Interview: Soul Asylum [Part III]

by John Davidson
11 August 2006

[Continued from Part II]

When you look back on the new album, is it pretty much what you’d hoped for given what happened with KARL MUELLER and all the songwriting you had to do?

DAVE PIRNER: I definitely see it as the very, very best we could do, and definitely see it as a better batch of songs on it because it took so long to write. There was just so much to pick through. It was just exhausting from a writing perspective because I just don’t go at things directly. And of course, there’s a thread that goes through it all, which are basically what DANNY MURPHY likes! (laughs) We were trying to be extremely self-critical on our quality control. And you know, as opposed to saying, “Why don’t you make another Grave Dancer’s Union,” what’s wrong with trying to make a BETTER Grave Dancer’s Union. That would make me feel great if people would say that. You know, sometimes I think about what we had for the record that followed Grave Dancer’s, a lot of good material that never made it onto the record because people were looking for something else that I didn’t understand. It’s all part of trial and error, because you’re just trying to make great music, rock out, and have fun but people end up kind of overanalyzing it. Too many cooks in the kitchen. But now, we’ve sort of come full circle and left to our own devices, which is much more like it was back in the day.

Speaking of back in the day, was that really you yelling back at the cops at the beginning of THE REPLACEMENTS’ Stink album?

DAVE PIRNER: It is indeed. I specifically remember the incident, and it shocked the sh*t out of me when I heard the record. I mean, I don’t know if I should dispel any of this, but it is tacked on. (laughs) Maybe I should say that, but it was at a party and the song was recorded live in the studio. The record starts out with the cops coming in and kicking everybody out of the party, and there was actually no more music after that. I was just screaming “f*** you!” The cops were onstage, and it was this funny thing where we were just screaming “f*** you” the whole time because they can’t see who was doing it. So, it really plays a lot better on the record. It was a warehouse party that a few bands were playing at, at a place where they used to have them all the time. I think the ‘Mats played at that party, it just wasn’t directly related to the banter. It was obnoxious, but I wasn’t like, yelling in the face of the cop.

Was there an actual rivalry between Minneapolis bands back then?

DAVE PIRNER: To me, no. I felt like there was this great community of bands that were really supporting each other. It was pretty solid to me, as far as how everybody wanted everybody else to do well. The speculation on the competition between HUSKER DU and The Replacements is a story, and it’s not mine. I wasn’t terribly aware of it at the time, other than it was all in good fun. At Karl’s last gig, it was a benefit for Karl and BOB MOULD and GRANT HART of Husker Du played together, and so did PAUL WESTERBERG. It was really touching to see the interplay between Bob and Paul in the dressing room beforehand, because the competition was always fun and they did sort of have one but it was endearing and affectionate towards each other. It was something that was really great to see after all these years, just a really brief moment. There was certainly never any animosity or anything like that.

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