L7 ***

L7 was an American rock band from Los Angeles, that was active from 1985 to 2000. Due to their sound and image, they are often associated with the grunge movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

 

 

History

L7 was formed by Rene' Lucas on bass guitar, Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner on shared electric guitar and shared vocals. A year previous, Gardner had performed backing vocals on the Black Flag song "Slip It In". The punk rock duo were soon joined by Jennifer Finch on bass guitar replacing Rene' Lucas who left the band to raise a family and Roy Koutsky on drums. Koutsky left shortly after and Demetra Plakas ("Dee" for short) became their permanent drummer.

The band's name derives from a 1950s slang phrase meaning "square", but is often mistaken for a reference to the sex position, "69". The slang phrase "L7" can be heard in the Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs song "Wooly Bully" ("Let's not be L7, come and learn to dance..."), in the Rick James song "Bustin' Out" ("L7- just a little too damn straight..."), and in the Paul McCartney song "C Moon" ("I could be L7 and I'll never get to heaven if I fill my head with glue").

In 1991, the band formed Rock for Choice, a Pro-Choice women's rights group which was supported by other prominent bands of that era, including Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and Rage Against the Machine. Rock for Choice still exists and organizes concerts today.

Their 1992 third album Bricks Are Heavy, produced by Butch Vig, was featured in Rolling Stone's May 1999 list of 'Essential recordings of the 1990s', and is widely considered their classic.

L7's fourth album, Hungry for Stink, was released in July 1994 during their Lollapalooza tour, where they shared the stage with The Smashing Pumpkins and The Breeders, among others.

Finch left the band during the recording of their next album, so Sparks and Greta Brinkman played bass on their fifth album The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum, after which Gail Greenwood, (formerly of the band Belly) became the bassist.

The band's most recent album, Slap-Happy, was released in 1999 and did not chart on either side of the Atlantic. To promote the record, on July 17, 1999, a plane flew over the crowd at the Lilith Fair at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, with a banner that read, "Bored? Tired? Try L7." The following day, a second airplane flew over the crowd at the Warped Tour at the Stone Pony lot in Asbury Park, New Jersey. This banner declared, "Warped needs more beaver...love, L7."  Greenwood later left the band and was replaced by Janis Tanaka, formerly of the San Francisco band, Stone Fox. Tanaka would later go on to play bass for the singer Pink, while Greenwood would later play with the singer Bif Naked.

However, by 2001 the band was no longer touring. According to the band's website, "L7 are on an indefinite hiatus. We know that's vague, but that's just the way it is. The future of the band is a bit up in the air at the moment." L7 appears to be defunct for all practical purposes, as Sparks is currently pursuing her own solo career, along with Plakas, and two other guitarists in the band Donita Sparks and The Stellar Moments. Finch is working in a punk rock group, The Shocker.

Other appearances

The band made an appearance in the 1993 film Point of No Return starring Bridget Fonda, and an appearance in 1994's John Waters film Serial Mom under the name "Camel Lips", a reference to the visual imprint of a woman's vulva in the crotch of tight jeans, also known as a cameltoe. Their songs have also been featured on at least twenty compilation albums throughout their career; most notably the song "Shitlist" appeared on the soundtracks of the movies Natural Born Killers and Pet Sematary II. The Prodigy covered the Hungry for Stink track "Fuel My Fire" on their 1997 album "Fat of the Land". "Shirley" appears on the "Foxfire" soundtrack. "Shove" appears on the soundrack of the movie Tank Girl, and "Pretend We're Dead" appears on the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and can be heard on an in-game radio station and on the music video game Rock Band 2. The band was also the subject of a concert film made by former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and a rockumentary Not Bad for a Girl. Finch and Plakas performed several times with hide, in 1994.

L7 have been featured on shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, The Jon Stewart Show, The Word, 120 Minutes, Alternative Nation and many others. The band have played at the Reading Festival in 1992, the Glastonbury Festival in 1994, Lollapalloza in 1994, Finsbury Park in 1997, Warped Tour in 1995 and 1999 and many other festivals around the world. They've also opened for artists such as Faith No More in 1992, Marilyn Manson in 1997, NirvanaBad Religion in 1988, The Offspring in 1997, Rollins Band in 1992, GWAR in 1989, Beastie Boys in 1992 and Alice in Chains in 1990. in 1990,

The Band, with Finch on bass, appeared in the 1999 cult video Decoupage: Return of the Goddess, performing a re-make of the Sonny and Cher song Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) with actress Karen Black, and being interviewed individually by Decoupage hostess Summer Caprice.

