Perfect

After <a href="spotify:artist:4WPY0N74T3KUja57xMQTZ3">the Replacements</a>' demise in the early 1990s, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:0o1eC2L6gOIyKwkAtxVAWH">Tommy Stinson</a> formed a new project called <a href="spotify:artist:2xoDN5GlMYE7ebaMKrx0Lv">Bash & Pop</a>, 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-<a href="spotify:artist:4WPY0N74T3KUja57xMQTZ3">'Mats</a> 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, <a href="spotify:artist:6ryDQXEOhCzXjUn3O8z0Pj">Marc Solomon</a> on guitar/vocals, Dave Philips on guitar/vocals, and <a href="spotify:artist:1Ym5vK1ziRGuxljmGNfNsr">Gersh</a> on drums.

Perfect began gigging soon after and caught the attention of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Medium+Cool+Records%22">Medium Cool Records</a>, which signed them after label head Peter Jesperson (an old manager of <a href="spotify:artist:4WPY0N74T3KUja57xMQTZ3">the Replacements</a>) 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 (<a href="spotify:artist:08avsqaGIlK2x3i2Cu7rKH">Keith Richards</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0ODQJS4mk7rVBJXjdqByX6">Cracker</a>), the set was a glorious return to Stinson's sloppy roots-rock sound. In 1997, the band went into the studio with producer <a href="spotify:artist:7J8Uj3BYpf5f7FiZuR1AwC">Jim Dickinson</a> (who manned the boards for <a href="spotify:artist:4WPY0N74T3KUja57xMQTZ3">the Replacements</a>' 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, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Medium+Cool+Records%22">Medium Cool Records</a> was at loggerheads with Regency Pictures, the new owners of its distributing label, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Restless+Records%22">Restless Records</a>. 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 <a href="spotify:artist:6lig3yUbu7r6VhnB8YGSlF">Axl Rose</a>'s new version of <a href="spotify:artist:3qm84nBOXUEQ2vnTfUTTFC">Guns N' Roses</a> and cut a solo album, while Philips worked with <a href="spotify:artist:5Q8gM5SMBT2LAoZ5LzqAvH">Frank Black</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6ryDQXEOhCzXjUn3O8z0Pj">Solomon</a> played with <a href="spotify:artist:6l3KLSQSC1eSFCjjW9UOwP">Clumsy</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3BCquGySKAHyDYk3C7wcN0">Solly</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1Ym5vK1ziRGuxljmGNfNsr">Gersh</a> 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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rykodisc%22">Rykodisc</a> in 2004. Guitarist Dave Philips died on February 22, 2021, due to cancer; he was 52 years old. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi