THE EARLY //SKYWAY\\ POSTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- / // The\kyway \\ / skyway@novia.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (c) 1996 Bastards of Young (BOY/BetaOmegaYamma) Productions list manager: Matthew Tomich (matt@novia.net) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SKYWAY SUBSCRIPTION/LISTSERVER INFORMATION Send all listserver commands in the body of a letter to "majordomo@novia.net" To subscribe to the //Skyway\\: subscribe skyway To unsubscribe from the //Skyway\\: unsubscribe skyway To get a listing of //Skyway\\ files available: index skyway To get a description of available files: get skyway !readme To get a file: get skyway ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send submissions to: skyway@novia.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the bleak sunless winter of 1993, I was attending college at Northeast Missouri State University in the secluded rural wastes of Kirksville, MO (population: 17,000). I was in my sophomore year of college, majorless, aimless, and slowly losing focus on the purpose of the undergraduate experience. At times e-mail felt like the only spigot to the outside world. I would feverishly glance over any music related publication looking for 'Mats-related information. By this time, the band had already played their final show at Grant Park at the rain-soaked Taste of Chicago on July 4th the summer of '91. Chris Mars had churned out the better-than-anybody'd-expected "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades". Tommy's new 'band' and another Mars album were on the soon to be released lists and there were always rumors abound about HIS album, the long-awaited one that everybody was holding their breath for, that was due out that summer. Since August 1991, I would get my updates of the LoML (List of Musical Lists) and scan through them breathlessly, hoping to find a Replacements mailing list where I could just shout it all out, tell it all, and babble endlessly about the band that was the soundtrack for my spiraling college- entrenched life. When I got back from Christmas Break in January 1993, I decided to start the Replacements list myself. I dropped a note to fellow 'Mats friend Dean Roe to please post on alt.music.alternative that I was starting a Replacements mailing list and where could write to to subscribe. The computer facilities at NMSU were beyond shit. It wasn't even a VAX or a UNIX machine. It ran a dinosaur system called Music that was completely incompatible with any listserver software that was available. To run a mailing list, I would have to manually forward messages to subscribers who sent submissions to the painfully long address of my friend of a friend Mike Blotevogel's account: "e149%nemomus.bitnet@academic.nemostate.edu" It was crude, but honestly, I didn't have anything else better to do and I couldn't exactly go pay tuition at another school just to get a UNIX account. That semester came and went (Soul Asylum, fIREHOSE, Uncle Tupelo, and Superchunk concerts and the goodbye to my Dutch friend Reinout Verbeek, nostalgia that I'll forever hold dear to heart), but the summer brought sunlight and a return home to Omaha, Nebraska where my longtime friend Bob Fulkerson was a computer science graduate student at Creighton University and could allocate a computer account on the parrot UNIX machine at Creighton without any suspicion. Creighton's VI editor and comparitively curt "guampo@parrot.creighton.edu" address and a more tenuous connection to the internet were the list's saviors. From there, the list entered the digest form that exists today. (Once I asked if people would prefer a mail deflector system rather than the once-a-month-or-whatever digests. The venom from the responses would've knocked an elephant out cold.) Thanks for letting me babble, but the following are culled from those days of the Music mainframe at Northeast Missouri State University at e149%nemomus@academic.nemostate.edu. It's not a complete history, but are messages that weren't album release date questions or pleading cries for concert recordings. I don't know if it's me, but looking through this, I can't help but to think that it's some of the best stuff of the list. When people finally found a place to spout off, the dam broke. Instead of the endless sea of alt.music.alternative, there was finally someplace to ask all the fans directly what they thought if "Don't Tell a Soul" was a landmark or a let down, or someplace where they'd listen how "Here Comes a Regular" hit a little too close to home that last lonely Saturday night. Granted, most of this is people's retyping of articles into their terminals at the cost of inevitable tendon problems (the days before scanners and widespread knowledge of carpel tunnel syndrome), but these early days, which these were the seeds for, where when the thirstiest and most outspoken of the 'Mats fanatics lined up to speak their peace. Yeah, I know...this is only a computer mailing list, and this is only a rock band. But it all means enough to somebody that I'm now writing this, and you're now reading this. -- Matthew Tomich matt@novia.net January 8th, 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 12:39:28 EST From: mcadamw@alleg.edu Subject: Hi Well since this is a brand new mailing list I thought I'd try to get the ball rolling and introduce myself with my comments on the 'Mats. Here goes: I first heard about the Replacements in 1984 when Stereo Review voted "Let it Be" as one the top 10 albums of the year. The next year "Tim" was also given glowing reviews and one my friends bought it. This was the first album I heard by them. I remember seeing them on SNL and not being too impressed, although at that time (I was only 14), I hadn't been introduced to punk (I was listening mostly to the Who, Beatles, Stones, etc.) so maybe now I'd enjoy it more. The first time I was able to see the Replacements in Pgh. wasn't until Mar. 1989. I went with about 10 friends of mine from high school - the show was at the Syria Mosque Ballroom- (a dance floor that held 'bout 1000 people). The Pursuit of Happiness opened - they did a good job but the crowd was pretty sedate. As soon as the Mats came on, however, it was pandemonium. I had never been to a show like this before, (ie. slam dancing, pogoing etc.) so I was pretty surprised. It was definitely one of the loudest shows I've ever seen. They played for 'bout 1-1/2 hrs., mostly songs from the last 3 albums, plus a few cool covers - a great version of the Who's "Substitute", and ended with "Never Mind". Except for "Sixteen Blue", they played no ballads. I was totally exhausted after the show and the three of us waiting outside backstage to meet them. I got Tommy and Slim to sign my shirt - they seemed pretty cool - although Slim was totally blitzed. Paul must have left from a different exit. So I went to see if he was in the Holiday Inn bar across the street - he was and he didn't seem to mind signing autographs. No one knew where Chris was - later i found out that used to spend most of his time on tour alone working on his artwork. I saw them again a few months later in Sept. when they opened for Tom Petty. They played for 'bout 45 min. opened w/ "Talent Show" and did a good version of "I Can See For Miles". The crowd liked them, but the Mats were disappointed with the response - they changed "Kiss Me on the Bus" to "Kiss Me on the Butt", and played "Nightclub Jitters" sitting down because the audience was. Frequently during the set Tommy Stinson would wander off stage, still playing bass of course. After their set was over we moved up to the side of the stage. Paul was standing there watching Petty and my friend tapped him on the shoulder, a security guard yelled at him and told us to go back to our seats - well about a minute later the guard came up and told us that Paul wanted to talk to us. I thought it was pretty cool that he actually wanted to talk with some fans. We sat on the side of the stage and chatted for a while - once again he seemed pretty friendly - he wasn't too happy with the way the tour was going but he said that Tom was a nice guy... Anyhow, I saw them for a final time in Apr. 91 at the Metropol, it was a sold out show, in a dance club that holds about 1500 people. This was much better than the 1989 show, they played a wider variety of material, and songs I expected like "Within Your Reach" and some drunk covers and rockers. The band seemed very tight and focused, not at all like the Petty, but the other show but still eminently enjoyable, '89 shows. The crowd - was extremely into the concert - it was almost like a religious experience! I think most people there knew it would probably be the last tour (sniff...). Anyhow, after their encore of "Bastards of Young" the lights came up and people started to head for the door - well the Mats weren't done yet. They came back on stage as the roadies rushed out to put some of their equipment back together. With the house lights still on, they tore into a blistering version of "I.O.U." - a song entirely appropriate to end for the evening. Once again I said hi to Paul after the show - he came out of the tour bus to talk to some of the fans- he seemed tired and not in best of spirits. Memories.... Oh well that about does it - I apologize for the poor quality of the writing but... I don't really have the time to make this a Miltonic epic...!?! If anyone out there is from Pgh. and wants to start a band let me know - I've been playing guitar for 3 years (acoustic) - I hope to get an electric over the summer. My other influences and interests include: Bob Dylan, Bob Mould, Elvis Costello, R.E.M., V.U., Beatles, Stones, Who, Y.F.Fellows, Kinks, Pixies, Clash, Blake Babies, James Brown, Prince, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, blues, surf, rockabilly, basically most every kind of music, except rave, industrial, heavy metal, "shoegazing", hardcore, and synthpop. I'll be graduating from college this year, joining the swelling