Puddle of Mudd

Puddle of Mudd is an American post-grunge band formed in 1991. To date, the band has sold over seven million albums and has had a string of No. 1 mainstream rock singles in the United States. Their major-label debut Come Clean has sold over five million copies. They have released two independent and four major albums, with their latest being Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate in December 2009, and their most recent compilation album being re:(disc)overed, released in August 2011.

Early years (1991–2000)
Puddle of Mudd was formed on September 13, 1991, in Kansas City by Wes Scantlin (vocals/rhythm guitar), Jimmy Allen (guitar), Sean Sammon (bass), and Kenny Burkitt (drums). According to Wes Scantlin, the band name was inspired by practicing next to the Missouri river levee, which always inundated the band's practice space, but never ruined their equipment since they were on the second floor. In order to get to their practice space, the band "had to walk through a pile of shit." The group's first album, Stuck, was released in 1994 on V&R Records. The album was produced by the band and E.J. Rose, and was recorded at Red House Studio in Lawrence, Kansas. It spawned two radio singles (the first was "You Don't Know", the second "Drift and Die").

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. Differences of opinion and other factors led to the break-up of the original Puddle of Mudd by early 1999, leaving Scantlin as the only original member. Kenny and Sean were still in the band, and Wes had gone out as a DJ for his girlfriend.

Come Clean (2001–02)
Scantlin's big break in the music business came after a copy of his demo tape was delivered to Fred Durst. Durst contacted Scantlin, and after hearing that his band had broken up, decided to bring him to California to attempt to put a new band together.

One of the first people Scantlin met upon arriving in California was Doug Ardito, an intern at Interscope Records. When Scantlin found out about Ardito's bass playing, they decided to work together. They were still in need of a guitarist and drummer. Fred Durst decided to contact a guitarist he knew from his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, Paul Phillips, who had formerly played in a local band there called Happy Hour. After getting the call from Durst, Paul decided to try out for Puddle of Mudd and was accepted, choosing to leave college in order to join. The band held auditions for a new drummer and selected Greg Upchurch, who was an ex-member of Eleven and had also toured with Chris Cornell.

Puddle of Mudd released its major-label debut album Come Clean on August 28, 2001. The lead single from the album, "Control" was successful. It was also the theme song for WWE's Survivor Series 2001, which was critically acclaimed. The second single off the album, "Blurry", co-written with Sean Sammon, Kenny Burkitt, Jimmy Allen and Doug Ardito, turned out to be Puddle of Mudd's most successful single, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart, and also winning an ASCAP song of the year award for Ardito, Allen and Scantlin. The song was also used in the game Ace Combat 5, published by Namco. "Drift & Die" co-written by Jimmy Allen was also released as a single spending six weeks at the No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The fourth single, "She Hates Me" co-written by Jimmy Allen was released in late 2002, and reached the No. 1 spot on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, as well as No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Allen and Scantlin won the ASCAP award for most played rock song of the year.

The group then embarked on a European and American tour as the opening act for Godsmack and Deftones, and were also a part of the Family Values 2001 tour, alongside Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots, and Staind.

The album 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 were in excess of five million copies.

Life on Display (2003–05)
Puddle of Mudd's follow up, Life on Display, spawned three singles "Away From Me", "Heel Over Head", and "Spin You Around". The album sold below expectations. Although shortly after its release, the record was certified gold and to date, has sold over 706,000 copies. Some suggested this was the primary cause of drummer Greg Upchurch's leaving the band to join 3 Doors Down. Marisa Miller appeared in the music video for "Spin You Around". "Away From Me" was featured in The O.C. in 2004. The song "Nothing Left to Lose" was the official theme song of WWE's 2004 Royal Rumble.

Famous (2006–08)
On October 9, 2007, the band released their third major label record, Famous. The first single, "Famous", was leaked through the band's Myspace page and radio in July before the CD was released. Another track, "Merry Go Round", was released through iTunes before the official release. The following single, "Psycho", topped both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks charts for nine weeks. "Livin' on Borrowed Time" and "We Don't Have To Look Back Now" were the final singles released.

