2011.11.13 - Chicago Sun Times - Tommy Stinson: One Of Guns N' Roses' Many Replacements

When I asked bassist Tommy Stinson about the likelihood of a Replacements reunion, his answer killed two bands with one stone: “About as likely as a f---in’ Guns reunion.”

The difference, of course, is that Replacements singer Paul Westerberg doesn’t still tour the world with a bunch of session musicians and call it the Replacements.

Guns N’ Roses, however, still records and performs, even though singer and curmudgeonly iconoclast Axl Rose is the only founding member remaining and has been for nearly 20 years. Stinson, a founding member of college-rock pioneers the Replacements, now has played with GNR longer than he was with the ’Mats.

“Thirteen years now!” Stinson guffaws during our recent interview, laughing at the realization. “That wasn’t supposed to happen, but I’m glad it did.”

For a time, many fans were glad Guns N’ Roses happened, too. Formed in 1985, the band — originally featuring Indiana native Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler — quickly defined all that was potent about mainstream hard rock, selling nearly 30 million copies of the 1987 debut, “Appetite for Destruction.”

But after the double-album whammy of 1991’s “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II,” plus a flaccid set of covers in 1993, band members began bailing one by one. Rose restocked the roster with various hired hands and kept GNR as a going concern, sometimes touring while he labored over the now-legendary follow-up, “Chinese Democracy,” which didn’t show up until 2008.

“By the time I joined,” Stinson says, “I walked in going, ‘This sounds kinda punk rock what he’s trying to do and thinking of doing.’ You know, everyone quit, and [Rose] was like, ‘I wanna work. I didn’t spend 10 years on this to let it go now. F--- you guys! I’m going to keep it going.’ I thought that was pretty f---ing ballsy. I said, ‘I’m down.’ … I still think it was a good idea.”

Stinson knows something about disgruntled players peeling off from a successful band. The Replacements broke up as each member left the stage one after the other in the middle of a concert — at the 1991 Taste of Chicago.

Likewise, GNR members began leaving during the recording of the covers record “The Spaghetti Incident?” Stradlin had started recording parts for that LP, which were then dubbed over. The revolving door that ensued as others took off included visitations by Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction), Gilby Clarke (Butthole Surfers), Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails), Chris Vrenna (Marilyn Manson), Bryan Mantia (Primus), guitarist Buckethead and many more.

The current lineup on stage features keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman, drummer Frank Ferrer, bassist Stinson and three guitarists: Richard Fortus (Psychedelic Furs), D.J. Ashba and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal.

“Do I think we’re better than the old band? Not necessarily,” Stinson admits. “Do we have more fun? Definitely we probably do. It doesn’t sound like they had any fun.”

Stinson’s claims of fun are measured, though — note the “definitely” quickly downshifted to a “probably.” Things are “going really good,” he assures, before adding, “for the most part.” “We’ve been having a lot of fun with these shows,” he says later, and again adds, “though that hasn’t come without its f---ing speedbumps.”

Stinson has threatened to quit before. In 2006, he allegedly threw down his bass in anger after Rose denigrated one of GNR’s opening bands, the Eagles of Death Metal, which Stinson had handpicked for the tour; Rose called them “the Pigeons of S--- Metal.” Stinson later had to release a media statement smoothing things over, saying of his relationship with Rose, “We have no problem communicating.”

“It’s not like ‘The Partridge Family,’” he says now of his status with the notoriously difficult bandleader. But h e gives Rose props where he thinks they’re due.

“Axl is a great producer,” Stinson says. “He doesn’t give himself credit for it. Sadly, of course, it took forever to finish the f---ing record [‘Chinese Democracy’], but the reason why is because of what he expects out of the band. He likes to actually collaborate with the people he’s playing with. He doesn’t bring them a song and say, ‘Here’s my song. Sing it.’ It’s kind of a strange, old-school, songwriter-producer thing. I don’t think he realizes that. He’s really good at getting people to write something that inspires him.