Controversy

During their performance at the 1992 English Reading Festival, the band experienced "technical difficulties with their audio equipment" and were forced to stall their set. Quickly, the rowdy crowd grew restless and began throwing mud onto the stage. In protest, lead vocalist Donita Sparks removed her tampon on-stage and threw it into the crowd yelling "Eat my used tampon, fuckers!". Sparks has remained unapologetic about the incident. This has been referred to as one of the "most unsanitary pieces of rock memorabilia in history".

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE ****

Queens of the Stone Age is an American hard rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included founding member Josh Homme (lead vocals, guitar), with its current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, backing vocals) and Joey Castillo (drums, percussion), alongside Michael Shuman (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar).

Formed after the demise of Homme's previous band, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, heavy music. Their sound has since evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences, including working with ZZ Top member Billy Gibbons and steady contributor Mark Lanegan, both of whom have contributed influences from genres such as blues and grunge.

History

Early career (1996–1999)

Queens of the Stone Age began with Josh Homme in 1996. After the breakup of Kyuss in 1995, Homme had briefly joined The Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band of his own. Originally naming his new project 'Gamma Ray', Homme was forced to change the name in 1997, as German power metal band Gamma Ray was threatening to sue:

“	When we were making a record in 1992, under the band Kyuss, our producer Chris Goss, he would joke and say "You guys are like the Queens of the Stone Age." The band was originally called Gamma Ray, but we got threatened with a lawsuit because someone else had it. So we were Queens of the Stone Age.	”
—Oliveri, (2000)

On why the band chose the name 'Queens of the Stone Age' rather than 'Kings of the Stone Age':

“	Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle, and also it was a name given to us by Chris Goss. He gave us the name Queens of the Stone Age. Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided.	”
—Homme, (2000)

The band's first release was Gamma Ray, a two-track EP featuring the songs "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self titled debut as 'If Only'), released in January 1996, featuring Joshua Homme (Kyuss), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden and Pearl Jam), Van Conner (Screaming Trees) and John McBain (Monster Magnet). The band's first live appearance was probably November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington. In December of the same year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which was the first official release by the band under the name Queens of the Stone Age, and featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 just prior to their break-up.

The band released their self-titled debut, Queens of the Stone Age (1998) on Loose Groove records (the album was also released on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records), which was recorded with Homme handling both guitar- and bass guitar-playing duties (though basswork is credited to Homme's alter-ego, Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on the drums, and included several other instrumental and vocal contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees' vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable to due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined and touring commenced. Consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members, this is widely regarded as QOTSA's original lineup. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. A recording of a phone message which plays the voice of Oliveri stating his decision to join the band can be heard at the end of the album's final song, "I Was a Teenage Hand Model". From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently. By the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández was no longer in the band.

Rated R (1999–2001)

2000's Rated R featured a myriad of musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: among others, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer". The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Wal-Mart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, the Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:

“	There's a robotic element to our albums, like the repetition of riffs. We also wanted to do a record that had a lot of dynamic range. We wanted to set it up in this band so we could play anything. We don't want to get roped in by our own music. If anyone has a good song (regardless of style) we should be able to play it.	”
—Homme, Interview with thefade.net

During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was famously arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his dangling genitals. In an interview he later said: "Whoa, people in Carnival here dance naked why can't I do the same?" Following his work on the album, former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until late-2005.

Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4.15":

“	Me, Mark [Lanegan], Josh [Homme] and Hutch, our soundman, have the same tattoo, it's from Rock am Ring festival. The time we had to play was 4.15 in the afternoon and it was just a terrible show. It sucked, it was horrible. That's why I tattooed it on my ribs, where it would hurt, so I'd never forget.	”
—Oliveri, interview with Daredevil Magazine (2005)

Songs for the Deaf (2001–2004)

Frequent touring for Rated R generated support for the band which grew when Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl joined in late 2001/early 2002 to record their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August, again featuring Mark Lanegan, as well as adding former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Although Songs for the Deaf gained major attention, Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the album's supporting tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full time. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track Mosquito Song were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin (on viola and piano) and Dean Ween on guitar.

