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Wes Scantlin Comes Clean
10/07/2002 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Stephanie Cabral
When Puddle Of Mudd stopped by LAUNCH's L.A. studios recently to perform an acoustic version of their alt-rock hit "Blurry," our very own Stephanie Cabral (aka "Metalsteph," LAUNCH's most rockin' staffer) sat down with band leader Wes Scantlin to discuss his rise from wannabe bartender, chicken-lips deep-fryer, and single dad struggling to make child support payments to full-on, Fred Durst-endorsed rock star. Along the way, Scantlin addressed accusations that Puddle Of Mudd are hard rock's equivalent of a prefabricated boy band and Nirvana copyists; talked about his relationships with his son, Durst, and the opposite sex; and revealed how Van Halen's bad influence ruined what could have been his very promising soccer career. Read on...
LAUNCH: When you look back on hooking up with Fred Durst by handing his security guard a demo tape, does it surprise you that something came of that?
WES: Yeah, it's kind of a magical thing that that happened. You know, I'm glad I got the tape to him.
LAUNCH: Who else did you give the tape to?
WES: I've given demos to many different labels over the years, and some of them would come out and check us out and say what they say. And some of them wouldn't, and sorry you didn't come out.
LAUNCH: So why Fred, and what do you think makes him so successful?
WES: Why do I think Fred's so successful? I just think Fred is a really intelligent guy and he's a very clever person, and that's it. He's smart and he's got a knack for the music business.
LAUNCH: So obviously his name has been stamped all over your band, as far as being your executive producer and A&R and label head. Has he actually had a role in molding Puddle Of Mudd?
WES: Does he have more involvement than just his name? Yeah, he helped us arrange and structure some songs on the record. He didn't really help really write any of it, but he had his own little arranging and structuring when we got into trouble.
LAUNCH: I noticed he was wearing a Puddle Of Mudd T-shirt on the VMAs last year. Were you watching, or were you there?
WES: When Fred wore the Puddle Of Mudd shirt on the VMAs, I was very, very happy. I was sitting four seats down from him. When he came walking into the VMA building, it was cool. I was like, "Hey, nice shirt." I was also like, "Can I get one?" Because I didn't even have one. I guess he made them himself.
LAUNCH: So tell us something about Puddle Of Mudd that most people don't know.
WES: I don't know...maybe they think that we've got our heads in the clouds or something, and we really don't. We're really down-to-earth guys and all of us have our heads on our shoulders and feet on the ground, and we're almost like choirboys on tour. Everybody might think that there's women throwing themselves at us and stuff, but we're actually well-behaved on the road.
LAUNCH: How has having such a successful debut record changed your life?
WES: Being the biggest rock record debut to ever have debuted...I didn't even know that until like a week later. Someone told me, and it didn't really hit me. It's very exciting, but you know, I just really care about music, and all that stuff that happens and comes with it is good for the band. I'm very happy that we broke that record.
LAUNCH: Did you know when you put the band together that it would actually turn out this way?
WES: No, when this band was put together, I got to feel out the musicians--you know, Doug and Paul and Greg--and it was a great thing because I could get to know them and know their ability to play music. So everything turned out just the right way. Everybody in the band plays guitar, plays drums, plays bass, most people in the band can sing, and everybody in the whole band can write songs--and that's a definite bonus. And we've all become like best friends now.
LAUNCH: You're all from different states--how did you all hook up?
WES: Yeah, we're all from different states, like I'm from Kansas City, Doug the bass player's from Boston, the guitar player Paul Phillips is from Jacksonville, and Greg Upchurch is from Tibido, Louisiana. How did we hook up? I took the tape to the Family Values tour, and when Fred called me back he flew me out to L.A., and I met Doug, our bass player, at Interscope; he was interning there, and me and him started talking. Paul was already being flown from Jacksonville, and Greg Upchurch already lived in L.A., though we didn't find him till a little bit later. So that's how we kind of all hooked up: Everybody kind of came out, and a couple of people came out that didn't actually get in. But the lineup is perfect and we're actually great friends now.
LAUNCH: So the band was pretty much put together like a manufactured, *NSYNC kind of band?
