Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson—better known as one-half of The Replacements—have gotten the old band semi-back together. According to Rolling Stone, the duo spent a day in a Minneapolis studio last month, recording four covers that will be released as a limited-edition 10-inch EP later this year. Only 250 copies of that record will be made and all of them will be auctioned online, with the proceeds going to former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap, who had a stroke earlier this year and is now semi-paralyzed.
While the reunion is more than welcome, Westerberg told Rolling Stone that former drummer Chris Mars “didn’t want any part” of it—a fact that wasn’t surprising to him, but did leave him “a little disappointed.” Drummer Peter Anderson played in Mars’ stead, and Kevin Bowe, a member of Westerberg’s solo band, contributed guitar in place of the late Bob Stinson. The group took on only four tracks: Dunlap’s “Busted Up,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from the Broadway musical Gypsy, Gordon Lightfoot’s “I’m Not Sayin’,” and Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway.”
For anyone doubting the band’s musical prowess—and no one should—Westerberg says that he and Stinson “still rock like murder.” The frontman also told Rolling Stone that after this session, he wouldn’t rule out a full-scale Replacements reunion, saying, “I’m closer to it now than I was two years ago, let’s say that."