Puddle Of Mudd |
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Fri. November 21.2003 12:00 AM EST |
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Puddle of Mudd: Coming Clean AgainThe guys display their lives and talk about evil women, sacred necklaces, and the good stuff that comes from unhappiness. by C. Bottomley |
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(Publicity) |
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What a difference two years makes. When Wes Scantlin and his band Puddle of Mudd released their Come Clean debut in 2001, many dismissed them as Fred Dursts pawns. The Limp Bizkit front-man had discovered Scantlin, helped the Kansas City
Durst cast a long shadow over the group, but it was Scantlins talent that won the day. With a tortured romantic history and a flair for catchy angst rock, his laments for love affairs gone wrong garnered a sympathetic audience. Control, with its cheeky chorus I love the way you slap my ass, established the band's grungy credentials. Then the touching Blurry blindsided both parents and their tortured offspring with its depiction of Scantlins devotion to his son, Jordan. With five million copies of Come Clean sold, everybody soon forgot about Durst. Puddle of Mudd say their new album Life on Display reflects their newfound artistic freedom, and it shows. If Come Clean left them open to accusations that they had heard too many Alice in Chains records, Life on Display shows off their rock chops - drum solos, acoustic ballads, and all. Some things remain the same, though. Scantlin is as unlucky in love as ever, as the wounded single Away From Me attests. The band - Scantlin, guitarist Paul Phillips, drummer Greg Upchurch and bassist Doug Ardito - came into the VH1 studios to play a few new selections and discuss living life under the lens. We discovered a band of brothers betting on the goose-bump factor, riding horses, and maybe looking for a good psychiatrist. VH1: They say you get all your life to write your first album, and two weeks for the second. Wesley Scantlin: We had a long time to write the first record, but there is a catalogue of material that we have to pull [from], so thats not really a factor. We keep writing constantly. We all had really crappy jobs before we got this job, so we want to hold onto it. VH1: Have you ever thrown out a song because it doesnt sound like Puddle of Mudd? WS: Yeah, there have been a lot of songs that have been set aside because they dont really make your skin bubble up and get goose-bumps. Theyre not really thrown away, but if I am writing a song and it doesnt give me that feeling, like some galvanic sense, I usually set it aside and move on to the next song. Its all about an emotion. [Watch Clip] VH1: What was the first song you wrote for this album that had the feeling you're describing? Doug Ardito: Heel Over Head. Then Spin You Around WS: A lot of songs on the record were actually written during the recording process and the mixing process of the first record. DA: When he was recording Come Clean, Wes would go into the vocal booth and warm up. That warm-up vocal melody is now on Life on Display on the song Time Flies. So he writes in chunks. WS: Sometimes you will write two or three different songs, then take good parts from each of those songs - like a chorus from one, a bridge from the other and a verse from the other - and combine them all together to make like one big cool song. VH1: What is the oldest tune on the album? WS: Cloud Nine was written when I was 15 years old. It was basically a rebellious poem I wrote and some crazy bass line that I came up with on a crappy bass. But I guess it was all right. VH1: Did you decide to update it to reflect the older you? WS: The only other new part of the whole song that was written says Call me when the sun goes down. Doug actually told me that [line] on the phone. I asked him what he was doing. He was sleeping, and he said, Hey man, call me when the sun goes down. I thought that was kind of cool. VH1: Is the band a tighter unit now than when you made Come Clean? DA: We toured so much together and lived together so much on the road, that you develop some bond and chemistry thats unspoken. You become brothers. You know you can turn around and count on the person to do what youre expecting to do. That reliability comes through in the music, and Life on Display, I think, takes it to another place. VH1: When youre on tour, what absolutely has to be in the suitcase? WS: This Japanese herbal throat syrup I have to have, and my necklace. It has to be with me at all times. Ive had it for like four years, and Ive never taken it off, even though the latch is kind of screwed up now. My sister got it for me, and it has like a picture of God on it. Im not going to take it out and show you, though. Its kind of sacred. VH1: Youve said the record is a heavier offering. DA: There are also lighter songs that start out on acoustic, and then blow up, like Time Flies, so its a good balance. We had a lot more artistic freedom. We have a song called Bottom which starts off with a drum solo, and we would never have done that on Come Clean. We can do what we want now. VH1: Whats Away From Me about? WS: Away From Me was written on the road. Basically I was being lied to and deceived - as usual - by someone else, so the whole thing is about deception. Its hard, because everything that I wrote about actually happened. After the relationship fell apart, all the lyrics [turned out to be] basically true. I wanted to stay with the person, but she was sinister. So getting out of it was probably a blessing in disguise - and I got a really passionate song out of the whole thing. [Watch Clip] VH1: Why are women so evil? WS: I dont think that all girls are evil; I have a knack of picking the wrong ones. I mean, people get used, man. Everyone gets burnt. VH1: Wheres your psycho radar? Dont you see the writing on the wall before it happens? WS: I am definitely better at it now. Im getting to the point in my life where I am not letting people walk all over me. After youve been through four or five screwed-up relationships, you start wising up and going, You know, that is not going to work. VH1: What hobbies do you have outside of music? WS: I like old cars, and I ride a lot of horses& yeah, I am big on horses now. I bought my girlfriend a horse called Bravo, and I am getting ready to buy a few horses now myself. They have stables [near] where I live and you can pay them a certain amount of money each month to keep your horse in a nice stable. DA: We like old cars. I have two T-Birds, a 66 convertible and a 65 hardtop, and he has got a 63 Corvette Stingray. WS: Yeah, I have yet to get another antique car, but it is really fast and really loud. VH1: Has success made life more or less complicated? WS: It does make it more complicated. Everything seems great, but behind the scenes were not living in the perfect world. I mean, were not complaining about it, were happy and so fortunate and grateful for our success, but it doesnt mean that life isnt going to put up a red flag every now and then. VH1: Ever had a moment of happiness and then thought, Wait, what will I write songs about? WS: Ha, yeah& DA: Usually when you are unhappy, that is when all the good stuff comes out. You get in touch with your emotions really quick. WS: For a while there, because everything was going so well, I thought I had lost my passion. [I thought I] lost my feelings inside, cause I had gone through so many problems in my life. I put up a brick wall so no one could get inside, and then I had to learn how to let that wall go away and let people touch my life and get inside my heart. I mean you cant keep everyone out all the time. VH1: That sounds like psychiatrist talk. Have you ever been in therapy? WS: No, but I have been told I probably should go! [Watch Clip] |
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