Songs for the Deaf was a critical and commercial success and its popularity peaked when the album reached gold status in 2003, with sales peaking at over 900,000 copies. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former voted Triple J radio's number 1 song and peaking just outside of the Billboard Top 40. Both "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). "No One Knows" also re-appeared in the compilation title Guitar Hero: Smash Hits as well as the most recent addition to the Rock Band Series, Rock Band 3.

“	This record was supposed to sound bizarre—like lightning in a bottle. We also were extremely fucked up. It even sounds that way to me, like a crazy person. The radio interludes are supposed to be like the drive from L.A. to Joshua Tree, a drive that makes you feel like you’re letting go—more David Lynch with every mile.	”
—Homme, interview with jr.com,

Constant touring continued, culminating in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004, after which Oliveri was fired from the band by Homme for what was said to be disrespect of the group's fans and excessive partying. In July 2005 however, Homme claimed in a BBC Radio 1 interview that Oliveri was fired when Homme had become convinced that he had been physically abusive to his (Oliveri's) girlfriend. Homme said, "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that the band without him was "Queens Lite"; later Oliveri softened his opinion and said, "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." Josh and Nick reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri remains interested in rejoining the band.

Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006)

In 2005, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album.

The release featured the appearance of several guests, most notably ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track This Lullaby) and appeared with the band on the supporting tour as scheduling as his health permitted. It had been rumored that Homme fired Lanegan; however, this was subsequently refuted:

“	Basically, if there was a negative rumor that someone brought up to me I would just encourage it... like when someone was saying: Well, Mark got fired, Lanegan, you know. And I was like: Yeah, Mark is fired, too, yeah. But he was just touring his own solo record, you know.	”
—Homme, (2005)

Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005 as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. Lullabies was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 in the USA, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest initial success of any Queens record to date.

On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister". Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band, drawing much applause, and creating a bit of pop culture as a result of the skit.

On November 22, 2005, the band released a live album/DVD set called Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features which included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005.

In fall of 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula", "Regular John", "Avon", "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20 2005.

Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb", "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop".

Homme has stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.

Era Vulgaris (2006–2008)

On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Former Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts he stated he would not be appearing on the album. When questioned in an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive about the band settling down with one line-up, Homme replied with the following:

“	Does it seem like there will be? I don't know. Long ago I lost the opportunity to be in U2 -- where it's the same four guys. I respect that, but at the same time this is the search to try to take advantage of playing with certain people, even if they can't stay, and then there's other times that you need to humble yourself at the altar of music, and if you don't (makes a throat cutting motion).	”
— Josh Homme, Ultimate Guitar Archive in March 2007

Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007 in the U.S. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker". When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:

“	I wanted to try some shit that was downright embarrassing at first. This record is a grower, not about what isn’t there, but what is.	”
—Josh Homme , Interview with Homme, 2007

Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Jubilee and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (Hello=Fire, The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material, "still in its infancy" which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was since reported however that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at this time.

The band began a North American Tour in 2007 which they named the "Duluth Tour" due to the fact that the band are going to many small towns and cities they have never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour has since been extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring. Following Natasha Shneider's death from cancer on July 2, 2008, qotsa.com was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page.

On August 16, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. They were joined on stage by Alain Johannes, Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Natasha’s illness.

On August 22 and 23 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed their last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.

Recent (2009–present)

Plans of recording a follow-up to Era Vulgaris were mentioned in 2009 and 2010, but recording ended up not starting until January of 2011.

During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman became the new drummer and singer in the band Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's side project, The Dead Weather. Lastly, Josh Homme helped form the new supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. They released their debut self-titled album on November 17, 2009.

The band was somewhat active in 2010, doing some touring and releasing a two CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.

According to keyboardist Dean Fertita, Queens of the Stone Age are set to begin recording their new album in January 2011. There is also to be a remastered version of their first self titled album early 2011.  They have also stated that they will be playing the Australian festival Soundwave in 2011.

In March 2011, Homme stated that: "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was kind of bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are back!"

