Steve Foley (drummer)

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Steve Foley
Also known as =


Img_capt = The Replacements, left to right, Slim Dunlap, Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, Steve Foley (right) in "When It Began" (1990)
Background = Drummer
Birth_name = Steve Foley
Born = 1959
Died = 23 August 2008
Hopkins, Minnesota
Genre = Rock
Occupation = Drummer
Years_active = 1979–2008
Label =
Associated_acts = The Replacements, Curtiss A, Bash & Pop
URL = Steven Foley (1959 – 23 August 2008) was an American drummer who played for Curtiss A, Things That Fall Down, The Replacements, Bash & Pop and several other bands in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He played live for the most part but he recorded with songwriter Peter Lack and he appears in a Replacements video, "When It Began", nominated twice in the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. [cite web|title=1991 Video Music Awards|url=http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/1991/|publisher=MTV Networks|accessdate=2008-09-07] Foley toured with The Replacements and played their final show at Grant Park in Chicago in 1991.cite news|author=Cohen, Jonathan|title=Replacements Drummer Steve Foley Dies|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003843194|date=August 27, 2008|work=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media|accessdate=2008-09-05]

Minneapolis bands

Foley grew up in the Hopkins, Minnesota area with six siblings who were all interested in music. He played for The Overtones and Things That Fall Down who were among the favorites of Kevin Cole then of First Avenue, [cite news|author=Cole, Kevin|title=R.I.P. Replacements Drummer Steve Foley|url=http://www.publicradiomail.org/kexp_radio/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=29971257|date=2008|publisher=KEXP Radio Seattle|accessdate=2008-09-05] and with the Suprees, Snaps, Routine 11, Bang Zoom and Trailer Trash. Foley was a drummer for Curtiss A for ten years when he most likely did not record on Twin/Tone Records. [cite web|title=Curtiss A|url=http://www.twintone.com/curtissa.html|publisher=Twin/Tone Records|accessdate=2008-09-07]

The Replacements

Paul Westerberg, Chris Mars, Bob Stinson and Tommy Stinson who formed The Replacements played rock music that was perhaps the most legendary and might be the most influential so far to emerge from Minnesota.cite book|author=Keller, Martin|title=Music Legends: A Rewind on the Minnesota Music Scene|date=2007|pages=115–118|publisher=D Media|url=http://www.minnesotaseries.com/|isbn=978-0-9787956-1-0] Second only to Bob Dylan, Westerberg has been called the state's most influential rock songwriter. Two members of Curtiss A bands replaced two Replacements. Bob Dunlap now known as "Slim" replaced guitarist Bob Stinson, who was fired in 1986 after the tour for "Tim" and who died at age 36 in 1995. Foley replaced drummer and painter Mars, who left the band in 1990 when it may have ceased to exist.

Westerberg and Tommy Stinson went out looking for a drummer in 1990, decided on Foley, who was willing, and asked him to drive them all to an audition. They skipped the audition when their just-released album "All Shook Down" happened to be in his car's CD player—loudly when Foley turned on the ignition. [cite news|author=Vena, Jocelyn|title=Replacements Drummer Steve Foley Dead Of Apparent Drug Overdose|url=http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/08/28/replacements-drummer-steve-foley-dies-of-apparent-drug-overdose/|date=August 28, 2008|work=MTV News|publisher=Viacom|accessdate=2008-09-05] Jim Walsh, author of "The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History", released Foley's account on MySpace. After seeing him play with The Replacements at the Orpheum Theatre, his father finally decided that Foley was a professional musician.

Early on The Replacements refused to make videos but later made commercial videos for Warner Bros.' Sire Records and MTV. The band toured for Sire for "All Shook Down" but their review in New York [Pareles who loved Westerberg thought Dunlap and Foley were a separate band just playing along. cite web|author=Pareles, Jon|title= Review/Rock; Two Shows: Buck Pets and Replacements|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4DE1F38F933A15750C0A967958260|date=March 21, 1991|work=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Company|accessdate=2008-09-07] was poor and they broke up, perhaps because Westerberg was in pursuit of a solo career,cite web|author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas|title=The Replacements|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jiftxqr5ldje|publisher=allmusic via Macrovision|accessdate=2008-09-07] or they just quit. [cite news|author=Askari, Sarah|title=The Shouting's Over, Too|url=http://www.citypages.com/2007-11-14/music/replacements/|date=November 14, 2007|work=City Pages|publisher=Village Voice Media|accessdate=2008-09-07]

