Tommy Stinson

Tommy Stinson is by definition a rock & roll lifer, a musician who began playing when he was barely in his teens who would eventually graduate from dive bars to arenas then work his way back to nightclubs. Stinson started his journey in the Replacements, the Minneapolis rock & roll group formed by his brother Bob and swiftly commandeered by Paul Westerberg. Under Westerberg's direction, the Replacements became one of the defining bands of the American rock underground of the 1980s but commercial success eluded them. That wasn't the case with Stinson's next long-running gig as a bassist: in 1998, he became Axl Rose's righthand man in Guns N' Roses, sticking with the band through 2014. In between these gigs, Stinson led the bands Bash & Pop and Perfect, while also spending time in Soul Asylum. Stinson cut the occasional solo album, projects that were punctuated by such new ventures as Tommy Stinson's Cowboys in the Campfire, a duo he formed with Chip Roberts who released the country-tinged Wronger in 2023. A native of Minneapolis, Stinson began playing bass almost at the moment he entered adolescence, picking up the instrument because his guitarist brother Bob and drummer Chris Mars were looking for a bassist. Taking the name Dogbreath, the trio started jamming at the Stinson home, attracting the attention of Paul Westerberg, a vocalist/guitarist who would be invited by Mars to jam with the group. Westerberg became part of the group and soon became its lead singer, steering the band away from classic rock and toward punk. Adopting the name the Impediments, the group started playing various local gigs, eventually switching their name to the Replacements after they were banned from a church hall gig. A home-recorded Replacements demo caught the ear of Peter Jesperson, the owner of the Minneapolis record store Oar Folkjokeopus who had recently founded Twin/Tone Records. Jesperson immediately signed the band and took on the role of their manager. Westerberg quickly knocked out the songs that became their 1981 debut Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash, which was followed by the Stink EP in 1982. With the release of Hootenanny in April 1983, the Replacements started to earn a nationwide following, leading Stinson to drop out of high school so he could tour with the band. Let It Be, the band's 1984 album, placed the Replacements in the upper echelon of the American college rock underground, territory also occupied by their fellow Minneapolis rockers Hüsker Dü and friends REM. Soon, the Replacements left Twin/Tone behind to sign with Sire Records. Other major changes were afoot: after recording their major-label debut in Tim, the group fired Bob Stinson and parted ways with Jesperson. As a trio, they cut 1987's Pleased to Meet Me with producer Jim Dickinson, and they hired Slim Dunlap as their lead guitarist and set out to conquer the mainstream with the subsequent 1989 album Don't Tell a Soul. Although they eked out a number one Modern and Mainstream Rock hit with "I'll Be You," neither its success nor a tour where they supported Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers could truly break the Replacements into the mainstream. Westerberg repurposed his solo debut as the final Replacements album, releasing the ensuing All Shook Down in September 1990. After the Replacements disbanded following their appearance at the 1991 Taste of Chicago Festival, Tommy Stinson recorded an album largely on his own, inviting Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell into the studio for cameos. The resulting Friday Night Is Killing Me was released in 1993 under the moniker Bash & Pop with Stinson subsequently assembling a band featuring latter-day Replacements drummer Steve Foley and his bassist brother Kevin, along with guitarist Steve Brantseg. Bash & Pop lasted roughly a year, then turned his attention to Perfect, a band he formed with guitarist Marc Solomon, bassist Robert Cooper, and drummer Gersh. Signing with Medium Cool Records, the new label from old Replacements associate Peter Jesperson, Perfect released the When Squirrels Play Chicken EP in 1996, then cut a full-length album with producer Jim Dickinson in 1997. When Medium Cool's distributors were acquired by a bigger label, the Perfect album was shelved and the band didn't survive: they split in 1998. Around the time of Perfect's implosion, Guns N' Roses invited Stinson to replace Duff McKagan as bassist. Stinson accepted the offer and spent roughly the next 16 years as Axl Rose's bandleader, helping steer the band through the convoluted period where they assembled a new lineup and embarked on recording Axl's magnum opus, Chinese Democracy. Stinson first appeared on record with Guns N' Roses on "Oh My God," the song the band contributed to the 1999 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie End of Days, but it'd be nearly another decade before GNR released another new track. During that period, the group toiled away on Chinese Democracy, eventually returning to the road in 2006. It would be another two years before Chinese Democracy actually appeared in stores in November 2008. During this long spell, Stinson had time to pursue other projects. He chipped away at the album that became his solo debut, Village Gorilla Head, which appeared in 2004, the same year that Rykodisc released Perfect's shelved 1997 album as Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe. In 2005, he briefly reunited with the Replacements to record two new songs for the 2006 Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? compilation; Stinson continued his reunion with Westerberg by appearing on a couple of songs for the singer/songwriter's tunes for the 2006 animated film Open Season. Stinson then turned his attention to a group of fellow Minneapolis college rock survivors, Soul Asylum. After Soul Asylum's founding member Karl Mueller died of cancer in June 2005, Stinson filled his shoes, helping the band to complete The Silver Lining, which appeared in 2006. Over the next seven years, he continued his association with Soul Asylum, appearing on the 2012 record Delayed Reaction and touring whenever his schedule allowed. One Man Mutiny, Stinson's second solo album, appeared in August 2011, which he supported with a tour. The next year, the Replacements reunited to record Songs for Slim, an EP of new recordings designed to benefit their ailing guitarist Slim Dunlap. Improbably, Songs for Slim led to a brief Replacements reunion. Stinson and Westerberg brought drummer Josh Freese and guitarist Dave Minehan aboard for an appearance at three different Riot Fest Festivals in 2013, then this lineup went out on tour through 2015, after which time the group called it a day. By that point, Stinson had left Guns N' Roses -- he departed the group in 2014, paving the way for Rose's reunion with Duff McKagan and Slash in 2016. Stinson's next collection of original material appeared as Anything Could Happen, a 2017 record that marked the second album by Bash & Pop. Not so much a reunion as a revival, the new version of Bash & Pop toured Anything Could Happen through 2017. Not long afterward, Stinson turned his attention to Cowboys in the Campfire, a rootsy duo he led with longtime friend Chip Roberts. Over the next few years, the duo performed and occasionally recorded, eventually assembling enough material to release Wronger in 2023.
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