2004.08.08 - San Francisco Chronicle - Pop Quiz: Tommy Stinson

POP QUIZ: TOMMY STINSON

Aidin Vaziri

Tommy Stinson has gone through more bands than shades of hair color. Before even hitting puberty, the bassist started playing music alongside Paul Westerberg in the seminal college radio band the Replacements, released a couple of solo albums under various names and eventually joined up with the Frankenstein version of Axl Rose's Guns N' Roses six years ago. He plays on that band's long-awaited "Chinese Democracy," which has yet to get a release date. In the meantime, Stinson has recorded a solo release, "Village Gorilla Head."

Q: Which do you want first: the questions about Guns N' Roses or the ones about the Replacements?

A: I didn't think you had any questions about those bands. I thought you were just interested in my solo career and wanted to talk to me because you like my new record.

Q: You have a new record?

A: Yeah.

Q: What's so great about it?

A: It embodies all that I am now. I made it out of my own pocket so I thought it would be fun to get as self-indulgent as I felt like.

Q: Nobody wants to hear about that.

A: As long as you don't ask me any Axl Rose questions, I'm cool.

Q: Why did Axl Rose hire a guitar player who wears a bucket of fried chicken on his head?

A: Um, he likes KFC?

Q: That's a reasonable answer. You started playing music when you were 11. Mathematically, that means you've been nailing groupies more years than you haven't.

A: Did you really just say "nailing groupies"? Dude, come on. You're killing me.

Q: Would you rather talk about how you played on the rock remix of Puff Daddy's "It's All About the Benjamins"?

A: You know what? That was a fun experience. I wouldn't mind doing a lot more stuff like that. It was so much fun to take a rap song and write a chorus to it. The whole remix of that song that you hear at any basketball or football or any kind of game, that's my chorus. I love that.

Q: Do you prefer playing your own songs in front of 150 people or 80,000 coked-up Brazilians with Guns N' Roses?

A: You know, I like them both for totally different reasons. I kind of make fun wherever I go and whatever I do, so they're both very satisfying and enjoyable that way.

Q: You used to be in the Replacements, which was pretty much the antithesis of Guns N' Roses. Do you hate your fans?

A: I'd rather not be pegged as anything. I would like to think some of the Replacements fans have stuck around. I know it makes it hard, but it works for some people. Look at all the incarnations David Bowie has had. I can't bog myself down with what's going to be the right thing for my career.

Q: Is there anything in particular that draws you to working for people who may have been dictators in their past lives?

A: I'm dead serious about this, but I think Axl is awesome. It's from working with him that I've got the guts to reach out and go beyond my limitations in my own music. He's one of the ballsiest people in that genre. He's not afraid to take chances musically.

Q: Are you still in Guns N' Roses?

A: Yes.

Q: No, I mean after this interview.

A: I don't know. Nah, Axl really appreciates the s -- that I say because I don't have anything bad to say. It doesn't make for good copy, but that's the reality of it.

https://web.archive.org/web/20041204105652/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2004/08/08/PKGAE7L55H1.DTL

Hilarious interview