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BIO GRAPICHS ARTIST: LIMP BIZKIT
ALBUM: Three Dollar Bill, Yall$
LABEL : Interscope
PLAYERS: Wes Borland/ DJ Lethal/ Fred Durst/ John Otto/ Sam Rivers/ Scott Borland: keyboards
PRODUCER: Ross Robinson and Limp Bizkit
NOTES: web site: Interscope Records
The band originates in Jacksonville, Florida. They got their name when one of Fred's friends was piss assed drunk. Fred said that his brain at the time was like a LIMP BIZKIT. The band thought that name sounded cool so they decided to use it.
1. Fred Durst: Vocals; Age: 26 Singing Style: Rap/sing/screaming & yelling. He has a similar sound to that of Chino from the Deftones. He was rasied in North Carolina "right down the road from Jim Bakker." He has a stepfather and stepbrother; was married for a while, and has a girlfriend (for who he wrote most of the songs on the debut album.) He also does full time tatooing and wa in the Navy but later asked to be discharged. Fred likes listening to Kiss, Blondie, old skool rap and hip-hop, Wu Tang, Suicidal Tendencies, Smashing Pumpkins, and Tool (who motivated LB to join Ozzfest last year.)
2. Wes Borland: Guitar; Age: 22 Guitar Playin' Style: Wes plays a 7-string Ibanez UV7 guitar like the boys from KoRn. His sound is mildly similar to that of KoRn also. Wes was born in Nashville and likes music by Davis Bowie, Ministry, Ice Cube, Megadeath, and Testament. He led his own band before joining LB and usually dresses in costumes at concerts.
3. Sam Rivers: Bass; Age: 19 Bass Playin' Style: Sam holds his bass just like Fieldy from KoRn. That is, he holds it upright parallel to his body. He is a long time friend of Fred's and his favorite music is Seattle and metal especially Megadeath.
4. John Otto: Drums; Age: 20 Drum Setup: John's drum-set is set-up sideways to the stage unlike most other drummers. This way you can see alot of what he's doin'. He is Sam Rivers's cousin and listens to heavy metal and fusion. Before he joined LB he played in a jazz outfit. John was schooled as a jazz drumer and started playing professionally at age 17.
5. DJ Lethal: Disc Jocky Age: 24 DJ Lethal?: Yes folks, DJ Lethal is the former DJ from "House of Pain" which played the hit "Jump Around". Suprisingly enough, his record scratching fits in perfectly with the band's sound. His real name is Leor Dimant. His father was a guartist and has a wide and varied record collection. His favorite music is hip-hop and classical rock.
"The dawn of the super-heavy bands has truly come to fruition! Following in the footsteps of KoRn, the Deftones, and Snot, Jacksonville's Limp Bizkit has hit the scene with one hell of an album. Infusing a blend of hardcore, hip-hop, rock, and funk into the mix, Limp Bizkit manages to put out some amazing music without any fear of being called a clone band. There is so much going on that you can't help hearing something new every time. It's chiefly due to DJ Lethal's (House of Pain) influence and Ross Robinson's (KoRn, Sepultura) awesome production.
Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ is packed with outstanding songs, but a few deserve a closer look. "Counterfeit" is a heavy piece with rippin' guitars that exudes a strong funk influence (James Brown meets Slayer). Its explosive chorus is bold. "Sour" contains super-groovin' beats, solid bass, and some really cool pimpin' guitar. With a funky White Zombie-ish groove, "Stalemate" starts slow and builds to a bang. The freak style funk of "Stinkfinger" is fully infectious. The chorus is just so heavy and catchy that you can't help getting into it. However, the most unusual tune on the album is a cover of George Michael's "Faith" that actually rocks. It's totally aw, and is funny as hell. If you're looking for something edgy, groovin', and out of the norm, Limp Bizkit delivers that...and more." - Andrew Rackauskas
Write to Limp Bizkit at:
Limp Bizkit
PO Box 93655
Los Angeles, CA 90093-998
Or e-mail them at:
limpbizkit@flip-records.com
They read and answer almost every piece of mail so you might not get an automatic response.
