2004.09.14 - The Boston Globe - All Grown Up And Rocking (Tommy)

All grown up and rocking

By Jim Sullivan, Globe Staff

Tommy Stinson began playing bass with the Replacements at age 13, which means that Stinson could be the youngest person inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To which he says: "I don't give a [expletive] about being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's one step closer to getting in the box." This is not to say he's dissing his old band -- "I've got nothing but love for the little legacy we left behind," he says. But what Stinson, who recently released his solo debut CD, "Village Gorilla Head," wants to do is rock in the present tense. He's on tour with backing from Seattle rockers Alien Crime Syndicate, and they stop at T.T. the Bear's tonight. "I'm never gonna try and reinvent the wheel," he says of the gritty, Stones-like pop-rock music he makes. "I like to make records the same way I listen to records."

Aside from his solo tour, there's Guns N' Roses, the mysterious rock beast of which he's a part. "It still exists," he says. "There's a record coming -- sooner rather than later -- and six or seven of the songs are earth-shattering. We'll be touring the world the beginning of the new year."

As to tonight's gig, expect two sets, one acoustic and one electric, some solos, and tunes from Stinson's former band Bash & Pop, but nothing from the Replacements. "I didn't write those [expletive] songs," says Stinson, who's now 37. "Why would I play them now?" He does credit the Replacements for giving him direction at an early age: "It kept me from grand theft auto. That's the direction I was headed at the time, and I'd be in jail or dead by now, easily."

The music starts at 9 with AM Stereo. Tickets are $12.

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