Musical style 

Throughout its career the band has been described as hard rock, alternative rock, art rock, heavy metal, and several other genres. Queens of the Stone Age have also been labeled as Stoner Rock, but Homme himself rejects the term, saying, "If I had a choice, I would take that away. Stoner rock, to me, is like saying the crucial element is drugs. And I don't believe that that's the case. I'm not an AA guy or anything, but at the same time I don't need any of that to make music." He also often describes the band style as "robot rock" referring to the band's solid and repetitive riffs in the band's song structures. Homme has described the band's self-titled debut album as driving music, angular and recorded dry. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period". The band's following album - Rated R - contained a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has also commented that "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we’re different and weird." The band continued to experiment on their third album Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a line-up including three lead vocalists, many guest appearances and wide range of instrumentation including horn and string sections. Lullabies to Paralyze was in comparison to the band's previous releases a darker record, lacking the band's distinct "driving" sound, much due to the departure of long time member Nick Oliveri, with lyrics inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales.semi hollow body guitarsEra Vulgaris the band continued to evolve their signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme has gone back to being the only vocalist in the band  and uses more distinct vocal melodies.

PUDDLE OF MUDD ***

Puddle of Mudd is an American alternative rock band from Kansas City, Missouri. They achieved success on rock radio and some success in the mainstream, and their major-label debut Come Clean has sold over 5 million copies. To date the band has sold over 7 million albums, and have had a string of #1 mainstream rock singles in the United States.They have released 2 independent and 4 major albums, with their latest being Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate in December 2009.

 

History

Early years

Puddle of Mudd was formed on September 13, 1992 in Kansas City by Wes Scantlin (vocals/rhythm guitar), Sean Sammon (Bass), Kenny Burkett (Drums) Jimmy Allen (lead guitar). The name was inspired by the Missouri River flood, which inundated the band's practice space, and left the floor a big "puddle of mud". The group's first album, Stuck, was released in 1994 on V&R Records. The album, of entirely original compositions, was produced by PoM and E.J. Rose, and recorded at Red House Studio in Lawrence, Kansas.

Minus Jimmy Allen, the group released a second album, Abrasive, in 1997 on Hardknocks Records. It had eleven tracks, all written by the band, three of which would eventually make it on to Puddle of Mudd's first major label release. These would be the only two albums that exhibit a dirtier, grungier sound, compared to the semi-polished sound of later work. Differences of opinion and other factors led to the break up of the original Puddle of Mudd by early 1999, leaving Scantlin as the only original member. Wes and friend from the local Kansas city music scene drummer Dennis Dunbar then decided to reform the band with Jimmy Allen late in 1999 and 2000 but shorty fell into differences once again.

The breakthrough and mainstream success

Scantlin's start in the music business came after a copy of his demo tape was delivered to Fred Durst. Durst contacted Scantlin, and after hearing that his band had broken up, decided to bring him to California to attempt to put a new band together.

One of the first people Scantlin met upon arriving in California was Doug Ardito, an intern at Interscope Records. Ardito was also in a Boston-based band called Throat Culture. When Scantlin found out about Ardito's bass playing, they decided to work together. They were still in need of a guitarist and drummer.

Fred Durst decided to contact a guitarist he knew from his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, Paul Phillips, who had formerly played in a local band there called Happy Hour. After getting the call from Durst, Paul decided to try out for Puddle of Mudd, and was accepted, choosing to leave college in order to join. A drummer was also recruited from Jacksonville. The four began playing together on some of the band's older songs, as well as some new ones. Durst signed the group to another showcase, and then recruited the band to his new record label, Flawless Records. Things did not work out with the Jacksonville drummer, and Josh Freese from A Perfect Circle and The Vandals (and later Guns N' Roses) did the drum tracks for Puddle of Mudd's next album instead. The band later held auditions for a new drummer, which produced Greg Upchurch, an ex-member of Eleven who had also toured with Chris Cornell. Puddle of Mudd released its major-label debut album Come Clean on August 28, 2001. The lead single from the album, "Control" was successful and grabbed the attention of rock music audiences worldwide. It was also the theme song for WWE's Survivor Series 2001.

