Wes Borland
 |
Wes Borland | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Borland performing with Limp Bizkit in 2021 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Wesley Louden Borland February 7, 1975 Richmond, VA, U.S. |
| Origin | Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Musician, singer, songwriter |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Member of |
|
| Formerly of |
|
Wesley Louden Borland (born February 7, 1975) is an American rock musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the guitarist and backing vocalist of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative and industrial rock band Black Light Burns, and the co-founder of the experimental metal band Big Dumb Face.
Borland gained popularity when Limp Bizkit achieved mainstream success in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He formed Big Dumb Face with his brother Scott in 1998 and left Limp Bizkit in 2001 to start side projects including Eat the Day and The Damning Well. After rejoining Limp Bizkit in 2004, Borland founded Black Light Burns, with whom he has released three studio albums and a covers album. Limp Bizkit went on hiatus following the release of their album The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1) (2005). However, the band's original lineup reunited in 2009 and recorded their fifth studio album, Gold Cobra (2011). In 2016, Borland released his solo album Crystal Machete.
Borland is known for his sonic experimentation and elaborate visual appearance, which has included face and body paint, masks and uniforms. He has drawn album covers and created artwork for many of his music projects as well as oil paintings. Borland was voted number 37 in Total Guitar's Top 100 Guitarists of All Time. Borland formed the label Edison Sound, which releases his own music projects.
Career
[edit]Limp Bizkit and mainstream success (1994–2002)
[edit]Borland joined Limp Bizkit, a band formed by Fred Durst, Sam Rivers and John Otto.[1] Limp Bizkit developed a cult following in the underground music scene, particularly at the Milk Bar, an underground punk club in downtown Jacksonville, Florida.[citation needed] The band attracted crowds by word of mouth and covering George Michael's "Faith" and Paula Abdul's "Straight Up"; the band also gave energetic live performances in which Borland appeared in bizarre costumes.[1] Borland's theatrical rock style was the primary attraction for many concert attendees.[1] After DJ Lethal joined the band as a turntablist, Borland left Limp Bizkit after a disagreement with Durst.[1] However, Borland rejoined after the band signed with Mojo, a subsidiary of MCA Records.[1] After a dispute with Mojo, Limp Bizkit signed with Flip, a subsidiary of Interscope Records, and recorded their debut, Three Dollar Bill, Yall, which featured an abrasive, angry sound.[1]
Although the album was met with minimal response, touring consistently increased Limp Bizkit's success, and the third single from Three Dollar Bill, Yall, "Faith", became a radio hit, leading to a slot on Ozzfest, a tour organized by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.[2] In 1998, Borland formed a side project, Big Dumb Face with his brother, influenced by Ween and Mr. Bungle.[3]
Significant Other saw Limp Bizkit reaching a new level of commercial success. The album climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 643,874 copies in its first week of release.[4] In 2000, Durst announced that the band's third studio album would be titled Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. The press thought that Durst was joking about this title.[5] The album title is intended to sound like a fictional band; the phrase "Chocolate Starfish" referred to Durst himself, as he had frequently been called an asshole.[5] Borland contributed the other half of the album's title when the band was standing around at a truck stop, looking at bottles of flavored water, and Borland joked that the truck stop didn't have hot dog or meat-flavored water.[5] It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 1.05 million copies in its first week,[6] and was the 18th best-selling album of the 2000s in the US.
In a 1999 Spin profile on Limp Bizkit, when asked "Where will you be ten years from now?", Borland responded, "Probably not in the band."[7]
Departure from Limp Bizkit, side-projects, brief return to Limp Bizkit, and Black Light Burns formation (2002–2009)
[edit]
In March 2001, Big Dumb Face released its debut album, Duke Lion Fights the Terror!!. Borland stated that the band's music is "really silly and idiotic and bizarre. [...] It's nothing but stupid [...] just all these retarded songs."[3] In the fall of 2001, Borland left Limp Bizkit,[8] citing creative differences with the band.[9] When asked why Borland quit the band, Ross Robinson stated that he quit because "He doesn't sell out for money anymore".[10]
Borland then formed the band Eat the Day,[11][12] in which he and his brother Scott would both act as co-lead vocalists. After realizing this setup restricted their guitar-playing abilities, Eat The Day launched an open search for a new vocalist. Initially, the band released three full-length instrumental tracks for hopeful singers to download and record over. The tracks were dAdA, Beeblicowcarapis and Taste My Gun, but later they were only available as small samples. In a 2021 interview, Borland claimed that he went through at least 150 audition recordings.[13]
In January 2003, Borland announced former Stalking Tom singer Adam Yas as the new vocalist for Eat The Day,[14] but two months later he reported that the band "...decided to go public with our search one more time" while still staying in contact with the previously announced Yas.[15] Around the same time, Bob Ezrin was brought in to produce their debut album.[16] Shortly afterward, Borland had found three potential singers for the project, with one presumably being the previously announced Adam Yas.[13]
Despite his claims that the three discovered vocalists were the best options available, producer Ezrin didn't believe in their abilities enough to allow Eat The Day to move forward with the production of their album, going as far as calling the singers "terrible". In order to improve the situation, Borland attempted to bring in Danny Lohner, which resulted in further clashes with Ezrin and ground the project to a halt.[13] Eat The Day was eventually abandoned due to being unable to find a vocalist.[17][18] The unfinished demos from Eat the Day were subsequently released in April 2020 by Borland.
