When
you listen to Wesley Scantin sing "Heel Over Head," you'll
immediately fall head over heels for Puddle of Mudd. No doubt about it --
these guys make angst hot. Who knew that anything remotely related to wet
dirt could be so attractive? As they wrap up their tour for their second
album Life On Display, we chatted with them about life as rising rock
stars.
By Marci Robin Perilo
Their friendship isn't limp.
The Puddle of Mudd you know and love today is not the original
configuration. Wesley headed up a local version of the band first, but
when life took the original members in different directions, Wesley held
onto the name and began looking for new musicians in Los Angeles. That's
not an easy feat -- unless you have a hugely successful rock front man
helping you out. Fred Durst lent a hand, helping to piece the band
together into the rockin' quartet it is today.
They're not good spellers.
We wanted to get to the bottom of the Mudd mystery. A band as deep as
theirs must have some profound, cosmic explanation for spelling Mudd with
two Ds, right? Not quite. "There's no reason," they told us.
"We usually say something funny and stupid. But there's really no
reason at all except to be stupid and silly." Well, at least we know
this frequently serious group of guys has a sense of humor.
They didn't get where they are by being lazy.
P.O.M. bassist Doug Ardito was amazingly fortunate when it came to landing
the gig. He was actually an intern at Interscope Records. But it wasn't
because he thought it would get him a record deal. "I saw how
cutthroat and vicious the music industry is, and I figured I better back
myself up with a 'real job.'" With a little luck, great connections,
and a ton of ambition, it wasn't long before he got the dream job. "I
knew I had to be proactive and positive and move forward."
Fame still freaks them out.
The guys are really down to earth, so gaining thousands of fans was an
awkward transition. "There are so many weird things!" they told
us. "When you're on TRL, up in that MTV studio overlooking Times
Square through all those big windows -- that's a weird thing to have
happen to you. You see people who are pop icons on TRL, like Britney
Spears, and then you're up there, and it's like, 'What the hell are we
doing here?'" But it's not always uncomfortable. They've had some
unforgettably awesome experiences, too. "Growing up watching David
Letterman and Jay Leno, and then all of a sudden, you're on the show
shaking their hands -- it rocks." Doug even said, "After meeting
David Letterman and Paul Shaffer, if it all ended tomorrow, it'd be all
right."
Go ahead, call them copycats.
A lot of artists have a real problem with being compared to other
musicians -- but not P.O.M. They've got a great attitude about music
criticism. "It's always been that way," they said. "When
Aerosmith came out in '71, everyone wrote them off as a Rolling Stones
wannabe. It's a never ending saga. You can't even be a Backstreet Boy
without being told you're just a New Kid on the Block. It's just the
nature of the game. A lot of writers and critics are just bummed out that
they're not up there doing it." Not us, guys. We're more than happy
to just sit back and watch!
Catch Puddle of Mudd on Last Call with Carson Day,Tuesday, March 23! And
find out more about the band at puddleofmudd.com.