ranks of unemployed English majors- I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to work on my guitar playing- it's not like I'll have a real "career" to worry about. BILL "Twenty years of schoolin' and they put you on the day shift" - B. Dylan (1941- ) --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: Fri, 05 Mar 93 12:17:52 EST From: "LUDTKE, SCOTT CHRISTOPHER" what are you going to do with your life? (nothin') so what the fuck should i write. i don't want to do the survey. it seems too twisted to fill out a survey about a topic that has such a spiritual value to me. i don't know... there just something about a group of drunks that makes mornings worthwhile. so anyhow matt. thanks. i need this. first things last. does anyone in the world know where i can get a copy of 'boink' on cd? if not cd, then tape. i only have a shitty copy that's many generations old. insofar as the 'mats experience thing goes... here's my story: back in a mythical time called the eighties, i was lost in north dakota. i guess i couldn't really be lost there. i was just born there. sometime in 1986-87, i was slacking off with some friend of mine and i stole his copy of 'tim'. i had no clue who these fuckers were, but i loved them. i played the tape everyday of my sophomore year of high school. when some drunk bastard hit my car, i went out with a crow bar and pryed the thing out of my crumpled up radio. there wasn't any alternative radio and i didn't keep up on music very well, so i played the tape until it broke. then i didn't have it anymore. life wasn't so good then. i started listening to a lot of the cure. i wore black. thinking that changing the world was a useless cause, i started to play guitar. folk guitar. then, one day, i found myself in a record store with money. i bought a new copy of 'tim' and 'let it be'. after that i was lost. i started a band based exclusively around ripping off paul's songs. i flunked classes to see the mats live. i bought their albums even if i didn't think i'd like them. sorry ma, my soul was never really worth that much anyhow. LIVE REPLACEMENTS i was only able to see the 'mats on their last tour. i went to see them in st. louis around the being off the tour. they were . . .umm... professional. nothing what i'd expected. paul was drinking coke. they started off with 'i don't know' and during the interlude, paul did a rushed apology for being so drunk the last time through. the bouncers were assholes (please do not go to the american theater in st. louis if you can possibly help it. they're terrible), but finally, on 'i'll be you', a crowd rushed the floor and tommy applauded them. when paul played 'within your reach' he got down in this pit between the stage and the audience and let people... well... reach him. he changed the words (of course) but it was incredible. all the roadies were going nuts. finally, in the encore, they played something from their first album (i think it was 'i'm in trouble', but i was in such bliss, i can't remember) in their encore. they were very 'on'. the next time i saw them was in columbia, mo right before the last chicago gig. i think they were drunk. paul was obviously tired of touring and they spent a good deal of time joking around. during 'nightclub jitters, paul beat the shit out of a bass while tommy laughed and slim looked off into the lights. slim sang 'hey good looking' (hank williams!) and was really the only one who kept the band together that night. paul and tommy would just look at each other and laugh trying to figure out what song to play, but slim would just start in and let everyone else catch up. they were all just sitting around before the gig, but i couldn't bring myself to go talk to them. they're no people i want to know as people. they're individuals through their music in a way that few other bands are. i never want to confuse the two. enough of my ramblings. if anyone is interested in hearing what a bunch of re-interpetations of the 'mats sounds like, drop me a line. we have two studio tapes done and hopefully will be playing in the mid- west this summer. then again, i may be flipping burgers. slack hard, scott ludtke. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- From: Subject: Golden Smog Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 22:44:44 CST Hello all, I just noticed I hadn't seen any message on Golden Smog. This might be old news for everyone, but there is a 5-song EP out called "On Golden Smog avail from Crackpot Records. Golden Smog consists of Chris Mars of the 'Mats, Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum, and members of the Jayhawks and Run Westy Run. They play all 70's covers and perform about twice a year at First Avenue in Minneapolis. In case you hadn't heard... -- Dave Ward --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1993 21:10:26 -0600 (CST) From: Brian the Three-Eyed Wombat Here's the review from SPIN, April 1993: Chris Mars -- _75% Less Fat_; Smash/Island/PLG; by Renee Crist Because I was born between 1963 and 1967, I am allowed to think that the Replacements were as great as the Beatles. Chris Mars doesn't want to be Paul Westerberg, be he makes a damned fine Ringo Starr. _75% Less Fat_ is Mars's [sic] I-don't-need-nobody testament to his own talent, which is plentiful. Yet the ti. The result is both lively and lovely. He's not Matthew Sweet, but that kind of talent would only drag him down. As Ringo used to say, "Don't you know I need boys." --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Musician Magazine -- May 1993 (p84, 86) CHRIS MARS -- 75% Less Fat (40 min.) Performance: Skewered fillets Recording: Good, but... Chris Mars, the drummer and founding member of the Replacements whose solo album, "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades," was a boffo surprise last year, returns with an equally arresting follow-up, "75% Less Fat." Exactly where he cut all that excess is a mystery (a veiled attack on the Replacements, perhaps?), but this is Lean Cuisine to be sure, from its garage-band grunge to the hard-to-understand lyrics and no- frills production. Mars specializes in sardonic social comment and put-'em-down lyrics, driving his often funny lines with a propulsive beat, raw guitars, and stark, Sixties-style drumming. Most of the songs are snapshots of people caught in self-important poses (Stuck in Rewind, Whining Horse), and no one goes unskewered, from Mars's former mates (No Bands) to nature lovers who want to rough it without getting their feet wet (Car Camping). Only once does he turn the mirror toward himself, in Demolition, where he finds he doesn't much like what he sees: a destruction engineer. No matter -- anyone who can build an album this solid probably deserves a second chance. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 93 16:52:30 EST From: "LUDTKE, SCOTT CHRISTOPHER" ...looking at the titles from paul's upcoming album, i'm worried. the man has been such an influence that i'd hate for him to run askew while trying to separate himself from the mats. i listened to the tunes from "singles" and still think they've good songs, but i don't know quite how to fit them in to the mats formula. i suspect i'm not supposed to. i guess that, if i want to attain the magic that "tim" gave me in high school, i should just dismiss my notions of what paul's doing and let him grow towards whatever musical goals he has. thinking across the mats albums, major change in style paul has made works (let it be, tim, don't tell a soul), so why shouldn't this folksie rock stuff. meanwhile, in the actual world... i think i'm losing my virginity again to bash and pop (metaphorically). tommy is everything rock and roll just as much as paul (ie. spin's soul of rock and roll) he's still doing it for the right reasons (friendship and dislike of real jobs). i can't wait for [Bash and Pop on] letterman. final note: in reading the lyrics i note several things i feel are errors, but i'm not sure i want to correct them. i'm sure it's necessary to get the gist of each song, but is it necessary to make an exacting science out of it? i mean, if paul couldn't get them right (if you've seen them live, you know what i mean)... essentially, paul is telling very exacting stories, particularly on the last two albums, but he emphasizes the words and phrases that mean something to him and to the story. i can't imagine that life and death hinges on the tense. i'll try to jump in later with missing lines, however. right now, i'd be doing it from memory and my memory sucks. later. s "i'm in love. fuck that song." --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1993 11:22:21 -0500 From: Rock-n-Roll Ghost Subject: Bash & Pop concert Hey fellow 'mats fans Has anyone seen Bash & Pop live? Well, I saw them two nights ago. They kicked some serious ass! Tommy looked like a cross between Ziggy Stardust and Keith Richards. He come out on stage in these silver glitter boots and tight jeans. He looks a lot older now, but still fucked up as always. Guitarist Steve (Earl) Bransteg looked very much like Tommy, tight pants, boots and spiked hair. Drummer Steve Foley looked a little different since the last 'mats tour. The bassist, Caleb or whatever his name is, looked like your average Joe. They started the set with "Never Aim to Please" and ended with "First Steps" in the encore. They played every song on the album and a few covers. They didn't play any Replacement song but they did do a T.Rex cover and the Tommy Stinson favorite "Satellite." Bransteg is a pretty good guitarist. He played a lot of slide guitar on his Fender Strat. Tommy played a bunch of Gibsons, Les Pauls and a hollow body. Tommy is also a decent guitarist. They had like 5 guitars and only one bass. The bassist broke a string twice, during "Never aim ..." and "Fast and Hard." They had to stop each time, either during the song or after the song, to fix it [ . . . ] [Sadly, a part of this file has been lost here.] --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- From: Matthew