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Puddle of Mudd

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Puddle of Mudd

Puddle of Mudd is a post-grunge band from Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

History

Early Years

Puddle of Mudd was formed in 1993 by Wes Scantlin (vocals), Kenny Burkett (drums), Jimmy Allen (lead guitar), and Sean Samon (bass guitar). The name was inspired by the Missouri River flood, which inundated the band's practice space, and left the floor a big "puddle of mudd [sic]". The group's first album, 'Stuck', was released in 1994 on V&R Records. The band wrote all 7 songs that were on it. It was produced by PoM and E.J. Rose, and recorded at Red House Studio in Lawrence, Kansas. The album did well in Kansas City, but never made it much further.

Minus Jimmy Allen, the group released a second album, 'Abrasive', in 1997 on Hardknocks Records. It had eleven tracks, all written by the band, three of which would eventually make it on to Puddle of Mudd's first major label release.

In between the two albums, Scantlin had been giving demo tapes to everyone he thought might be able to pull him in to the music business. He threw tapes on stage to bands at the concerts he would go to, and try to sneak backstage to personally hand copies to bands. For one of these bands, Stone Temple Pilots, Scantlin had to get down on his hands and knees and crawl through about 400 yards of brush, then sneak around some trees to get to the band's dressing room, only to find himself being frisked by security guards for having a fake backstage pass. Luckily, he had managed to throw a copy of his tape on stage to Scott Weiland while the band was performing.

By 1998, Scantlin was ready to give up on music. He was getting ready to move to New Orleans to manage his girlfriend’s career as a stripper when one of his friends asked if he wanted to go to the Family Values concert that night. After hearing the band lineup, Wes reluctantly decided to go, and grabbed the last copy of his demo tape as he was heading out the door.

At the show some his other friends had fake backstage passes. He took one, and it got him to one of Fred Durst's security guards. He was able to convince the guard to give Durst his demo tape, but left the concert thinking that he had failed to get into the music business. The guard did in fact deliver the tape to Durst, who listened to it on his tour bus. After listening to it once, he had to play it again, then decided he had to contact the tape's author. Luckily, Scantlin had all of his contact info on the tape. Unluckily, he was already out of town and his pager was turned off. One of Scantlin's friends happened to hear an answering machine message that Fred Durst had left. He tried to call Wes, but couldn't reach him. Undaunted, the friend decided to throw a party in Scantlin's honor despite his absence.

Fred Durst was eventually able to get in touch with Scantlin, only to find out that the band had broken up. The members had gone their separate ways, and there was no chance of reuniting them. Durst, still liking Scantlin's voice and not about to give up, decided to fly him to LA for a showcase, for which the two would recruit new bandmates.

One of the first people Scantlin met upon arriving in California was Doug Ardito, an intern at Interscope Records. Ardito grew up wanting to play the guitar. He would sneak into his brother's room to play his Fender Jaguar, which his brother had forbidden him to do for fear that he would "put dents in his paint job." (Eventually, Ardito was caught.) Eventually, Ardito's next door neighbor started a garage band; as the band needed a bassist, Doug decided to buy one, simply because no one would let him play the guitar. He later played bass for the band Cellophane, and did some of the bass work on Vanilla Ice's album Hard to Swallow. Ardito was also in a Boston-based band called Throat Culture. When Scantlin found out about Ardito's bass playing, they decided to jam together. They instantly clicked, but were stil in need of a guitarist and drummer.

Fred Durst decided to contact a guitarist he knew from his hometown of Jacksonville, FL, Paul Phillips, who had formerly played in a local band there called Happy Hour. Happy Hour had earlier turned down a record deal offered by Fred because the band was in the process of breaking up. After getting the call from Durst, Paul decided to try out for Puddle of Mudd. He was immediately accepted. (This meant he would have to drop out of college, where he was studying management and marketing, to join.)

Puddle of Mudd found a drummer from Jacksonville, and the four began playing together on some of the band's older songs, as well as some new ones. Durst signed the group to another showcase, and this time all went well. Durst then recruited the band to his new record label, Flawless Records.

Unfortunately, things did not work out with the Jacksonville drummer, and Josh Freese from A Perfect Circle and The Vandals did the drum tracks for Puddle of Mudd's next album instead. The band later held auditions for a new drummer, which produced Greg Upchurch, an ex-member of Eleven who had also toured with Chris Cornell.

The breakthrough and mainstream success

Puddle of Mudd released its major-label debut album Come Clean on August 28, 2001. The lead single from the album, "Control" was successful and grabbed the attention of rock music audiences worldwide. It was also the theme song for WWE's Survivor Series 2001.

The second single, "She Hates Me", was released in early 2002 and became a massive hit reaching the #1 spot on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, as well as #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Drift & Die was also released as a single and was very successful with rock audiences with the single spending 6 weeks at the #1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The fourth single off the album, "Blurry" turned out to be Puddle of Mudd's most successful single reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #8 in the United Kingdom.

The group then embarked on a European tour with Godsmack and were also part of the Family Values 2001 tour, alongside the Stone Temple Pilots, Linkin Park and Staind.

Copies of the debut album were selling well. It was certified Triple Platinum in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 31, 2003, and as of late 2006 total sales worldwide are in excess of 5 million copies.

Fan and critical reception of the album was mixed, with many critics claiming that Wes Scantlin sounding too similar to Kurt Cobain.[citation needed]

Life On Display and Famous

Puddle of Mudd's follow up, Life On Display spawned two hit singles "Away From Me" and "Heel Over Head". The album sold only 600,000 copies to date, due to both lack of advertising and lack of support from record company, Geffen Records, and dismal reviews. This resulted in drummer Greg Upchurch's leaving for 3 Doors Down. Guitarist, Paul Phillips left the band later on due to creative differences between him and Wes Scantlin.

The band announced on November 2, 2006 on numerous rock radio stations that it had completed production on their third album and the record was slated for a release in early 2007.

In early January, several rock stations stated that the band's new album was set for a release sometime in Spring, 2007. Puddle of Mudd are currently on tour with Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, and Red. They will also be part of the first annual Rock on the Range concert festival held at the Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

On Saturday, April 14th 2007, Puddle of Mudd made their first appearance in over two years at Western Carolina University in North Carolina touring with Hinder.

On Saturday May 26th 2007 Puddle of Mudd will be headlining one of three stages at Speed Street in uptown Charlotte NC.

On April 18, Scantlin confirmed in a post on the band's myspace that the new album, called Livin' On Borrowed Time will be released July 24.

On May 10, Scantlin posted on POM's Myspace site that the first single "Famous" will go to the radio by May 11, and the song has since been placed on their myspace.

Members

Former members

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock UK Singles Chart
2001 "Control" #68 #3 #3 #15 Come Clean
2002 "She Hates Me" #13 #2 #1 #14 Come Clean
2002 "Drift & Die" #61 #3 #1 - Come Clean
2002 "Blurry" #5 #1 #1 #8 Come Clean
2003 "Away From Me" #72 #5 #1 #55 Life on Display
2004 "Heel Over Head" - #10 #6 - Life on Display
2004 "Spin You Around" - #38 #16 - Life on Display
2007 "Famous" - #25 #12 - Famous

References

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