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Celebrity Jobber Podcast with Jeff Zito
Celebrity Jobber with Jeff Zito - Wes Scantlin (Puddle of Mudd)
00:28:42
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- [00:00]
Wes Scantlin
Foreign.
- [00:04]
Jeff Zito
Hello, everybody, it's Jeff Zito. And thanks for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts and please hit that subscribe button. Would also love a five star rating and if you could please leave a review. If you wanted to check out some of our past guests and episodes, you can do so simply by going to celebrityjobber.com and we take a little bit of a deeper look at some of these celebs before they were famous. Like some early jobs they held and even their first job. And that big break, that moment that changed their life forever. Which is pretty interesting because there was one of those moments for my guest today. His name is Wes Scantlin and he's the lead singer of the band Puddle of Mud. And he's got a very famous, like, big break kind of story that we'll go over today. And let me just say this about Wes Scantlin. He's. He's a guy that's no stranger to the headlines. You can Google Wes and a lot of stuff will come up. Some issues from his past, mostly substance abuse and a few other legal issues. But the one thing that I got from doing this interview with Wes Scantlin is that he's a pretty nice guy. Sounds like a pretty nice guy. And I think throughout this interview he kind of identifies what the problem may be. And he sounds like he's, he's gotten things all together right now. So I'm kind of rooting for the guy. And like I said earlier, going a little deeper into Wes's life. I never heard before about some of the musical influences that Wes actually had in his family. So we're going to talk all about that as well. He's got new music out with Puddle of Mud and very excited to speak with him today. Wes Scantlin, lead singer of Puddle of Mud, is my guest this week on
- [02:14]
Podcast Announcer
Celebrity Jobber, the Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, give a five star rating and leave a review. Check out all our past episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you put. What if these celebrities weren't famous? What would they have become? What was their first job? We're about to find out.
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Jeff Zito
Jack, it's actually Jeff. What's up, dude?
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Wes Scantlin
Hey. My, my manager, she's got a freaking coffee cup says, jack got your back. And I was like. And I was like, not for me, man. Jack makes me pissy.
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Jeff Zito
Well, you could call me Jack.
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Wes Scantlin
Jack Daniels.
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Jeff Zito
Oh, all right.
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Wes Scantlin
We're talking about Jack Daniel.
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Jeff Zito
Oh, man.
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Wes Scantlin
I can't drink that stuff, man.
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Jeff Zito
Jack Daniels is. Is. It doesn't. Doesn't work well with you.
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Wes Scantlin
No. And you know why? And why? There's a reason that Jack Daniels and where they make it at is a dry county. Right.
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Jeff Zito
Yeah. You know, I often thought about that. Why it didn't quite make sense, but maybe. Maybe you kind of are explaining it to a point where it does make sense. Yeah.
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah. In Tennessee. I think it's Tennessee, right?
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Jeff Zito
I think it is.
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Wes Scantlin
I think it is Tennessee, man. It's a dry county. But they have the distillery there that you can visit, which I've never been to. Right. If I drink any. If I drink Jack Daniels, dude.
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Jeff Zito
Yeah.
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Wes Scantlin
This is gonna see.
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Jeff Zito
You know, there's. There's that. There's always that one, you know, drink, if you will. That just kind of. It sounds like a good idea, but at the end of the day, it's like, oh, no. All this Stu stuff usually ends up happening once I have this. And it's. It's funny. I don't know what the attraction is.
- [04:06]
Wes Scantlin
Oh, yeah. Well, you're my Jack, and you got my back.
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Jeff Zito
I got your back. I got your back. Wes. It's been such a long time. I mean, Puddle of Mud has been in. I mean, I hate to date both of ourselves, but I can remember such, you know, early on in this business when Puddle of Mud kind of came to the scene. And the lyrics. I love the way you smack my ass. That was like, a cultural thing, you realize? That was like a cultural thing at the time. Those words were so, like, risque. You ever think about that nowadays?
- [04:45]
Wes Scantlin
Yeah, you know, it was just like, I was dating this stripper, and I'd have to pick her up from this place in Kansas City called Bazookas. And so I'd go in the. I'd go in the strip club before I picked her up, and I just fear, like. And she lets some of the guys smack her on the butt. On her little ass. So, yeah, so that's that. I just kind of wrote the song about her getting her ass smacked.
- [05:14]
Jeff Zito
Yeah, that's. That's got to be a tough thing, you know? You know, I dated one of those girls way back when as well, so seeing them at work, when you're like, hey, man, it's. It kind of messes with your mind.
