Limp Bizkit was less of a band and more of an all-star art project. It turns out the guys barely knew each other before they started the group, and the chemistry just worked so well they powered through.
That's what Fred Durst revealed in a new interview with Metal Hammer. He discussed how the band started, and the first time he met guitarist Wes Borland:
"The first time I saw Wes Borland, he had ponytails and girly half-shirt on. He was playing in a band called Cronk and was like Les Claypool on guitar, with a little Manson in there. So he joined and the other guys taught him the songs. I actually met Wes for the first time at our first gig! It was wild but it worked. I made up vocals on the spot! We never took time to consider friendships, that wasn’t part of it. It was just about the magic that happened when we were together… none of us were ever friends."
Elsewhere, Durst talked about his musical influences: "I’m an early 80s Hip Hop kinda guy. When they came out, Cypress Hill and Wu Tang Clan were microphone masters! At the same time I was listening to Napalm Death and Deicide, plus I was into 80s New Wave like Psychedelic Furs and Bauhaus. I’m a fucked-up person with so many emotions and shades of grey, it could never be just one style."
But perhaps the most revealing part of the interview was Durst's lyrical introspection. "I never know what I’m saying, I just say it. So maybe my lyrics weren’t so thought out. And though I think I’m aware in the moment, I’m really not. I always wanted my lyrics to be for people who felt maybe like I did, for victims. I should have made it more blatantly obvious because some of our audience and our fans were not those people. They were the nemesis, they were the opposite, they were the people that I despised and if I change anything it would probably be to make things a little more clear about where I was coming from, trying to segregate the bullies from the victims. The irony of my life is on a stupendous level."
Read the whole interview here.