Tomich (i261%nemomus.bitnet@academic.nemostate.edu) Date: Thursday, April 8th, 1993 Well, I got the Chris Mars album the first day it came out. Now I finally have time to write to tell about it... Once again, Mars plays everything on the album but the bass! He brought back J.D. Foster to do that (as well as add some clarinet!) It was recorded at Paisley Park studios (ie. Prince) and all the lyrics are (c) 1992...which means that this album was written last year, at least lyrically. The album seems to be Chris Mars telling everybody who he's pissed at! I can't find any Westerburg references like "Ego Maniac" or "Popular Creeps" were so blatant on "Horseshoes and Hand Grenades". But there's plenty of other people that Mars thinks can go take a long walk off a short cliff... "Stuck In Rewind" talks about people that won't stop living in the past. "No Bands" sounds like Mars is sick of the hype of bands. It has some great lines...'Tell us all about your new entourage, better yet, just save your breath, now here's a quarter, go phone someone who cares.' "Weasle" attacks slum lords who have their rent too high for the shack that you get. "Public Opinion" slams those people (and everybody knows somebody like this) that gets their opinions from the newspaper and then quotes it first hand instead of thinking it through on their own. "Whining Horse" is about the guy that doesn't stop telling stories of how everything is such a tragedy in his life. "Car Camping", about those idiots who go camping and then bring all of the modern conveniences of society WITH them! "Bullshit Detector"...well, I think you can figure that on out by the title... The rest of the songs are kinder (sometimes.) "All Figured Out" speaks about the fact that no matter what you plan, fate will figure out some way to screw it up. "Skipping School" is about, well, he never graduated from high school, did he? "Candy Liquor" is about a bunch of rowdy teenagers out causing trouble and getting drunk. (Gee.) "Demolition", my favorite song musically on the album, is merely about the destruction of buildings that served so faithfully in the past. And "No More Mud" is about...the end of the world (with references to the scenario in Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle"). The album ends with the jazzy, bar-sounding "Nightcap", which is pleasant and shows off Mars's capabilities as a multi-stylist. My opinion of the album is that it's not as good as "Horseshoes..." nor as good as Westerburg's songs off "Singles" or the offering from "Bash and Pop". But then again, all three of this album's predecessors have been more than my expectations could have reasonably hoped for! This album isn't bad, but I don't think it's GREAT like the other solo stuff from the remains of the 'Mats. My opinion: if you don't have the first Mars solo album or Bash and Pop, buy those first. But there's enough good songs on this one to make it worthwhile... --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- From CAKE magazine, issue #9 -- (July, 1992) (This issue features cover art by Chris Mars.) CAKE 3028 Ewing Avenue S Suite 201 Minneapolis, MN 55416 Phone (612)-926-4110 Fax (612)-926-4381 "Cake is published approximately six times a year by CAKE, INC. Subscriptions are available for $16 for six issues. Subscription requests should be sent to the above address." Back issues are available. Write to CAKE for more information. Reprinted without permission. PLEASED TO MEET MARS (By Jeff Scharlau) Chris Mars isn't just an ex-Replacement and a nice guy. He's a Multi- instrumental, Art-makin', Song-writin', Record-releasin', Winter- lovin', Crappie-fishin' Renaissance Madman. I don't know about you, but I expect popular people to be creeps. I almost want them to be. It makes it harder to envy someone whose hard work or talent or good fortune makes them a more notable human being. You might say, "Yeah, sure, he's a hell of a guy -- everyone adores him and he's made a trillion bucks from inventing Post-It Notes, but what a jerk!" As the driving beat behind the beloved and belated Replacements and with his first solo album charming the critics, Chris Mars should be, by my estimations, a tremendous pain in the ass. Turns out he's an awfully nice guy, which kinda shoots my theory to hell. So laid back and Minnesotan is Mars that he wants to be interviewed while he drowns a few worms at a secret fishing hole. And for a while, a founding member of a band who turned the world on with their snarl is worried that the kid down the dock is catching more crappies than him. _Horseshoes and Hand Grenades_ sounds close to a Replacements album; too bad it doesn't count as one. Mars had been writing songs for a couple years before the Mats' demise, but most of those that appear on the record were written following his departure. He had given some of the earlier songs to Paul Westerburg and _All Shook Down_ producer Scott Litt, but they weren't considered. I think that was Paul's attempt at a solo project and I don't think he wanted any outside help at that time. He wanted to do it himself and I think he was a little pissed off at the company for not letting him do that, so even if he liked the songs, I don't think they would have gotten on," he says. "Tommy had some around that time, too. It wasn't really open for discussion." He's still willing to talk about the Replacements -- this time around. ("That's assuming there's a next time," he muses.) They don't out together, maybe out of respect for the past. "We're probably sick of each other for now, and all content to go our own ways," Mars says without sugarcoating. "I think everybody's fine with that. I heard something about the label really wanting the band to get back together. I mean, forget it, as far as I'm concerned. I would never go back to that. I could see a reunion a few years down the road, or even more than that. But I think it's just beating a dead horse." 'A reunion?' thinks a too-hopeful fan. 'A reunion /show/, yeah," Mars quickly cautions with a laugh. "I wouldn't go any farther than a show." There's something deceptively calm about Chris Mars. I keep waiting for him to pop open like a jack-in-the-box. At any time -- possibly while humming "Unsatisfied" -- he could suddenly push me off the dock and into the drink. Hard to believe that one of those wild-eyed South Minneapolis boys is quietly contemplating the next lure in his tackle box. When Mars left the band, he announced that he would concentrate on his visual art, but eventually got a four-track machine and "started goofing around with it," although he admits that a solo album seemed unlikely, even to him. But, in true Replacements style, he did it anyway. "The things I liked about the Replacements, even missed about the Replacements -- on their earlier records -- is something I wanted on my own record," Mars says. "The last couple didn't rock enough for me, so I wanted to get some of that flavor back." He had played bass maybe once in his life, and so recruited J.D. Foster who has played with Green On Red and Dwight Yoakam, and asked Dan Murphy and Dave Pirner {{from Soul Asylum}} to sit in, "for moral support if nothing else." Mars praises both his co-producer, Tom Herbers, and David Leonard (who mixed _Horseshoes_ in Los Angeles) for their technical touches on the record. Working in the studio was a pleasure for this suddenly solo artist. He describes the process as adding paint to a blank canvas -- a process he is very familiar with -- and the mere elbow room in the control room made it even better. "Up to _Pleased To Meet Me_, no one told anyone what to do. We would suggest things and were very democratic. Until then, we just went in and did what we did, and let it rip," he explains. "Then, the last couple, it started getting, 'You should do this beat' -- people telling you what to do, so that kinda sucked. It was nice working by myself. If I wanted something, I would just go ahead and do it." Just as the creative mechanics of his painting make themselves useful in the studio, his art plows the fields of inspiration where the songs grow. But with different results. "My songs deal with real issues, where my paintings are very surreal. When I look at my art, I don't know why I tend to draw things so distorted and grotesque. It's sort of a rebellion against realism," Mars says with an artist's passion. After all, he is a visual artist taking time out to record an album, a fact he says his label understands. While he describes something that, in his mind, must be vividly subversive, I can imagine a tiny madman pulling levers and laughing maniacally in his skull. "I want to say," he says, pushing an invisible oil in corporate art's face, "Fuck that. Here, look at this. It's ugly. Like it." Minneapolis will continue to be home sweet home for Chris Mars and his wife, Sally, who is also his manager (and a better manager he could not ask for, he adds.) The seasons are important to him -- long winters might even help jumpstart those creative cold mornings. "What else do you do? Shovel snow, watch TV, write songs," he asks. "I wouldn't like California, and New York's not bad, but it's like going to the fair -- you just want to go there for a week and come back." Despite the disbanding of the {{Twin}} Cities' best-known and most- loved acts -- the Mats, Husker Du, the Gear Daddies -- Mars is optimistic that Soul Asylum and other bands can keep attention focused on Minneapolis. He mentions God's Favorite Band, Run Westy Run and the Jayhawks as favorites. What has he been listening to lately? "To tell you the truth, I listen to a lot of talk radio," he admits. "I'm sick of music." He favors KSTP (dismissing WCCO as an "old fart's station"), particularly Don Vogel, to whom Mars tunes in while he draws. One name conspicuously missing from his list of up-and-comers is Golden Smog, whose pop pollution is a byproduct created by Mars, Soul Asylum's Dan Murphy and Dave Pirner, Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, Kraig Johnson of Run Westy