2005.02.10 - Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier - Replacements, Guns N' Roses Member Brings Solo Act to Reverb (Tommy)

Replacements, Guns N' Roses member brings solo act to Reverb

By DAN HAUGEN
Courier Staff Writer

CEDAR FALLS --- After more than two decades of anything, self-parody becomes an easy trap to fall in.

Tommy Stinson avoids the paradigm on his latest, sonically diverse collection of songs, "Village Gorilla Head."

From the title track's trip-hoppy grooves to straight-up Stones-style rockers like "Something's Wrong," the disc's sound weaves genres without ever unraveling.

A founding member of legendary Minneapolis band the Replacements and present member of the new Guns N' Roses, Stinson finishes his solo acoustic tour Friday with an early evening performance at the Reverb.

Speaking from Atlanta while on the road, Stinson says the new songs have worked well stripped down.

"They still convey the same emotion, maybe even more," he says. "You've got a little more on the line."

Most of the album's songs actually began on acoustic guitar, Stinson says, which makes it easier bringing them back to that level.

The album is his first since 1996, when his last band, Perfect, put out a five-song CD. It's also his first major label release in a dozen years. Stinson says he is still trying to figure out the industry, having been up and down the ladder from half-empty bars to Saturday Night Live.

"I'm just still trying to find a way to make it work," he says. "If I can make a record that sells enough so I can make another record, then I'm happy."

"Village Gorilla Head" took five years to write and record, and the result is Stinson's best and most mature work to date. His bratty yap and wail still turns up on some tracks, but elsewhere he mellows with a throaty croon.

"I haven't gotten sick of it yet," he says of the disc, which was released last summer. "I usually don't listen to any of my records past the mastering process."

After The Reverb gig, Stinson will head back home to Burbank, Calif., where he moved from Minneapolis in 1993. Next, he says, Guns N' Roses is gearing up for a late spring CD release, hopefully followed by touring.