- [05:29]
Wes Scantlin
Yeah. You know what? It didn't really bother me and that. We used to tour around the whole country, man. Me and Kristen. Hi, Kristen. How Are you. I haven't seen you for a long time. Thank you for letting me smack your ass.
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Jeff Zito
You know, it's funny, Wes. It's like, all this time, there's a new album out, by the way. It's called Kiss the Machine. New single is free. I mean, and if you haven't heard this stuff, just think about Puddle of Mud in their prime. I mean, it's. It sounds like Puddle of Mud, but it's funny, Wes, because I don't think a lot of people know who you are. Like, growing up in Kansas City, like your family, what you did. Like, did you. When you were growing up, did you play sports in high school? You look like an athletic guy. What were you into growing up?
- [06:15]
Wes Scantlin
Well, I grew up on a lake, Lake Wacomis in Kansas City. And, you know, I would, like, swim, and I played. I played soccer, like, all the time. And I could have actually been, like. I could have gone overseas, or I could have had a career and playing. Playing. Playing soccer, man. But I. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I got a record deal, and so that. That didn't happen. So. Yeah, so, like, no, you're gonna be
- [06:45]
Jeff Zito
a rocker out of nowhere. Tell me about out of nowhere. So where did the guitar and writing songs come from? It seems like you. You know, growing up in Kansas City, you're into sports, you're into soccer. How did all of a sudden music enter your life?
- [06:59]
Wes Scantlin
I went to a Van Halen concert when I was, like, 12 years old, and I. I was watching. It was the jump tour. The 1985 jump tour. Yeah. And I was like, you know, everybody at that point in your life is going, like, what do you think you want to do with your life and what do you want to do? You know? And I'm just like, man, I want to do. I want to do that. That looks. That looks like fun, right? So that's basically how it all kind of happens.
- [07:28]
Podcast Announcer
Celebrity Jobber. The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zita.
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Jeff Zito
Are your parents, like, musical people? Did you grow up in a musical household? Is this in the family lineage or. No?
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah. Yeah. My. My mom was a Patsy Klein impersonator. And my grandmother. My grandmother Flover, God rest her soul, she had a. She had an organ in the. The basement. And we. You know, my mom got me a drum set and a bass and a guitar. Like, she was. I don't know. My mom helped me out a lot, man. She. She's crazy. Awesome.
- [08:06]
Jeff Zito
So that is a cool story. I. I don't.
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Wes Scantlin
I don't think I've ever heard that around about it. Yeah, like, you know, Patsy Klein and Loretta Lynn and all these really great songwriters and singers and my mom really liked that stuff. And she was a Patsy Klein impersonator, man, it was kind of cool.
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Jeff Zito
So that's what she did for, for a job. She was a Patsy Cline impersonator for, you know, that was her living. That's crazy.
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah, she would just do like a, you know, a couple of shows with all that Presley, I guess he's like a cousin of Elvis. And then they do like a variety type show. There's a, there's a sunny and shared act and there's like a, there's a Billy Idol thing and there's a Pat Decline thing. And it's just, it's kind of like a variety show and that they did, you know, they do something in like Virginia beach and stuff like that. And yeah, she's go act like Kathy Klein.
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Jeff Zito
Wow. So before the record deal, Wes, did you have any other aspirations? I mean, let's, let's, let's face it, being a rock star, it's kind of like a dream, right? People don't, you know, like aspire. I mean, people aspire to do it. People dream to do it, but, you know, it's, it's a long shot. Let's just face it. So when, like before the record deal, were you looking at doing anything else? Were you looking at going overseas to play soccer? Were you looking at college? Were you looking at studying a certain, a certain major?
- [09:35]
Wes Scantlin
I was physically and literally going down to New Orleans with my ex stripper girlfriend and we were picking her daughter up and I. You probably know the story about getting the fake backstage fast. The Family Values concert, Limp Biscuit Corn, Ice Cube Filter, they were all playing that night. And I just, I just brought a demo tape and got to this man named Richie Sternsey, who is Fred Durst, like, really good friend, and he's like the bodyguard supermaster of everything. And he's wonderful. And he got the tape. I gave it to him with a fake backstage pass. And then I said, have fun throwing it away. And then him and Fred Durst and a few other people, they had tons and tons and tons of records and CDs and tapes from all kinds of people. And they were on the hunt for a really cool artist. And Fred has signed like Stained and Me. And I don't know, it's just incredible that they like, out of all these things, they picked me, you know, so that was pretty cool.