Run, and assorted other local rock ringers. There is little doubt whether GS's new Crackpot release will be a big success, forcing a change in Mars' life. "Oh, don't you worry -- it's not going to! Not if I can help it!" he laughs conspiratorally, although he admits that there are a few Elton John songs he'd still like to cover. Mars is having as much luck with the fish as Charlie the Tuna had with stardom. (Or as much luck as the Replacements had with stardom, for that matter.) And he's getting nervous. He changes baits and sides of the dock. I change subjects, sensing that the push into the lake is near if I don't wrap this up. I may not get another chance, so I have to ask: Are there any Replacements legends to put to rest, or are they all true? "They're probably all true and then some," Mars answers with a wide grin. "Shit, I can't say. Shit, only the four of us will ever know." I don't get details, although he peers into the water as if he were watching a 25-cent highlight film in some humid back room in his subconscious. He threatened at one time to regroup with Bob Stinson and perform as The Replaced, but that stalled without starting. Now it seems like success has him up against the ropes and is pounding him mercilessly. The Replacements are history. "We don't see much of each other because everybody's doing our own thing. Everybody's busy -- I assume we are. I know I am," he says as he leaps up and pulls in a decent-sized perch, finally. "Couldn't get any busier than this." --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- From CAKE magazine, issue #10 -- (September - October, 1992) CAKE 3028 Ewing Avenue S Suite 201 Minneapolis, MN 55416 Phone (612)-926-4110 Fax (612)-926-4381 "Cake is published approximately six times a year by CAKE, INC. Subscriptions are available for $16 for six issues. Subscription requests should be sent to the above address." Back issues are available. Write to CAKE for more information. Reprinted without permission. BOB STINSON INTERVIEWS HIMSELF Bob Stinson, former guitar wizard for Minneapolis' garage rockers, The Replacements, spoke to CAKE at 1:30 p.m., Thursday September 3rd, 1992. The meeting place: the world famous C.C. Club, where Minneapolis' musical elite smoke, drink Jagermeister and Summit Pale Ale, play pool, and piss, in that order. The topic of conversation: tour stories... plus a few other things Bob wanted to get off his chest. Recorded and deciphered by T. Trent Gegax "Every day weird shit happened on the road. Usually we had three weeks on, couple weeks off, three weeks on, record, fuck around, not look at each other for a week. Tommy (Stinson), Paul (Westerburg), and Chris (Mars) could all shack up in the same hotel room -- I couldn't deal with any of them. I stayed with Bill Sullivan -- he works for Soul Asylum now. Bill did all our stuff: guitars, got us drinks. Couldn't get us a girl worth a shit. So we got him one -- it was a guy, but he still liked her, ah, him. Every time I tried to stay in a room with (Tommy, Paul and Chris) I had to turn the T.V. on 'cause I couldn't deal with it, it was just dead silence. None of the three, except maybe Chris and I, could go to a bar and have a beer. I think the only thing we had in common was playing in a band. I was always out on my own, doing something ridiculous: pissing in somebody's shoe or something gross. But I could play guitar, at least I thought I could. I love touring America, but I don't like Boston, probably because it don't like me, either. I mean, I love everybody there, the girls are nice, but it's, I don't know, weird. Boston's not like Seattle, Washington, it's like coming off four hits of acid: you just want to go hide behind a dumpster -- that's what Boston's like. L.A.'s where all the wanderlusts live. We played the Roxy, but before that Chris stopped at a trick shop and bought a bottle of that stuff that smells really bad. Instead of sprinkling a couple drops on the audience, Paul just threw the whole bottle out into the crowd. The whole place stunk. We got a kick out of it, I don't know what our audience thought of that. It was '86 and we were doing "Saturday Night Live," staying at the Birkshire Hotel. I caused all the trouble on that one: I broke the phones, put a hole in the door, threw an ashtray out the window. Lorne Michaels put food and flower baskets in our rooms, free bar tabs -- we went to town. I think I'd have to say I abused it more than anybody. They swore no band from Warner Bros. would play on that show again unless we paid the tab on the $1,000 worth of supposed "damage" we did. We were picked up to go to the studio at 10 in the morning in a limousine stocked with booze, and from 10 to five you couldn't leave that floor. Anything you want they'd send for. Before we played we were completely just out of it. Harry Dean Stanton was in there drinking booze with Tommy. They were all fucked up. I was in the bathroom getting high. I had no idea those three had switched clothes, I didn't even know until I saw the playback -- didn't even occur to me. I was wearing something Lori, ah, Mrs. Westerburg, gave me. It was something like "I Dream of Jeanie" would wear: stripes, big bell- bottoms. But on stage I bent over when we were playing and Paul stepped back from the mike and said "fuck you." As long as it isn't audible they couldn't do a damn thing. Lorne Micheals was pretty pissed about that. We played "Kiss Me on the Butt, er, Bus" and "Bastards of Young." That was the original name of it: "Kiss Me on the Butt," but we changed it to "bus," or Paul did -- take your pick. As soon as we went to commercial Lorne Michaels came to us and said "that was a cheap shot." We had to sign like a $20,000 agreement not to swear on national T.V. The cheap way around it is to mumble. It was like our record contract: it never said we had to be in the videos we made, so we just had Paul's shoe and a cigarette in one of 'em. It just seemed the harder we tried to piss off everybody the more they liked us; I'd have to blame that on our demise, on what led us to walking away from each another (sic), anyway. I'm different. I'm very individual. I don't contour to society in any way and that scares the hell out of everybody. I mean, you can call me a social outcast and I'll be damned proud to admit to those words. You gotta be able to stand out on your own to make a difference, right or wrong. Lately it's been wrong. But when I'm on, watch out. What comes around goes around. We didn't listen to anything anybody told us. I mean, if they said the tape is rolling Paul would just put a cigarette out on the wall and say "fuck you," or "I'm going to take a drink," "go piss," ah, "I'll let YOU know when we're ready to go" -- whatever they told us we couldn't do, we did. I guess I instigated that. But I still talk to Paul, Chris is good, Tommy's okay. The Bleeding Hearts {Bob's new band} -- me and Mike Leonard, my roommate and the guy I like to spit at all the time -- we might do something soon. People are afraid of who I really am: a nice guy, very open, very honest, silly sometimes, willing to take a big risk for nothing. That's pretty important because a lot of people misjudge me. I've been having a lot of problems with people who kinda' get close and think they know you and then discard you. It's not right; I've never done it to anyone I know of, but I've had it done to me. One's in, one's out, one's half way there. People get misconceptions by reading by reading too many fucking papers. I mean, if you want to know somebody -- and this is important to me -- ask them, don't believe what you read or what other people say. A lot of people have done that to me, they've called me completely insane to almost a saint. I'm in there somewhere in between, I don't know where but, I mean, I'm vulnerable like anybody else, so treat me like I'm human. People just believe what they hear too much. I mean, look what happened to John Lennon. He more than any other, more than any of the other fellas could've ruined the (the Beatles') reputation with that one sentence. When in fact, he was just misquoted when he said, "We're bigger than God." {(sic), I believe. I think the quote was "more popular than Jesus Christ."...or something like that} And everybody accused him of being into acid and all that. That was bullshit, he was into heroin. If you want to know somebody, ask them, and I do that to anybody. I wouldn't say "what's this girl like?" or "what's this fella like here?" "Does he got a big knob?" or "Does she have nice tits?" I'd just go up and ask her, ah, well, as long as I don't get hit, anyway. Half the people in this town {Minneapolis} have written me off, saying "there he goes again, he's way over his head; he's on the edge, stay away," because they don't know me. There's only three people in this town I'd spill my guts to. People don't think I'm responsible. Sorry, pals, but rock 'n' roll people aren't responsible anyway. I guess I've been thrown to the masses again, so it's like I'm being judged. It kinda sucks. I don't like it. I get /some/ (royalties) -- a big /some/. /Enough/ some. I wish people would tell me if they were jealous of that, I'd lend them some money if they wanted it, if they'd quit giving me a bad rap. {Special thanks to Patti Coughlan of St. Paul, MN for obtaining this issue for me.