Thomas Eugene Stinson

Birth name : Thomas Eugene Stinson

Born : October 6, 1966 (age 42), Minneapolis, Minnesota,U.S.A.

Genre(s) : Alternative rock, Hard rock

Instrument(s) : Guitar, Bass

Associated acts : The Replacements (1979–1991), Guns N' Roses (1998-Present), Soul Asylum(2005-Present)

Thomas "Tommy" Eugene Stinson (born October 6, 1966, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.) is an American musician best known for his work as the bassist for The Replacements and Guns N' Roses.

He was one of the founding members of the 1980s alternative rock band The Replacements, along with drummer Chris Mars, his older brother Bob Stinson, and singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg. Tommy Stinson was only 12 years old when he joined the band in 1979. He dropped out of high school in 10th grade in 1983 to go on tour with the band.

Bob Stinson left The Replacements in 1986, but Tommy Stinson stayed with the band until they broke up in 1991.

After the Replacements disbanded, Stinson formed the band Bash & Pop who in 1993 released one album Friday Night Is Killing Me. In February 1995, his brother died at the age of 35 as a result of years of substance abuse.

After Bash & Pop broke up, Stinson formed a band called Perfect, who released an EP in 1996 titled When Squirrels Play Chicken. In 1997 Perfect's album Seven Days a Week was shelved due to record company problems, but was later released in 2004 under the title Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe.

In 1998 Stinson appeared on Puff Daddy's "It's All About The Benjamins (Rock Remix)" along with Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. He also can be seen playing bass for the song in the music video.

Also in 1998, Stinson joined Guns N Roses, and he has been their bass player ever since. His bass playing is featured prominently on their long-delayed Chinese Democracy album which appeared in late 2008. Stinson has pursued a variety of other projects during Guns N Roses' abundant downtime.

Stinson played bass for the recording of MOTH's 2002 album "Provisions, Fiction and Gear".

In 2004, in addition to the long-shelved album by Perfect, Stinson released a solo album Village Gorilla Head which was well-received by the music press.

In the fall of 2005, Tommy joined Soul Asylum for a few gigs in tribute to Karl Mueller. Stinson and Dave Pirner (founding member of Soul Asylum ) were friends in high school in Minneapolis, MN. He and BT also scored the Jennifer Garner movie Catch and Release.

In between touring and writing, he managed to produce Bobot Adrenaline's debut album Unfurled.

In December 2005, he reunited with his surviving Replacements bandmates Paul Westerberg and original drummer Chris Mars to record two new songs for a greatest-hits collection. Stinson further collaborated with Westerberg on the soundtrack to the Sony feature film Open Season, recording bass tracks for 'Love You in the Fall' and 'Right to Arm Bears'.

On November 24, 2006 at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, Axl Rose called the Eagles of Death Metal (one of Guns N Roses' opening acts) the "Pigeons of Shit Metal." Jesse Hughes, the Eagles of Death Metal's lead singer, told the New Musical Express that Stinson took his bass off and threw it on the floor saying "Fuck you, that's it" and threatened to leave the band. [1] Stinson did not leave Guns N Roses; however, the Eagles of Death Metal were fired from the tour. On December 2, 2006, Stinson issued a statement reading, in part: "Eagles of Death Metal were a suggestion of mine a while ago. Turns out they were the wrong band for our crowd. They were booed and did not play for as long as they were scheduled to. ... In the past I have thrown my bass. I have never thrown it at Axl or anyone else in the band nor has anyone thrown my bass back at me... yet. Axl has been a dear friend to me for nine years. We have no problem communicating and wish that people would stay the fuck out of shit they don't know anything about

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Markus Großkopf

Birthday: September 21, 1965

Birthplace: Hamburg

Height: 192cm

Weight: 85kg

Musical Influences: Deep Purple, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, UFO

Markus was born in Hamburg, Germany on the 21st of September 1965. At the age of 15 he spent a couple of weeks in a holyday camp, where he met two blokes that played guitar and drums in a punk rock group. Soon they became close friends and hung together all the time. As they needed a bass player in their band, Markus was offered the gig. So little Markus didn’t hesitate and agreed: “I can play the bass to save my live amigo”. He found himself playing bass in his first band.

They brought their gear (which wasn't much at the time) to the camp and started making noise. They covered songs from the The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Sid Vicious, XTC, The Sranglers and others. Some time later, when their musical skills turned out to be a little better, they were offered their first gig at the holyday camp. But after 2 years of practicing and no further offers and appearances, Markus decided to leave the band to explore new horizons.

By that time his heart began to beat more for rock’n roll bands like AC/DC, Kiss, Ted Nugent, and Iron Maiden. His new aim now was to find a band playing hard rock or metal with an option and ability for more live performances. Markus was talking to a guy who knew Kai Hansen, who was looking for a bass player for his band Second Hell at the time. Soon he was invited to audition and guess what ? Yes, he got the job! Also members of Second Hell were Piet Sielk and Ingo Schwichtenberg.

With this line up they did a few club gigs on the Hamburg circuit. Piet left the band and after several name changes, they mutually split up. Once again it was time for Markus to pack his bags and watch out for another gig to climb higher in his career.