The second single off the album, "Blurry" Co-written with Doug Ardito, turned out to be Puddle of Mudd's most successful single, reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #8 in the United Kingdom. This song was also used in the game Ace Combat 5, published by Namco. "Drift & Die" was also released as a single and was very successful with rock audiences with the single spending 6 weeks at the #1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The fourth single, "She Hates Me", was released in late 2002 and became a massive hit reaching the #1 spot on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, as well as #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The group then embarked on a European and American tour as the opening act for Godsmack & Deftones and were also part of the Family Values 2001 tour, alongside the Stone Temple Pilots, Linkin Park and Staind.

Copies of the album were selling well. It was certified Triple Platinum in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 31, 2003, and as of late 2006 total sales worldwide were in excess of 5 million copies.

Life On Display

Puddle of Mudd's follow up, Life on Display spawned three singles "Away From Me", "Heel Over Head", and "Spin You Around". The album sold below high expectations. Although shortly after its release, the record was certified gold and to date has sold over 706,000 copies. Some suggested this was the primary cause of drummer Greg Upchurch's jumping ship when 3 Doors Down came looking for a new drummer. Marisa Miller appears in the music video for "Spin You Around". "Away From Me" was featured in The O.C. in 2004. The song "Nothing Left to Lose" was the official theme song of WWE's 2004 Royal Rumble.

Famous

On October 9, 2007 the band released their third major label record, Famous. The first single, "Famous", was leaked through the band's myspace and radio in July before the CD hit stores. Another track "Merry Go Round" was released through ITunes before the official release as well. The following single "Psycho" garnered immense popularity, radio play and topping both the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Hot Modern Rock Tracks charts for 9 weeks. "Livin' on Borrowed Time" and "We Don't Have To Look Back Now" were the final singles released.

Their song "Famous" was the WWE One Night Stand 2007 official theme song and was also featured in the video game WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008, as well as UFC 2009 Undisputed.

Vol.4 Songs in the Key of Love and Hate

In 2009, former Guitarist Paul Phillips rejoined the band after replacement Christian Stone was let go on good terms. Around this time the band recruited "Famous" producer Brian Howes to begin recording a new record in Vancouver. Prior to the new album's release, band members said the album's name would be called "Jacket on the Rack". However it was changed to Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate. Released on December 8, it has gone on to sell around 100,000 copies. The first single Spaceship was released in October 2009.

The band has been heavily touring for the past year and expected to take a few months off in late summer. On February 10, 2010, a new song, "Shook Up the World" was released. The song was written for Team USA, for use in the 2010 Winter Olympics. All proceeds from the song will go to TeamUSA. Although intended for release during the Olympics, the deadline was missed.

Recently, the band has parted ways with bassist Doug Ardito on good terms. Ardito has been with the band for eleven years. Jacksonville "Burn Season" frontman Damien Starkey will take his place.

The Band have recently hinted at the prospect of their first UK tour since 2002. "Get ready U.K. This is starting to look good!!!" They have since been added to the Download Festival and have hinted there could be a full UK tour later in the year.

Icon-2011

On October 15, 2010, Puddle Of Mudd announced the release of their first "best of" collection. ICON! ICON is a new series of artist compilations, and Puddle of Mudd's was released on November 2, 2010. It features 12 hits including “Famous,” “She Hates Me,” “Psycho,” “Blurry,” “Control,” and 7 more hit songs. As of 2011 Puddle of Mudd are in the studio, working on their next album.

 

Connection with Fred Durst

Due to the notoriety surrounding how the band was signed with Durst, the band is often asked regarding their relationship with him. Singer Scantlin blasted Durst in an interview in 2004 with Canada's chart magazine. He stated, "He doesn't write our songs, he doesn't produce our songs, he doesn't do anything for us. He doesn't do our videos anymore. He doesn't do anything for this band. I don't know what he's doing, I don't know what the guy's like. All I know is that he's like Mr. Hollywood guy, Mr. Celebrity. Like, 'I don't hang out with anybody except Hollywood celebrities'. Every single fucking interview I've ever fucking done, I get asked about that fucking guy..." He added, "And for me to do interviews all the time and be asked about this certain individual... People think he writes music with me or something. He does not do that. I just don't get it. We have nothing in common. He doesn't even call us, he has his assistant call us to congratulate us on our record. Yeah, that's how pathetic he is." Scantlin spoke recently about how the band interacts or doesn't with Durst saying, "...don't know."... "I haven't spoken to that guy for a long time. I tried to say hi to him but he didn't want to say hi, so whatever! I was trying to be a nice guy. We had a falling out for a while. Everything is fine. He's doing his thing."