} --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Here's a listing of some Replacements articles that I've found EXTREMELY informative throughout the years. You should be able to find these at your local library. (I'd type them in, but I don't have the three years that it would take to do it.) MUSICIAN MAGAZINE ----------------- July 1987, #105 -- "Replacements: Paul Westerburg's band may ascend to pages 90-100 the stars or splatter all over the road" ** This is a MUST READ. Written immediately after the release of "Pleased To Meet Me", the band gets more personal than I've seen in any interview. Tommy talks about his brother getting kicked out. Just a great interview. April 1988, #124 -- "Achin' to be Understood" pages 62-70,98 ** The tone is alot different here. The band's grown up a little. (Except for Tommy.) Still full of STUFF. Another great one. December 1990, #146 -- "The Replacement's Little Problem: pages 50-56,74 Paul Westerburg is Bent Out of Shape" ** It's just Paul this time. Shorter, more troubled. Good chronicle. ROLLING STONE June 1st, 1989, #553 -- "The Growing Pains and Pleasures of pages 79-83 The Replacements" ** The band is just starting to learn to deal with the idea of public promotion. Maybe less personal than the Musician articles (which also give the word on what kind of equipment they use), but still much better than the rag you get when you buy something at Musicland. Some other articles that I haven't seen myself... Melody Maker: ------------- * The Replacements: Leaders of a Lost Generation. Nov. ??, 1990, p.36 * The Replacements: The Art of Falling Apart Feb. 18, 1989, p.36-37 * The Rebel Yell. May 16th, 1987, p.24-25 Creem: ------ * The Replacements: The Pleasure is All Yours. Sep. 1987, p.6-10 * Drinking (And drinking more) with the Replacements Sep. 1986, p.46-49+ Village Voice: -------------- (no dates given, but many pre-1987 articles reportedly exist) Rolling Stone: -------------- * The Gospel According To Paul #474, May 22, 1986, p.30-31+ Spin: ----- * The Replacements: RIP December 19th, 1990. p.68-9. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: 22 Apr 1993 16:40:12 -0500 (CDT) From: DRURYS@carleton.edu Just wondering--am I the only other woman contributing to this list, besides Mary? Hmm. This list is great, it's nice to hear from people who are equally or more fanatical about the 'Mats. I guess I might as well babble on about my 'Mats experience since everyone else is and maybe it's something that y'all can relate to. Growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, I had always heard that the Replacements were this super neato cool local band that critics loved, destined to be famous and make Mpls. famous too, just like Prince. The whole Next Big Thing trip. Of course a lot of this meant nothing to me because I was still listening to top 40 radio, enjoying the latest hits of INXS and Duran Duran. Then one day I came upon KFAI, a noncommercial Twin Cities radio station, and a show hosted by the bassist of Boiled in Lead, a local Celtic-rock band. Turned out this guy loved all Mpls. music, especially the Replacements and Husker Du, so I got my first taste of them there. A bit later, while flipping through the record collection at my local library, I came upon a copy of "Sorry Ma." Yes, I realize how lame that sounds but I was only fourteen and I was, as I am now, a socially maladjusted little bookworm. Anyway, the raw energy of the album captivated me, my parents hated it, and I was hooked. Paul's frenzied songs perfectly captured the insanity of my puberty stricken head. "I hate music, sometimes I don't!" But the conversion to full 'Mats worship came when I purchased "Tim" several months later. I had matured ever-so-slightly (had turned 15 in the interim) and the album seemed to address the deeper psychological questions I was facing. "If I want I could die..." But I didn't and I think Paul & co. had a lot to do with that. At a time when I had no friends, I hated myself and my absurd little life, my parents thought I was a freak, I couldn't relate to anyone, etc. etc., I felt like Paul's songs were shaking me and screaming, "Fuck all of them! _I_ understand you. You are not the only person who feels this way." I saw them for the first time in May of 1987, at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, in a show that rocked my world but good. I've seen them four other times since then, all of which have been amazing, even when they're sloppy ass drunk they outplay any other band, period. I hope everyone subscribing to this had an opportunity to see them live. 'Mats shows are such deeply moving and religious experiences, I'm in tears half the time. (I just noticed that I wrote that in present tense, sniff sniff) Yeah, I know that was long, but here's more: in reference to the lyrics of "Swingin Party," the first line of the chorus is "If being ALONE'S a crime, I'm servin' forever" not "being in your arms." Please listen to it again. I hate to be picky, but the whole meaning of the song changes if you get that line wrong. Cool. Shannon drurys@carleton.edu --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 12:32:40 -0400 From: Dope Smokin' Moron Subject: P2MM interview Pt 1 Part 1 of something very long: ------------------------------------ Julie Panebianco interviews Paul Westerberg Julie: So Paul, How did you come up with the title of the album? Paul: Yeah, our new record, PLEASED TO MEET ME, huh. It took us maybe 5, 10 minutes to come up with this one. I think Tommy was responsible for this one. It took us maybe 5, 10 minutes to comeup with this one. A lot of people didn't get the joke. I see a lot of interviews and things where people think its "Please to meet you. "Yeah, it is. Its sort of an obnoxious phrase that we use on occasion. It fit the cover. KJ: The cover is a lot like the cover of Elvis Presley's GI blues. How did you pick the cover? P: How did we pick the cover? Well, let me tell you how we picked the cover. It was, you know, we've been known to lift a few things in out time. And this one is no exception. We took it from an old Elvis cover, the lettering at least. we kind of liked the dancing letters, the 50's sort of feel to it, and we sort of contrasted that with the photo, which has nothing to do with Elvis at all. It was that kind of record. We figured we were down in Memphis. It was a lot bluesier and a little funkier than we're used to playing. And it's sort of the spirit we were in. J: What was recording in Memphis like? P: Going down to Memphis, it was the coolest thing we did. We knew we wanted to record somewhere else. We actually, we recorded first in Minneapolis at Blackberry Way. We did some demo stuff. We were planning ion recording here. And after cutting a few things, we thought it would be good for us to try it somewhere else where we couldn't have the distraction of being at home where you can go home at night. It's much better for us. We recorded 6 or 7 records at home. And to be able to not go home and be comforted at night. It's better for the music in a way,because it makes you think of nothing but the music. J: Did you do anything different while you were in the studio? P: Like on PLEASE TO MEET ME, what did we change as far as recording is we've taken our time, which is something we rarely do. It's because we're very impatient. It was the best thing in world for us. It got boring, but it also got better songs. If it were up to us, we would've been done with the record in a week, like always. We pretty much record, then overdub a little later, but this time we would actually play songs over and over till we actually got the beat down. Chris was a big factor in this one where Dickinson, the producer, got Chris to play in time. Of course, by that time, Tommy and I were bored beepless. So we'd try it the next day. Just the fact that we took a little longer, I think paid off. J: How do you feel about the Replacements since Bob Stinson's left the band? P: Nine months ago when we got rid of Bob. We were thinking of breaking the band. I thought, well ok, I'll form my own band and I'll need a bass player and a drummer. Who am I gonna ask? I'll ask the best bass player and drummer that I know, Chris and Tommy. And its like it made no sense. That was one afternoon that we thought we would disband. We were very bored with not playing. We had played for 7 years and we all of the sudden stopped playing, because I broke my finger in New York one night and Bob's drifting away from the group. We were afraid for a while. When you stop for a while and sit back and look at what you're doing. It makes you think 'is this what I want to do with my life', you know, what the hell is this? You travel around and you play your little guitar and people yell at you, and then you go do it again. You get used to sitting at home and seeing how people go to work and come home. And then after being home for 9 months, you realize that if you don't do this you'll go absolutely crazy. J: Talk about Slim, your new guitar player. P: Slim is a hell of a good guitar player. Slim is his name, that's it. He ain't got no last as far as I know. He's played around Minneapolis for a long time. If anybody wants the best guitar player in town, they'd call him. He's like the hired gun of the city. We'd never thought he'd want to play with us. We'd always know him. Our first gig, in fact, we played with, when he was playing with Curtis-A. This was back in '79 something. It worked out perfectly, We had been getting tapes and letters from guitar players all over the place and the majority of them wanted to fill Bob Stinson's shoes and play like Bob and act like Bob. That's not what we wanted. We chose Slim more up because he fit our personality. I'm proud of that at least. We didn't go out and get a hot shot hired gun who could play great. Slim is not the greatest guitar player in the world, but he is as good on his instrument as we are on ours. We drank beer one afternoon and hired him before we even played. It was as simple as that. Thanks for all the tapes and stuff that everybody sent but we wanted someone from our own neck of the woods. Someone who thought the way we did. He loves rock'n'roll and he'll do it until the day he dies. He has no aspirations for superstardom or megawealth or anything like that. ------------------------------------------------------------- "J.D. if you need a fishing partner, please let me know." J.D. Foster? gotta run Huy-Khanh Vo huykhanh@wam.umd.edu --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: Tue, 06 Apr 93 06:45:12 EDT From: mike Subject: "autodiscography" from THE BOB The following is reprinted from THE BOB Issue 40, June 1990. It came with a free flexi-disk of