Interview w/ Ryan Yerdon of Puddle of Mudd

Wading through the sea of journalists of all different formats can be tough for any band. Before their performance at Rock on the Range 2010, Puddle of Mudd has one of the earliest time slots for time in the media tent. The band is currently out 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 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:

AM: With “Vol. 4” now out- what do you see as the major differences between this album and the last album, “Famous”?
RY: 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.

AM: 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.

AM: 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.

AM: 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.

AM: 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 come back to Detroit when they play 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.