INTERVIEW MTV Considering how much has been written about Limp Bizkit this week, you'd think someone would have come up with an appropriate tag for the band. In reporting on the band's up-front purchase of radio airtime for its single (see "Limp Bizkit Pays For 'Counterfeit' Play"), the "Los Angeles Times" opted for the label "hard-edged band" while the "New York Times" pegged the band as "a hip-hop-influenced heavy metal" outfit.
The band members themselves struggled when asked to find a handy catchy-all phrase for their sound during a recent interview with MTV News. After tossing around "Crossover" and "Funk Core," the band's frontman Fred Durst pulled out "Pimp Rock," which sounded pretty cool to us.
Of course, the band had other things on its mind when we caught up with them, including the "nervous breakdowns" they put in their songs, why guitar solos are a waste of time, and the fact that Tool is "the best band on the planet."
MTV NEWS: How did you start?
FRED: I tattooed and was in a band, trying to do a little crossover music action. And it wasn't working so I just went around and stole members from other bands that were really good. Like Sam was in a different band, John was in a jazz band and Wes was in this really wack band that he invented and Lee was in House of Pain, you know. We just all came from different bands. And I tattooed Korn back when they were really small and we became friends. And every time they came to town they'd give us a call. And finally after a few months I gave them the demo tape. They gave it to their producer, Ross Robinson, who's our producer. And the ball was just rolling from there. We went on tour with Korn they took us out on tour without a record deal. And then the people who put us on tour, Flip Records, signed us after the tour. And we did our record, went on a couple of more tours, and it's just happening. It's unbelievable.
MTV NEWS: So how would you guys describe your music now?
FRED: How would you describe our music...
WES: We've been using the word crossover a lot. Because we try to combine a lot of different musical genres and really just try to break down the barriers. Of course we're going to be labeled at first as you know "rap and roll" or you know "hip hop meets metal" or "hard rock and rap" you know all those different names.
FRED: "Metal rap." I don't know what they call us. Actually I don't know how to describe us.
DJ LETHAL: "Funk Core."
FRED: It's like, it's just a crossover. It's like I don't think we can label our music because every time we jam or write a song it's totally different. We don't go into a room and say, "Hey, you know, this is the kinda music we ought to make. Let's work on it." Some days we make songs with hip- hop in åem that are heavy, some days we just make heavy songs, some days we make really mellow songs. Some days we make alternative songs. I don't really know what to call it. You guys should just label us.
WES: Do it. Right now.
MTV NEWS: It's hard. How would you describe, I mean as far as your influences growing up as teenagers, what did you guys listen to?
DJ LETHAL: I mean you're going to get a wide variety from everybody, know what I mean?
SAM: I was totally into the Seattle scene. I grew up in like metal. I was totally into Megadeth, rocking it hard. Thank god I grew out of it. That's about it.
DJ LETHAL: Actually I grew up with a lot of hip hop. Basically that's about it. My dad's a musician too, he plays the guitar so I was brought up with everything...from Stevie Wonder to...you name it. I mean, I just grew up with music so I always just had a wide variety of everything. But mostly hip-hop and old classic rock and stuff.
WES: David Bowie, Ministry, Ice Cube, Miami Vice soundtrack, Megadeth, Danny Elfman, John Zorn, Diecide, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Testament...
FRED: Cool
WES: Portishead
FRED: Cool
WES: Future Sound of London
FRED: Cool. I think the earliest I can remember was that song, "Skyrockets in Flight." You guys remember? Afternoon Delight? That was pretty early. Then I went in to the Kiss phase.
WES: Yeah.
