SOURCE: http://www.rock-is-life.com/interviews/wesscantlin.htm
SUMMER 2004
www.puddleofmudd.com
(Summer 2004)
"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.