
?He did it all by ear; never had a lesson, or anything,? Kurth recalls.? ?It was something he wanted to do, and he did it.?
Kurth also recalls her son showing eclectic tastes:? ?I think he used Chet Atkins, basically, as his teacher.? He would listen to him, and pick up his stuff from there.?
But no guitarist stood taller in Bob?s lexicon than Steve Howe.? He saw nothing unusual in embracing technical fluency with the left-field garage punk sound that characterized his style.
?What I sound like and listen to are two different things,? he said.
The connection prompts an affectionate memory from Sonny Vincent, who played with Stinson in two bands, Model Prisoner and Shotgun Rationale.? Howe happened to be playing in Minneapolis.? Stinson somehow hustled his way backstage, hoping to get his idol?s autograph.? He?d even brought a Replacements album as a gift.
But Stinson?s perennially haggard looks triggered an unexpected reaction.
?Steve looked at Bob for five seconds, then yelled, ?Security!?? Vincent said.? ?Bob got thrown out, and missed the concert.? I asked him, ?Were you angry about that??? Bob said, ?Oh, no.? I?m a fan!??
Stinson?s attempts to enter the rock and roll world would prove somewhat more successful, at least in the beginning.? Worried about seeing his 11-year-old brother, Tommy, follow him into drink and delinquency, Stinson decided to take matters into his own hands.
?Tommy told me, ?I never even made a conscious decision to be a bass player ? Bob put the bass in my hands and hit me in the face until I played it,?? Dickinson laughs.? ?But that?s real rock and roll, man, those guys were the real thing.?
Kurth welcomed the awkward energy blasting from her basement.
?We all just settled into a routine.? The police told us we had to shut down by 10 {p.m.}, which was fine by us.?
Stinson would sing when nobody else felt brave enough, but the boys lacked a front man ? prompting Mars to suggest the 19-year-old Westerberg.? His arrival helped the band shed its punkier monickers (the Impediments; Dogbreath), and bring his rootsy, more literate originals to the fore.
From day one, Minneapolis? Unfab Four quarried the image of being lovable losers, an impression fostered by their unpredictable, often alcohol-soaked live shows.
The Stink EP had originally been called Too Poor To Tour, while Hootenanny?s slapdash acoustic reverie, ?Treatment Bound,? made its case more bluntly:? ?The label wants a hit, and we don?t give a ****.?
By the time of Let It Be (1984) and Tim (?85), acoustic, slide, and lap steel guitars dueled with Bob?s gloriously unhinged lead style for priority.? In hindsight, though, plaintive solo numbers like ?Here Comes A Regular? and the minor-key ballad ?Swingin? Party? held the real key to the future.
But Stinson would not be along for the ride; he and Jesperson were gone by June, 1986.? Bob ?Slim? Dunlap, known for his humility and ability to fit any musical situation, became the new guitarist.
?I was devastated, but more devastated for Bobby, because it was his baby,? Kurth said.? ?He showed Slim how to play his music, then they hired him.? He was just that ready to say, ?I don?t care anymore.?
Gypsy note:? I had to split this article into two parts because it exceeded the maximum allowed length.
GypsySoul:
Where?s Bob?? (Don?t Ask)
Work began at Memphis? Ardent Studios, where Sister/Lovers had been recorded.? When they started, Dickinson joked about calling it Where?s Bob?? After all, wouldn?t the fans ask, anyway?
?I told the manager, ?Bring me Bob, I like him here, he doesn?t scare me.?? But they?d shake their heads and make the sign of the cross,? Dickinson said.
Jokes aside, Dickinson felt the Replacements could create a great-sounding album, if only they?d let someone help them ? a quality he found lacking in earlier albums, like Let It Be.
?They had never even played with their amps separated,? Dickinson said.? ?Obviously, the people they had worked with had just thrown up their hands, and said, ?Okay,? and, of course, the records sounded awful.?
The band had matured as players, but even at this stage of the game, consistency remained an issue.? ?They tried to play sober, and they couldn?t do it,? Dickinson said.? ?There really had to be a certain amount of ?buzz?; that?s the way they learned to play.?
Westerberg already had a ?56 Les Paul.? To stack more of the sonic deck in their favor, Dickinson found him a ?71 plexiglass Dan Armstrong; ironically, it didn?t arrive until the final week of recording.
?I?ve got one myself, but never seen one that had the interchangeable pickups,? Dickinson said.? ?The one we got him had three pickups you could slip in and out.? It was really a beautiful piece.? I don?t know what he did with it.?
Tommy brought a late-?60s Thunderbird and a Rickenbacker that he?d spraypainted fluorescent green, but his homemade amp stayed in the closet.? ?I didn?t use a note of it, I took him direct,? Dickinson laughs.? ?He insisted on using it.? He?d say, ?I?ve got 600 watts at home!?? And I?d tell him, ?Glad you left it there!??
Recording a trio provided an undeniable fringe benefit:? Dickinson had plenty of space to overdub.
?Westerberg was a way better guitar player than anybody was giving him credit for,? Dickinson said.? ?I?m playing rhythm here and there, but all the solos, except for ?[Shooting] Dirty Pool,? are Westerberg.?
?Shooting Dirty Pool? went through the Westerberg tuning ringer ? in this case, an A string turned up to B.
However, adding the left-field metal crunch to the middle section took longer.? The band let different people try the solo, and combined the results ? but the playback made everyone reconsider the notion.
?Everybody had done basically the same thing ? it was spooky to hear how un-random it sounded,? Dickinson laughs.
That?s when he broached deputizing his son, Luther:? ? ?Okay, Paul, why not?? I?ve got a 14-year-old son who?s into Steve Vai.? Let him come in here and make his sound effects and see what happens.??
