After a bit of downtime, Puddle of Mudd are back on the road with a fresh set of dates behind their latest album, last year’s Famous, which includes the singles “Psycho” and “We Don’t Have to Look Back Now.” Later this year, the Los Angeles-based rock band plans to finish work on a live set and accompanying DVD, covering everything from the new stuff to material from its major label breakthrough, 2001’s Come Clean. Puddle of Mudd are also working on a new covers collection featuring their interpretations of classic songs by the likes of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Fleetwood Mac. “We got a lot of stuff on the plate,” singer-guitarist Wes Scantlin told us when we spoke to him last week. We also talked about collecting guitars, jamming on-stage with Jimmy Page and building an axe for Les Paul.
Do you still have your first Gibson, the red 1990 Les Paul Studio Lite?
Nah, I gave that away to a really good friend of mine. I wish I still had it. I just gave him a Corvette, too.
This must be a really good friend.
He’s a really good guy. He got my foot in the door. I had this 1965 convertible Corvette and I was just like, ‘Here, man. Happy birthday, dude.’ I don’t even know how much the car is worth. He’s just a great friend of mine.
Wasn’t that guitar broken?
Yeah, man. That guitar has been broken on the headstock twice. Each time that you glue it together, for some weird unknown reason the guitar sounds better. I’ve had other guitar technicians tell me about that. Like, if you break the headstock and you wood glue it together for some reason it sounds better and it plays better and keeps in tune better.
Speaking of staying in tune, what are your thoughts on the Robot Guitar?
I have one on the way to me. I’m eagerly awaiting it.
Tell me about playing with Jimmy Page.
I played with Jimmy Page like four years ago in Germany. We played “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin. Fred Durst was singing, I was singing, Jimmy Page came out and did some kind of crazy solo on a 12-string. It was really, really weird. My leg was shaking. I was just sitting there going, I can’t even believe that Jimmy Page is walking out onstage with a 12-string doing a solo. You don't even dream of stuff like that. Like, ‘I’m going to play with Jimmy Page one day!’ You don’t say that when you’re a little guitar player growing up.
Don’t you also share a birthday with Les Paul?
Yeah, me and Les Paul have the same birthday. I made a guitar for him that I’ve been working on eight years now. I’m pretty much just going to give it to him. It’s going to be called the Wes Paul.
You built it yourself?
Yeah. It looks like a guitar that’s gone through a war or something. It’s got currencies from different countries all over the world. There’s like film wrapped around it. It’s really cool. I can’t wait until they make the Wes Paul. I’ll definitely give Les Paul three or four of them.
Have you ever met him?
I’ve never met Les Paul but I hear he’s a wicked guitar player. He’s definitely blessed my life with many, many awesome guitars. I just want to give him one back that I worked real hard on. I was in Iraq on my birthday, June 9, playing with the soldiers. I was trying to send that guitar to Les Paul but it wasn’t going to work out to where he got it in time. I’ll just hand it to him myself. I’ll tell him, ‘This is what I’ve been tripping on.’ There’s at least, shoot, $185 worth of coins from different countries on it. There’s some camera film that got chucked at my Les Pauls. He’s just a really special guy. He invented multi-tracking. He must have been brainstorming in his garage.
What is your collection looking like these days?
I don’t even know. I’ve got so many guitars, it’s freaky. I think I’m just going to make a display on my walls. Just put all the Les Pauls I have on my walls and people can walk around and check them out. I’ve got a few more coming. I’ve got the Robot coming. I’ve got an Explorer coming. I’m all about Gibson, man. It’s all I’ve ever played. It’s all I want to play.
How many of your guitars never get played?
Well, there’s one guitar that’s a Gator that’s signed by Les Paul at the headstock. That’s the guitar my wife bought for me on my birthday and I just kind of don’t even want to touch it or look at it or anything. I just want it to be there. I played it for maybe a couple minutes in my life. But that’s one of those guitars where I just keep it in a case and I don’t really want to mess up at all. I play everything else. But that one I just kind of glance at it every once in a while and get giggly.