Interview: Tommy Stinson Performing Soon At Upstate Unplugged

Interview: Tommy Stinson (The Replacements/Guns N Roses & More)
By: Rob Smittix

RRX: Alright, so right before we started recording you said that you got a deer whistle in the mail, what’s that?

TS: Oh yeah, my daughter… the kiddo has been driving home in rural Columbia County late at night and hit deer, 4 different times. Strange stuff. I don’t quite understand how it’s possible 4 times but I have a remedy in the form of a whistle! Apparently.

RRX: I didn’t even know that existed.

TS: Yeah, you put them on your bumper or you can hide them in different places that catch wind. But they sound like this: (blows whistle). They sound like that but they’re quiet enough, I guess… that the deer hear them and we don’t.

RRX: That’s awesome. Yeah, everyone in rural Columbia County should have one of those.

TS: That’s kind of what I’m thinking. They’re only a couple bucks on the f***ing old Amazon.

RRX: That’s right. I’ve never hit a deer but I’ve had a couple hit me.

TS: That’s basically what my daughter says they keep hitting her. She’s not actually hitting them but they’ve taking out her door a couple times.

RRX: That’s why I don’t necessarily believe in evolution because they’re not getting smarter.

TS: No.

RRX: Well, I’m excited to talk to you. We’ve got the Upstate Unplugged Concert Series coming up at White Lake Studios on March 26th and it’s gonna be a nice intimate live recording session. So that’s why I’ve got you on the line. Besides the unexpected, what are we to expect?

TS: Well, I don’t know yet. I’m working out my set a little bit. I’m still figuring it out. I’m about to put out a new record in a short bit but I don’t know how much of this stuff I wanna put out in one form or another until I’ve actually got the record out. But I’ll try and do some of them live anyway just to have some intimate fun versions of them in that studio.

RRX: That sounds like fun.

TS: Yeah, it’s a little rough insight into what’s about to come in the big year ahead.

RRX: So it’s crazy that a guy like you has over 40 years of a music career already because mathematically, you don’t seem old enough to have that. But then I read where you started playing at 11 or 12 or something?

TS: I did. It’s a funny thing, I was watching my kiddo play her performance for school last week and I’m thinking… man, when I was playing baritone sax in 9th grade, it must have been 1978 or 1979, somewhere in there. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I dropped out of high school in the middle of 10th grade to go on the road with The Replacements, that was kind of my whole deal. My Mom signed off on it because… before that, all I was really doing was getting into a lot of trouble. Before I learned how to play bass, that was. My brother taught me how to play bass when I was 11 or 12 years old. Before he showed me how to play bass, he’d been gone for a while and I was getting in so much trouble. I’ve gotten arrested like 3 times before I even turned 11 and my Mom was kind of over it. Like, I don’t know what to do with you, you’re in a bad spot. Once he showed me how to play bass, it got me focused on something positive and there you go! That’s how it happened.

RRX: Wow! And to hit the road at such an early age, what was that like? Because even I know from playing out with my band, when younger bands would open up for us, very often they wouldn’t be let into the club until it was time for them to get on stage and they’d have to leave right after their set.

TS: I had a good amount of that going on. The Longhorn (Jay’s Longhorn Bar) in Minneapolis made me sit in the kitchen for a bit, which was funny, but I did it just to play a gig. Sporadically, out on the road there’d be a club here and there that wouldn’t let me play but for the most part, I got away with it. Got my first fake ID when I was probably, I don’t know… 17, right? In Manhattan, New York City, actually right in Times Square, in fact.

RRX: Wow, you can’t get one of those these days. I think they made it impossible for today’s kids.

TS: Well, you can get them but you have to be a dumb ass to not know it’s fake.

RRX: Exactly.

TS: I’ve heard all the tales from younger folks that have tried it and it always gets taken away from them.

RRX: On one hand I feel bad for kids these days to not have had these experiences like we did, on the other hand I feel a sigh of relief that our kids didn’t have these experiences.

TS: I’m lucky, my kid tells me everything and tells me if she’s had a beverage with alcohol or something at a party. She doesn’t drive herself home. She always has a designated driver if they think they’re gonna be partaking in something. Not that it’s something that you want them to be doing but you know they’re gonna try it somewhere probably and it’s better to be safe at it. At least the door is open and we can talk about it. She surely knows the pros and cons of what can happen with that stuff.

RRX: That’s good stuff. It’s great to have that kind of relationship with your child. I’ve got an 18 year old as well, he’s been playing guitar way better than I ever did in such a short amount of time. I don’t know how he does it but then again, he’s skipping school every other day.

TS: So yeah, there’s the pro and con of that! The only thing that I had going for me to be able to make sense of skipping school, was that I was able to go out and make money at a young age. Not like we were making a lot of money by any stretch of the imagination but it was enough to make my Mom think that I might have a future at this. It beats the hell out of me stealing stuff or whatever.

RRX: It’s definitely a wonderful thing to even be able to do this.
As you know, there’s thousands upon thousands of musicians out there that cannot do it for a living, maybe it’s just a weekend gig. I mean… I wouldn’t say it for you but it sounds like you’ve lived out your dream and you’re still doing it.

TS: I’m lucky like that. I’m grateful for all of it and don’t have any complaints about it except that it’s a hard living. There’s nothing easy about it but I chose it, it chose me and here I am still doing it at almost 60. So there you go.

RRX: That’s awesome and you’ve built quite the resume, so many notable acts that you’ve been with and played with over the years. Bash & Pop, GNR and of course The Replacements to name a few but I didn’t know that you did a stint with Soul Asylum.

TS: Yeah, you know? When Karl Mueller died, I guess he had left a list of people he would want to replace him if they were gonna go on without him. His wife was an old girlfriend of mine from back in the day and I was approached about it basically under that premise of this is what Karl wanted. So I said, well, sure, I could do that for a while, GNR wasn’t touring a whole lot at that particular juncture, so they kind of booked around me and it worked out good, it’s was fun.

RRX: That’s what’s up! Now, out of all these different experiences that you’ve had over the years, anything come to mind that you would wanna share with people?

TS: Nothing in particular, other than I’ve had a really good run of it. I’ve had fun playing with some of my heroes and some really great people out there. The only thing I could say really is, it’s a lot of fun if you get into it, and it becomes a part of you, like it has become for me. There’s nothing easy about it but it can be really gratifying and a lot of fun. I work with kids, youthful people at times with different records that I produced, and all that. It’s fun to see others going through it, whether they do it on the side or if they actually do it as their main gig or if they wanna approach it as something they wanna do forever kind of thing. It’s cool to see the torch be passed on if you will.

RRX: You mentioned production and a while back when you were working on the album with Candy Ambulance, they were souper stoked to be working with you.

TS: Oh yeah, I love those guys.

RRX: Yeah, me too. Well listen, we’re very excited to have you coming through on March 26th. I look forward to meeting you there in person. It’s a great thing they’re doing with Upstate Unplugged at White Lake Studios. Was there anything that you wanted to say that maybe I didn’t bring up or a message that you’d like to get out there to the world?

TS: No, not really, just support the arts. We’re gonna need it!

RRX: Yeah, you ain’t kidding.