A few years back, a video featuring a baseball-capless Fred Durst prancing around the bustling streets of Vancouver, British Columbia, made the rounds on video-sharing sites like YouTube, subjecting the Limp Bizkit frontman to oodles of online ridicule.
In the obnoxiously long clip, Durst disrupts pedestrian and vehicular traffic, pops out of a large recycling bin, clumsily rides a bicycle down the street and does his best impression of the Carlton dance from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" — all while lip-syncing British post-punk outfit Modern English's 1982 classic "I Melt With You."
The video was never intended for public consumption. Durst called it "a fun thing I did for a girl I was dating at the time," adding that the footage was among the spoils hacked from his personal computer. An explicit video, showing the singer doing it all for the nookie with an unidentified female, was also pilfered and eventually released online.
"I had a lot of fun, but I felt silly borrowing people's bikes and just setting up and dancing in the middle of Vancouver," Durst said of the Modern English homage. "I love that song. It was just something I did in my hotel room while she was working. I thought it was romantic — hey, I'm a romantic guy."
These days, Durst continues to make movies — the legitimate kind. His first stab at directing, "The Education of Charlie Banks," will debut this weekend in New York as part of Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival (see "Fred Durst: The Next Martin Scorsese?"). And while Durst plans to dabble with film in the future, his first love is music in general and Limp Bizkit in particular.
Durst recently posted a blog on Limp's MySpace page expressing a strong desire to restore the band's original lineup and get back to the business of crafting nü-metal masterpieces. Trouble is, guitarist Wes Borland wants no part of it (see "Wes Borland Sees The Black Light, Says No More Bizkit For Him"), having formed his own rock outfit, Black Light Burns. The band's debut LP, Cruel Melody, is slated for June 5.
"There were feelings with Limp Bizkit that were so amazing, it's almost like if you could get close to feeling something like that again, with the same family you started it with — I mean, I love Limp Bizkit, and I would always want to have the family together," Durst said. "There were times we were all looking at each other like, 'Holy sh--, I can't believe this is happening.' But we're all individuals as well. People evolve and grow, and life is fascinating and fun and tragic. There are so many things in life, and I always look at Limp Bizkit as something I just love, because it's just that feeling, that thing."
Durst said he has seen loads of bands perform live, and he admits some do a fine job at it. But none is Limp Bizkit.
"I think Limp Bizkit f---ing rock hard," he said. "Limp Bizkit on the stage, together, just stepping back and looking at it — I just love it. I love the whole band."
Durst doesn't know what the future holds for the Bizkit ("I stopped predicting the future a long time ago," he said), but like a delusional boyfriend waiting for a girl to take him back, he doesn't think a reunion is out of the question, even with Borland doing his own thing.
"We're still a family, we're just farther apart," he explained. "But it's still there, and we all know it. We're going to do it when we want. We don't feel obligated. Our hearts are in it. If there's ever something Limp Bizkit does together, I'd say check it out, because it might be pretty powerful."
And yes, folks, there will be a follow-up to 2005's ill-received The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1). He said the Limp Bizkit project has been in the bag for awhile, but when will it surface?
"Timing's everything," Durst said. "I want it to be the right time. I think people should focus on Rage Against the Machine playing Coachella. People need to realize that [the Rage reunion] is going to rattle the world like an earthquake" (see "Rage Against The Machine To Reunite For Coachella Festival").
Durst has heard Black Light Burns' inaugural offering, and he admits that he digs it.
"Wes would always play stuff he was doing, solo-wise," Durst said. "He's one of the most creative guys you'll ever meet. Obsessive — just making great music in his studio all the time. He's a killer player, and he plays so many instruments and he's created this thing. I think [Black Light Burns] are cool. Everybody has their own little solo thing going on right now, and I think Black Light Burns are pretty damn good." (mds)
