"Control", "Blurry", and "She Hates Me" are
songs that we won't be getting out of our head anytime soon. They're catchy,
memorable, and fun to sing a long with. The man responsible for penning these
hits of course is Puddle of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin. If it weren't for
bad relationships, Wes would have none at all. Following the success of their
multi-platinum debut album Come Clean, Puddle of Mudd are back out on the
road in support of their sophomore release Life on Display (read
CD review).
Wes and company don't stray far from the acoustic based, memorable songwriting
formula
that
put them on the map with their current singles "Away From Me", "Heel
Over Head", and "Spin You Around". I caught up with Scantlin
on his third pass through Massachusetts since Life on Display's release late
last year. Bassist Doug Ardito even sat in for a few questions.
RIL: You've been out on the road for quite sometime in support of your latest
album Life on Display, are you getting tired yet?
WS: No man. Actually we’re just getting started.
RIL: This is your second time around, right?
WS: Yeah, we’ve been touring the entire time
since the album came out. We were touring before the album came out actually.
RIL: I saw you guys a few months ago at WBCN’s River Rave
concert. Are there any shows that have stood out for you so far?
WS: The last time we played here at the Tweeter Center it was pretty sweet
(that would be River Rave). I ran up into the crowd. I ran up to this guy
who was just lying there on a blanket. I was like, get up man, what are you
doing. Then I had like a mob of people.
RIL: I was thinking you were going to regret that run after you got up the
first two levels.
WS: Nah, I went all the way up to the grass, but our
buddy Jose the videography man he was bumming. He was trying to get me stop.
He’s like, ‘this
is a good place, let’s stop right here’. I was ready, I was gung-ho.
RIL: Have you had a chance to check out Nickleback or 3 Doors Down?
WS: Yeah, just a little bit.
DA: I like to watch their shows. It’s a good comedown after the whole
adrenaline rush of opening up. They’re good bands.
RIL: Puddle of Mudd just jumped on this tour, right?
DA: Yeah. Actually, we started the tour with them. The first show of this
tour for us was the first date of their first touring cycle.
RIL: When Life on Display first came out there was a contest where 11 winners
would have the chance to tour with Puddle of Mudd for a week. How did that
turn out?
DA: I think there was one.
WS: It was a girl, she got the platinum ticket inside
the CD and she’s
coming out on Friday. She gets her own tour bus, and gets to hang out for
a whole week. She’s going to bring a couple of friends.
RIL: Was this contest inspired by the old Van Halen contest; were
the winner got to go on stage with the band during “Jump”?
And eventually David Lee Roth got him a couple of groupies after the show.
WS: I don’t know. It was just a way to connect with the fans. We were
like, is anyone ever going to get this ticket? It’s just amazing; it’s
like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I heard Tim Burton and Johnny
Depp are doing a new version, but I don’t think it’s ever going
to beat the old movie.
RIL: "Control", "She Hates Me", and "Away From
Me" are a few of your most popular songs. They're about specific aspects
of a relationship. Were they written about the same person?
WS: No they weren’t. “Control” was written about a girl
I used to date back in Kansas City, “She Hates Me” was a song
written about a girl that I dated before that; it’s actually my son’s
mother, and “Away From Me” was about some crazy girl, you know.
RIL: The girls can’t be all bad; they all made you money.
WS: Yeah, crazy, messed up relationships make for great songs.
RIL: What the story behind your latest single, "Spin You Around"?
WS: It’s a song about being in love with somebody and making them happy.
There’s no angst at all. I flipped it this time. I can’t always
write about girls driving me crazy.
RIL: You [Wes] said in a previous interview that you had 20 songs or so
from before Puddle of Mudd got a major deal, are you still trying to get
them released?
WS: That will happen in the future, but right now we’re supporting
Life on Display for the next two or three months. We have the new single “Spin
You Around” which you’ve probably seen the video on the music
stations. The older Puddle of Mudd material will come out in the near future,
but I’m still taking with my old guitar player Jimmy Allan about sorting
it out. People will be surprised when they hear it.
