Lemon Jail
On the Road with the Replacements
Bill Sullivan
Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Nonfiction Prose
A tour diary of life on the road with one of Minnesota’s greatest bands—with nearly 100 never-before-seen photographs
A raucous tour diary of rock ’n’ roll in the 1980s, Lemon Jail puts us in the van with the Replacements in the early years. Bill Sullivan—the young and reckless roadie—shows what it’s like to keep the band on the road and the wheels on the van, and when to just close your eyes and hit the gas.
"Lemon Jail is at its best in moments that perfectly convey the state of pre-internet underground music in America, where house parties, college radio, and photocopied fanzines could propel a small hometown band into legend." —Pitchfork
“Don’t bore us, get to the chorus” is Bill Sullivan’s motto, which will come as no surprise to anyone who opens Lemon Jail. A raucous tour diary of rock ’n’ roll in the 1980s, Sullivan’s book puts us in the van with the Replacements in the early years. Barreling down the highway to the next show through quiet nights and hightailing it out of scandalized college towns, Sullivan—the young and reckless roadie—is in the middle of the joy and chaos, trying to get the band on stage and the crowd off it and knowing when to jump in and cover Alice Cooper. Lemon Jail shows what it’s like to keep the band on the road and the wheels on the van—and when to just close your eyes and hit the gas.
Awards
Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Nonfiction Prose
$15.95 paper ISBN 978-1-5179-1276-5
Bill Sullivan has been on tour since the early 1980s. After the Replacements and stints with the Del Fuegos and the Cherrybomz, he was tour manager for Soul Asylum, Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst’s Monsters of Folk, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, The New Pornographers featuring Neko Case, Spoon, Syl Johnson, Teenie Hodges, and blues legend Jimmie Vaughan. He was co-owner of the 400 Bar on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota.
As a guy who has had the privilege of being regaled by Billy's rock ’n’ roll tales for years, I can attest to the authenticity of his stories. They may not all be accurate, but they are all true, which is more important. He is a real link to our punk rock legends of lore. Any fan of the Replacements or any of the ’80s left-of-dial bands will greatly appreciate this book.
Conor Oberst*
Reading Lemon Jail makes me think back to when Spoon would play Bill’s club in the early 2000s: he’d lay the welcome mat out for us from the moment we got to town, and we’d always drive off with an extra case of Tecate and a bit of weed. No one else in the touring world gave us that kinda treatment. This book is tour story after tour story from one of the most genuine originals in the game. Bill Sullivan is the spirit of rock and roll road life.
Britt Daniel*
For fans who love the Replacements, this book is your only opportunity to go back in time and be a fly on the van wall. Bill Sullivan’s clever sarcasm, humble anti-rock star attitude, and complete access allow him to tell the band’s behind-the-scenes story perfectly.
Janet Weiss*
Bill Sullivan captures the spirit and chaos of the earliest and best years of the band accurately due to the fact that he lived it right alongside us. A true kindred spirit, a fifth member if you will, who from the git-go, got what we were about to the point where it would not have been the same journey without him. Billy had our backs and represented much-needed comic relief on many occasions. Lemon Jail should come with a warning: ‘Don't Try This At Home.’ It's a quick read and, in my opinion, the most successful book to capture the essence of our destructive, drunken outcast brigade in all its successes and foibles. Bill’s ever-present comic sense, woven throughout the book, paints authentically the circus world that it was. I laughed aloud many times!
Chris Mars*
As every obsessive fan knows, there's been one essential voice missing from the recent wave of biographies, oral histories, and documentaries celebrating the storied and notorious legacy of the Replacements. This, then, is seriously great news, 'Mats droolers: Bill Sullivan has finally broken his omerta, and though no book could possibly contain Sullivan's legendary and seemingly bottomless trove of yarns—or quite capture his unparalleled ability to tell a story in person—Lemon Jail is a riotous, channel-surfing rip through his rubber-legged years with the band and will more than tide us over until somebody gives the man the full-fledged biography his life deserves.