In the spring of 2007, the band went on tour supporting Hinder and Papa Roach on the Door to Dorm tour.

Their song "Famous" was the WWE One Night Stand 2007 official theme song and was also featured in the video game WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, as well as UFC 2009 Undisputed.

Vol.4 Songs in the Key of Love and Hate (2009–10)
In 2009, former guitarist Paul Phillips rejoined the band after replacement Christian Stone was let go on good terms. Around this time the band recruited Famous producer Brian Howes to begin recording a new record in Vancouver. Prior to the new album's release, band members said the album's name would be called 'Jacket on the Rack'. However, it was changed to Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate. Released on December 8, it has gone on to sell around 100,000 copies. The first single, "Spaceship", was released in October 2009.

On February 10, 2010, a new song, "Shook Up the World", was released. The song was written for Team USA for use in the 2010 Winter Olympics. All proceeds from the song went to Team USA. Although intended for release during the Olympics, the deadline was missed.

In 2010, it was announced that Puddle of Mudd had parted ways with bassist Doug Ardito. Jacksonville Burn Season frontman, Damien Starkey, took his place.

The band hinted at the prospect of their first UK tour since 2002. They played at the Download Festival and hinted there could be a full UK tour later in the year.

On October 15, 2010, Puddle of Mudd announced the release of their first best of collection, titled Icon, featuring the singles from their first four albums.

Re:(disc)overed and upcoming seventh studio album (2011–present)
The band released a cover album titled re:(disc)overed on August 30. The release featured covers of songs originally by The Rolling Stones, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and others. According to original bassist Sean Sammon, it was confirmed that the band's first two albums, "Stuck" and "Abrasive", would be re-released sometime in late 2011. Ardito rejoined the band in 2011 and proceeded to tour with them. Ryan Yerdon was also replaced by Shannon Boone. The band posted several online updates during 2012 suggesting that they were writing and recording a new album. Wes Scantlin was interviewed about his latest arrest for vandalism on July 2013, where he was quoted as saying "We have tons and tons of new hit songs. I write every single night, and we record all the time. We're getting ready to go in and do the record, tour a little bit for the summer, and then do the full production and get back on the scene."

On July 11, 2014, it was announced on the Puddle of Mudd Facebook page that a new album will be released "Very Soon....". Puddle of Mudd toured during 2014 featuring Wes Scantlin with an entirely different line-up.

On September 21, 2014, a new non-album single was released, titled "Piece of the Action", though it was not announced by the band until September 30, 2014.

On July 17, 2015, the band announced that they were finally recording their as yet untitled sixth studio album with Cameron Webb at Grandmaster Studios.

On May 17, 2016 the band announced that they will be taking part in the Make America Rock Again super tour throughout the summer and fall 2016. The tour will feature other artist who had success throughout the 2000s including Trapt, Saving Abel, Alien Ant Farm, Crazy Town, 12 Stones, Tantric and Drowning Pool, P.O.D. and Fuel.

Music style
Puddle of Mudd has been called post-grunge,    nu metal,   alternative metal, and hard rock.

Lip syncing controversy
Since 2012, Scantlin has been accused on numerous occasions of lip syncing during live performances.

On April 16, 2014, Scantlin had an on-stage meltdown during a show at Trees Dallas, in which he threw a microphone and beer into the audience, as well as appearing to threaten and attempt to physically attack members of the audience. He also received criticism as he appeared to be lip-syncing during the performance.

On June 20, 2015, the band was booed off stage at a show in Versailles, Ohio after Scantlin was spotted lip syncing to the songs. In response to the social media backlash, the band subsequently deleted their Facebook page. With the Facebook URL available, the band Black Heart Saints took the address as an opportunity to promote their music using the title "Check This Band Out Instead", although Puddle of Mudd later regained control of the URL.

