http://www.goupstate.com/article/20070524/NEWS/705240337/-1/LIFE

05-24-07

Puddle of Mudd comes clean on tour

By JOSE FRANCO, Entertainment Editor
Published May 24, 2007

Things are looking a lot less "Blurry" these days for Puddle of Mudd.

Lead singer Wes Scantlin called from Chicago, where the band was to perform Tuesday night.

The group will be performing a show Friday at Ground Zero and will be at the Speedstreet NASCAR festival Saturday.

The band is touring in support of its new album, "Living on Borrowed Time," which will be released July 24. "We started on this CD a long time ago," he said about the band's many release dates for the album.

"It's been almost four years (working on the new CD). I'm thankful for the time to write the tunes," he said. "I'm very, very proud of it and glad to be back on the road and to be able to see the fans, and it's good to make new fans."

Scantlin's favorite track is "Castaway." "That's just me. There's a bunch of good songs on the record. I had a good time listening to it. If you like rock 'n' roll, go buy" the album, he said.

The first single, "Famous," was released to radio in early May. "It's doing really well and I'm really psyched about it," Scantlin said. "The whole song is based around (the fact) that it seems like anybody and everybody wants to be famous. It's a strange world, but it's here."

Scantlin knows a little something about being famous. The group's debut CD "Come Clean" in 2001 sold 5 million copies, its single "Blurry" hit No. 1 on rock radio and the band's videos were regularly played on VH1 and MTV.

Being famous, "It's a little crazy; people try to rip you down a little bit," he said. "But they don't really mean any harm."

One of the perks of being famous was the opportunity to play for the Air Force in Germany in 2006.

"That was crazy," Scantlin recalled. "There was a general, and he actually got up onstage and he actually had to tell the troops to calm down. 'Soldiers, bring it down a notch.' This is a show, we're not out on the battlefield, bro.

"Those guys are missing their families and loved ones and we were able to give them a piece of the USA."