PERFECT When Squirrels Play Chicken EP 1996

 

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Perfect Biography

by Greg Prato

After the Replacements' demise in the early 1990s, bassist Tommy Stinson formed a new project called Bash & Pop, which released a single album, Friday Night Is Killing Me. Since the record was written entirely by Stinson in his attic, it wasn't a true band effort, nor a rocking one for that matter, which became apparent when he tried to tour for the album with a newly assembled band. He decided to put his first post-'Mats project to rest, and soon formed the more typically Stinson-like band Perfect. The group came together in August 1995, consisting of Stinson on bass/vocals, Marc Solomon on guitar/vocals, Dave Philips on guitar/vocals, and Gersh on drums.

Perfect began gigging soon after and caught the attention of Medium Cool Records, which signed them after label head Peter Jesperson (an old manager of the Replacements) caught an explosive gig in their hometown of Los Angeles. They opted to release an EP first, 1996's When Squirrels Play Chicken. Produced by Don Smith (Keith Richards, Cracker), the set was a glorious return to Stinson's sloppy roots-rock sound. In 1997, the band went into the studio with producer Jim Dickinson (who manned the boards for the Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me) and recorded Perfect's first full-length album, Seven Days a Week. However, by the time the LP was ready for release, Medium Cool Records was at loggerheads with Regency Pictures, the new owners of its distributing label, Restless Records. Regency shelved the album, and frustration over the record's fate led to the band's breakup in 1998.

Stinson signed on as bassist for Axl Rose's new version of Guns N' Roses and cut a solo album, while Philips worked with Frank Black, Solomon played with Clumsy and Solly, and Gersh opened a drum sales and rental firm. A remixed and resequenced version of Seven Days a Week, retitled Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe, was finally released by Rykodisc in 2004. Guitarist Dave Philips died on February 22, 2021, due to cancer; he was 52 years old.

 

Tracklist

1. Makes Me Happy
2. Sometimes
3. Alternative Monkey
4. Miss Self Esteem
5a. Don't Need To Know Where
5b. (silence)
5c. Crocodile Rock

BASH AND POP Friday Night is Killing Me 1993

Thanks to Raul

biography

[+] by Stewart Mason

Tommy Stinson's first attempt at a post-Replacements band of his own, the short-lived Bash & Pop, never quite lived up to their promise. Formed by Stinson (who switched from bass to guitar and took over lead vocal and songwriting duties) and drummer Steve Foley, who had briefly replaced Chris Mars in the waning days of the Replacements, the group added Foley's bassist brother Kevin Foley and guitarist Steve Brantseg and recorded 1993's Friday Night Is Killing Me with Minneapolis producer Don Smith. By all accounts, the group never jelled into a cohesive unit and rumor has it that Stinson recorded most of the album playing most of the instruments by himself with various guest musicians, including half of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and Wire Train's Jeff Trott. Indeed, by the time the album was finally released, Stinson had already fired both Brantseg and Kevin Foley. The band limped through an aborted tour and unceremoniously broke up after the album sold little and garnered mixed reviews. Tommy Stinson went on to form the equally short-lived Perfect and then joined Guns N' Roses at some point in their "yes, we're really working on another album, honest" phase in the late '90s. Steve Foley formed the group Wheelo.

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