“We get along great, we really do,” Stinson continues. “It ain’t perfect, it’s not great every day. We’re all cantankerous in our own right. But the reason I’ve played with him so long is that we do get along.”

Stinson has other gigs, too. He’s still a touring member of Soul Asylum (“because it’s good Minneapolis rock!”), and he recently released a second solo album, “One Man Mutiny” on his own label, Done to Death Music.

Stinson says that there’s “a bunch” of GNR material written and still waiting to be recorded — “some of it worthy of finishing, some of it probably not” — in addition to 22 songs recorded during the “Chinese Democracy” process that were not included on the album.

Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2011/11/13/18540882/tommy-stinson-one-of-guns-n-roses-many-replacements

That last paragraph stating there are 22 unreleased songs, is interesting. In another interview, Tommy would say they had recorded "three records worth of material", so he is consistent in what he says. In the latter interview he also said some of this material wasn't entirely finished, with songs lacking vocals and being properly mixed.

Twenty-two songs. That's a lot. Here are the number of songs we know were recorded by 2001 (from the Village leaks) but didn't end up on Chinese Democracy:

1. Inside out (no vocals)
2. Tommy demo #1 (Tommy vocals)
3. Going Down ("Tommy demo #2) (Tommy vocals)
4. Quick Song (Axl scratch vocals)
5. Atlas Shrugged (Axl vocals)
6. Zodiac 13 (no vocals)
7. Prom Violence (no vocals)
8. Perhaps (Axl vocals)
9. Absurd ("Silkworms) (Axl vocals)
10. P.R.L. (no vocals)
11. Eye on You (Axl vocals)
12. Mustache (no vocals)
13. Tonto (no vocals)
14. Real Doll.com (no vocals)
15. Billionaire (no vocals)
16. Dub Suplex (no vocals)
17. State of Grace (Axl vocals)
18. Oklahoma (no vocals)
19. Devious Bastard (no vocals)
20. Hard Skool ("Hardschool") (Axl vocals)
21. Dummy (no vocals)
22. Me & My Elvis (no vocals)
23. Circus Maximus (no vocals)
24. D Tune (no vocals)
25. Curly Shuffle (no vocals)
26. Nothing (Axl vocals)
27. As It Began (no vocals)
28. Thyme (no vocals)
29. The Rebel (no vocals)

And these songs were recorded in 2001 and ended up on Chinese Democracy:

1. Better (as Three-dollar Pyramid) (no vocals)
2. Chinese Democracy (Axl vocals)
3. Prostitute (Axl vocals)
4. Street of Dreams ("The Blues") (Axl vocals)
5. Rhiad & The Bediuns (Axl vocals)
6. There Was A Time (Axl vocals)
7. Madagascar (Axl vocals)
8. Catcher in the Rye (Axl vocals)
9. If the World (Axl vocals)
10. Shackler's Revenge ("Shankler's Revenge") (no vocals)
11. Sorry ("I'm Sorry") (no vocals)
12. I.R.S. (Axl vocals)

So by 2001, they had 29 songs-in-development that didn't end up CD. If Tommy actually said they had 22 songs (and this isn't a misquote), it suggests to me that more work was done since 2001 that resulted in a shorter list. An A-list of songs intended to come out, if you like. From Tommy's quote, it also seems the songs on this A-list was more finished than the songs from the Village leaks, with Tommy suggesting some of them lacked vocals and mixing whereas in the Village leaks most songs missed vocals. Tommy would also go on to suggest (in the same 2011 interview) that he was inclined to think Axl had worked more on these songs, again indicating that the 22 songs unreleased in 2011 were more complete than the songs from the Village leaks.

This fits with the fact that we know they worked on additional songs later (in 2006 and 2007, at least). Scraped was at some point included, as was This I Love. They worked on Shackler's and Sorry, and Axl added vocals to these songs as well as Better.

It is reasonable to assume that some of the 28 unreleased songs from 2001, are among the 22 songs (or two additional albums), that Tommy (and others spoke about), but possibly with new names. The General, Seven, etc, could be new names for some of these old songs, or newer songs they wrote after 2001 similar to Scraped.