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Puddle of Mudd: "Control" Freaks
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Puddle of Mudd
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Puddle of Mudd didn't form in high school. The current lineup didn't gig around their local circuit for years awaiting their big break. They didn't even live in the same city. So how does a band that never built a national audience by doing the grassroots touring thing manage to land its debut album, Come Clean, in Billboard's top 10 in its first week of release?
Enter rock's newest Svengali: Fred Durst. The Limp Bizkit frontman heard a demo from Kansas City's Wes Scantlin and called the singer with an idea. Durst was going to assemble rock's first boy band for his Flawless label. To round out the lineup, Scantlin enlisted Durst's pal from his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, guitarist Paul Phillips, and two Los Angeles natives, drummer Greg Upchurch and bassist Doug Ardito.
But does it really matter how the band came together? What counts is that Puddle of Mudd have arrived, and judging by the strength of their first single, "Control," they won't be leaving anytime soon. Joe D'Angelo recently got his hands dirty with the band and learned the proper way to toss a demo onstage and why bad relationships make for good songs.
MTV: The single, "Control," has that great lyric "I love the way you look at me/ I love the way you smack my ass." What's the story behind that line, and how did your bandmates react when you first sang it to them?
Wes Scantlin: It's about a relationship that I was in. I was going out with an uncontrollable person, and I was uncontrollable, too. But the intimacy was really, really good. ... [There were] some freaky-deaky things going on. The end of the song is the wake-up [where you realize], "Man, I can't deal with this anymore." The mental frustration isn't worth the bonus that you get intimacy-wise. When I wrote those lyrics, I was going, "Ah, man, I don't know if the record company's going to let this fly." I didn't know what anybody in the band was going to think.
Paul Phillips: I forgot about how weird that lyric was and how much attention it is going to get. It got normal to us, and now I'm like, "Yeah, that's not really a normal lyric, is it?" It's probably the reaction that everybody has when they listen to it. "Did they say that?" And then he says it again, and they go, "He did say that!" ... We were tossing it around for a while, [wondering] if we were going to end up using it or not. We were like, "Is that the right thing?" Then we were like, "It's funny. It paints a real blatant picture of what the song is about."
MTV: There's a string of relationship songs on this album. Are you the kind of guys who wear their hearts on their sleeves?
Scantlin: Not at this time in my life. I'm a bit more cautious. You grow up and figure out who to see and who not to see.
Phillips: Older and wiser.
Scantlin: There was a time [when] my heart was on my sleeve and [I'd] get burned a lot. I can't say that I was the most awesome guy, either. Everybody messes up. It's such a heart-wrenching type of experience, because when you get your heart smashed into the ground ... you just feel so terrible. I can write a song about that time and it helps me get through it.
MTV: Fred Durst has been a part of your band's career from the beginning and signed you to his label. Explain the difference between Fred the director, Fred the mentor and Fred the talent scout.
Scantlin: When he's checking out new music, he's really serious. When he's doing videos, he's very serious, too. Fred is the same way with every type of job, which is really cool and smart.
Phillips: [He's] really focused. Everybody's quick to jump on him, but if you're on the inside and know Fred Durst, he's not that guy. He's great. He's just hard. It's the same with anything you're trying to succeed in. If you're gonna be big, a lot of times you have to be cutthroat.
MTV: When did you realize this is what you wanted to do with your life?
Phillips: [When I was] 15.
Scantlin: Me too. I went to a Van Halen concert. It was my first concert, and I got kicked off the soccer team because I didn't make the game the next day. I saw Eddie Van Halen playing the guitar, and I was like, "I want to do that." I started playing guitar and started writing songs at a really young age. It's all I've ever really done.
Phillips: I bought a Mötley Crüe home video. That pretty much did it for me. Those guys were living the life. I was like, "There's something to this."
MTV: The story goes that you forged a backstage pass to get your demo to Fred. Is that true?
Scantlin: No. I went to the show with my friend. We were sitting in our seats, and another friend of mine came up with these fake backstage passes. I put the backstage pass on, walked backstage and [was talking to a security guard]. I gave him our demo tape and was like, "Have fun throwing it in the trash." He was like, "No, I'll give it to Fred." I had already given millions of different demos away for years, ... and then a few weeks later Fred called back.
MTV: Because of your story, are kids giving you demo tapes now?
Scantlin: We get many demo tapes. We listen to them.
Phillips: We're looking for the chance to return the favor.
MTV: Do you recommend that method to other bands as a way to get signed?
Scantlin: I used to go to shows and I would literally chuck CDs onto the stage. I almost hit [Scott] Weiland a couple times. I didn't care. Try not to do that, though. Make sure you're real close and get it low.
Phillips: I think the motto is proactive. Nothing is gonna come to you. Do whatever it takes.
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