The Replacements by Jim Walsh

The Replacements by Jim Walsh

Author:Jim Walsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2010-08-14T16:00:00+00:00


One foot in the door. Inking the major-label deal (with Jesperson and attorney George Regis). Peter Kohlsaat photos

Paul Westerberg: We’re making money, but we don’t see it because you got like lawyers and accountants and fuckheads.9

George Regis: There was some genuine excitement. It represented a major step in their career. We toasted the whole thing; we had some champagne on hand. And they were really excited to be with [Warner Bros. subsidiary] Sire and Seymour. At that point, Seymour’s track record was impeccable. They were part of a long line of A-plus-level rock and rollers that Seymour had signed, and they were absolutely an appropriate addition to that roster. They fit right in with the Ramones, the Talking Heads, the Pretenders, the Smiths. It was that pantheon. It was all cool stuff, and there was nothing cooler than the Replacements at that time.

Peter Kohlsaat: George loved my little red TR-6 [Triumph convertible] so much he bought one when he got a little more disposable income. But he and Westerberg spent the rest of the day driving around town, celebrating. Paul changed lawyers a few years ago, and that’s been a real sore spot with George. Because he really likes Westerberg, and he was a big fan and personal friend. And I don’t think he ever really explained to him why he cut him loose.

Paul Westerberg: They see it as there’s a hundred bands like us who would die for our chance, who are starving hungry and would do whatever they’re told. And they don’t understand that we want to go as far as we can, but we don’t want to be like AHa and shit. We’re not like the Cult.

We don’t have a strong, hip image that’s going to sell right now, and they don’t know what to do with us.10

Tommy Stinson: They think we’re trying to piss them off, but we’re just being ourselves. This isn’t like a job. Or a big thing to make us popular and pick up chicks. We just like doing this—it’s fun. They just sit there and go, “You guys are just trying to piss us off. You want to be the bad kids of the rock business.”11

Michael Hill: I always said to Paul and all of them, “It’s not you against everybody. It’s really all us against everybody else. Don’t make us all the enemy, because we’re all in this together. We’re a force, fighting the good fight together.” And I thought we needed to be more communal in that sense, rather than hostile to the very people who were key to not only our survival, but the survival of this whole aspect of popular culture.

Paul Westerberg: And [producer] Tommy Erdelyi, for all the help he gave us, did a pretty crap-ass job at mixing the thing [Tim]. 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.12

Tommy Erdelyi: What grabbed me was their intelligence.



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