FRED: I was definitely a Kiss fan. I don't know. I think I started getting in to some 80s, like, I liked Blondie, I liked like Pat Benatar, Michael Jackson. Then I started getting into like the Sugar Hill Gang, Cold Crush Brothers, Eric B. and Rakim Cool G Rap. And then I just started liking hard-core like Suicidal Tendencies, and The Exploited and then straight went through, I skipped the glam rock phase. I think I liked Skid Row like a couple of songs from Skid Row. But I don't know. I just like so many different kinds of music right now. I think Tool is my favorite band. And I like Wu-Tang Clan. I like Our Lady Peace. I like Aphex Twin.
WES: Yeah.
FRED: I like Smashing Pumpkins.
MTV NEWS: We want to talk to you guys, especially about heavy music and the audience today...
FRED: I mean our fans are usually those fans the majority white, young, that like very emotional, heavy music. True music that I would consider us Korn and Deftones to be. You know, everyday situation style vocals. But then again most of them like rap, most of them like Rage Against the Machine. Most of them like alternative music, like Radiohead. The generation these days, you can't limit yourself to one kind of thing. There's so much good music. If you're really gonna block out all this good music and only one kind of music, I really don't think you're liking it for the music because there are so many good bands, you can't just like one kind of music.
MTV NEWS: Do you think the word metal is pejorative?
FRED: I can't stand hearing us be called a metal band. What is metal? Metal to me is like...
WES: Iron Maiden.
FRED: Iron Maiden or Krokus or Dio. I'm not saying it's bad, but I don't think we're metal. I think there's a new term. I think we're just emotional. I think the guitars only represent emotion in our music. We don't just get heavy and drive on power riffs, you know. Maybe that would be heavy metal or something. But us we only get heavy when it's needed, when the point is there to get across... I don't think we're a heavy metal band. I don't think we're a hip-hop metal band. I just think we happen to have heavy, loud guitars and we've been getting labeled a lot as a heavy metal band.
MTV NEWS: People hear certain sounds and automatically think it's metal.
FRED: Yeah, we're not going to be able to escape it if we're using heavy guitars. Period. But just the fact that people want to hear it, you know. Because back then metal was different. You know in '85 heavy metal was the bands you we're talking about that were heavy metal.
WES: Tight leather pants...
FRED: Besides, yeah it was the tight pants and the high top tennis shoes, and the you know the hair and all that. But things have changed. Our audience understands. I don't think it's our audience calling us heavy metal bands, it's other people. It's the corporate people, or people that have to give us a label. That are going "Okay, heavy guitars, maybe they're heavy. The guy's screaming, they're heavy metal." You know, I don't know.
MTV NEWS: Is Korn hip-hop?
FRED: They have a lot more groove, like not groove as in rhythm but groove as in hip hop itself... But Korn, the Deftones, us I don't know if I'd call them heavy metal at all, but I don't know if I'd call them hip-hop rock either, you know. They're emotional bands. That's pretty much the best I can say. Jonathan's a very emotional singer, and Chino is very heartbroken, he sings about love... And me, I sing about whatever is happening in my life and people I've had problems with. I think I call this little clique like pimp rock or something. You know it's just like new school, fat groove, not scared to take the plunge into some new thing. I think Korn is the daddies of this heavy movement that's going on right now, this groove. You know what I mean. Pantera obviously came out with "Vulgar Display Of Power" and showed everybody what heavy groove is supposed to be. That record opened the heavy groove you know what I mean. But Korn like took it to another level with the down tuning and just like that vibe.
MTV NEWS: I wanted to ask you about the dynamics you guys use in your vocals and in your songs, the build up you use a lot... Do you want to explain or talk about that, the differences?
FRED: I don't know what it is about that. It's like a release. I just do a couple of verses and a couple of choruses maybe to get my point across and then you know, I just by then I feel that I am at a fed up point or a point where you it's time to get it in your head what I'm talking about... You're right, people have always done it and Chino and Jonathan, we all do. I'm influenced by those guys, you know. Korn touched me hard with their first record. I was like "Holy crap, these guys are bad."
WES: It's like the nervous breakdown of the song. Yeah, it's like the temper tantrum.
