Photography & Article by Jenna Williams ‘The Scream Queen’
It began as a quiet Friday in the town of Fargo, North Dakota on July 7th of 2023… The air was humid and skies cloudy, foreshadowing the oncoming rain that was about to pour down. The load-in began with ease. The stage, lights, and audio were set effortlessly… The truck for Puddle of Mudd’s Musical equipment came in and we set the stage. Soon the band members appeared, and of course, like clockwork, the rain began pouring, and three of the members, guitarist Matt Fuller, drummer Dave Moreno, and bassist Michael Adams were trapped on stage for a few minutes until they braved venturing out to where the trailer was, as we made sure all of their equipment was covered.
The rain eventually passed and suddenly, Fargo, North Dakota wasn’t quiet anymore…. The bass of the drums and guitars shook the local businesses as the train passed by, tooting the horn at the band while they were playing a few instrumental versions of their songs. Once the band was happy with how everything sounded, they disappeared until show time.
The gates opened and the first band of the evening graced the stage, called Low Standards. They are based out of Fargo and have played thousands upon thousands of shows throughout the years. They played an array of Pop Punk cover songs, like Sugar We’re Going Down by Fall Out Boy, which the crowd went crazy for! They also performed some of their own original songs, a few being from their brand-new album they dropped on that very day, titled AYNE. You can check it out on Spotify here!
The next band to play was Judd Hoos, a band who is from Sturgis, South Dakota, where the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally takes place every year. Their sound was a little more Rock mixed with undertones of Heavy Metal. They also played a mix of cover songs, Like A Stone by Audioslave, and even teasing For Whom The Bells Toll by Metallica, as well as their own original songs. They announced on stage they are coming out with more new Music very soon! You can check out their song ‘Easy’ which dropped shortly after their show, here!
From the view backstage, Matt, Michael, and Dave made their way to the stage as the Wizard of Oz theme song blared throughout the screams, cheers, and many loud “YEAHHH’s”… Vocalist & guitarist Wes Scantlin was the last to leave the trailer, walking to the stage with pure Rockstar swag and a big smile on his face. The first song they performed was Control, which was then met with their version of War Pigs by Black Sabbath, a song they’ve been performing live since the early 2000’s.
Some of the other songs they performed were, UH OH, off their newest album, Welcome To Galvania, which released in September of 2019 through Pavement Entertainment. From their 2007 album, Famous, the band played the title track, along with Psycho, Moonshine, and We Don’t Have To Look Back Now. From their 2009 album, Volume 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate, they played Stoned and Spaceship.
Puddle of Mudd also made sure to electrify their set with quite a few songs from their debut Come Clean album, including Drift & Die, Out Of My Head, and Nobody Told Me. As the Sun was setting, the lights lit up the stage with a blue hue, they performed She Hates Me, which was met with a loud roar from the crowd the moment Wes plucked away at the infamous opening guitar riff. Nearly every person in the jam-packed audience was singing along to the song. The band, of course, closed their set with Blurry.
