On Tuesday August 12, 2008 I had the opportunity to see the band Puddle of Mudd at Piere’s in Ft. Wayne. One might recall that these guys had a few hits back on the excellent rock CD “Come Clean” from 2001 and more recently from the 2007 CD “Famous”. Turn on the radio, you’ll hear “Psycho” from the newer CD and then later in day you’ll hear “She Hates Me” from the old one, so you know that while this isn’t a huge amount of material to work from, the songs work well on radio, so how about live?
It was fun, it was entertaining and it was LIVE. Wes Scantlin knows how to rock, the dude just brings it. The band wasn’t overly loud, something that I am not used to with headliners, but it appeared there was some kind of reasoning to it. It was as if the band wanted you to know that they were real, but they were also sure that if you paid attention you’d see how well they rocked...they really did rock it. LIVE.
Might have to admit that I was shocked when the band started with “Control” as the first song of the night, being that is about the second or third largest hit in their catalog. If you can’t remember right now which song “Control” is, just keep saying this: “I love the way you smack my ass” and I’m guessing you know which song I am talking about, if not, turn on The Bear more often. The band; Scantlin (vocals/guitars), Doug Ardito (bass), Ryan Yerdon (drums) and Christian Stone (guitars) killed this song as if it was the closer for the night, not the introduction. (Oh yeah, they interjected a little “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath into it also...who the hell starts with a closer? Rocked.)
Later in the set, “Famous” of WWE fame was played out and kept the crowds interest, but there is no doubt that these guys were going to have to work to keep the interest of the elbow to elbow crowd, I mean it was really damn busy on a Tuesday and if there are that many people willing to show up on a Tuesday, you sort of owe them a good show. “Famous” started a string of really strong songs that kept us all going.
“Drift and Die”, “Nobody Told Me”, “Blurry”, “Psycho” and a few other good rock songs from the band followed, but have to admit, as good as those originals were, two killer covers really brought the night to a memorable evening: “TNT” (AC/DC) and “Breed” (Nirvana) just hyped up the crowd. “TNT” featured a party crowd chanting “OY!”, over and over again as Scantlin told you he was “TNT”. Then, I’m not sure if the whole crowd knew which Nirvana song they were hearing, but I did see them crowd surfing to “Breed”. Scantlin looks a bit like Kurt Cobain, so why not play off the look, eh? Well, I think more than anything, the band liked the two covers and the bands that made them, otherwise they wouldn’t have felt as authentic. Very cool.
“She Hates Me” closed out our evening at Piere’s and it was just as much fun to hear as it was when I first heard it back 7 years ago. The crowd participation was equal or greater than “TNT”, which is impressive, but the whole audience really feels like “she fucking hates me”, “la la la la”, “TRUST”. It just was a good single and it really brought the house down. Personally, I still like “Control” better as a song overall, but this night, I might have to say that “She Hates Me” is the better song live. The guitar work on the solos and fills, as it was for the night, was strong and intense. I swear you could see each of the guitarist’s veins popping at then end of this night while soloing. Puddle of Mudd made for a good headliner and a band that I would encourage anyone that likes rock to see. Had one hell of a great time watching Puddle of Mudd.
Funny thing was, there were three band before Puddle of Mudd, so here is the lowdown on the others:
1. Saving Abel: What I get from these guys is that if I see them again, I’m bringing my girlfriend. I swear that half the crowd was making out when these guys played. I am not sure what it is, vocal-Viagra, but the kissing on the floor was sloppy and really happening....a lot.
2. Rev Theory: Not what I expected. I felt as if I was watching a recording of a show, not a live show itself. As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, Puddle of Mudd seemed really LIVE, Rev Theory seem really processed or sampled. I could be wrong, but it felt that way.
3. Tyler Read: If I could ask you to check out a band right now that I think has a future, Tyler Read would be that band. As an opener, an early opener at that, they brought it and were as sharp as any opener that I’ve seen recently. They rocked, had the energy, had what appeared to be a sense of humor and the ability to jam out. Hell of a opener.
Thanks again to Piere’s for letting me in their doors and next time we’ll talk about???
Rob Thompson