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Tommy Stinson’s Bash and Pop announce release of new album in 2017

by Andrea Swensson

September 21, 2016

As he teased in an interview last month, Tommy Stinson is officially reforming his early 1990s, post-Replacements rock band Bash & Pop and will release a new album under that name in early 2017.

In a press release today, Stinson revealed that he's planning to play his first official show with the reunited Bash and Pop at the 7th St. Entry in January, and an album will be released around the same time.

"As the life of this project developed, the elements of what make a band a BAND started to appear: The spontaneity, the solidarity, the piss, the vinegar, the good times and the angst," Stinson writes. "These are all of the things that I think make for a great rock n’ roll record; like a car careening helplessly off the road, only to be spared catastrophe at the very last second."

Bash & Pop was the band Stinson started immediately following the Replacements' break-up in 1991, so it seems fitting that he's returning to that project after the Replacements' second act has wound down. Bash & Pop have signed to Bash and Pop to release their new record, which is a follow-up to their 1993 debut Friday Night is Killing Me.

To commemorate the reunion and re-emergence of Bash & Pop, Sire/Reprise will also reissue Friday Night is Killing Me on vinyl in January.

A Pledge Music site has been set up for Bash & Pop's new record, and pre-orders of the reissue and new album are available now in addition to some pretty wild and unique gift options.

From the press release: Fans "also have the chance to procure one-of-a-kind memorabilia items (plaid suits, bass guitars, etc.), as well as cool opportunities with Tommy and the band (he’ll officiate your wedding, they’ll come play a concert in your basement, etc.) and they can even be in the audience at Bash & Pop’s first show since the late 1900’s, going off this January at the legendary 7th St. Entry in Tommy’s hometown of Minneapolis."

Here's the message from Tommy Stinson:

Howdy my peeps!

You’re hearing it here first: A new Bash & Pop record is coming! Yep, that’s right! No sh*t! Since recording my last two solo records in a rather piecemeal way, I found myself longing to make a record in the same way that we made the early Replacements records: live, in the studio, as a band. The last record I really did that on was called Friday Night Is Killing Me.

What’s the difference you say? Allow me to explain.

Whether I’m wearing my artist or producer hat, I will forever lust after the capture of lightning in a bottle, no matter how incomprehensible or daunting it may seem. Since early 2015 I’ve been recording new songs with new and old friends, cutting all of them as live as possible without losing too much fidelity nor over-thinking the songs.

Recording live with a band is the only way I know this to be done. As the life of this project developed, the elements of what make a band a BAND started to appear: The spontaneity, the solidarity, the piss, the vinegar, the good times and the angst. These are all of the things that I think make for a great rock n’ roll record; like a car careening helplessly off the road, only to be spared catastrophe at the very last second.

A majority of the people I played these tracks for said it reminded them of the Bash & Pop record. Alas, there you have it. A new Bash & Pop record coming soon!

 

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