WES: No, no, it wasn't anything like that. I mean, everybody in this band has played in bands their whole life. It just kind of happened like that, you know? Because the Puddle Of Mudd back in the day kind of fizzled out and there was really nothing I could do to save that, and the new lineup here is way, way better. Everybody is way better players.
LAUNCH: So is the original demo you gave Fred is just you, or is it the original band?
WES: The original demo is different musicians--some old, some new.
LAUNCH: Tell me about "Control," your first single and video.
WES: OK, the song "Control" is basically about a relationship with a girl who is uncontrollable--I was an uncontrollable guy as well. So that part of the relationship was kind of weird, but the intimacy part of it was pretty good, and that kind of blinded me for a while. You know, the reality of it is like, if you're mentally frustrated and you're being abused, you know you have to wake up one day and say, "I just can t take this abuse anymore." You have to get the heck out of Dodge and go do your thing. The video was Fred's little concept, and it's funny, because when I heard about it I was in Jacksonville--he told me what the concept was, and I was like, "Man. I've had this happen to me twice!" I've been thrown out of my girlfriend's car and walked like 10 miles home...and no, she didn't stop on the side of the road and fix her hair and wait for me to come walking up to the car. She just went home. I didn't get a chance to throw the keys in the mud or nothing like that. But that was a good twist on the whole video.
LAUNCH: What about the next single, "Blurry." Did Fred direct that video as well?
WES: That's a really great song, a really personal and emotional song for me that I wrote about my son and how much I miss him. It's also written about missing the ones you love the most and trying to find somebody that can possibly fill that gap--it's completely impossible to fill that gap, but you're trying to find someone you can be compatible with. The video was shot here in Los Angeles, with Fred again, and we had a great time doing the video with Fred--he directed it and the whole concept was about kind of being kept from my kid. Basically, the video's just about me and my son. My son is actually in the video with me, so then it goes from live performance to me playing with my kid, to more live performance, to my son being dropped off at the house. It's really cool, you gotta check it out.
LAUNCH: Has there been a point when you considered stopping your musical career so you could spend more time with your son?
WES: Yeah, that's what was going on before I got signed. The whole reason that I was back in Kansas City was to pack my stuff and move to New Orleans and start bartending down there with my cousin, 'cause he had a couple bars down there. And I was thinking, "Hey, I could go down there and make some good money so I can support my kid, buy him some nice stuff, buy him a bicycle"--or whatever you want to get your kid--"and buy him some clothes and pay child support and make sure it's in there on time." Because if you don't pay it, you go to jail. And that's some good incentive to make some money, like, Hey, if you don't pay your child support, you're going to jail." So anyway, that's what happened, and I was actually done doing music for a while and I was totally happy with everything I had accomplished musically in my life. So it was really actually, like, "I'm not going to do this anymore"...and then the next day Fred called.
LAUNCH: Tell me the story behind your new single, "She Hates Me."
WES: It was like, four days before we were going to go in and record the whole record, and I just played it for my bass player and he thought it was awesome. I didn't even want it to be on the record at all, but the bass player told me to show it to the A&R guy, and he came over to the apartment and I played it for him and he was like, "Oh God, we gotta put that on the album." I was like, "Oh man!" I was hoping that he wasn't going to like it, actually. But yeah, it's a great song, man. I love that song.
LAUNCH: It seems like you were pissed off at some girl and just sat there and started playing it.
WES: Absolutely. The song is definitely about a girl. The whole song is about a girl that you go out with and you have good sex with, and then next thing you know, she doesn't want to have sex anymore. And that's kind of where the "she hates me" part came from--she didn't want to get down! And I just sat on the ground going, "God, this girl hates me, she just really hates my guts." That's what I thought, anyways.
LAUNCH: But you guys stayed together anyway?
WES: Just for a little bit longer.
LAUNCH: Why do you have such bad luck with women?
WES: I don't know...I used to wear my heart of my sleeve, you know, and I think my skin has gotten a lot thicker in the last couple of years. And you know, you can really just let someone take advantage of you...I guess I was just gullible or something. I don't know.
LAUNCH: Have you started the process of taking advantage of women yet?
WES: No, I think that all women are great; there are some out there that are vindictive and rebellious and vengeful, but women make the world go around. Can't escape them.
LAUNCH: The song "Outta My Head" could be just a simple stoner song or could be something deeper.
