Puddle Of Mudd play the Arena Wednesday 4 June 2008.
In wars gone by American entertainers such as Bob Hope and Wayne Newton have famously been shipped overseas to give serving soldiers a taste of home. More recently, the likes of blonde bombshell Jessica Simpson and rocker Kid Rock have filled this important, morale-boosting role in Iraq.
Following a previous visit to war torn Iraq, Kansas City post-grunge rockers Puddle Of Mudd will again stop by the troubled nation and perform for the troops en route to their first Australian tour.
We played Tikrit about four years ago for the soldiers,” guitarist/vocalist Wes Scantlin remembers. “They did a poll and the soldiers picked us; they wanted to see us more than anyone else. I don’t know if it’s something about our music that really hits home with them, but we were definitely excited to do it.
It’s a little nerve-wracking – it’s a dangerous area to be in – but they just take such great care of us and they really deserve to have a good time. It’s amazing; you’re coming over there, bringing a piece of home to the people. Just to go over and bring a little bit of hope and peace and love and home back to them, they’re just so excited and it’s special for them. It really touches your heart, you know?”
This latest bout of touring comes following the late-2007 release of Puddle Of Mudd’s fifth studio album Famous, their first in four years.
We worked our tails off on that record man,” Scantlin explains. “It’s just all about great songwriting and trying to come up with the catchiest and funniest kind of stuff. Rock n’ roll’s got a lot of different senses of humour, and then there’s also a really meaningful and heartfelt side to different rock songs. We just wanted to make it a combination of a lot of different emotions; hopefully the emotions can help somebody through a tough time in their life or just totally cheer them up.
There’s tonnes of songs on the record that are a little bit different. There’s a lot of diversity, which keeps people’s attention. With the attention span of people nowadays with the internet it’s really hard to keep people’s attention.” One song that should do the trick though is the album’s biting lead single and title track – a snarling condemnation taking aim at notions of celebrity and narcissism.
We were trying to poke a little bit of fun about all the mayhem that’s happened in Hollywood in the last year with all the actresses getting busted for this and that and people going to jail,” Scantlin chides. “It just seems like nowadays with Myspace and Youtube that a lot of people can just do something totally crazy and become famous. I mean, everybody kind of wants to be recognised in their life, it’s kind of a narcissistic thing. But everybody wants to be in the limelight and shine.
At this point in my life I’m not really worried about it, but I can honestly say that when I was 12 or 13-years-old at a Van Halen concert in Kansas City, I looked up on the stage and right then and there I was like, ‘That’s what I wanna do’. And thank God I was blessed with the opportunity to do it.”
Living up that opportunity for the rest of the year, Scantlin will lead Puddle Of Mudd on tour through South Korea, Japan, Iraq and Australia over the coming months, before returning for yet more touring on home soil. Culling recordings from these shows and combining them with pre-existing live recordings, the band will release their first live album later in the year.
It’s not gonna be a big deal, it’s just all about editing it down and making it into a cool show,” Scantlin says. “I’m thinking of going, Pudlle Of Mudd live Iraq, Puddle Of Mudd live in Kuwait and Melbourne, Brisbane, South Korea, Japan, Tupelo, Kansas City, New York City – bits and pieces of really cool songs from different shows we’ve done over the years. We’re just gonna make it a collage of all different shows, I think that would make for a pretty cool live album.
I don’t have an exact [release] date, but I’d say we’re just gonna throw it together in the time that we have.”
Famous out through Geffen/Universal.
