PUDDLE OF MUDD Vocalist On His Sobriety: 'It's Been A Long Road, But It's Well Worth It'

PUDDLE OF MUDD vocalist Wes Scantlin recently spoke with Andy Hall of the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3. The full conversation can be streamed below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his newfound sobriety:

Wes: "It's been a long road, but it's well worth it... It was definitely God. He was there the whole time. It really started to kind of get boring, sort of, doing this and that. It just started to get kind of old, and I think my body and my mind and my soul, it just got kind of got really, really old, man. I didn't really want to even do it anymore. The kick in the butt would be getting in trouble and breaking the rules, and then they really just smack it down on you. It's comical, but Judge Corne saves PUDDLE OF MUDD. That's my judge. It's a woman judge who's a really, really awesome judge, so extra, extra, read all about it — Judge Corne Saves The MUDD."

On his musical comeback:

Wes: "I didn't really ever stop making music and recording. I was on tour — we were touring a lot — and I was going through a lot of changes. I really just needed a break anyway. It's a combination platter of a lot of things that kind of needed to happen. I got to take a little bit of a break."

On the title of the group's forthcoming album, "Welcome To Galvania":

Wes: "Since I've been writing music, my parents have been really supportive. My dad, that's how he would grade the songs that I wrote — through the galvanic skin response. Basically, [if] my dad's kind of like got goosebumps, and the hair stood up on the back of his neck and his arms, he would kind of look at me and he'd be like, 'This is a winner. That's an amazing song.' He's a really smart guy... He didn't really always get the goosebumps, so I basically would just throw those songs away and start from scratch and see if I could get the goosebumps on my dad's little arms."

On whether it was easier to write without being under the influence:

Wes: "[Ideas] just come when they come. You can't ever really force it. I even kind of do the same kind of test that my dad does too. If it ain't galvanically really just like, you know, going crazy for me, I know it's probably not the greatest song. It took some time, but they just come to you, you know. That's basically it. Pretty much, when everybody else goes to bed, that's when you want to start writing songs."

On new single "Uh Oh", which makes prominent use of the word "fucked":

Wes: "That's a big word, man. Everybody loves that word. Everybody hates that word too. I don't know, man — that's just the way it went down... That was basically a combination of me and the other writer on the record. We're just basically poking fun at ourselves."

On the prospect of "winning back" the fans he lost:

Wes: "It's been happening for, like, the last two, three years, and I think we've been doing really well at winning them back over. But you could see for a while there where people were just, 'Okay, let's see what you got,' you know? They just want to see that you're in a good place."

"Welcome To Galvania" will be released on September 13 via Pavement Entertainment.