Replacements’ Tommy Stinson still rocking with Bash & Pop

By JIM CATALANO | Published September 26, 2017 on ithacajournal.com

Tommy Stinson has some unfinished business in Ithaca.

In May 2016, the ex-Replacements bassist came to the Haunt for an impromptu show — it literally was booked with less than 24 hours’ notice after a gig elsewhere fell through. But about halfway through what was becoming a great show, Stinson lost his voice and had to leave the stage for about 30 minutes. While he rallied for an encore, he wasn’t quite able to recapture the momentum of the first part of show.

Luckily, Stinson is on the road again, and Monday night he’ll bring a new version of his band Bash & Pop to the Haunt. Actually, it’s the same band — guitarist Steve Selvidge, bassist Justin Perkins and drummer Joe Sirois — as he performed with last year (minus the keyboardist), but Stinson decided to bring back the Bash & Pop moniker after releasing a great new album titled “Anything Could Happen” under that name earlier this year.

Not surprisingly, some of the songs sound like long-lost Replacements songs — and indeed, they were intended for a reunion record that never came to fruition. But Stinson doesn’t shy away from the comparisons.

 

“After growing up in that band, I’d be hard pressed to sound completely different unless I started making disco records,” he said in a phone interview over the weekend. “All of our stuff is gonna end up sounding somewhat like the Replacements.”

After playing bass in the Replacements and then, for 18 years, with Guns N’ Roses, Stinson is enjoying leading his own band. But he likes just about anything to do with playing music.

“It all is fun to me,” he said. “I like being a frontman, I like playing bass, just about all of it. I think my next thing will be trying to play drums with somebody, and give that a shot!”

Replacements Co-Founder Tommy Stinson Talks Bash & Pop, Will Play High Dive

Published September 24, 2017 by Gargs Allard on tunegroover.com


 

On the eve of Replacements co-counder Tommy Stinson bringing his band Bash and Pop to the High Dive in Gainesville, Fla., we had a chance to talk to him about the state of his music and the state of America.

In Minnesota in 1979, 13-year-old Tommy Stinson and his 20-year-old brother Bob co-founded the Replacements along with drummer Chris Mars and finally frontman Paul Westerberg. With classic LPs such as Let it Be and Tim, the band pioneered what later came to be known as alternative rock, while largely retaining their original punk sound.

After the band broke up in 1991, Tommy Stinson started the band Bash and Pop, which comprising friends from Minneapolis, recorded the album “Friday Night is Killing Me,” and the single “Making Me Sick” for the classic film Clerks, before breaking up two years later.

Tommy’s brother Bob Stinson had left the Replacements in 1986 and sadly passed away at the age of 35 in 1995 after playing in various bands.

After Bash and Pop, Tommy went on to form the band Perfect (1995-1998) before joining Guns n’ Roses lineup as its permanent bass player for eight years (1998-2016). Tommy has also worked with Soul Asylum, made two solo albums and produced music for other musicians.

In 2016, Tommy re-formed Bash and Pop and released the LP Anything Can Happen in 2017. In 2017 he also released a duet with Nicole Atkins, “Too Late.” In November, another single with her, “Saturday Night,” is set for release.

With Bash & Pop “Anything Could Happen”

By Michael Allshouse | Published September 19, 2017 on theswervemagazine.com

 

Anything could happen.

Not only is it the very aptly titled sophomore record by Bash & Pop, but it is also fitting for the glorious absurdity of 24 years passing between releases.

“Anything Could Happen” released in January of this year nearly matched its predecessor to the date as “Friday Night is Killing Me” was released in January 1993. Anything Could happen.

“Funny shit, right?” Tommy Stinson laughed. “That is completely coincidental. I hadn’t even realized that one. I forgot that came out in January of ’93. I didn’t realize any of that. It is a co-winky-dink.”

Stinson, himself, is proof that anything could happen. In the 1980s he was the bassist for the highly influential, vastly under appreciated The Replacements. When the Minnesota four-piece eventually burned out rather than fading away, Stinson formed Bash & Pop.

Hear Tommy Stinson, Nicole Atkins Duet on New Soul Song, ‘Too Late’

By By Elias Leight | Published September 19, 2017 on rollingstone.com

Tommy Stinson’s Bash & Pop outfit and Nicole Atkins channel the lessons of 1960s soul balladry on “Too Late.” The track is part of a forthcoming 7-inch single due out November 24th.

 

 
Rhythm guitar and drums drive “Too Late” along the steady, lilting path of a Stax ballad. Strings flit through the background to enhance the drama of Stinson and Atkins’ weary back-and-forth. “It’s too late, cupid’s done kicking this can,” Atkins sings. “It’s too late to walk hand in hand,” agrees Stinson.