SOURCE: http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=1239138&TP=getentertainment
05-14-04
Someday, Greg Upchurch wants to trade life in the Puddle for life on the pond again.
But for now he gladly submits to the rigors of the road and the restless, rowdy routine of a big-time rock 'n' roll band because, hey, how many breaks like that does a kid from Kingston, OK, get in life anyway?
Besides, pounding the skins behind Puddle of Mudd brings not only fame and fortune but the occasional triumphant homecoming, such as at 8 p.m. Tuesday, when the Los Angeles-based hit-makers play the Coca- Cola Bricktown Events Center.
His first hero's return was in July 2002, when the Puddle opened for Korn at the Ford Center. But now it's one multiplatinum debut album ("Come Clean") and five hit songs later, which makes Mudd the headliner this time.
The band's sophomore effort on Flawless/ Geffen Records, "Life On Display," released in late November, made a splash in the rock radio and mainstream rock Top 10s with its first single, "Away From Me," which the band performed live on Fox TV's Las Vegas New Year's Eve broadcast "America's Party."
"That was just like wham-bam outta there, you know?" Upchurch said from his Los Angeles digs, where he was just wrapping up a well-earned extended break. "Anytime you're in Vegas, it's kind of a blur. It was kind of fun. Any kind of TV appearance is always kind of nerve-wracking when it's live. So you kind of have to deal with that.
"I saw Drew Barrymore," he quickly added, "but I didn't say hi. I was too busy betting on college football. But we don't need to bring that up right now. I'm sure it's a sore subject back home."
And when Upchurch speaks of home, it's always with fondness, despite the heady whirl of rock 'n' roll success he's caught up in these days. The son of Don and Beverly Upchurch grew up in Kingston, a small town on the edge of Lake Texoma, with two brothers and a sister. He figures he was about 2 when he started banging on pots and pans with wooden spoons. Influenced in his formative years by Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, KISS's Peter Criss and Van Halen's Alex Van Halen, he landed a music scholarship at the University of Central Oklahoma but eventually abandoned his studies in favor of the Rock 'n' Roll Struggle -- that is, playing in a band on the local club circuit.
His first outfit -- which shall remain nameless, since the moniker would earn this column an NC-17 rating -- and a later band called the Dirt Poets built a fan base playing frat parties and venues such as O'Connell's and the Deli in Norman, and the Samurai, Sipango and VZD's in Oklahoma City, but that just wasn't big enough for Upchurch.
In '94 he moved west, took a job at the Guitar Center in Hollywood and eventually lucked into the drummer's chair with alt-rock band Eleven, replacing Jack Irons, who left to join Pearl Jam. Eleven eventually toured as the opener for Soundgarden in Europe, then served as the backing band on Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell's solo debut, "Euphoria Morning," and the tour that followed.
By the time he auditioned for a new band that included guitarist/vocalist Wes Scantlin, guitarist Paul Phillips and bassist Douglas Ardito, Upchurch's credentials were well- known.
Add a contract with Fred Durst's Flawless Records and a string of melodious alt-metal hits such as "She Hates Me," "Control," "Drift and Die" and the most worn-out record on modern rock radio in 2002 -- "Blurry" -- and you've got a wave of success that has carried the kid from Kingston from coast to coast and around the world.
Recent months have been all about nonstop touring, another Top 10 mainstream rock hit with "Heel Over Head," with a Chris Cuffaro- directed video in regular MTV rotation, and TV appearances on Carson Daly's "Last Call" and the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.
POM's Tuesday night show is a makeup date for a Jan. 30 Oklahoma City concert they canceled in order to perform in the Pepsi Super Bowl Concert series, which aired on MTV.
So what Mudd-balls of wisdom has Upchurch formed since becoming the seasoned road dog that he now is?
Rule No. 1 -- Don't party too hardy the night before a gig.
"I used to," he admits, "because I've been doing this for so long. But now I'm getting to the point where it's just kind of like, I can't get up. The worst thing in the world you can do when you're hung over is play the drums. I guarantee ya."
Rule No. 2 -- When you wake up on the tour bus in a strange city, take time to get your bearings before seeking out washroom facilities.
"The tour manager will leave your hotel room keys on the bus because he's not going to wake you if you're sleeping," Upchurch said.
So one morning in Memphis, the drummer rolled out of his bunk, found his key and made his way into the hotel before which the bus had been parked. When he found the room that matched the number on his key, he saw that the door was ajar. Entering, he saw baggage strewn about but no fellow band members.
"A lot of times we have these 'day rooms' everybody shares, and everybody just goes in and out to take a shower. Nobody was there, so I just went ahead and jumped in the shower," Upchurch recalled.
When he stepped out again, he was confronted by a "very big, large" security guard. It seems he had found the right room number -- in the wrong hotel. The rightful occupants had returned while Upchurch was bathing and called for help.
Turned out the band's hotel was across the street.
"I explained to them I just came off a tour bus, I'm in a band, and at that point nobody really knew who the hell we were," Upchurch says. "And trying to tell these people in Memphis who I am doesn't really work."
Rule No. 3 -- Resist the urge to stay an extra night when you're playing your hometown.
"The last time we played Oklahoma City I stayed the night, because the next show was in Green Bay, Wis., so there was a day off, a travel day. So the band went up there and I was going to stay at home and fly up on the day of the show."
But weather stranded Upchurch in Chicago, and he missed the gig.
"The drum tech had to fill in for me, and I guess it didn't go so good. But the guys in the band said it was fun because they decided to get kind of drunk and to hell with it. ... But we decided from then on out, nobody stays back."
So his reunions with family and friends tonight may be short and bittersweet.
"They've all been very inviting, like, 'Come on, man, you gotta stay at my place.'"
But Upchurch isn't one to make the same mistake twice. He'll be one of the first to board the tour bus when the band heads north for its next gig in Valley Center, Kan.
One of these days, though, when the Puddle dries up -- and that may be a long time coming -- Upchurch dreams of retiring to a house on the lake where he grew up and doing a lot of fishing.
"I was more of a pond fisherman, actually," he says. "Where I grew up we had like five different ponds we just walked to. Me and my friends, we'd just go to the tackle shop and go for catfish and black bass. You used the lake for skiing. Fishing you did in the ponds."
And we already know what a Puddle is good for.