The Replacements playing "Another Girl, Another Planet." THE BOB is now defunct. Too bad. I'd really like to see more stuff like this on the list, so I'm "leading by example." If you have fanzine interviews and other items of interest pass 'em along! It really doesn't take long to type 'em in. Oh, well. Enjoy. *********************************************************************** THE BOB: Would you mind doing an auto discography, and talk about each one of the LP's? PAUL WESTERBERG: Of _our_ stuff? THE BOB: Yeah. PAUL: Don't listen to it. THE BOB: You can either start from the earliest one or start from the new one. PAUL: Ask me a question on each one and I'll try to give you a suitable lie. THE BOB: Well, SORRY MA, FORGOT TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH [1981]- I still listen to it and enjoy it. Do you ever listen to it and if you do, do you still enjoy it? PAUL: I was at an all-ages show about two months ago, I went with my sister and they put it on. It was really loud and I didn't know who it was until the second song. So that tells you how often I listen to that. And I was thinkin' "Who the _fuck_ is this playin' this old-hat _shit_?" You know, some crank band that thinks they're playin' rock'n'roll. And sure enough it was me. And they couldn't believe that I didn't recognize that it was the Replacements. But I always do that. Whenever I turn on the radio and we're on, I immediately don't recognize us. I just think, "This is familiar, who is this?" THE BOB: The thing that set SORRY MA apart from the other hardcore bands of the time was the lyrics. I've always thought the Replacements strongest point was your lyrics. A few albums ago in an interview you claimed you were illiterate. That seems so ironic, because insightful lyrics have always been what makes the Replacements stand out. PAUL: Yeah, well, I mean, Einsteinium was dyslexic [laughs]. But I think that's what saved us on SORRY MA, because musically there's nothing really going on there. I guess I was from a different school of thought at the time -- everyone else was getting into whatever was hip at the time, which I guess was more politcally-orientated things. And I probably had met my first girl a week ago, so I was obsessed with that. THE BOB: The next record, STINK [1982] was all-out, hard hardcore. PAUL: Yeah, well that one rang the falsest of them all. It's funny that a lot of people still like that one the best. It was done in two nights. We recorded it on Saturday and mixed it on Sunday afternoon. That was kind of our way of making a demo tape to send out to all the clubs to say "See, we can play this stuff too; can we have a gig?" And then he did like a full year of touring with HUSKER DU and BLACK FLAG and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, whoever. I think that was the short-lived where we thought we were a hardcore band. And then we'd go back into the van and listen to TED NUGENT [laughter]. THE BOB: HOOTENANNY [1983] was a period of transition for you, because it started getting away from hardcore and took a turn toward slower, more emotional songs like "Within Your Reach"... PAUL: Hmm-mmm. I think almost each record is a reaction to the one before it. It was like a year or six months of touring and doing the STINK thing, and the last thing I wanted to do was really bash out another one. You could hear me more-or-less trying to find my voice, or trying to find out where I fit in - "I don't _feel_ like a skinhead, I like pop songs, I like bubblegum stuff." That was in a way trying to fuse what I had been listening to growing up into what was happening at the time. THE BOB: LET IT BE [1984] is the one that made people realize that Hey, this band is something else, this band is definately not a hardcore band. PAUL: This band knows Pete Buck [laughter]. THE BOB: The songs were kind of transcendant compared to your earlier stuff. That album has some of my favorite songs of all time, like "I Will Dare" and "Answering Machine" and "Unsatisfied." PAUL: And every one of those three were written at a turbulent period in my life. I'm glad that we recorded then--had it been two months later, it might have been different. I hate when I look at it that way, because then we're back to the question of, "Well, do you need that tension in your life to create great art?" But it just seems to come back to the fact that those songs that stay with you are the ones that were written at a hard time. THE BOB: And then TIM [1985] was the first major-label record. PAUL: That was right when we were splintering with Bob [Stinson, guitarist]. Bob wasn't on much of the record. And [producer] Tommy Erdelyi, for all the help he gave us, did a pretty crap-ass job at mixing the thing. I mean, he mixed it on headphones 'cause he was deaf from playing with the Ramones. So it didn't help us a whole lot. But it's got some great tunes on it. THE BOB: On PLEASED TO MEET ME [1987] you played guitar by yourself, and I think you did a great job. PAUL: Thank you. That one was coming out of TIM and not knowing what we were doing by getting rid of Bob. So we looked to someone older, and [producer Jim] Dickinson was perfect because he sort of took us by the hand and said, like, "Don't worry, boys, just put on the clown make-up one more time and make a punk record." And it was like, "Sure, okay, we know how to do that." THE BOB: Have you seen Bob lately? PAUL: Yeah, just the other night Tommy and I were out and Bob came in and it was nice, cause we all sat down and it was like he never left-- within two minutes we were both insulting each other and had our arms around each other. There's definately a lot of love there. I think any bad feelings are definately water under the bridge. THE BOB: DON'T TELL A SOUL [1989] kind of shocked people by it's mellowness. I like the songs but I was disappointed by the ultra- heavy-sheen production. PAUL: Hmm-mmm. And I think that was the problem of having a third party in there--having a guy mix it who didn't know the band, and wasn't there for the recording, and more than anything didn't listen to the words. He thought "I'm getting paid, this is my job to make it sound like Eddie Money, and that's what I'm gonna do." And us at the time, we're figurin', "Hey, it might work." And it didn't. THE BOB: Are you disappointed to it now? PAUL: Ummm, no. I mean, of all songs, "Asking Me Lies," I still listen to that a lot. And not so much for the lyrics, I just kinda like the groove that Tommy and Chris were playing. I think DON'T TELL A SOUL is gonna be a sleeper like TIM was. A lot of people didn't like TIM at first, and now I get all this, "Oh there's great songs on TIM." I think that's the new TIM, it'll be the one that people'll come back to later. THE BOB: And then there's the new one, ALL SHOOK DOWN [1990]. Some of the best songs you've ever written, and I think your best singing of all time. PAUL: Hell, if that's an endorsement, then I'll take it. Yeah, I agree. And it's a reaction to the last record, which was a little too slick, so I made sure we pulled it the other direction. THE BOB: I haven't seen the album's first single "Merry Go Round," in the stores yet, but I understand that Tommy does the song on the b- side. PAUL: Yeah, that's called "Satellite." We just recorded that, about three weeks ago. That was really kinda fun. That was the first thing that we had done as a band in a long time. I sort of took the role of producer, and Tommy took the helm, playing the guitars and singing and playing the bass. And Chris and Slim added their parts. It was a fun way to do it. It would have been nice to have done the new Replacements record that way. And it did open a new door, that I guess we _could_ work this way if we wanted. But the album has to go Top-40 before they'll even press that up. THE BOB: On "My Little Problem" you sing a duet with Johnette Napolitano [of Concrete Blonde]. Was that song originally written as a duet? PAUL: Yeah it was. And it was kind of written with her in mind. She was one of my first choices, or I thought Joan Jett might be fun. But yeah, it was definitely written with a female vocalist in mind. And Johnette and I, we're similar in a lot of ways, and I figured it would be a nice match. She blows me away. Actually, I had a hard time keeping up with her [laughs]. She's cool. THE BOB: "The Last" could be taken a lot of different ways. You could be singing about the last love, as in getting married. Or you could be singing about the last Replacements album, implying that this could be the last one - PAUL: Or of course the last drink. THE BOB: Exactly, that was my third... PAUL: Yeah, and it's all three of those. *********************************************************************** mike. --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Date: Wed, 14 Apr 93 07:41:11 EDT From: mike Subject: Paul Westerberg Interview from THE BOB The following is part 1 of ? of an interview with Paul Westerberg which took place as ALL SHOOK DOWN was being released. It is from the same issue as the discography/interview I posted earlier. The other parts will be sent out as I find time to type them in. Typos are mine unless noted. C'mon folks, send out some interesting stuff! If there are some good interviews posted to the list, I may be convinced to dig up my old issues of the now-defunct REPLACEMENTS fanzine WILLPOWER and post some of the great early interviews and concert reviews from it (incentive) ;) Enjoy! RE: REPLACEMENTS. THE ELUSIVE PAUL WESTERBERG IS FINALLY CORNERED. INTERVIEWER BRUCE DAVIS ADMINISTERS THE SHAKEDOWN. THE BOB: Have you been doing a lot of interviews lately? PAUL: Yeah, I've been doin' a bunch, but I've got fresh lies for you. THE BOB: Okay, good. I read the ROLLING STONE interview, of course. Anything new happening since then? PAUL: My hair's grown a quarter of an inch [laughs]. THE BOB: Are you still up in the air about touring and keeping the band together? PAUL: Umm, I imagine we'll hit the road. I mean, I can't see retiring at age thirty. We