http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/etoday/story.html?id=0efe9a48-fe42-4f93-856f-0d8571121903&k=94641

 

08-09-07

 

After a decade and a half of changes, band leader is almost Famous

 

Wes Scantlin's group's name is Mudd -- and he likes it that way

Tom Harrison, The Province

Published: Thursday, August 09, 2007

 

Persistence pays off.

 

Wes Scantlin knows. Through 15 years of changes -- of personnel, of recording situations -- Scantlin has been the leader of Puddle of Mudd.

 

He has held the Kansas City band together, bringing in new musicians as others left, going from small labels to higher profile ones, giving out demo tapes to anyone who would listen until Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit heard a tape and became Puddle of Mudd's savior, signing them to his new label, Flawless.

 

Now, with "Famous," a song co-written and produced in Vancouver by Brian Howes, leading off a soon-to-be-released album, Scantlin can see where his persistence has taken him.

 

"I can honestly say this is the funnest time I've ever had," he says. "I've been doing this for a while; there's a lot of pluses going on right now."

 

Scantlin has a relatively stable band of Doug Ardito, Christian Stone and Ryan Yerdon and "Famous" is getting radio play. (CFOX locally).

 

"The response from the fans has been incredible," he says. "People are loving the song.

 

"For me, personally, one of the hardest things has been to teach the new members the songs. That's been the trickiest part.

"A lot of the new members didn't have much to do with the writing of the new album."

 

That was more Scantlin's responsibility. From 40 to 50 songs, he and people such as Howes whittled until an album took shape.

 

"He produced a couple of songs for the album," Scantlin says of Howes. "I love him and miss him. He's a clever guy."

 

 

 

© The Vancouver Province 2007