Paul Westerberg puts screwdriver through hand

Billboard have reported that Paul Westerberg of the Replacements has injured his left hand "in order to be sidelined for a year." According to Jim Walsh, a friend of the Replacements former lead singer:

A week or so again he put a screwdriver through his left hand trying to get some wax out of a candle and cut some nerves and ripped some cartilage and hurt himself pretty bad. He's in a cast. He's seen a couple of doctors who say he won't be able to play guitar for a year.

Vagrant have yet to to comment on the situation.

Westerberg had a productive 2006, having scored and provided the soundtrack to the animated movie "Open Season" and reunited with his former colleagues for the first time in more than fifteen years to record 2 new songs for the Rhino-released retrospective Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? The Best of the Replacements, which was released in May.