On January 6, 2011, Durst attempted to get back in touch with Scantlin via a tweet on his official Twitter page. "Who knows Wes from puddle of mudd? I wanna connect w him again. Let me know." Scantlin's reaction to this is not yet known.

P.O.D. **

P.O.D., or Payable on Death, is an American Christian Metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.

They have released seven studio albums and have sold over 10 million records worldwide. Over the course of their career, the band have also received three Grammy Award nominations, contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks and toured internationally. With their third studio album, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, they achieved their initial mainstream success; the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 2000. Their following studio album, Satellite, continued the band's success with the hit singles, "Alive" and "Youth of the Nation", pushing it to go triple platinum.

On February 19, 2003, guitarist Marcos Curiel left the band due to his side project, The Accident Experiment and "spiritual differences." However, Marcos argued that he was actually kicked out of the band. Sonny, Wuv and Traa were devastated about Curiel leaving, they considered breaking up the band, but decided to stay together and recruit another guitarist.Curiel was replaced by Jason Truby, former member of Christian metal band Living Sacrifice, and assisted with the recording of "Sleeping Awake", from The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack. In an interview with Yahoo! Music, Sonny stated that Jason is the reason why the group is still together,

“

He did us a favor by helping us out with this song, and then once it was all said and done it kind of confirmed that maybe we should keep doing what we loved... and that's making music. So now he's helping us do that.

”

On November 4, 2003, P.O.D. released their fifth studio album, Payable on Death, which saw the group shift from their well known rapcore sound to a darker, more melodic metal sound. The album was hit with controversy due to its "occult" cover, which led as many as 85% of Christian bookstores across the United States to ban the album.With the help of the album's hit single "Will You" and "Change the World", it went on to sell over 520,000 copies and was certified Gold. Sometime after the tsunami in Asia, many singers, musicians, and actors/actresses, including Sonny and Wuv, participated in the recording of, "Forever in Our Hearts", with all proceeds going to benefit the tsunami relief.

Testify (2006)

P.O.D.'s sixth studio album Testify was slated for a December 2005 release, but was pushed back to January 24, 2006. On November 15, 2005, P.O.D. released The Warriors EP, Volume 2, which featured demos from the upcoming album, to help build up the fans' anticipation for the pending January release. The album's first single, "Goodbye for Now" (with a vocal tag by a then-unknown Katy Perry) went on to become a #1 video on MTV's TRL, along with having a solid radio presence, it also became the band's unprecedented 4th number one video on Total Request Live. The second single off the album, "Lights Out" was a minor hit, but was featured as the "official theme song" to WWE's Survivor Series on November 27, 2005. In another contribution to WWE, they performed fellow San Diego native Rey Mysterio's theme song "Booyaka 619" at WrestleMania 22. To promote their latest album, P.O.D. went on a nationwide tour called the "Warriors Tour 2: Guilty by Association", which began in April, and included the bands Pillar, The Chariot and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.

P.O.D. leaves Atlantic Records; Marcos returns

On August 11, 2006, P.O.D. announced in their online newsletter that they had left Atlantic Records.The newsletter stated: "P.O.D. have left Atlantic Records. We’ve been proud to be Atlantic Recording Artists, but it’s not the same place anymore. For most of our stay, we were blessed by a staff that was gracious towards our vision, faith, and love of music..... resulting in more than 7 million records sold. It’s time to dream again with a new staff, and we leave with grateful hearts. By the people, FOR the people - P.O.D. - Aug. 2006"

On September 16, 2006, P.O.D. announced that they have teamed up with Rhino Records to release a greatest hits record simply titled, Greatest Hits: The Atlantic Years, which was released on November 21, 2006. They shot a music video for their single "Going In Blind", one of the two new songs they included in the tenth album, and they had meetings with various record labels to begin working on new material for an album they hoped to release in mid 2007.