WES: It's not really about getting high or nothing. The whole song is kinda like, friends and stuff, there are people that try to pull you down, when you're trying to be a musician and trying to make it in the music business and people try to put you down so much. And finally, something great happened, and I was just trying to scream it out to the world that I'm not going to let go, I'm not going to stop. I'm never going to let everybody try to bring me down and let anybody tell me that it's not going to happen. It's all about trying to keep your dreams alive.
LAUNCH: So tell me about growing up in Missouri.
WES: Missouri was a great place to grow up. I had a pretty good childhood. I grew up on a lake and I got to go swimming all the time, and every time I go back there now, I stay at my parents house where I grew up on the lake, and it's just like a piece of heaven. It's almost like I grew up in heaven. You know, I get to go fishing, I get to drink beer on the boat with my kid...but he doesn't drink beer!
LAUNCH: So I guess there were no big giant concerts coming to your town when you were a kid. So how did you first get into music?
WES: How I got into music was, my mom was a singer and my uncle was a guitar player, and I played soccer and got kicked off the team for going to a Van Halen concert--I saw Van Halen play at this huge arena in Kansas City and I missed the game the next day, so I got kicked off. And then a friend of mine bought a guitar and I started watching him play the guitar, and when he would stop playing I would pick it up and would try to mock what he was doing. And from that moment I totally fell in love with playing music. That was when I was about 12 years old.
LAUNCH: So that Van Halen gig changed your life. Now name an album that changed your life.
WES: Probably AC/DC's Back In Black. You know, there's been many albums that've changed my life, I can't pinpoint just one. AC/DC, Led Zeppelin...I can sit here and name off so many different bands. The whole grunge movement, every Soundgarden album, all the Pearl Jam albums, Alice In Chains, all that grunge stuff and stuff from Seattle. Just many different things have influenced me in my life. I can't really name the album that changed my life.
LAUNCH: Speaking of grunge bands... Courtney Love has been quoted as saying you're a Nirvana wannabe. How do you feel about the Nirvana comparisons?
WES: How do I feel about being compared to Nirvana? That was one of the greatest bands in the whole world and it's a total bummer that Kurt Cobain is dead, so to be compared to him is an honor. It's a total bummer that he's gone. I wish he was still here, actually.
LAUNCH: So people think that touring is glamorous, though you say you're very tame on tour. But do have any stories about life on the road?
WES: You're in a bus, you get up out of your bunk, you try to eat some food, and the majority of the day is press and interviews. So you wake up and do some interviews and try to relax a little bit. You do soundchecks and then you just chill out most of the day and then you got a 40-minute set and you just kind of go up there. You just kind of wait anxiously all day to play your set and do as good as you can.
LAUNCH: What's the worst thing about touring?
WES: The worst thing about touring is when somebody goes to the bathroom on the bus and takes a dump and it smells the whole bus up until the bus driver can clean it up. It's sick.
LAUNCH: I take it that's happened?
WES: It has happened.
LAUNCH: So you've spent a lot of time opening up for major acts. Can you tell me what you've learned?
WES: Well, you know, I've been playing music so long...I don't know, I don't think I have learned anything from them.
LAUNCH: In the future, when people look back on Puddle Of Mudd, how would you like the band to be remembered?
WES: I would like people just to remember that we were writing about real-life situations that are pretty personal, and I hope that everybody can relate to it and I hope that maybe it will reach them therapeutically and help them through a bad spot in life.
LAUNCH: Speaking of bad spots in life...what's the worst job you had before Puddle Of Mudd took off?
WES: Making chicken lips at this place. It was the worst job. You had to dough it and batter it and it was just like your fingers were all doughy...it was gross, man. You had to dip it in the hot sauce; it burned your eyes.
LAUNCH: What are chicken lips?
WES: Chicken lips are just chicken breasts sliced into little slices and then you dip them into this egg batter and deep-fry them and your fingers get all eggy, because you have to dip them into the egg batter and then you have to put them in the flour. Dip it again, put it in the flour. By the time you're done, you fingers are all doughy. And you had to do this many different zillion times each night, because everybody wanted to eat chicken lips. Don't eat any more chicken lips, man, 'cause the guy back there is bumming out.
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