After the failure of another project, The Damning Well, in 2003,[19] Borland began writing a solo record with its members Danny Lohner and Josh Freese, with Josh Eustis and Jonathan Bates contributing. This record served as the precursor to Black Light Burns. In August 2004, Borland rejoined Limp Bizkit and recorded another album, The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1) in 2005.[20][21] Following the release of the band's Greatest Hitz album, the band went on hiatus after arguments broke out on MySpace between Borland and frontman Fred Durst,[22] with Borland stating, "As of right now, none of my future plans include Limp Bizkit."[23]
In 2005, Borland formed Black Light Burns. Borland stated that this was now his main project, and anything else he did, including Limp Bizkit, was a side project.[22] Borland toured with From First To Last[22] roughly since early 2006. He announced plans for a fall 2006 tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland had discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band when Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room to work with From First to Last.
Black Light Burns released its début album, Cruel Melody in the spring of 2007 to critical acclaim. It featured Borland on the vocals and guitars. Allmusic writer Greg Prato wrote, "For many, Borland was the only Limp Bizkit member who was taken seriously. As evidenced by Cruel Melody, he is now officially allowed to follow whichever musical path he so desires.".[24] In 2008, Borland, along with Richard Fortus and Sugizo, supported Japanese metal band X Japan at their sold out reunion concerts at the Tokyo Dome.[25]
In August 2008, at the ETP Conference, it was announced that Borland joined Marilyn Manson as a guitarist.[26] In the winter of 2008, Borland helped in the recording of The Color of Violence's 2009 album Youthanize as a bassist.
Limp Bizkit reunion (2009)
[edit]In 2009, the original lineup of Limp Bizkit reunited and began touring, which resulted in a second Black Light Burns record being put on the backburner. Borland left Manson's employ in May of the same year, claiming his reasons for leaving included rejoining his old band and having creative differences with Manson, citing "It's the Marilyn Manson show over there."[27] Limp Bizkit recorded a new album, which Borland named Gold Cobra.[28] Released on June 28, 2011. It received mixed reviews,[29] with multiple reviewers praising Borland's guitar playing.[30][31] It peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard 200.[32]
Borland also designed the album artwork for Fear and the Nervous System's 2011 eponymous debut album.
Borland has also gone onto a remixing career with his distribution of alternative versions of songs by metal bands. Most recently, The Word Alive has had their song "The Hounds of Anubis" remixed by Borland.[33] He also played guitar in the soundtrack of Resident Evil: Afterlife by Tomandandy.
In 2012, Black Light Burns began performing after their brief hiatus and released their second studio album The Moment You Realize You're Going to Fall and a concept "album", Lotus Island, in January 2013. In the same year, during the Black Light Burns tour, Borland stated that he would never do a solo project. "If I would do a solo project I would put my name on the record. But that will never happen."[34]
Borland collaborated with Riot Games to develop Hybrid Worlds, the theme song for the League of Legends Season 3 World Championships. Borland performed live for the event on October 4, 2013, along with The Crystal Method, Tina Guo, and Black Light Burns alumni Danny Lohner and Joe Letz.[35]
Solo album, Big Dumb Face reunion, demos, and Still Sucks (2016–present)
[edit]On May 3, 2016, Borland released an instrumental solo album named Crystal Machete on his personal record label (Edison Sound Archived January 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine), which saw him stepping outside his comfort zone by featuring no distorted guitars or vocals.[36] The album was released to positive reviews, with Drowned in Sound calling the album a "a beautiful, sprawling post-rock mini epic".[37] In 2016 he disbanded Black Light Burns.
.jpg)
In winter 2016 Limp Bizkit embarked on a co-headlining UK tour with Korn, including dates at Wembley Arena with support from Madball. As of October 2017, the status of the new Limp Bizkit album Stampede of the Disco Elephants is unknown, with Borland telling NME that he has completed all of his parts for "28 or 29 songs" and is waiting for Fred to choose what songs he wants to complete before he can mix and master it. He also blamed his time in Limp Bizkit for difficulty in getting jobs with other acts such as Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson in the past, stating that the other bands didn't want to be associated with his previous band.[38]
In June 2017 he posted on social media that Big Dumb Face will be returning that year, eventually confirming that the new album, Where Is Duke Lion? He's Dead... would be released on October 31 via Edison Sound, with a full scale physical release to follow on November 17. Explaining why he revived Big Dumb Face after 16 years, he said that he wanted to make something "really heavy" in contrast to the post-rock of Crystal Machete, and that he was currently "into making things that [he] said [he'd] never do again", such as the solo record, or reviving Black Light Burns to release a new album in June 2018. He did, however, say that he would not tour with Big Dumb Face as he has prior touring commitments with Limp Bizkit and his then-wife's band, Queen Kwong. In February 2018 Borland teased images of him working in the studio with