These events coincided with a silence on the band's Twitter page between April 16, 2014 and July 6, 2015. As of July 19, 2015, no statement was made by the band in response to these events with continued tour dates promoted on their website. To date, Scantlin has also not made any statement confronting or explaining these accusations.

On September 26, 2015, Scantlin also lip-synced at the TNL Onstage concert in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Scantlin appeared intoxicated as he struggled to mime along the words to their popular tracks including "Blurry", "Psycho" and "She Hates Me". Some audience members proceeded to abandon the concert after it became obvious the band wasn't playing live - Scantlin sang while standing away from the mic, looking up at the sky without any change in vocals. According to organizers, the band conducted a full sound check pre-event, before using an audio connection to play vocal tracks off an iPod during the show. The organizers released a statement apologizing to unhappy fans, as well as offering refunds on their tickets.

Connection with Fred Durst
Due to the notoriety surrounding how the band was signed with Durst, the band is often asked regarding their relationship with him. Scantlin criticized Durst in an interview in 2004 with Canada's Chart magazine. He stated, "He doesn't write our songs, he doesn't produce our songs, he doesn't do anything for us. He doesn't do our videos anymore. He doesn't do anything for this band. I don't know what he's doing, I don't know what the guy's like. All I know is that he's like Mr. Hollywood guy, Mr. Celebrity. Like, 'I don't hang out with anybody except Hollywood celebrities'. Every single fucking interview I've ever fucking done, I get asked about that fucking guy..." He added, "And for me to do interviews all the time and be asked about this certain individual... People think he writes music with me or something. He does not do that. I just don't get it. We have nothing in common. He doesn't even call us, he has his assistant call us to congratulate us on our record. Yeah, that's how pathetic he is."

On April 23, 2008, In an interview with Artisan News Service, Wes Scantlin took back his previous criticism of Fred Durst. He stated, "Fred got our foot in the door and helped us out tremendously. I think nowadays he's doing a lot of directing and we don't really speak to him too much but we appreciate everything he's ever done for our careers."

On January 6, 2011, Durst attempted to get back in touch with Scantlin via a tweet on his official Twitter page, which read "Who knows Wes from puddle of mudd? I wanna connect [with] him again. Let me know." Scantlin's reaction to this is not yet known, but both Limp Bizkit and Puddle of Mudd played together on Epicenter 2011, along with another one of Durst's former proteges, Staind.

Band members

 * Current members
 * Wes Scantlin – lead vocals (1991–present), rhythm guitar (1991–2011, 2014–present)
 * Dave Moreno – drums, backing vocals (2005; 2014–present)
 * Matt Fuller - lead guitar (2012; 2014-present)
 * Michael John Adams – bass guitar, backing vocals (2014–present)


 * Former members
 * Christian Stone – lead guitar, backing vocals (2006–2009, 2011–2014)
 * Shannon Boone – drums (2011–2014)
 * Doug Ardito – bass guitar, backing vocals, guitars (1999–2010, 2011–2014)
 * Sean Sammon - bass (1991–2000)
 * Kenny Burkitt - drums (1991–2000)
 * Jimmy Allen – lead guitar (1991–1996, 2005–2006)
 * Greg Upchurch – drums, backing vocals (2000–2005, 2011 [studio only])
 * Paul Phillips – lead guitar (1999–2005, 2009–2011)
 * Ryan Yerdon – drums (2005–2011)
 * Damien Starkey – bass guitar, backing vocals (2010–2013)
 * Adam Latiff – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2011–2012)


 * Timeline

Discography

 * Studio albums
 * Abrasive (1997)
 * Come Clean (2001)
 * Life on Display (2003)
 * Famous (2007)
 * Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate (2009)
 * re:(disc)overed (2011)
 * EPs
 * Stuck (1994)


 * Compilation albums
 * Icon (2010)

Awards and nominations
MTV Video Music Awards

'''Kerrang! Awards'''

MTV Europe Awards

American Music Awards

Other awards and nominations