Fans at a Puddle of Mudd show in Toledo, Ohio, got a lot less than they bargained for Sunday night when frontman Wes Scantlin cut the band’s set short, announced he was too wasted to play and eventually found himself in police custody facing a disorderly conduct charge.
Those in attendance said that a scant four songs into the band’s performance at Headliners club Scantlin’s bandmates walked off the stage, leaving a stumbling, hostile Scantlin alone. According to concertgoers, Scantlin was, by his own admission to the crowd, “too f–ed up” to perform. Still, he remained onstage for half an hour after the band’s departure, shouting insults and profanity at the audience and singing songs that he seemed to make up as he went along.
Toledo’s The Blade newspaper added that Scantlin was holding his guitar above his head and, because of his alcohol-induced unsteadiness, dropped it on the ground.
After incurring the wrath of the crowd, which hurled flotsam and profanity toward the stage, Scantlin headed back to his dressing room, where he was arrested by Toledo police for disorderly conduct-intoxication, according to The Blade. Charges of criminal mischief and misconduct involving a public transportation system were reportedly added when Scantlin spit in the Toledo police cruiser en route to his booking.
All three charges are misdemeanors. Scantlin was released on a cash bond of $150 and is scheduled to be arraigned in Toledo Municipal Court on Tuesday.
This marks the second very public run-in with the law for Scantlin, who was arrested with his fiancée in March 2002 for the investigation of domestic violence. In the end he was not charged.
Spokespeople for the band and its record label, Geffen Records, could not be reached for comment.
