20 illinoisentertainer . com january 2017
S
By Mike Meyer
photo by Steven Cohen
ay what you will about the record industry death harbinger known as Chinese Democracy -- The New York Times once called it " the most expensive album never made " -- the 2008 GN ' R album without Slash and Duff that has somehow maintained its footing in the fickle populist rock vocabulary . Who would have guessed that Slash and Duff would now be busting out " Chinese Democracy " and " Better " alongside Axl Rose to millions of Guns N ' Roses nostalgists around the globe ? I panned the thing when it finally crawled out of Rose ' s spider tank , recoiling from the obsessive editing of digitized nuclear blues taken from 14 recording studios over 14 years . The same songs " were watershed , neo-grunge breakthroughs ," I wrote in a 2006 live review . It seems Chinese Democracy will live forever : " And to all those opposed / Hmm / Well ..."
It ' s easy to forget the individual musicians washed away by Rose ' s compulsive nu process and the second coming of the group ' s classic " Not In This Lifetime " lineup . But Tommy Stinson ( ex-The Replacements ) spent over 15 years of his life in Guns N ' Roses . He ' s credited with playing bass on most of Chinese Democracy , even co-writing " Street Of Dreams " with Rose and Dizzy Reed . The 2014 live release Appetite For Democracy , culled from the pre-reunion band ' s 2012 Las Vegas residency , features not only the amalgam of Appetite For Destruction and Chinese Democracy favorites , but a GN ' R rendition of a cut off Stinson ' s 2004 solo album Village Gorilla Head . This " Motivation " is the stripped-down sizzle that Chinese Democracy lacks , an amped-up punk palate cleanser taking cues from Sticky Fingers from the Rolling Stones , like all good L . A . glam .
Stinson acknowledged his departure from Guns N ' Roses about a year ago , when a reunited classic lineup became public . He has since revived Bash & Pop , the early ' 90s group he fronted after The Replacements first broke up and before Guns N ' Roses started Chinese Democracy . Bash & Pop ' s 1993 debut , Friday Night Is Killing Me ( Sire / Reprise ), is due out on vinyl for the first time Jan . 24 . New album Anything Could Happen ( out Jan . 20 on Fat Possum ) sees Stinson as lead singer / rhythm guitarist and bassist -- with help from drummers Joe Sirois ( The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ) and Frank Ferrer ( GN ' R ), lead guitarists Steve Selvidge ( The Hold Steady ) and Luther Dickinson ( North Mississippi Allstars ),
bassist Catherine Popper ( Ryan Adams & The Cardinals ), and multi-instrumentalist Justin Perkins ( Screeching Weasel ), among others . His touring lineup includes Selvidge , Sirois , and Perkins . IE recently had a chance to ask Stinson about all things Bash & Pop and Guns N ' Roses . Though the artist now sees Guns N ' Roses in the rearview mirror from upstate New York , he raised the fascinating possibility that the " Not In This Lifetime " reunion actually happened because of him .
IE : Guns N ' Roses fans who heard your solo song " Motivation " performed at GN ' R shows might be surprised by the country in tracks like " Breathing Room " and " Bad News " on Anything Could Happen . You played the punk in Guns N ' Roses . Are you the punk in Bash & Pop ? Tommy Stinson : With Guns N ' Roses , the idea was more to play something upbeat and fitting , and that was more of a punk kind of vibe . But this Anything Could Happen record is really not even that much of a departure songwise than my solo records . [ The songs ] just executed differently with a band and have a particular flair about them . That may be a little more rootsy , maybe some country influence , I suppose . But , you know , I am a little bit of everything that you ever heard me do . A little bit of this , a little bit of that .
IE : More than anything , Anything Could Happen is melodic without sounding commercial . New sing-alongs for the old-bar jukebox . With everything trying to be so damned hard in punk rock , it ' s easy to forget how melodic punk could be and once was . There are songs that to my ears are equal parts Stiff Little Fingers and Wilco (" Not This Time ," " On The Rocks "). TS : These days , a lot of punk rock has gotten lost on the hardness and not the hook , the melody , the song . I mean , shit , think of fucking Buzzcocks . Those are some of the catchiest fucking songs in punk rock , if you want to call them punk rock . People kind of forget . I mean , Green Day have got a pretty good handle on keeping it fresh and punk rock . They remember there ' s a fucking hook here , and a chorus , and a lyric .
IE : What ' s the one question everyone asks ? TS : Everyone is wanting to know why the hell I call it Bash & Pop . And it ' s a good question , it ' s a good question . A lot of people just don ' t think it makes any sense at all .
Continued on page 40