Paul Phillips Fan Page

This is a fan page for Paul James Phillips,born June 26, 1975 at 8:54 a.m at Brunswick Hospital in Brunswick, GA. He is an ex-member of Puddle of Mudd, current member of Operator and Society Red. Society Red is his focus right now but is looking forward to making a new album with Operator as well when the time is right and will handle both projects if he needs to. Paul enjoys working out and likes to hang with good people and have good times.Thank you Paul for being such a great guy and answering all my questions!

I got my 1st guitar at age 11 and enrolled in lessons, but I hated it. I didn't want to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. I wanted to play Motley Crue, so I quit. I picked it up again when I was 15. Some friends of mine were playing and they taught some basics that helped me learn stuff that I wanted like Guns and Metallic.

Well, I wanted to make a living and go on tour. That got me into the biz. Ha!!! An old Motley Crue home video called uncensored made me want to play music and be in a band. They were living large and it looked like a good life to me.

I went to the University of North Florida for 7 years, but didn't graduate. I was going for a double major in Management and Marketing, but I dropped out and moved to LA in my last semester. What a waste. I did have a 3.76 at the time though.

My 1st band was called Entropy and we started it when I was 17. It started as a thrash metal band influenced by the greats: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, etc. It was pretty bad since we could hardly play and we didn't even use tuners. Grunge came around soon and it morphed our sound into a very Seattle sound. I was consumed by the period and I still think it was one of the most amazing times in music ever!!! That and the late 60's early 70's period. We played a few matinee shows, since we were underage but that's about it. I was very influential back then, and when a friend turned me onto punk, I was hooked. I formed a band called Bitch Slap (great name, I know). It was total old school hardcore drunk punk and was meant to be bad. For some reason that was punker. I got over sucking, so I started another punk band called Too Far Gone, which saw me on vocals for the first time. I was too much of a dictator back then and couldn't find anyone who sang what I wanted. It was cool except that I sounded like a 15 year old girl. This band added a horn section and started doing the whole ska punk thing way before it got popular. We rode that wave and actually got huge in Jax, selling out numerous shows. This is where I met Fred Durst. He wanted to sign the band, but it started to fall apart, so we didn't sign. However, Fred remembered me, when Puddle needed a guitar player and you know the story from there.

I talk to Greg quite regularly and I have talked to Doug a handful of time since I left, but I haven't talked to Wes since the day I quit. I don't like to get too detailed about my departure, but there was definitely a lot of BS going on that led to me and Greg leaving. There wasn't much work going on and I was getting antsy. The band was also going in a much different direction than where I wanted to go. They ended up hiring a lot of songwriter's to get them back on track, which is good cause I actually like a lot of the new record much better than what we were working on when I left. So, it was a combo of both things that made me leave. I'm glad to see them doing well though. I have no ill will and feel very fortunate to have been a part of such a huge band for a brief moment.

Playing - the crowd and the energy are amazing. Songwriting - finishing and hearing it recorded and played back for the 1st time. Very rewarding. Producing - is grueling, but it is very rewarding as well to take something from point A to point B and compare the two. Hopefully, the after is much better than the before and everyone is happy.

I've always been very hands on with my own projects, but that is all I've done for someone else. It is something I want to do more though.

I do. Hopefully, you will see some on the next Operator record. I've also been writing and recording with Society Red.

Don't know that I have one favorite venue, but my favorite kind of venue is theatres. I love the vibe of those. The old ones like the Paramount in Seattle, The Warfield in San Fran, etc. That is the perfect size for me and they usually sound really good.

Not really a fan of big arenas. I never get a vibe on stage. The sound is always crappy and its so impersonal. Small clubs are fine as long as the stage gives me enough room to move and perform the way I want. That's why theatres are the best. Big stage, good sound, and big but not too big. Outside festivals are fun. The sound is usually crap, but you put a bunch of drunk people in the sun all day and fun things are gonna happen.

I've known Damien 4 a while. His old band Burn Season was getting a record deal around the time that Puddle started touring. I would run into him every now and then throughout the years. I got a friend request from them one day and I liked what I heard. They told me they were looking for another guitar player and I was getting antsy waiting on another Operator record. I went out and jammed and everything went well.

Jacksonville Beach is definitely home. I moved to LA in late 99 and I go out there when necessary, but I always come back home.

I was with Puddle in London, opening 4 Korn and those shows were touch and go. Sometimes the crowd was into us and sometimes they weren't. There is a big difference between She Hates Me and Blind ya know. Well, this night was a bad one. They were pelting us with water bottles, so Punk Rock Paul stepped up to the mic. Front and center in the spotlight. I told them that if they were gonna throw shit, throw alcohol so at least I could get drunk. Be careful, what you wish for. One adoring fan with good aim obliged and hit me square in the face with a drink. Now I know how it feels to be a comedian and have 10,000 people laughing at you!!!