Fred Durst, the frontman of infamous multi-platinum nü-metal stars Limp Bizkit, recently sat down for a chat with comedian, political commentator, etc. Bill Maher. Durst took part in a newly shared episode Maher‘s ‘Club Random Podcast‘, marking his first time partaking in such a podcast in quite some time.
The conversation was wide and far reaching, from the discussion of theoretical energy solutions drawing from the vacuum of space to Durst performing oral sex on Maher. Durst remained candidly open throughout the chat, at one point revealing that his current beard is part of a ‘character he’s playing’ on the band’s current European/UK tour.
Amid the chat, Durst also spoke on how his career in music was initially only a vehicle to open doors for him in Hollywood to pursue his passion of filmmaking. He said of that [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“I’m not much of a musician to be honest with you. I grew up on a farm in North Carolina and I always wanted to be a filmmaker. And so I had read that James Foley, who directed ‘Glengarry Glen Ross‘ & ‘At Close Range‘… I read that he directed music videos, Martin Scorsese directed music videos, David Fincher… And so I said ‘Man, I’ll put together a band.’
My Spinal Tap, you know my spark, sparks my thing. And I was obsessed with Andy Kaufman and things like that. And I said I’ll put together this Spinal Tap and direct the music video and go to Hollywood and start making movies. And that’s not how it happened.”
When asked if Limp Bizkit was really initially just a vehicle for filmmaking for him, he responded:
“That’s what it started out as, yeah. So it’s a blessing in disguise.”
When pointed out the irony of that given the success the group experienced, he replied:
“We definitely had a moment there and it was just something that I didn’t expect. And the movie thing just didn’t happen. I’m telling Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field and all these guys, ‘Hey I want to direct movies.’ And they’re like ‘No you’re going to be a rock star. You’re selling a bunch of records.”
On Limp Bizkit capturing what Maher referred to as the cultural ‘zeitgeist’ with their music around the late 90s and early 2000s:
“I was bullied my whole life. Tortured, bullied. I was really just this peon kid in my city and school. Ultimately, the vehicle I used to put behind Limp Bizkit was ‘Oh man, I’ll use this microphone to fight these guys back.’ But the irony was, the bullies that tortured me were dressing like me in the audience.
And so this massive art project turned into the most ironic thing… And then here I am 25 years later going, wow, this is unbelievable. It’s so bizarre.”
On the current demographics of Limp Bizkit fans at live shows, he offered:
“These days, every night I’ll say “How many people is this your first time seeing Limp Bizkit?’ The whole place raises their hand. ‘How many people are under 30-years-old?’ The whole place raises their hand. I think the people who grew up liking Limp Bizkit probably are a little older and they’d probably rather me do a Paul Newman and give them some salad dressing, or some soap.
You know, they’re not listening to that kind of music right now. And so maybe there’s a hip hop kind of current going through our music that maybe helped us through time
I took everything away. I didn’t want to market anymore. I don’t sell merchandise online. I don’t sell it at concerts. I didn’t promote anything, because I wanted to pull back and see what our music could do through a noisy world.
How do you rise above the noise? And luckily, I’m so grateful, but it’s just there’s a resurgence. It’s just happening. It’s young people that are reacting to the material.”
He later returned to that line of thought, offering:
“So imagine when I put the band together. In ’95 I’m 25-years-old, okay? 25-years-old. And that’s the feeling that’s in this music. So these young people around that age—it kind of varies—that’s the feeling they’re getting from it. It’s timeless in that way. And so it’s priceless…”
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