Too mainstream to be labelled nu metal and too modern sounding to be allied with grunge, Kansas City, USA-based Puddle Of Mudd share elements of both genres and have gained a measure of success as a result. The original line-up, formed in 1993 around Wes Scantlin (b. Wesley Reid Scantlin, 9 June 1972, Kansas City, Missouri, USA; vocals/guitar), named themselves after a rehearsal room next to a river that became a swamp overnight after a flood. The original line-up of Scantlin, Jimmy Allen (guitar), Sean Samon (bass) and Kenny Burkett (drums) released their debut album Stuck the following year on the small V&R Records label. Allen had departed by the time the follow-up Abrasive was released in 1997 on the independent Hardknocks Records label.
Puddle Of Mudd struck lucky when Scantlin went to a concert on Korn’s Family Values tour and passed his band’s demo tape to a security guard during Limp Bizkit’s set, requesting that his tape be passed to the band’s singer Fred Durst. The rapper liked what he heard and contacted Scantlin who had, however, just lost all his band members, his outfit having decided to part ways in the interim. Even the phone call from Durst failed to persuade the musicians to re-form, but Durst flew Scantlin over to Los Angeles, a city which he knew was bursting at the seams with budding musicians. After recruiting Paul Phillips (b. 26 June 1975, Brunswick, Georgia, USA; guitar), Douglas Ardito (b. USA; bass), and Greg Upchurch (b. 1 December 1971, Houma, Louisiana, USA; drums), Scantlin and Durst negotiated a contract with the Limp Bizkit frontman’s own Flawless label and commenced recording sessions for an album. The result, 2001’s Come Clean, replicated the success of Durst’s other discoveries, Staind, selling over 100, 000 copies in a few weeks. A performance by Scantlin, Durst and Jimmy Page at the MTV Europe Awards in 2001 saw the Puddle Of Mudd profile rise still higher. The band enjoyed a transatlantic Top 10 hit the following summer with ‘Blurry’, by which time the parent album was well on the way to multi-platinum status.
By the time the band completed their follow-up album the nu metal era had passed, and Life On Display was given a sound critical panning upon its release at the end of 2003. The commercial failure of the album prompted the departure of Phillips and Upchurch. Christian Stone (guitar) and Ryan Yerdon (drums) were brought into the line-up in 2005, making their recording debut on the Famous EP two years later.