- [10:49]
Jeff Zito
I mean, and I have heard that story, but it's good to hear you tell it because, you know, other people. There's a lot that could be lost in translation. But do you. Do you can. I mean, and you'd have to, right, Because I'm. I'm just thinking to myself, do you. Do you consider that your. Your big break? I mean, there has to be. Like, that moment doesn't happen. Are we talking today?
- [11:10]
Wes Scantlin
Yeah, yeah. That's kind of stuff. I mean, I'm pretty sure it happens to other people now, like with these shows and stuff, like Idol and. And, you know, and what I. The talents or whatever, all this stuff. I don't really watch too much of it, but. Yeah, man, those people had some. Some stuff like that happen, too. I mean, it really does actually happen like that. It's such a slam right in your face, and it's like, here we go, you know?
- [11:37]
Jeff Zito
And. And do you now think about that moment and is it ever happened to you where kids sneaking backstage and handing you a tape, and are you just eager to. To maybe listen to it, give them a chance? Has that ever happened to you?
- [11:53]
Wes Scantlin
Yeah, I get people giving me records, CDs, and stuff like that. I mean, there's not a lot of boom boxes around these days. I mean, there's not even a lot of CD players in any cars these days, so. Yeah, so it's just all Internet. It's all the Internet now. And anything good.
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Jeff Zito
Have you heard anything good from anybody?
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Podcast Announcer
Work?
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Jeff Zito
Like, would you actually do that? Would you sign somebody if you heard something, you know, worth it to you?
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah, I mean, at least. Yeah, I would do that. It's, you know, it's. It's a. It's a challenge, man.
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Jeff Zito
Yeah.
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Wes Scantlin
And the record. The record industry is. Is definitely one of the hardest industries in the world to even get any type of love from. And. But, you know, at the end of the day, you can. You can always just. You can always just, you know, write songs and enjoy being a songwriter and enjoy this. Playing music by a campfire or wherever you are. I don't care if you're on a gravel road. You can get. Get in your truck, sit on the flat, you know, pull down the bed of the truck and sit there with an acoustic, light a fire, get some fireworks and, you know, just shoot the shit. I'm sorry.
- [13:09]
Jeff Zito
No, you're good.
- [13:10]
Podcast Announcer
The Celebrity Jobber Podcast with Jeff Szeto
- [13:15]
Jeff Zito
and Doug. There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it Means sitting front row at a comedy show.
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Wes Scantlin
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this your first date?
- [13:28]
Jeff Zito
Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [13:37]
Jeff Zito
Anyways, only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com.
- [13:43]
Podcast Announcer
the Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Z.
- [13:46]
Jeff Zito
I think everybody dreams, though, of, you know, the being a rock star and Jack Daniels and a stripper girlfriend. You know, I think that's. That's a lot of the motivation. Tell me, is that all it's cracked up to be? I mean, you've been living this life for a long time.
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah, Yeah. I don't do Jack Daniels. Sorry, guys, but. And I, you know, I'm not. I'm not really down. I'm not. You know, there's nothing wrong with strippers, but my ex girlfriend, who. She was a stripper, but she would get really mad at me if I called her a stripper. So she's like, I'm a dancer.
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Jeff Zito
A dancer?
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah. And she's like, kick me in the. In the freaking shin. I'm a dancer. I'm like, okay. Well, I mean, you're. They call them peelers in Canada.
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Jeff Zito
There's. There's actually a new song, I think, on. On your new album, talking about you're. You're in love with a. A dancer. Is that. Is that who you're talking about?
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You always got to throw something in there for the dancers. And I've been dancing, and I've been dancing my whole life. I mean, I was a break dancer.
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Jeff Zito
Right on.
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Wes Scantlin
Me too. Yeah, right? It was fun, man.
- [15:01]
Jeff Zito
It was.
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Wes Scantlin
It was.
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Jeff Zito
Looking back on it, it's a little
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Wes Scantlin
weird, but I still. I still dance to this day. I love dancing. It really puts you in a good mood, man. It really does.
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Jeff Zito
Tell me about your very first job, Wes. Can you talk, like, all the way back? Kansas City, growing up, high school, did you have a job? What was your very first paying job? What did you do?