At number 69 ("Don't Tell a Soul" reached 57) on the "Billboard" 200, "All Shook Down" was The Replacements' second-best selling album. [cite web|title=The Replacements|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jiftxqr5ldje~T50|publisher=VNU eMedia via allmusic|accessdate=2008-09-07] It received four stars from "Rolling Stone" who called The Replacements "America's best band". [cite news|author=Mundy, Chris|title=The Replacements|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thereplacements/albums/album/113833/review/5945811/all_shook_down|date=October 4, 1990|work=Rolling Stone|publisher=Wenner Media|accessdate=2008-09-08] Allmusic didn't like it but gave the album four and a half stars, and, undated, appears to predict the band's breakup. [cite news|author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas|title=The Replacements|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:43rb282c052a|date=undated|work=allmusic|publisher=Macrovision|accessdate=2008-09-08] "Merry-Go-Round" with a supporting video with Mars on drums reached number 1, "When It Began" with a clay animation video with Foley on drums reached number 4, and "Someone Take the Wheel" reached 15 on "Billboard"'s Modern Rock Tracks. [cite web|title=The Replacements|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jiftxqr5ldje~T51|publisher=VNU eMedia via allmusic|accessdate=2008-09-07]

When Warner's Rhino released four early Replacements albums from Twin/Tone in April, Stinson and Westerberg discussed a reunion in "Billboard". Westerberg was in favor of waiting for the reissues of the four Sire albums later in 2008.cite news|author=Orshoski, Wes|title=Replacements Leaving Door Open For Reunion|url=http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003791810|date=April 21, 2008|work=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media|accessdate=2008-09-08] Which drummer they had in mind might be unknown.Fact|date=September 2008 Mars contributed backup vocals but not drums to a Rhino compilation in 2005.

Later years

After The Replacements disbanded, Foley joined Stinson in Bash & Pop and in 1994 both Steve and brother Kevin Foley touredcite news|author=Jacobson, Don|title=RIP: Replacements drummer Steve Foley, in RockNotes: AC/DC vs. Oasis|url=http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/music/rocknotes_back_back_back_in_bl.php|date=August 29, 2008|publisher=The Beachwood Reporter|accessdate=2008-09-05] for and may not have played on their 1993 album "Friday Night Is Killing Me" on Sire / Reprise.cite news|author=Riemenschneider, Chris|title=Steve Foley played with the Replacements|url=http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/27511854.html|date=August 26, 2008|work=Star Tribune|publisher=Avista Capital Partners|accessdate=2008-09-05] In 1997 Foley recorded "Something Wonderful" with Lack in the band 69 later known as Wheelo. [cite news|author=Groebner, Simon Peter|title=CD Release/Bass Culture|url=http://www.citypages.com/1997-04-02/music/cd-release-bass-culture/|date=April 2, 1997|publisher=City Pages via Village Voice Media|accessdate=2008-09-05]

More recently Foley sold Nissan cars.Fact|date=September 2008 Wheelo reassembled in late 2007 at least for practice throughout 2008, and according to a bandmate, "Steve's last cymbal crash came down during a raucous, frenzied, and ridiculously silly jam in the key of 'b'." [cite news|author=Hermes, Chuck, in Steve Seel|title=Steve Foley|url=http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog/archive/2008/08/steve_foley.shtml|date=August 28, 2008|work=The Current|publisher=Minnesota Public Radio|accessdate=2008-09-05] He had been sober for fifteen years but he had been medicated for depression and anxiety. Foley died at age 49 from an accidental overdose of prescription medicine (not from a drug overdose as some papers reported). He is buried in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.

References

External links

*cite news|author=Surowicz, Tom|title=Wheelo|url=http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/11509736.html|date=April 28, 1998|work=Star Tribune|publisher=Avista Capital Partners|accessdate=2008-09-08
*cite web|title=Wheelo|url=http://minnewiki.publicradio.org/index.php/Wheelo|publisher=Minnewiki, Minnesota Public Radio|accessdate=2008-09-08
*cite video|people=The Replacements|title=When It Began|url=http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1056&vid=9830|date=1990|publisher=MTV Networks (Viacom, video 1990)|accessdate=2008-09-10
*cite web|author=Kreps, Daniel|title=The Replacements Drummer Steve Foley Dead at 49|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/08/27/the-replacements-drummer-steve-foley-dead-at-49/|date=August 27, 2008|work=Rolling Stone|publisher=Wenner Media|accessdate=2008-09-08