Wading through a sea of journalists can be tough for any band. Puddle of Mudd, with one of the earliest media tent time slots for the 2010 edition of Rock on the Range, had to make it in and out before their main [...]]]>

Puddle Of Mudd heads back to Detroit in August with Shinedown.

Wading through a sea of journalists can be tough for any band. Puddle of Mudd, with one of the earliest media tent time slots for the 2010 edition of Rock on the Range, had to make it in and out before their main stage performance. The band is currently on the road in support of the December release of Vol. 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate, which has seen singles “Spaceship” and “Stoned” became two more of the many rock radio hits the band has had over the years.

During my time in the media tent, I got a chance to talk with drummer Ryan Yerdon, who has been with the band since 2005. Here is my interview with Ryan of Puddle of Mudd:

MyCityBuzz: With Vol. 4 now out- what do you see as the major differences between this album and the last album, Famous?
Ryan Yerdon: I think with Famous, the vibe of the album was a bit poppier than usual. With Vol. 4, it has a bit more of a rocking edge to it, more raw and almost a punk rock feel to it. The main goal for this album was simply not to suck and not disappoint the fans.

MCB: What was the approach to recording the new album within the band?
RY: Well, Wes (Scantlin) writes most of the lyrics, so he handled that. We had recorded a couple of songs right away, which people really liked. So, those ended up becoming the singles. So, we went in and recorded a few songs and didn’t worry about recording 20 or 30 songs and narrowing them down to 10 or so. We really just focused in on 10 or so songs and worked from there. Wes worked on the lyrics and it went pretty fast from there.

MCB: How quickly was Paul Phillips’ (newly returned guitarist) presence felt once he came back into the band?
RY: I don’t think necessarily there was a lot of easing in, because he was familiar with Wes and worked on the first two albums. But what he did was is to help writing the songs and guitar riffs. Paul is involved in all aspects of the band. So, it wasn’t so much of being eased back up, but getting right back into things with the band.

MCB: How was playing for the USO in Iraq for the band?
RY: It was an amazing experience to go there and make the troops forget about their problems they are dealing with. They were so appreciative of us coming over there and taking time away to enjoy the moment; which doesn’t happen very often. To see the look in the eyes and just seeing how thankful they were- it is something I’ll never forget. We played 5 bases in Iraq and flew in military helicopters and it was awesome. I still have people coming up to me that are home now and tell me how they remembered that show.

MCB: With touring right now, what do you think are the main ways to keep bands on the road during rough times?
RY: From what I see, I think the way to go is to see a lot of these bands touring together- doing these big package tours. This is happening with bands in our genre, as well as older bands, such as Styx & Journey and so on. You have to do that in order to survive or else you are just going to be playing a club with a thousand people in it if you’re lucky. We did a tour with Shinedown earlier this year that was really smooth and a lot of shows were sold out and we’re gonna do it again with Shinedown this summer.

Puddle of Mudd will be back in Detroit when they appear as part of the “Carnival of Madness” tour, playing at DTE Energy Music Theater on August 6^th. Tickets range from $20 to $42.50 and are available at www.palacenet.com. Additional band info and tour dates can be found at www.puddleofmudd.com.

The opening day of the 4th annual Rock On The Range was a weird day weather wise, with sunshine creeping through clouds and brief drizzles. As nearly 20 bands descended on bustling Columbus Crew Stadium, the biggest names and [...]]]>

Day 1 @ ROTR is in the books, Day 2 starts soon.

The opening day of the 4^th annual Rock On The Range was a weird day weather wise, with sunshine creeping through clouds and brief drizzles. As nearly 20 bands descended on bustling Columbus Crew Stadium, the biggest names and hard rock and metal collided. 30,000+ made their way into the stadium in what was referred to as the festival’s biggest crowd to date to witness a mixed bag of good, bad and sloppy performances.

Much like the weather on Day 1, the bands that played the first day of Rock on the Range varied greatly. Some bands impressed, while others disappointed. But after checking out Day 1 at ROTR 2010, here is who takes my three stars of the day:

Star #1- Killswitch Engage. With lead singer Howard Jones playing his first show since coming back from a “personal break” that he took from the band during their winter tour, Killswitch played with a fire that showed that the band picked up right where they left off. Spanning their catalog of albums, Killswitch had the Kicker Stage going for a 45-minute set. Guitarist Adam D was his usual comedic self and the crowd ate it all up as crowd surfing and empty beer bottle throwing was the norm throughout the set. And the crowd did go crazy as the band launched into their closer, the Dio classic “Holy Diver.” In a day that varied greatly, Killswitch Engage proved that they are dependable as always.

Star #2: Helmet. The band’s mastermind, Page Hamilton, just turned 50 but compared to the boredom-inducing tone of some of the bands, Helmet had more energy during the band’s 35-minute set than I saw from guys half his age today. Playing a fan favorite set which included the grunge-era mainstays “Unsung” and “In The Meantime,” Helmet didn’t perform to the biggest crowd of the day, but they may have had some of the best mosh pits of the day and the people that did attend, saw a band re-energized and ready to go in the new year.

Star #3: Sevendust. Being the first band on the main stage was not the best scheduling strategy, but long time hard rock warriors Sevendust did a fine job in their 30-minute set. With guitarist Clint Lowery back in town, the band sounded tight and got the fans out of the weather doldrums and made the most of their set.

Other Notes:

-If you were there, I am sure you saw the trainwreck of a performance by Puddle of Mudd earlier this afternoon. It looked like lead singer Wes Scantlin was on a different page than the rest of the band, switching lyrics mid-song during the set and in a very ADD style, taking three tries to get fan favorite “She Hates Me” started. It got confusing and you could tell at least the lead singer had been partying just a little bit too early. Good cover of “TnT” by AC/DC though.

-The Deftones decided to use the first part of their set to play most of the band’s new album. But let’s be honest- even though the new album is good, the band has been gone for a while and the band’s more feverish tracks were in order. It seemed to me that the crowd seemed puzzled as to how to react to the band and the lack of enthusiasm was already zapped out of the crowd by the time the band played some older material. Love the band, but this was not one of their better performances.

-I didn’t know what to make from Rise Against’s performance. I like the band, and have seen them a bunch of times, but I don’t know if the Budweiser drinking, downhome folks of Ohio viewed a Vegan band from Chicago as one of them. The band seemed to make it out ok, but wasn’t blowing a lot of people away in the crowd.

On Day 1, I did interviews with Ryan of Puddle of Mudd and Richy Nix. Those interviews will be up within the next few days. Now, it’s time to chill out and get ready for the Limp Bizkit headlined second day at ROTR. See ya then…