2004.MM.DD - Ultimate Guitar - Interview with Tommy

Former Replacements bandmember Tommy Stinson, who took the place of Duff McKagan in the band, chatted with us about his solo album, Village Gorilla Head, in 2004. The album was perhaps his finest musical accomplishment, but he begged to differ. At the time he talked about the delay in making Chinese Democracy.

"The real delay was just how it went down. Having an eight person band collaborating to write a record is a daunting task to begin with, but to have it, to do it in a way where none of the guys have really been in the band all that long together and trying to pull in all those different influences from each band member to make it have a cohesive songwriting thing. It takes time. It was a lengthy process, but it was definitely the best way to go about it, and certainly the best learning experience I've ever had as a musician. As far my musical years and all the cool stuff I've done, it was one of the coolest things in that aspect, of just collaborating with people from totally different areas, genres, what have you."

Stinson said that Axl Rose was very supportive of him making Village Gorilla Head, and the bassist talks about the balance between being solo and in GNR.

"You know I love being in Guns and being a bass player with that but I also write songs on my own that aren't really geared for that. There's a good juxtaposition between the two."

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