WILL tour. I just don't know exactly when. I would guess early next year. Once the record's dead in the water we'll go out. THE BOB: Do you feel any pressure from the record label to keep it THE REPLACEMENTS and not a solo thing? PAUL: There is pressure, not a ton. There are people who aren't as close to me or the band that just find it ridiculous--the record comes out, and then, "What!? The record comes out and then no band to follow it up?" And then there are other people who might even be concerned with my best interests. And those include just taking enough time to figure out what I want to do. But I imagine that the band will do it. There's no problem with us personally. It's just, making this record was difficult. And I don't want to go re-do things the way we've always done them. It seems like I've taken a step one way, and I don't want to take a big step backwards to continue, you know, like the 1989 tour all over again. THE BOB: Sometimes it seems that you'd like to keep the stature of the band at a certain level and not become, like "stars." You do a lot of things to--I don't know if HURT is the right word--but to "hurt" the success of the band. Do you want to NOT become a "star"? PAUL: I'll tell you honestly, I think it'd be a lot easier for me to make myself a star than it would for me to make THE REPLACEMENTS one. It's taken me ten years to figure that one out. But, no, we're not purposely doing things so we won't get to that level. It's hard for me to be the "leader" and for them to follow what I'm doing and for it to fit them like a glove and be natural for them. And I think that's kind of where we ran into problems, where it's like I've lost part of the fire of leading three other guys. I mean, I like to be in a group. And I like playing with other musicians, but I never really got a chance to because I'd always play with these guys. And on the new record, getting a chance to play with some other guys sort of opens something new--I still want to learn other kinds of music or how to play this kind better. And THE REPLACEMENTS do have an attitude of "we are what we are and we won't be anything else." And I'd like to break out of that attitude. THE BOB: Does the band as a whole have it's own attitude that's different from your own personal attitude? PAUL: Yeah, they certainly do. And they obviously all want to express themselves musically, and I would like to give them a chance to do that. But it seems like it would be better for them to do that on their own, with me in a back seat position--I would LIKE to work with Tommy on a demo or a solo record, and if Chris WANTED me to help him I would help him--rather than me come up with a direction and write the song and expect them to adapt. If it isn't what I hear then I don't hold THE REPLACEMENTS as some sacred cow that "Okay, well I don't like the way this instrument is played, but as long as he's in THE REPLACEMENTS then it has to be there." I think that the music deserves more, sometimes than what the four of us can give it. TO BE CONTINUED..... mike. e-mail: ucf1vm.cc.ucf.edu +--------------------------------------------------+ | I N D E P E N D E N T F I L M M A K E R | | "Studios?! We don't need no steenking Studios!" | +--------------------------------------------------+ --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- From: nryan@merle.acns.nwu.edu Subject: Re: the last concert Date: Thu, 22 Apr 93 22:25:20 CDT s'up? just in case anyone's curious, the july 4, 1991 concert was the 'mats last performance. it was in grant park, chicago as part of the taste of chicago. i was there and it was unfortunately the first and last time i'd ever get to see the band play. material issue and nrbq opened and it was raining so hard during nrbq's set, they had to stop for about fifteen minutes. but as soon as they finished the sun came out, and the replacements hit the stage! they opened with "i will dare" and played a set that concentrated pretty heavily on material from "all shook down" although they did toss in excellent renditions of "waitress in the sky", "hold my life", "i don't know", and "i'll be you". they finished the set with a great version of "can't hardly wait". for the encore, they came back out with tommy doing lead vocals on "hootenanny". towards the end of the song, tommy, paul and slim (bob?) handed their guitars to roadies who finished out the song. the concert was broadcast live on 93.1 fm wrxt, but i don't have a copy because my sister forgot to tape it (forgive her, she's slowly developing into a solid 'mats fan). i'm sure there's got to be copies of it floating around...if anyone happens to have a copy, i'd like to get my hands on one. thanks nate --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- Here's another review of Bash and Pop's "Friday Night is Killing Me". It's out of a regional music newpspaper, The Note. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * * * 1/2 out of a possible * * * * "Tommy Stinson started playing bass for the Replacements when he was 11 years old, and if that thought doesn't turn a parent's hair white I don't know what will. While your average '80s teen was watching /Miami Vice/ and worrying about next week's algebra quiz, Mrs. Stinson's little boy was playing CBGBs and probably trying to score some king- hell penicillin, lest the one who said her name was Pamela last night happened to have more than just an infectious personality. That band stopped, but Tommy Stinson didn't. Touchy point: the 'Mats were one of the greatest rock'n'roll bands ever, and how do you follow that? Stinson has followed it with Bash & Pop - twin guitars, bass, drums, and a barful of early '70s attitude. Stinson's turned in a bass for a six string and handles the singing and songwriting. B&P is a pretty swell rock'n'roll band that's going to have to club its way through an ugly mob of critical comparisions, because at first listen the first five songs that open /Friday Night is Killing Me/ sound a lot like The Faces. I mean, they /really sound like the Faces/ - alcohol-fueled, mid-tempo rockers that feature the kind of fun, fat, jangled guitar that got Ronnie Wood the gig he's been working the past few years. That, combined with the fact that Stinson's voice is indistinguishable from "Maggie May"-era Rod Stewart (the resemblance is eerie) means that, well, lots of people are going to compare Bash & Pop to Faces, or to the Stones, or God forbid, to the Black Crowes. Pay no mind, and don't judge the record by "Loose Ends", the tune you're going to hear on the radio. Tie down all the furniture, tape the windows, wrap the lamps in newspapers, ask your neighbors to take a long walk and skip directly to "Fast and Hard". That's what a riot would sound like if someone with a guitar were running it. "Fast and Hard" and the title cut show off what B&P do best when they're playing loud, and that is cop your basic 70's ragged-edge, two- guitar-big-drum AOR sound of 20 years ago and punch it out over a rhythm section that gew up listening to Black Flag. There's a definite 90s nervousness underneath the happy excess of the band, a sound that suggests the Beast is not only on the loose, but is waiting backstage. Stinson is a talented songwriter with a wicked flair for lyrics - when he sings "I've got my attitude and my shiny shoes" you instantly recall every barroom player with big hair you've ever seen - and his ability to slow down without losing his edge. "Nothing" and "First Steps" are earnest, melancholy ballads with a touch of early Neil Young angst. The four players (Bashers? Popsters? Bash-and-Poppers?) mesh in the way really terrific bands - Crazy Horse, the Heartbreakers, Mellancamp's back line, and yes, dammit, the Faces - always do, which is to say they sound tight and loose at the same time. Stinson and Steve Brantseg trade exuberant-yet-depraved guitar licks, while Kevin Foley on bass and Steve Foley on drums try to pound the room walls down in a way that suggests they're brothers who once slept in the same room. One clinker: "Tickled to Tears" sounds too much like mediocre Rod Steward, which is mediocre indeed. Other than that, it's a well- crafted and impressive debut." -- Patrick Quinn --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-- from: Matthew Tomich (skyway@phoenix.creighton.edu) If you haven't already seen it in the record store, there's a limited edition of "14 Songs" that has a few extra pictures in it and an interview with Westerberg. The average price I've found is double whatever the store is charging for the regular CD. There's only eleven pictures, and two of them are just an out-of-focus shot of a stop sign and the head of his guitar amp (an old Vox). The "book"'s cover is a thick, unglossed cardboard and there's over ten blank pages in the thing...and for the $30, I really think we're getting ripped. But hey, those marketing geniuses got their money. (I think I read a letter from someone that said that they were also releasing promos to radio stations in this format.) Anyways, the only other reason to by it (unless you're into pin-ups and Westerberg is your favorite), is the interview. So here it is transcribed. (The single brackets are printed, the double brackets are mine.