Since we were admittedly influenced by The Replacements, I figured why not have Bob Stinson play guitar? When I approached him about playing with us, he agreed.”

“Bleeding Hearts were actually more like The Replacements, more like a classic rock ‘n’ roll band. “It was all his favorite stuff: Yes and Steve Howe and psychedelic Beatles elements-that’s what his heart was really into, and which didn’t have a home in The Replacements.” “Static Taxi was very much Bob’s thing musically,” said Leonard. Actually interrupted him telling a joke-I told the punchline.”Īt the time, Stinson-many years removed from The Replacements-was still in the midst of a long run with his group Static Taxi.

“I was at The Uptown five nights a week then, and Bob was hanging out there too,” he said. I guess he took it as a sign to quit.”Ī habitué of The Uptown bar, Leonard made the acquaintance of one of its other regulars, Bob Stinson. “The last guy we had decided to leave the band when his car caught on fire after a show with his guitar and amp in it. “We went through about four or five guitar players in a short span,” recalled Leonard. Leonard was eager to expand the fledgling band into a two-guitar lineup, but finding the right player proved tricky. By his late teens he’d become a skilled guitarist with a Rolling Stones obsession (and a magnificently exaggerated Keef-style coif to go along with it).Īfter moving to uptown Minneapolis, the then-21-year-old Leonard launched Bleeding Hearts in 1990 as a trio initially, with drummer Bob Herbers and bassist Rob Robello. Raised in suburban Minneapolis, Leonard cut his teeth on the punk rock of The Clash. But unaccounted for in that discography is the time Stinson spent as Bleeding Hearts’ lead guitarist.Īlthough Stinson’s shadow looms large over the history of the band, Bleeding Hearts were the brainchild of singer, songwriter, and guitarist Mike Leonard. In addition to the expansions of The Replacements catalog, Stinson’s post-‘Mats work – in the prog-psych band Static Taxi and his collaborations with punk vet Sonny Vincent in Shotgun Rationale – have all been collected and anthologized. The work of The Replacements’ co-founder and legendary lead guitarist, Bob Stinson has been well chronicled since his tragic passing in 1995.

The following is an excerpt from the liner notes to Riches to Rags, by Bob Mehr, the NY Times best-selling author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements.

Bob mehr replacements