RIL: Is it similar to your sound today?
WS: We were a lot younger back then, so there was a
lot more aggression. We would play hardcore. It’s more metal and intense. It’s
all the same. There were some haunting melodies back in the day and I just
keep trying to make them palatable for the listener.
RIL: There was talk of an acoustic Puddle of Mudd album, is that still in
the works?
WS: Yeah, we just need to find the time to put it together.
RIL: Isn't kind of weird to have an acoustic album when your music is already
acoustic heavy?
WS: A lot of the music we write is done on an acoustic
guitar. Doug and me write like that all the time. Sometimes you’re on the bus and you don’t
have an amp just sitting there, so you break out the acoustic guitar. It’s
easy to write songs on the acoustic guitar.
RIL: Have you given any thought to your next studio album?
WS: Yeah. Me and Doug and the rest of the guys have
come up with a few songs, some of them we’ve recorded. Doug’s been coming up with some
cool stuff. I’ve been trying to come up with some cool shit myself.
RIL: Are you and Doug the two major songwriters in the group?
DA: Mostly Wes.
WS: Doug’s my muse (laughs).
RIL: Are you sure you want me to print that?
WS: He’s my muse man. If I write something, I run it by Doug first.
He’s got a great galvanic meter.
RIL: I hope I can spell that. On one of the tour stops in Toledo, Ohio you
had a little problem, what happened there?
WS: Toledo, Ohio is an amazing area geographically,
but I really don’t
care about it. If they want to arrest people for nothing….they arrested
me for nothing. All the charges were dropped. I never threw a glass beer
bottle into the audience. I never said any profanity to the audience. I told
everybody that I was really sorry, but I had a few too many drinks. I actually
played about seven songs. I feel sorry for the Toledo fans because of the
law enforcement there. I think they were looking for a way to get themselves
some exposure. I will never play Toledo, Ohio again for the rest of my life.
Everybody else in Ohio is great. I love Cincinnati, I love Cleveland, but
I’ll never play Toledo again due to the fact I was arrested for nothing.
RIL: Have you had a chance to see the video of your performance in Toledo?
What did you think?
WS: I have it. I didn’t do anything man. All I did was pour a bottle
of water over my head and throw the bottle into the audience. I didn’t
chuck it, I just flipped it; an empty plastic bottle of water. I could beat
myself on the head with it, and it would hurt or make a bruise.
RIL: How did you come up with the name Puddle of Mudd?
WS: when the band first began in Kansas City, Missouri,
underneath the Broadway Bridge was this little brick building where Puddle
of Mudd first got started.
It was right next to the levy. In 1993, the river was flooding that year
and coming over the wall. We had to drive our cars into the crappy river
water and walk though the same water. We were like; we’re walking
through this puddle of mud; that’s the name!
RIL: Have you had the opportunity to meet any of your musical influences?
WS: Yeah, I’ve actually met, played, and became friends with Jimmy
Page from Led Zeppelin. I also just got off the phone with Jerry Cantrell
from Alice in Chains, who I’ve actually preformed with a couple of
times. He wanted me to come out and play with his new band Cardboard Vampires,
but I can’t do it. I’ve just met so many different artists that
have inspired me for a long time.
RIL: Whom would you most like to go out on tour with?
WS: All the bands that I would love to go out on tour
with are not together anymore, or someone’s dies in the band. I think
Queens of the Stone Age would be kind of fun. That would be a party.
RIL: Is being a successful musician everything you thought it would be?
WS: It’s not easy man. There are a lot of other
things involved besides playing live music on stage.
RIL: Are there a lot of lame interviews with guys like me?
WS: No, you’re cool man. It is everything I though it would be. Sometimes
it’s rough and sometimes it’s smooth, but life is the same way.
WES SCANTLIN