In a statement made by the band's manager on their MySpace page, it was officially announced, on December 30, 2006, that Jason Truby had left the band. They had said "God worked it out because Jason decided to leave the band the same day Marcos asked to rejoin." Marcos performed with the band for the first time since his departure on the 2006 New Year's Eve episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Marcos was scheduled to appear at this show before returning, which is why he was able to do it literally the day after he was announced as being back in the band.

INO Records, When Angels & Serpents Dance and hiatus (2007–2009)

On May 13, 2007 the band appeared on Carlos Mencia's show on Comedy Central, Mind of Mencia, when Carlos premiered his new music video for the song "Beaner Man". The band played the instruments and screamed the chorus, while Carlos rapped the lyrics and wore dreadlocks in parody of frontman Sonny Sandoval.

On June 1, 2007, at the Rockbox in San Diego, the band performed and revealed a new song entitled "Condescending", along with another new song performed on June 16, 2007, at the Journeys Backyard BBQ tour entitled "Addicted". They also revealed the title of their new album to be When Angels & Serpents Dance.

On August 4, 2007, the band played at Angel Stadium of Anaheim's annual Harvest Crusade where they revealed a new song entitled "I'll Be Ready", originally thought to be entitled "When Babylon Come For I," for a crowd of 42,000.

The album cover was officially revealed on December 10, 2007. The title track was released for free download on their site in January 2008. The first single "Addicted" was released on February 19 and did well on the Mainstream Rock chart peaking at number 30. The album was released on April 8, 2008 entitled When Angels & Serpents Dance. On July 28, 2008, the group played a free public performance at the Orange County Choppers headquarters in Newburgh, NY, with OCC The Band opening. The band also played on August 16, 2008 at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim's annual Harvest Crusade. During September 2008 P.O.D played alongside Redline, Behind Crimson Eyes, Alter Bridge and Disturbed as part of the Music As A Weapon tour 2008 in Australia. In November 2008, P.O.D. started their first tour in South America with five shows in Brazil, one in Chile and one in Colombia. P.O.D. then went on hiatus after touring in South America. This was confirmed when they canceled the 2009 European tour with Filter.

However, in February 2009, Disney announced that P.O.D. would be making an appearance, its first for the year, at 'Disney's Night Of Joy' on September 11–12. P.O.D. performed alongside MercyMe, Newsboys, Flyleaf, Skillet, Jars of Clay, Kutless, Leeland and more. Singer Sandoval said of the event: “In the past year we’ve been blessed to play all around the globe but performing at Disney World excites me most of all.”

On 19 November 2009, P.O.D. played a small set of songs at the benefit concert for Chi Cheng, the bass player for the Deftones. The concert took place in Avalaon, Hollywood.

P.O.D. played an 11-date South America tour, running from March through April 2010.

New album (2010–present)

On December 16, 2009 Wuv posted a video of him and guitarist Marcos Curiel stating that P.O.D. is now in the process of recording their next album due to come out sometime in 2010. In September 2010, Curiel discussed the plans and direction for the new album, saying that the musical style will take the band "back to our roots. A little bit of hip hop, a little bit of punk rock, or reggae". He also added that Howard Benson, who produced the band's The Fundamental Elements of Southtown and Satellite albums, would produce the record and that recording would begin in December. On October 21, 2010 Sonny Sandoval posted a video on the Whosoever's YouTube channel stating that the new record will be released in 2011, and that he will be posting many videos of P.O.D. in the studio to keep the fans updated. On January 9, 2011 a 22-second video of P.O.D. playing an untitled song was posted on YouTube. Sonny updated his Facebook page where he was asked questions by fans of the new album. His response concerning the release was "tryin to make it happen this year" and when asked if any other artists would be featured on the album he responded "we have some artists in mind."

Style and influences

The band's name, Payable on Death (P.O.D.), derives itself from the Christian concept that how an individual lives their life on Earth determines their eternal destination. P.O.D.'s style has evolved over the years, from the rap metal sound on their early albums to the nu metal and Reggae infused alternative metal styles that they're most well known for. Their latest album, When Angels & Serpents Dance, is a combination of Alternative rock, reggae rock and Latin influenced metal with almost none of the rap metal or nu metal sound of their older releases. P.O.D.'s influences include Santana, Bad Brains, Bob Marley, The Police, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine and Black Sabbath.