Limp Bizkit have written 35 songs for the follow-up to 2011’s Gold Cobra album, and are waiting on ‘perfectionist’ frontman Fred Durst to record his vocals, says guitarist Wes Borland.
Speaking to Avenged Sevenfold bassist Johnny Christ for his Drinks With Johnny podcast, Borland revealed that the band have tried “seven times” to finish what would be their sixth studio album, still provisionally titled Stampede Of The Disco Elephants, but Durst has “thrown away” his vocals each time, as he’s been “unsatisfied” with the “vision” for the album.
“We’ve been working on stuff, working on stuff, working on stuff,” says Borland. “And Fred has been consistently kind of unsatisfied with where [the] vision is, I guess. So we’ve released singles — like we did [2013 single] Ready To Go, and we did another single called Endless Slaughter [2014] that we put out…”
“We probably have 35 songs recorded instrumentally,” Borland revealed, “and he’s done vocals on them and then thrown the vocals away — done vocals and then [gone], ‘Fuck this,’ [and] thrown it away. So I think he’s finally at the point now where he’s gonna pick a set of these songs that he’s finally cool with and finish ’em and we’re gonna finish the record. So, fingers crossed.”
Asked if he might hazard a guess at which Limp Bizkit album number six mighty finally see the light of day, Borland was understandably loathe to commit to a date, and suggested that the album would very likely emerge under a different title. He did, however, suggest that the songs feature “the best stuff I’ve ever done as a musician.”
“I’m not in charge of Fred‘s vocals,” Borland stated. “I’m way done with my parts on the record. I’m sure I’ll go back in and play a little bit more after. But it’s fucking Fred Durst. He went from being a darling to everybody’s most hated person in the world. We broke up as a band. He’s tried to find his footing, I think, on a bunch of these songs. He’s so talented, and I love him so much as a brother, but if he’s not ready to do it, he’s not ready to do it…”
“My whole thing is I force things, but I’m happy to make mistakes and get embarrassed and go, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have done that.’ But I just like to put stuff out. But he’s a perfectionist, so we’ll see when he’s ready to do it. I doubt it’ll be called Stampede Of The Disco Elephants at that point. I will definitely say that the riffs and the music, it’s the best stuff I’ve ever done as a musician, I think. I’m so pleased with the direction the music went, and I love what we did as a band. And I’ve heard a bunch of his, sort of, demoed vocals over the stuff, and they’re great. So I have no doubt that he’s gonna come and bring it and it’s gonna be a great record.”
For more revelations from Limp Bizkit’s guitarist, including anecdotes about the ghost in his old house, why he didn’t feel like a part of the metal community and the inspiration behind his stage personas and outfits, check out the full interview below.
Limp Bizkit recently announced a brace of UK shows for summer 2022, in addition to a US club tour run ahead of some high profile US festival appearances.
