Puddle of Mudd’s Wes Scantlin is Ready For Ribfest in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo Ribfest is set to return to Arcadia Creek Festival Place August 5th and 6th after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, and headlining the final night is Puddle of Mudd.

Rocker Morning Show co-host Meatball got a chance to chat with frontman Wes Scantlin before their return to Kalamazoo. They talked about the importance of Wes' family, the early days of Puddle of Mudd recording in Lawrence, KS, and MAYBE getting to hear some new music on August 5th at Ribfest!
(The full interview can be heard at the bottom of this article)

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Here's just a few highlights from the interview:

Meatball: When you look back, and you see what you've overcome, and you're still able to maintain the popularity of this band and the music you've created, how does that make you feel?

Wes Scantlin: Well, it makes me feel pretty darn good. I feel like a lot of people pout a lot of hurdles in front of me. Been a lot of misinformation, I'll tell you that much. A lot of it's my dad, and my parents and stuff. They're go-getters and their perseverance has astonished me throughout the years. They're great parents.

MB: You draw a lot of your perseverance, your drive from them?

WS: Yeah. If somethings really weird, and happening in my life, I usually call my dad, and my mother. Ask them for some helpful advice. They always tell me to keep your head up, strive on and keep going. Don't let all these naysayers keep you down. I just follow their lead... If it wasn't for them, I'd probably be in a freakin' psycho ward or something.

MB: You've been doing this now for thirty years man, three decades with Puddle of Mudd. Is that not one of the craziest things somebody has said to you?

WS: Well, I'm glad it's being said... I enjoy the holy moly out of music. I just love it. Makes the world go 'round man, it heals people, and if I can add a little healing touch to someone's life, including my own, ya know, it's really a wonderful, magical type of... ya know, kind of a thing that I've been blessed by God to be able to do.

MB: I do want to take a trip down memory lane... even before you guys got real popular. We're talking back in 1994, you guys released that EP "Stuck," first thing you'd ever done... on that EP was the song "Drift and Die," it was almost 8 years before it was released as a radio single... Being in Red House Studios in Lawrence KS, recording that song, for that EP, did it feel special even eight years before releasing it as a radio single?

WS: Yeah, that song... you know me and Jimmy Allen were just a couple little stoners working at his parents printing press business, in an apartment upstairs... we rehearsed a lot, and we would just kinda... fell in love with writing music. That was one of the first ones that we kinda got out. It felt special just from the very get go of it. By the time we did get to the studio in Lawrence, KS, with Mr. (Ed) EJ Rose, God Bless his soul.. yeah, it really did feel special. It really did man.

MB: What was it about Red House Studios in Lawrence, over any number of other studios in Kansas City?

WS: Thing about that is, there's a band that was really really popular in Kansas City, and they were called "Stick." The record "Heavy Bag" by this band called Stick... Me and Jimmy... we were just trying to follow their lead. It's really an amazing record. Yeah... that was actually like our favorite local, regional band, and the sonic sound they got out of their record just amazed us. We pretty much just followed whatever they were doing. I think it was a good way to go, too. This style.. we just liked that style. My hat, my praise to Stick, "Heavy Bag" record, thank you so much for all the guidance. It really did guide us in a great direction.

Meatball also discussed the upcoming new music with Scantlin (how some of it might be played for the first time at Ribfest), his taste in BBQ - being that he's a Kansas City Native - and how he writes for Puddle of Mudd.

The full interview can be heard below.