2016.07.27 - Interview with Tommy on Talk Planet

Listen to the audio here: http://talkplanetradio.com/tommy-stinson-the-replacements-guns-n-roses-and-soul-asylum/

Funky.Monkey from mygnrforum has transcribed the GN'R related part:

You were in Guns N' Roses for 18 years have you seen any of the current tour that they are on?

Tommy Stinson: You know I saw a couple of those show and I thought they were great and I thought Axl was singing his butt off. I had a good time watching them from a distance, it was fun to be on the other side of that show. So yeah, cool stuff.

It's gotta be interesting to observe that from an audience standpoint after being in that band for those 18 years, when Duff came back -- 18 years in any one band in the 21st century that's a very long run.

Tommy Stinson: It certainly is. It was a great run for me, financially it was great for me and it did a lot for me. It formed a lot of relationships that I still have today and I'm pretty stoked about that I'll always be grateful for those kind of things.

For all of us Gun N' Roses fans we never thought we would ever see the album Chinese Democracy see the light of day. I think it finally got released in 2008. You talk about drama and theatrics, that was a long wait.

Tommy Stinson: It certainly was (laughs). Yeah, you know what, that was a heavy position for Axl to begin trying to do all that. It took a lot because it took a lot out of him to finish it and to make it what it became. And it was super important, there was a lot of it that happened that was super important to him just on a personal level that had to be sorted out before it could come out. He's gonna have to take all that with the whole package you know.

Tommy comes off really nice in interviews.

@Soulmonster wrote:Tommy comes off really nice in interviews.

He always does. I became a fan of his stuff with his 2004 solo album (which was a very positive piece of news amongst all the "Chinese Democracy" delays back then).
Hope to see him live (w/ band or solo) one day! (I did see him with GN'R in 2010.)

He is said to have given Bucket a hard time, and possibly Bumblefoot, but since leaving the band he has said nothing negative about either GN'R or his time spent there. Classy. I guess he has nothing negative to say, either, he didn't complain while he was there, seemed to have a great relationship with Axl and left on amicable terms. Unlike others. Maybe Tommy with his background knew how to work with different people, also difficult people, and knew how to handle such situations.

@Soulmonster wrote:.. he has said nothing negative about either GN'R or his time spent there.

Yeah well, I guess he made a good living during those years.

It was a great run for me, financially it was great for me and it did a lot for me. It formed a lot of relationships that I still have today and I'm pretty stoked about that I'll always be grateful for those kind of things.

Of course, in this business, contacts are important and he probably made a lot of those, which is useful for his "solo career" in many ways.
Also, he stuck with Axl during all the years leading up to CD, which must've been tough at times, my respect for that!