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Wes Scantlin
The first job I ever had was shoveling all the driveways on the lake when it snowed. So we'd get, like. Some of the cool people would give us a 20, right? But we shoveled driveways for money. And that. That was my first job. And then I was a. I mowed lawns. And then I was also a cook at a. At a little place called Hayes Hamburgers. That was one of my first kind of jobs. I've done so much different stuff. I mean, I was a door to door salesman. Really? Oh yeah. And for restaurants with these cards and you get them stamped and then after you went to this restaurant for like, like 12 times, you get like two free dinners or something like that. So I go door to door and, and, and sell these like little cards for different restaurants.
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Jeff Zito
Okay. So that's been, it's been a long time. Any, any one of those jobs, can you point out, is your favorite that you remember.
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Wes Scantlin
I really enjoyed building houses. I was definitely like into carpentry and stuff like that. And I get up at like 5 in the morning and I'd go, I'd go to this. You know, basically the foundation was poured. Right. And we build houses, man. I really, really actually miss doing that. Right. Bartending. I like, I like bartending too. That was fun too.
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Jeff Zito
Right on. Can you tell me how the, the industry, because you're just kind of hinting to it. It's a really tough industry. Being in the music biz, being an artist, traveling, recording. Tell me a little bit about how it's changed between the time you first got involved to all to today. Has it changed for the better or for the worse or. Neither?
- [17:10]
Wes Scantlin
It changed for the better. I mean, you just, you know, you got to grab your, your guitar and you know, you got to set up. Back in the day we had to set up our own gear and stuff. So nowadays we have an entire awesome crews that. We have a bunch of crews that are all technicians and stuff. And when we show up, everything's already set up. So the, the Dodge elongated van, Ram van, right? Those broke, breaking down all the time that I had to pack all the gear in to go to like the little podunk shows. I don't, I don't really have to do that anymore. I will.
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Jeff Zito
Right?
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Wes Scantlin
We'll do that. Believe me, I will. But I already got, I got my own bus now.
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Jeff Zito
Right.
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Wes Scantlin
It's nice, man. It's really nice.
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Jeff Zito
You look back on those days though, when the whole band's in a little van and, and a lot of people think those were maybe some of the most happiest days because, you know, there was just less of the machine, you know, that you had to bow down to or, or Kiss as, as the title of your, your new album, Kiss the Machine.
- [18:20]
Wes Scantlin
Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I always think about that stuff like. And it was fun. We had, we had, we had so much fun, you know, before we even got a record deal. And yeah, it was, it was, we were partying, man. We Were. You were young, and we were. We were having fun and partying, having a good time, man.
- [18:42]
Podcast Announcer
The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Szeto. Celebrity Jobber.
- [18:47]
Jeff Zito
You know, Wes, you know, a lot of people read your headlines, but I haven't really heard a lot about growing up and what your life was like and telling me about your mom being a patsy. Client. Impersonator. Impersonator. I think it was really quick. You're a cool guy, and I wish you, you know, nothing but success. Just an FYI, it was way back when working at a radio station in Fort Myers. Puddle of Mud came, and your son Jordan, I believe was his name, and my son Jacob were palling around the whole day. They were about the same age and palling around the whole day and having a great time, just doing, you know, kicking a can or whatever.
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Wes Scantlin
Dude.
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Jeff Zito
How is. How is your son? He's got to be close to 30 years old. He's got to be grown, man. Is he a musician?
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Wes Scantlin
Yeah, he's a. He's got a band. He's got a band called Grim G R I M. And it's really cool. It sounds like the Death Tones. So if anybody's listening, man, Grim is a great band. And Jordan Scantlin is. And the rest of his entire band are all cool, and they just kind of grind and just like anybody else does. But, yeah, I'm really proud of him. And he's going to be working. He's been working with me, and. Very cool. So he's. I'm gonna be flying him out really soon, and he's gonna be basically working with me, and I'm gonna get Graham on some shows, you know, playing with Puddle of Mud and. And, you know, it's good because I. I've missed him a lot. And that's another part of the whole business that, you know.
- [20:27]
Jeff Zito
Yeah.
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Wes Scantlin
Tour so much when they got to go to school and stuff, so you don't get to see a lot of each other. So these. These are the golden years, man.
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Jeff Zito
Right on. Yeah, it's got to be tough maintaining relationships, stable family with all that going on and traveling and the circus, man.
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Wes Scantlin
All the best, man.
