Wild Stab (2016)

On Halloween 2015, Juliana announced a new project - a collaboration with The Replacements' Paul Westerberg under band name The I Don't Cares with an album called Wild Stab.

During the summer of 2015 Juliana began to drop hints that they were working together. A series of semi-cryptic Instagram posts led to up to the October announcement.

Juliana had often spoken of her love for The Replacements, most notably in her 2008 memoir. She was due to open for Westerberg for a series of shows many years previously but injury forced Paul to cancel his tour.

There were two singles in the lead up to release - 1/2 2P and the Westerberg lead vocal King Of America. The Current also premiered Born For Me a couple of days before.

Unlike Juliana's 2013 collaboration with Matthew Caws or her shows with Evan Dando where vocal performances and songwriting duties were evenly split, The I Don't Cares was predominantly a Westerberg project.

These are Paul's songs written with Juliana in mind and others reworked with her input.

Personnel and credits

Personnel

• Paul Westerberg - vocals, guitar
• Juliana Hatfield - vocals, guitar
• Josh Freese - drums

Credits

• Recorded in 2015 at Paul Westerberg's home studio
• Composed by Paul Westerberg
• Released by Dry Wood Music

Videos

Fan-made videos

In February 2016, Paul and Juliana invited fans to make videos for any song on Wild Stab, offering to pay $1 per second (!) for the ones they liked. Several submissions went on to receive The I Don't Cares' official seal of approval.

Outta My System

Directed by Max Tullio, this was the first fan-made video selected as an official promo for the album. (update: this one seems to have been removed from YouTube)

Back

Helen Frank of Sheffield, UK, made this stop-motion film, the second to be approved.

Kissing Break

The third fan-made video.

Love Out Loud

Artwork and animation by Alex Rosas.

Need The Guys

Another stop-motion contribution by Helen Frank.

Availability

Release date: January 22, 2016

It's available for download, streaming and on CD from the usual suspects including Amazon (US and UK), and iTunes UK.

Interviews

Paul Westerberg and Peter Wolf - Vanyaland

On the day Wild Stab was released, Peter Wolf spoke with Westerberg for Vanyaland about the collaboration, the songs Westerberg had accumulated in his basement and Hatfield's role in bringing them back to life.

“She brought a lot of this to life that would have otherwise sat down in the basement and rotted.”

(This was part of a lengthy interview video posted on YouTube but as of 2026 is no longer available at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkNb8kY_DdI)

Paul Westerberg - Spin

For Spin, Drew Fortune visited Westerberg's basement studio and discussed how his friendship with Hatfield developed into The I Don't Cares and Wild Stab.

“Jules and I were pretty close and I played her a bunch of the junk I’d been sitting on.”

Retrospectives

Juliana, writing about working with Westerberg for a career retrospective article in Uncut Magazine, published in February 2026:

We'd see each other off and on over the years in different places, and got to know each other really well. Then he decided he wanted to make this album. He had tons and tons of unreleased songs, and I was sort of asked to be a curator of them. I would pick out songs, we would work on them, and I would add a little bit to them. And also we wrote a few together.

Paul's a complicated person, but that's OK, I like complicated people. I think we understood each other's quirks, but it was kinda intense. He's really funny,as you can imagine. He's really smart and I love how he plays with language. You can hear it in his songs, and even when he speaks and writes, he twists the words around and makes up new words. We used to play a lot of Scrabble. He's got this basement in his house in Minneapolis with all this raggedy recording equipment and we did everything down in the basement. It was pretty thrilling just to be there with him making music.It was one of those moments that I feel really lucky to have had.

Reviews

Often times, collaborations like this end up being a disappointment, but "Wild Stab" is filled with enough good music to make it worthwhile. Paul Westerberg sounds great. Not as great as he sounded in "14 Songs", but certainly better than he has sounded in recent years. And Juliana Hatfield's contributions are reminiscent of her work with Evan Dando and The Lemonheads. Their voices go well together. does, too; their ragged harmonies are sweet and living - reminding me a bit of Julie and Buddy Miller's - their voices belong together.