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PAUL WESTERBERG -- As interviewed by Bill Bentley Q: When did you start writing songs for this album? A: They're split into two groups. Half of them were written about two years ago, right after the Replacements finished their last tour and I moved into a new place. I didn't have anything but a piano, a chair and a rug. "Runaway Wind," was the first one I wrote, along with "Silver Naked Ladies" and "First Glimmer." Some were written in the studio as we were recording. "World Class Fad" was bashed out in literally ten minutes and recorded in one take. It was the same with "Something is Me" and "Down Love." Q: Have you ever written like that before? A: Never had and always wanted to. I think it was the fact that I was the only one there a lot of the time. Matt [Wallace] and I would work on something, and when a song wasn't working he'd do an edit or a rough mix and I'd sit alone with my guitar and come up with stuff. There was no pressure of other musicians sitting around waiting to work. And when I came up with something we'd call in the drummer or get a bass player, or I'd play bass because there wasn't a guy around. It took a long time to get those little magic moments. Q: Did it feel different doing songs that you knew were going to be on your album as opposed to the Replacements? A: It was kind of the same. There wasn't any real feeling of doing something different on my own. I pretty much sat down as always and wrote the songs on either acoustic guitar or piano and fleshed them out on electric guitar. Where my head was at was that I was feeling less like I had to make a statement or be this supposed great song- writer. I felt very free to just write whatever I felt like that day. Q: How does songwriting come to you? Is it inspiration or just work? A: Both. Nine times out of ten, though, the sit-down-and-write ones don't ever make it. There was a song called "Two Raindrops" that was beautiful and everything, but when it came down to recording it, it just didn't feel right. Generally the songs that come fast are the best. They're usually a little silly. The one that did take a while was "Runaway Wind." I was writing that like you would write a poem or something. Q: What's the feeling you have when you've got a good one? A: It's a great feeling. And it's almost sad, too, because it flashes through your mind that the greatest moments of your life will almost always be spent alone. Playing live with the guys is great, but it's not like writing by yourself when there's no one around. For that hour or two you feel like you've got a purpose and a place in life. You think you're hot shit and pat yourself on the back, and then that fades. Q: Do you get the feeling of a place or person when you write? A: I have little things that I go back to that mean nothing to anyone but me that relax me. I'll picture myself back when I was four or five years old at my neighbor's house, looking at baseball cards on an autumn day with the wind blowing. A lot of my songs seem to be cropping up with a fall-type vibe. I've never had any summer songs. You get a lot of cold weather, probably because of where I live. I've been playing "Here Comes A Regular" recently. It's time for me to gear up to go out and perform, so I've been pulling out the old records. That song and some others were hard for me to play for years after I wrote them, for some reason. I don't even remember the specific inspiration behind it -- if it was too close or too personal, but now that I've got a little distance I can play it and sing it as a good song, almost as if someone else wrote it. Q: Do you ever write a song that scares you? A: Oh yeah. All the time. I guess "Things" would be one song on this record that falls into that category. I wrote it almost two years ago and then put it away and then pulled it out during the sessions. Everyone is saying that it's obviously about my ex-wife, but it isn't, which gives it even a more mysterious, macabre twist. I don't really know what it's about. Lines of it may pertain to her, but others may have crept in while the television was on in the background. I'm not trying to evade the issue. I don't think I've ever written a song simply about one person. People get offended. They hear a line that's definitely them and then they hear two more and say, "How dare you call me that." Q: Is it hard to detach yourself and just listen to music for pleasure? A: No. Over the last four years the music I chose to listen to is music I can't write. It's jazz or classical or a lot of blues. I love rock and roll but I'm not too terribly interested in music I can do. I can play my own rock and roll. I don't really need to listen to it. I listen to music to release me from what I can do. I remember reading interviews with Charlie Parker in the fifties and they'd ask him what he was listening to and he'd say Barto'k and Debussy. It's the same kind of thing. You get inspiration from other forms of music. Q: Do you feel a sense of loss about what you're leaving behind? A: No. I haven't turned my back on rock and roll. I just don't necessarily scrutinize everything. I'll put on "Brown Sugar" like someone would open a beer when they want a lift. Q: What about the actual recording of your album? How did you come across Brian as a drummer? A: His name came up from Matt and Tommy [Stinson, former Replacement]. They said he could play and that he was a cool guy and they were right on both counts. I took to him immediately, person- alitywise. Before he played a beat I figured, if this guy was a little bit above crap, he's in. There were other drummers, Mike Urbano and Josh Kelly. These were people Matt knew. I suggested Rick Price, the guy who played bass for the Georgia Satellites. He and Josh came up to New York and that's where we started. I ended up playing a week with those guys, but we weren't getting the right spirit and we had to shake things up and make a change in the rhythm section. John Hart played on the "Dyslexic Heart" thing and he was recommended by Scott Litt. He was going to tour with me, but he crapped out so his nice guy status gets knocked down a notch. I'm currently looking for a bass player. I've got a few guitar players who sound cool, but bass is still a stickler. Q: You're credited with sax on this album. Is this a new thing? A: No, this is something that I picked up while I was listening to jazz. After hearing so many metal guitar solos, I just wanted to learn something else. I bought the sax at a garage sale across the street for a hundred dollars. It's a C-Melody. I blew on that for six months before I bought a cheap tenor. It was great. It really felt like starting over. I could barely play and there was no one to tell me what I could or couldn't do, like back when we did the first Replacements album. Q: Van Morrison is another vocalist who plays the occasional sax. A: The only time I ever saw Van Morrison was when we were doing the record. In fact, the day Ian McLagen [former keyboard player with The Faces] played piano, he had a show in San Francisco and I went and Van came on stage. I met him backstage afterwards and for the first time in my life I was truly mortified. I was toe to toe across from him and he's asking me who I am and he starts pounding the table and telling me he's got to hear the cassette. I'd heard all the horror stories, but actually he's kind of a nice guy. Not scary at all. Q: How did you hook up with McLagen? A: He's a fan of the Replacements. He came to see us in L.A. and told us he wanted to come down. It never crossed my mind -- I was extremely flattered. That was the single most exciting moment of making the record. He came in, sat down, and in one take blew through it [[probably referring to "Silver Naked Ladies" here]]. We listened to it in the control room at a hundred and thirty decibels, and we were jumping in the air, shouting and screaming. Q: How was the song "Black Eyed Susan" recorded? A: We did it in my kitchen. The reason we didn't redo it was because I couldn't remember how. It was one of those things where I just twisted the strings a little bit different tuning and was immediately inspired to come up with a new fingering and usually a melody follows. For the life of me, afterwards I couldn't remember how I played it. "Here We Are" is the same thing. We spent the entire day in the studio in New York, spending how many thousands of dollars and not getting anything done and I ended up going into the bathroom with an acoustic guitar and started fiddling around and Matt came in with a little cassette deck and we recorded the song in the toilet. We knew we had something and I knew Matt was my man. He'd done whatever it took to capture something different. Q: Joan Jett was also involved singing background. A: I like Joan. We're friends and whenever I go to New York I usually say hello. She wasn't busy so she came down and hung out and sang on a couple of songs. It was fun. Q: You recorded the album in three cities. Was there a difference in the feel of each city or was it just the logistics? A: The record really came to life in San Francisco. Most of the one-take live stuff was done there. We did a little overdubbing in Minneapolis and L.A. We also worked in New York, but I think the problem was that I tried to rehearse Josh and Rick on ten songs in three days and then, when we got them in the studio, God bless them, they couldn't quite get a handle on all ten. It was way too much. I also had cold feet. It wasn't like going in and making a record with guys I've known for twenty years. It was difficult to get the ball rolling until we came in one morning and did one song live. We just rolled the tape. Q: In the Replacements, it was always you guys against the world. Are you confident enough now to go out and do it yourself? A: Yeah. The band-against-the-world thing was how it was when we started. But that spirit probably left halfway through our career. We became, dare I say, average. We gussied it up a little and tried to be more professional, less creepy, and it didn't work to our advantage. I wouldn't be so pompous to say we were ahead of our time, but maybe these days the attitude we cultivated is applauded more and encouraged. We spent a lot of time getting our wrists slapped and making enemies. Q: Are you much a reader? A: I do read. I go in phases where I've got about six books that I'm flipping through. I like biographies a lot and I'm reading this thing about Henry Miller by Erica Jong, which is kind of interesting. I just got done rereading all of the J.D. Salinger stories. I went on a big jag while making the record -- that's actually where we copped the title from: _Nine Stories_. I had more than nine songs, though. [[end]] --==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--