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Jeff Zito
All the best to you. Kiss the Machine. New album out from Puddle of Mud. New single is called Free. And was really great catching up and. And talking to you a little bit. Wes, thanks so much for. For taking the time. I will. I will let him know. Wes, thanks again. Take care, man.
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Wes Scantlin
All right, Jack. Thank you, man.
- [21:12]
Jeff Zito
Bye. Bye.
- [21:14]
Wes Scantlin
That was cool. All right.
- [21:16]
Jeff Zito
It looks like he had a good time Remembers my son's name. Met him one time maybe, you know, 15 or 20 years ago, but called me Jack. So pretty interesting. It looks like Van Halen got Wes interested in music. But, you know, when you think about the whole psychology of the thing, right, you're young and you have a dream, right? You want to be a professional baseball player. You want to be a rock star. What is it that makes some people actually achieve that dream and others not? You know, it's the real passion. I mean, obviously people, they look at the fanfare that comes along with dreaming big and becoming famous. But I think the. There's talent and then there's, you know, the level of work that goes into it. And for most people, it doesn't happen, but for some, it does. Wes is one of those people. The famous story going backstage at a Family Values tour in New Orleans, like back in the 90s, made fake backstage passes. Him and his stripper girlfriend find Fred Durst's bodyguard. Fred Durst in the band Limp Bizkit at the time, just humongous, right? He was like, you know, Limp Bizkit was this giant band. They were all over mtv. And Wes seems to find the Fred Durst bodyguard, hands him a tape and says, hey, have fun throwing that away. Next thing you know, they're probably drinking in the tour bus. They put it in, hear some of these songs. They end up calling them, getting in touch with them, signing the band. It's like one of those dream come true scenarios that really happen. So, you know, Wes was pretty adamant about saying, hey, this shit happens. So it's a really cool story on, you know, how that happened for Puddle of Mud. And what I thought was really cool, because I've never heard this before, is that Wes's mom was a Patsy Klein impersonator. He said that his grandmother also had some musical ability, played the organ. But his mother was a Patsy Cline impersonator and was very supportive of west becoming a musician. She said, bottom drums and guitar, and so really supported his desire to become a musician. But I never heard that before. His mom was a Patsy Cline impersonator. I thought that was really cool. And this guy had a lot of different jobs before he became famous. His first job, he said, was shoveling snow around the lake where he grew up in Kansas City. And he had a ton of other jobs from mowing lawns, he worked at a restaurant. He was a door too salesman. He said. He was even a bartender. And he was, like, in construction and worked on houses and says that was probably One of his favorite jobs of everything that he did before he became famous with Puddle of Mud. And you know, like I said earlier, if you Google Wes Scantlin, you'll see all the headlines. He kind of mentions a few different times during the interview that Jack Daniels is not his friend. Looks like he's, he's not drinking Jack Daniels, maybe he's not drinking, but I think Wes sounds like, you know, he's on the right track right now. And the phone call was a pretty early phone call. So I would, I would guess that, you know, Wes is, is doing better right now. And like I said earlier, I'm rooting for the guy. He's a pretty nice guy and his son Jordan in this band Grim, which I checked out and they've got some talent. So be on the lookout for them. As Wes says he's gonna probably fly him out pretty soon and, and work with him a little bit, maybe bring him out on the road. And like I said, new music from Puddle of Mud off their latest album, which came out last spring, album called Kiss the Machine. The new song Free can check out the new music video that just came out for that few tour dates for Puddle of Mud this summer. And of course you can check out their website for more details. That's puddle of mud dot com. That's mud with two Ds. Puddle of mud dot com. There you have it. If it wasn't for Wes making fake backstage passes at that family values tour in New Orleans and sneaking his demo tape to Fred Durst, Bodyguard, this conversation may never have happened. You probably would never have heard the song she Hates Me or Control or Blurry or any one of Puddle of Mud's hits. You know, who knows, maybe Wes would still be bartending or building houses in construction. That big break, that kind of stuff doesn't happen to just everybody. So thanks for listening to another episode of the Celebrity Jobber Podcast. Streaming on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts and please subscribe, hit that subscribe button. Would love a five star rating. And please leave a review. Follow on Instagram, which is Celebrity Underscore Jobber underscore podcast. Also YouTube.com/the sign celebrity Jobber and follow on Substack for more bonus content at Celebrity Jobber on Substack. Once again, thank you so much for listening. Happy Easter. And until next week, we'll see you then with another episode of the Celebrity Jobber Podcast. I'm Jeff Z.