Exclusive: Puddle of Mudd Play the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”

Hard rockers Puddle of Mudd will be releasing an album of cover songs titled re:(disc)overed, on August 30. In anticipation, the group is premiering their cover of the Rolling Stones’ classic “Gimme Shelter” right here. Lead guitarist Paul Phillips fills us in on the song below. Let us know what you think of the song in the comments.

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REVOLVER When did you first hear this song?
PAUL PHILLIPS Not sure of the exact age, but it was very young. This song is a classic that has been with us for years and still holds up.

Why did you guys decide to cover it?
We knew that we wanted to do a Stones song and we had several on our possible list, but this one just stood out. That intro is so haunting and the chorus is so massive, with the female singer working off of Jagger. The female singer was something different for us that was very appealing, as you will hear on several tracks on the record. We also felt that it had a vibe that we could really capitalize on and represent well within our own Puddle style.

What, if anything, did you want to do differently with the song?
Well, we obviously did it in our style tonally, but other than that, we kept it pretty close. We upped the tempo a bit and decided to bring that great intro riff back in the bridge. We all just wanted to hear that part again. However, our goal on this track and this record was just to pay tribute and not try and reinvent an already great song.

What sort of feedback have you gotten to it so far?
Well, we have just gotten the masters back, so we are just beginning to get it out there. As of now, everything has been pretty positive though. This was something we did for fun. It’s not a Puddle record and that allowed us to toy with different styles, sounds, and instruments without alienating our Puddle fans. We saw this as a stepping stone to open up some doors for the next Puddle originals record, and it will come sooner than later. We are already gearing up for it. So have fun with this one like we did