Brad Zellar, author of House of Coates
Bill Sullivan was right there alongside the band, right in the thick of it, discussing specific shows, tours, and a million anecdotes. In addition to his words, Sullivan snapped hundreds of Polaroids which are sprinkled throughout the book.
Daggerzine
Although brief in size, the book gives us another view of the turbulent madness that was the beloved ‘Mats. Tales of road-induced boredom, which with The Replacements always led to property destruction and dizzying hangovers, are of course recounted; but beyond the goofs lived people who for a brief moment created essential, meaningful art—which is why we continue to read about it, to try and recapture those moments.
The Big Takeover
Lemon Jail is a must-read for any Replacements’ fans; it’s deeply personal and a fun ride.
NeuFutur
Lemon Jail is at its best in moments that perfectly convey the state of pre-internet underground music in America, where house parties, college radio, and photocopied fanzines could propel a small hometown band into legend.
Pitchfork
Old tour passes, disk camera photographs, notes and scraps of paper with art from drummer-turned-artist Chris Mars are just a few of the things Sullivan collected on the road. The book is filled with these physical memories, which provide context and insight to the premier “college rock” band of the 1980s.
Columbia Missourian
Sullivan’s entertaining book, published by University of Minnesota Press, is a glorified tour diary full of sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll, more drugs, and a story about Replacements guitarist Bob Stinson defecating in an ice bucket and sending it down a hotel’s dumbwaiter.
Boston Globe
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Largehearted Boy: Lemon Jail playlist
Over the years, Boston has been friendly to many upstart rock bands, notably the Velvet Underground, who were a mainstay at the Tea Party in the ’60s, and U2, whose first foray to America brought them to the Paradise in 1980. The Hub was also home away from home for the Replacements, according to a new book by the band’s longtime roadie and unofficial fifth member, Bill Sullivan, who says the misfits from Minneapolis felt like they belonged in Boston.
Though over the years there have been a lot of great books written about The Replacements (the best, being Bob Mehr’s Trouble Boys), Lemon Jail is a must-read for any Replacements’ fans; it’s deeply personal and a fun ride.
Largehearted Boy: Lemon Jail playlist
Lemon Jail: On the Road with the Replacements is an insightful and entertaining account of tour manager Bill Sullivan's time with the band.
City Pages: Bill Sullivan's memoir 'Lemon Jail' revisits his glory days as the Replacements’ roadie
Bill Sullivan could tell you stories. And in Lemon Jail: On the Road with the Replacements, a “more hysterical than historical” tour diary about his experiences as a roadie in the ’80s, he does just that.
I was a roadie for The Replacements and lived to tell the tale.
Roadie Bill Sullivan takes you into the madness of touring with The Replacements in “Lemon Jail”
Houston Press: The Ragged Road of the Replacements...Featuring Reptiles in Houston!
If you made a list of the most hazardous and patience-testing job descriptions in the history of rock and roll, “Road Manager for the Replacements” would certainly rank toward the upper echelon.
The rarely discussed Replacements side project that was fronted by their roadie.
Bill Sullivan has been the tour manager for a number of acts, including Bright Eyes, Yo La Tengo, Soul Asylum, and Syl Johnson. But it all began with the Replacements. Sullivan worked as a roadie for the group, from their first tour in 1983 through their 1989 trek opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. His duties included hauling amps, keeping rowdy fans off the stage, and finding places for the entourage to crash.
Star Tribune: Replacements roadie reveals fresh tales of debauchery in new book
Former 400 Bar owner Bill Sullivan's new book recounts his wild years as a roadie with Minnesota's rowdiest band.
MPR: Drunken chaos, pointless destruction, great music: The Replacements roadie talks
"On the road," says Bill Sullivan, "somebody was always looking at your stuff and wanted to steal it." That might have been the single constant in an otherwise rollicking, unpredictable life on the road with The Replacements, one of rock's most notorious bands in the 1980s.