Bash & Pop

After the Replacements dissolved in 1991, Tommy Stinson, who had assumed greater responsibilities within the group during its closing period, launched Bash & Pop as his initial vehicle for leading a band and stepping into the spotlight. Stinson handled guitar, vocals, and songwriting, recruiting drummer Steve Foley—who had briefly filled in for Chris Mars during the Replacements’ final phase—along with Foley’s brother Kevin on bass and guitarist Steve Brantseg. The lineup cut Friday Night Is Killing Me in 1993 under Minneapolis producer Don Smith. Accounts suggest the musicians never fully coalesced, and it later emerged that Stinson had performed the bulk of the tracking himself or with outside contributors, among them members of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers and Wire Train’s Jeff Trott. Reflecting on the project afterward, Stinson told Goldmine, “When the Replacements broke up, my original idea was to form a group that was basically the same thing the 'Mats were early on, which was a spirited band with a good chemistry, and which shared the same vision. We tried that with Bash & Pop with two different lineups, but I never really found four people who shared that camaraderie.”

Stinson had already dismissed both Steve Brantseg and Kevin Foley before the album appeared. A brief tour followed, after which the band folded amid lukewarm sales and reviews. Stinson next assembled Perfect, pursued solo work, and joined Guns N’ Roses on bass in 1998. Foley started Wheelo, yet struggled with depression and anxiety until his death in 2008 at age 49. In 2012 Stinson and Paul Westerberg reconvened the Replacements to cut several tracks for a benefit EP benefiting guitarist Slim Dunlap, and Stinson later anchored a reconstituted version of the band on the road from 2013 to 2015. Once that reunion ended, Stinson revived Bash & Pop with fresh personnel. The resulting sessions featured guitarists Luther Dickinson, Chip Roberts, and Steve Selvidge, bassist Cat Popper, keyboardist Tony Kieraldo, and drummers Frank Ferrer and Joe Sirois. Anything Could Happen surfaced in January 2017, accompanied by plans for live dates.