Tommy Mac, The Virtual Sink

The album is lean and sexy with a one-take late-night vibe (described as "Donny & Marie with switchblades" in the liner notes) anchoring new rippers like “Wear Me Out Loud,” “ Dance To The Fight” and “Done Done Done.” The rustic cow-punk sound of the Los Angeles band X seems to be an influence here with the male and female voices melding to create one tough vocal.

Andy Derer, Empty Lighthouse Magazine

Wild Stab is a jangly, jaunty, lo-fi sprawl. Its 16 tracks sound slapped together with a healthy coat of Mod Podge, delivered straight from a basement studio. Some songs sound remarkably similar to each other, while others stick out at odd angles. It’s as if fussing over an album would’ve made it seem too much like a “statement”; instead, Wild Stab feels like a couple of pals rockin’ out, having fun, and not worrying too much about the final product. That’s not to say that these songs are anything less than professional — Hatfield and Westerberg are too good to drop any stinkers.

Adam Kivel, Consequence Of Sound

This album has a punk edge to it, but it is informed by a bit of rockabilly soul. This almost plays like Westerberg’s Grandpaboy records with Hatfield’s voice thrown into the mix. “King Of America” is steeped in classic heartland goodness, while “Whole Lotta Nothin’” has an insistent drive. “Dance To The Fight” is one of only songs where Hatfield really gets center-stage, but she works the tough groove well. In the end, this record has an appealing ramshackle sound and showcases both performers well, even if it feels much closer to a Westerberg release than one of Hatfield’s records.

Allan Raible, ABC News

Some songs are good; some songs are great; and there are only a few that probably should have been left as outtakes. There are hooks and riffs and clever turns of phrase; there are bold declarations, and much quieter ones. There is so much to like on the record, and it’s tremendously accessible and listenable.

Caryn Rose, Salon

For my money, I much preferred Juliana Hatfield’s 2013 collaboration with Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws. The album is called “Get There,” and they recorded under the moniker Minor Alps. It is one of those albums that flew under the radar, and it should be given consideration by any indie music lover.

In no way do I want to make it sound like I do not like the “Wild Stab” release by the I Don’t Cares. I think it is a fine album. However, given the background of the two players involved, I was hoping for something a little more magical. What I got was a fun album to listen to by two of my favorite icons.

Jeffrey Pederson, SC Times

Every song is solid, with a couple of standouts in “Outta My System” a Replacement-ish tune, and “Dance to the Fight” where Hatfield jumps into the fray in fine style on a number that could have been played in any fraternity house, at any time, back in the day.

The Falcon's Nest

Hatfield’s contributions are hard to pin down, but they aren’t slight. Her lead vocal turn on “Dance to the Fight” is a natural for her voice. And her backing and duet vocals throughout the record are actually a great pairing for Westerberg. So much of this record sounds like the type of guitar play that has been typical of recent Westerberg albums that it’s hard to know exactly where Hatfield fits in – she does that good a job of fitting into the overall sound of the album. I can only imagine that they’d be endlessly amusing and fun to see perform live.

Aquarium Drunkard

Opening tunes "Back" and "Wear Me Out Loud" are old Replacements outtakes that gracefully channel the Minneapolis singer's Don't Tell a Soul-era pop craftsmanship. Elsewhere, the duo tackle gentle alt-country ("½ 2 P," "Sorry for Tomorrow Night"), melodic power-pop ("Need the Guys," "King of America"), and indignant, rockabilly-tinged punk ("Love Out Loud," "Done Done Done"). Hatfield is front and center on several tunes, dueting with Westerberg on soft-spoken ballads ("Kissing Break," "Just a Phase") and taking the occasional lead. Most often, though, she sticks to the background, providing sweet harmony vocals and lead guitar throughout.

Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone

Wild Stab Track by Track Review - Rock and Roll Geek Show (Podcast)

Promo Images