Perfect

After the Replacements' demise in the early 1990s, bassist Tommy Stinson formed a new project called Bash & Pop, 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-'Mats 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, Marc Solomon on guitar/vocals, Dave Philips on guitar/vocals, and Gersh on drums.

Perfect began gigging soon after and caught the attention of Medium Cool Records, which signed them after label head Peter Jesperson (an old manager of the Replacements) 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 (Keith Richards, Cracker), the set was a glorious return to Stinson's sloppy roots-rock sound. In 1997, the band went into the studio with producer Jim Dickinson (who manned the boards for the Replacements' 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, Medium Cool Records was at loggerheads with Regency Pictures, the new owners of its distributing label, Restless Records. 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 Axl Rose's new version of Guns N' Roses and cut a solo album, while Philips worked with Frank Black, Solomon played with Clumsy and Solly, and Gersh 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 Rykodisc in 2004. Guitarist Dave Philips died on February 22, 2021, due to cancer; he was 52 years old. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi