PUDDLE OF MUDD

Formed: 1993, Kansas City, Missouri

Members: Douglas John Ardito, bass (born Concord, Massachusetts, 10 March 1972); Paul James Phillips, guitar (born Brunswick, Georgia, 26 June 1976); Wesley Reid Scantlin, vocals, guitar (born St. Joseph, Missouri, 9 June 1973); Greg David Upchurch, drums (born Houma, Louisiana, 1 December 1973).

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: Come Clean (2001)

Hit songs since 1990: "Blurry," "Control"

In just a few short years, Puddle of Mudd singer Wes Scantlin went from sneaking backstage at rock shows to headlining his own concerts and selling 1 million copies of his band's hard rock major label debut Come Clean (2001). The story of how the Missouri native rose to the top invariably runs through his dogged pursuit of Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst and a batch of emotionally charged, grunge rock-inspired songs that drew immediate comparisons to a previous decade's tragic rock idol, the late Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana.

Scantlin had been trying to make a career with his band, Puddle of Mudd, for more than five years. Named after the band's rehearsal space, which had flooded one day when the Mississippi River overflowed its banks, leaving a puddle of mud, the group had slogged it out with a rotating group of members since the early 1990s. After half a decade of frustration and one locally released mini-album (Stuck, 1994) and one full length (Abrasive, 1997) with original members Jimmy Allen, Sean Sammon, and Kenny Burkett, the singer broke up the group in 1999 and was preparing to move to New Orleans and marry his ex-girlfriend.

When a friend suggested Scantlin attend the 1999 Limp Bizkit–headlined Family Values tour when it came to town, Scantlin made up a fake backstage pass and attempted to track down Bizkit singer and budding label honcho Fred Durst. Though Scantlin failed to find Durst, he did manage to get his last copy of Puddle of Mudd's demo tape into the hands of Durst's bodyguard. Three weeks later, Durst flew Scantlin to Los Angeles and signed him to his Flawless label. When Durst found a backing band to replace the players Scantlin had fired just a few months before, he jokingly referred to the new group as the first "rock and roll boy band."

Scantlin's new cohorts were not new to the music business, either. Drummer Greg Upchurch had played with acclaimed Los Angeles band Eleven and performed as part of former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell's live band, while bassist Ardito had been in the group Cellophane and was interning at Interscope Records when Durst tapped him for Puddle of Mudd. Guitarist Paul Phillips, formerly of the punk band Happy Hour, was an old friend of Durst's from Jacksonville, Florida.

Though studio veteran Josh Freese played drums on Puddle of Mudd's debut, Come Clean, Upchurch later became a full-time member.

Blue-Collar Rock That Struck a Chord

Unlike Durst's nu-metal band, which synthesized hard rock and hip-hop beats, Puddle of Mudd are rock traditionalists, relying on the basic guitar, bass, drums setup, and a charismatic lead singer on Come Clean, which debuted in the Billboard Top 10 in its first week of release. With Scantlin's gravelly voice frequently compared to Cobain's, and with the quiet verse/loud chorus formula employed to perfection by Cobain's band, Puddle of Mudd unleashed one rock anthem after another with songs such as the raunchy breakthrough hit "Control."

The song is among the first Scantlin wrote upon moving to Los Angeles to relaunch the group, inspired by his ex-girlfriend and a relationship that had run its course. "I need to feel you / You need to feel me / I can't control you / You're not the one for me, no / I can't control you—You can't control me / I need to feel you, so why's there even you and me?," he growls in the song. Durst had a cameo in and directed the video for the song, a bombastic number with grinding guitars and Scantlin's pained, shout/singing.

In a strange bit of irony, Scantlin was arrested in March 2002 for a roadside altercation with his fiancée, Michelle Rubin, which eerily mirrored the plotline for the "Control" video, in which Scantlin has a heated argument with his video girlfriend. Police did not pursue charges against the singer. In another hit song, the power-pop-meets-grunge ditty "She Hates Me," Scantlin laments another messy relationship gone sour.

Side by side with the hard rocking songs on the album are dreamy, string-laden acoustic ballads such as "Drift & Die" and "Blurry," yet another chronicle of failed relationships and emotional abuse. In the video for the latter, Scantlin, in his uniform of classic rock T-shirt, jeans, and backward baseball cap, is shown playing with a young boy who appears to be the same age as his four-year-old son Jordan.

After touring the world for much of 2001, including stints on the 2001 Family Values tour with Stone Temple Pilots, Linkin Park, and another platinum-selling Durst discovery, Staind, as well as a performance with Durst and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page at the MTV Europe Awards, Puddle of Mudd were slated to enter a studio to work on the follow-up to Come Clean, expected for release in 2003.

Scantlin went from being a construction worker, cook, dishwasher, and frustrated musician to a rock star and million-selling artist over the course of the 1990s. When Durst put together a band for Scantlin, their major label debut landed in the Billboard Top 10 and Scantlin was able to take the pain of failed relationships and turn it into hard rock gold.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Stuck (V&R, 1994); Abrasive (Hardknocks, 1997); Come Clean (Flawless/Interscope, 2001).

WEBSITE:

www.puddleofmudd.com.

gil kaufman