FRED: I don't think it's a trendy thing I think it's just like coincidentally that we're all three real good friends and we're all kinda close to the same people. We're all around the same age, listen to the same stuff. I can't say there are ten bands in the world that do it or that do it for real, from the heart . But there's probably five bands in our field that do it so I don't feel like it's a coincidence, I just feel like it's something that's going on right now. You know, like us, Korn, Deftones, Rage Against the Machine I don't know too many other bands...Tool. Tool's probably the best band I think on the planet.
WES: Yeah they're on a different level.
FRED: I can't even put them in the field there's something wrong with those guys. They're too good. They're...
DJ LETHAL: They just know something.
FRED: They know something that the rest of the world doesn't know. I mean they did it, they do it they do it.
WES: They're human, but not human at the same time.
FRED: There's something severely intense about that band. You can't get better. You can't think of one way you would have done something different. Their ride they take you on is Tool. You know, it's insane. That band, I can't even be in a category with that band. You know that band is on the highest pedestal for me. But us man, why we all go to that build and have that whisper to that build I don't even know, I don't. It's a coincidence you could say.
WES: It works.
FRED: It works but I'm really, that's what I'm feeling. That's what John's feeling, that's what Chino's feeling. It's not like we're biting each other. Not like we're like jumping on each other's wagons or anything. It's the way we feel coincidentally.
MTV NEWS: I think that's why a lot of people put you guys together. You never saw bands like Metallica doing this sort of style. You bring it down.
WES: Well it's also the build up has kind of replaced, nowadays, has kind of replaced the guitar solo. In a way. Like I'm being really terrible, but I totally do not like solos I think they're a waste of time and they're not necessary.
JOHN: Build ups are just more musical. I mean it's tension and release is all about music. That's what it is.
FRED: It is. There are no more solos hardly, and if there are you should leave them for like Billy Corgan and Jerry Cantrell. The people who do it in a, give you an emotional ride on a solo not the hammering guitar solos.
MTV NEWS: I wanted to talk to you about the differences between heavy music that's out now and the sense of humor you have in your songs. I read somewhere that you said satirically how so many heavy bands are so serious.
WES: Even though we write about a lot of serious stuff, it's we're not serious all the time. We're not serious like, we're not serious people. We're human and we have more depth in our personality than just, "All these things are going bad for me" or "You know you better respect me and I'm serious about what I'm talking about."
FRED: Those people that run around being heavy all the time and take it so seriously, you know those people aren't like that all the time. We're just real kids from Florida and L.A... I don't walk around all the time, I mean I am an a**hole a lot, but we like to joke around. We have fun, we party.
DJ LETHAL: Life is short, you know what I mean.
WES: We want our music to represent ourselves.
FRED: Just heavy and bad ass... Just because we're emotional and heavy doesn't mean that we're like that all the time. When we play our music we have to be like that because we have to remember why we wrote these songs. But yeah, you know you just can't walk around being hardcore all the time. I mean, it's not reality. I mean, if you live in the hood or something and it¼s all good and scary and you're bad ass, but I don't think that that¼s metal. I don't think the attitude goes along with the metal any more. You know, you're not that tough satanic bite-your-head-off monster rockers anymore. We get emotional, we get heavy and we got a problem, we got a serious problem with it. But only when it happens. Not all the time.
MTV NEWS: I also want to ask you about "Faith." The cover of "Faith" on the album. what made you do that?
FRED: I liked it because I like George Michael. I always have. I always thought that was kind of a cheesy song. Everything he wrote was a hit and huge. I thought he was awesome, he was the mack. It was just a fun song. We have that side to us and we made it up one day and we said let's put it on the record. Everyone will hate that. And I don't know if George hates it or likes it, but if you 're watching...
DJ LETHAL: Big shout out George.
FRED: We love you George, we love you Matt Pinfield and what else do we love? We love the Busta Rhymes videos man. Phat.
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