For the solo number, ?Skyway,? Westerberg tuned the D string of his Ovation acoustic up an octave.? ?Again, if you listen through earphones, you can hear the high string on the wrong side,? Dickinson said.
In hindsight, Pleased To Meet Me signaled a more drastic makeover than anyone, including Dickinson had imagined.? He remembers the group attempting an unreleased song, ?Run For The Country,? which to him sounded like a Marlboro ad.
The airbrushed sheen of Don?t Tell A Soul ? which teems with ?80s trademarks like processed keyboards and click tracks ? caught diehard fans offguard.
?After the hell they put me through, they went in there and did what somebody told ?em!? Dickinson laughs.
Dickinson had less time for the click tracks, which he didn?t allow on his watch.
?It?s so regimented,? he said.? ?Where is the idea of the Replacements?? It?s so boring? and it makes the beat such a tiny thing.?
The last album, All Shook Down (1990), reverted to a stripped-down sound built on Westerberg?s Guild acoustic, paradoxically augmented by session players (the band in its entirety appears on only one track, ?Attitude?).
However, Pleased To Meet Me remains one of Dickinson?s top five recording experiences, partly because it superseded the Big Star connection in bringing people to his door.
?[Westerberg] gave me the reputation for working with problem artists, and I got a couple,? Dickinson laughs.? ?But that?s okay.? I think I?m good with ?em.?
At 300,000 copies, Pleased To Meet Me is the Replacements? best-seller.? Dickinson had hoped for an anthem like ?Bastards Of Young,? but he?s hardly complaining.
?I got some real emotion out of the guy that he didn?t want to give me.? And that?s a good deal of what makes the record survive ? you hear a person actually delivering emotion on that record,? Dickinson adds.? ?Reluctantly, maybe.?? VG
Adams Apple:
Sonny Vincent -My Times With Bobby Stinson- Part 1
Bobby Stinson, The only band member I ever went to a psycho therapy session with! There is a lot to tell and I want to make it clear that the words you are about to read are the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth! This album is dedicated to the memory of Bob Stinson my friend of many years who just happened to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time. I present this album to you in his memory. For those who don?t know, I am happy to introduce this. Bob was the lead guitarist from the group ?The Replacements? and after they booted him out he joined my band. Along with being a genius guitarist Bob was also one of the strangest, sweetest and nuttiest characters I have ever met. I could write a whole book about him, really! Here are a few notable elements of an intense, highly charged and funny story.
First off, some background, I moved from New York City to Minnesota around 1980 where I eventually met Bob. After my N.Y.C group ?TESTORS? had broken up I put together a new band in NY called ?The Primadonnas? (couldn't have been a better name for us), this consisted of the bassplayer from Testors (Kenny) along with Luigi who played with Johnny Thunders and Bo Diddley and Joey Alexander who believe it or not did a stint with the Shirelles!!! Anyway, in some ways this was more of a ?Drug deal? than a band!! Someone would drop something at rehearsal like a guitar plectrum or a drum stick and that meant we would have to make a pause for drugs. Then we would go out on the town and party till 4:00 . It was pretty chaotic but the music was actually pretty good. The guys in this band were all well known characters on the NY scene so it was an insane event everywhere we went. Always to the point of overload. At this time I also had a girl living with me who was from Minnesota, we were living across the street from C.B.G.B.?s. Exciting times but eventually the scene in New York began to go soft, I got tired of people?s concentration on parties and I was missing the intensity in the music of the previous years. I also noticed a decadent trend when the art crowd started inviting the ?Punk? people from downtown to uptown disco clubs. Well that was getting too much for me. The girl I was living with was asking me to move to Minnesota with her and she was telling me all about her hometown Minneapolis. Finally after ?The Primadonnas? self destructed we packed up and drove to Minnesota!
The date was around 1980... Man! You will never know what it was like for me back then to move from the downtown area of New York City to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a real shock! Beautiful but different, these people were inviting me to go ice fishing for gods sake.... AND I was wearing Beatle Boots!!! In shopping malls kids pointed at me and said ?Devo?. I guess that's the only ?Punk? thing they knew back then, at the time, because I think Devo was one of the first to get any airplay there and they had a video out. But a wonderful part about moving there was that the people were incredibly friendly. Quite open and different from the snotty NY attitude. After I got used to the slow driving and slow talking natives, being there became a little bit easier on me.
When I arrived I right away went to the cooler small clubs to see what was happening on the local scene. The first band I saw was Husker Du and I was very impressed. Husker Du right away reminded me of my former band Testors. I saw it all as a kind of ?Brotherhood? or shared vision, groups and artists who obviously were more interested in being ?real? than in commercial concessions. I was happy to see this was happening in Minnesota. Later I became friends with the guys in Husker Du, and eventually the bassplayer (Greg Norton) was touring in my band for a while. To me it was amazing that they even knew of the bands in New York because everything was so underground then, style and news traveled slower. The media did not have this ?global? machine like we have these days. Anyway I was very very pleased and excited to see bands in Minnesota that had a similar spirit and energy. It was great because that?s exactly where my head was at. I wound up staying there in Minneapolis with my girlfriend and I eventually found guys to form a band with. We called it ?Sonny Vincent and The Extreme? ( Mike Phillips, Mort Baumann, Jeff Rogers). We did tours of the U.S and recorded some songs in recording studios (songs that only much later saw the light of day). Every few months we would play a show in Minnesota either in Minneapolis or St. Paul. At one of these shows, it was at a club called the ?Upper Deck?, I met Bob Stinson.
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