When he finished school he started an apprenticeship at a butcher. That was definitely a very good reason to find a band with future plans immediately. Joining the band Blast Furnace, Markus met the brilliant guitar player Michael Weikath, who formed along with Kai Hansen a new line up with former members of Michael’s old act Powerfool. But shortly after that, they replaced their rhythm section, by calling in Ingo and Markus.

This completed the first Helloween line up!

It seemed like a very strong team, ‘cause it lasted longer than a couple of weeks! They had two very creative guitar players and songwriters and a wild, hungry and steaming rhythm section in the band.

From now on the dice started to roll for Helloween. Their first studio recording was published by Noise records on the legendary death metal sampler in 1983, followed by the even more legendary 5 track EP called “Helloween” and of course the LP ”Walls of Jericho”.

The following two master pieces “Keeper of the seven keys Part 1 and 2” with high pitch singer Michael Kiske, they lighted a new fire and gave Heavy Metal a new identity! They climbed the charts and reached gold in Germany and Asia.

Since then Markus recorded the bass on all the albums and toured around the globe with Helloween. For almost 20 years now, you can call him one of the grand members of Helloween.

Markus recorded his first solo album named Shockmachine create link on site in 1998. He also played bass on Ken Hensleys and John Lawtons (Uriah Heep) new arranged orchestral version of “Salisbury”, which was performed live at the “Hamburg Markthalle” and was released on video in 2001.

You also can hear his bass playing on Edguy singer Tobias Sammets album “Avantasia” Part 1 & 2. His latest activity besides Helloween is the band Kickhunter, on which he played the bass and produced their first album “Hearts and Bones” in 2002 and “Little Monsters” which was released in 2007.

The new side project of Markus called “Bassinvaders - Hellbassbeaters” was released Friday, 25th of January 2008. You'll find information on MySpace Markus Grosskopf or on www.frontiers.it.

Is that guy really busy? Yes he is.

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Robert Trujillo

Robert Trujillo
Born: October 23, 1964
From: Santa Monica, California
Personal: Married, 2 Children
Instrument: Bass, Background Vocals
Vitals: Brown eyes, dark hair, 5'9"/1.75 meters tall

He's got rhythm, and he's most certainly got music. Now Robert Trujillo's also got the job of being Metallica's new bassist and family member...one that will doubtless fit this most righteous and cheerful of Southern Californians like a glove.

Although he sometimes does use a pick, Trujillo is best known as a baaaad motherplucker, a finger-playin' bass monster who's dexterity, tones and attitude have seen him grace the bass of Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves and Ozzy Osbourne's band since his first professional work with Suicidal in 1989. It all stems back to a childhood filled with variety and spice.

Growing up in Venice Beach "Dog Town", Trujillo heard everything, from Led Zeppelin to Motown with a chunk of funk in between. Joined with a young love of surfing, Trujillo developed a rhythm and a vibe that saw him play with a variety of local bands through his early 20s until he met Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies via his High School buddy, Suicidal guitarist Rocky George. the two got on infamously well, and thus began a rich and fruitful relationship which saw Rob establish himself as one of the most exciting bass talents in the rock world.

In the early '90s, he and Muir formed the experimental funk-rockers Infectious Grooves, and then in the mid-'90s Trujillo joined up with Ozzy Osbourne. Together with drummer Mike Bordin, Trujillo formed one of rock music's most soild and reliable rhythm units.

Rob's name first floated by the Metallicamp during Suicidal's supporting role on the Summer Shed tour of '94, when all the band noted his enthusiastic style and performances. Thus when it was time to consider who could step up and take the bass full-time in Metallica, Rob's name was an obvious choice.

By all accounts, Trujillo's audition dared the band NOT to give him the job, and even producer Bob Rock was heard saying how complete and unequivocally whole the band sounded with Rob playing.

And so it was that on Thursday, February 24th 2003, Robert Trujillo walked in to the HQ and saw Ulrich, Hammett and Hetfield immediately start applauding him. Again, Rob is the perfect fit, a calm, even-keeled man with experience and full bass props...and genuinely one of the nicest guys around. It all adds up to the 4th member, an equal part of the Metallica family and an exciting new stage in Metallihistory.

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Roger Glover

Roger Glover

(born Brecon, Wales, November 30 1945)


























The bass player and composer, joined Deep Purple from Episode Six in 1969, then left to become head of A&R at Purple Records. He wrote the ‘The Butterfly Ball’ (1974) concept album which yielded the hit song ‘Love is All’ sung by Ronnie James Dio.

He worked as a producer with such bands as Nazareth and Status Quo, as well as working with Ian Gillan on their album ‘Accidentally On Purpose’ (1988). Roger played with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (1979-1984) before returning to Deep Purple in 1984.

"The last eight years have been especially enjoyable. It is such a joy to be in the band now. After Steve joined it reawakened in me that feeling of why I was in the band in the first place. It’s like a great big adventure. That’s the way it was in the beginning and then, of course, politics and personalities, success and money get in the way of the fun. For a while it became a job or a bore. The last eight years have been the exact opposite. It’s back to the fun it was in the first place, which is a wonderful thing!”

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