Wes Borland
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| Wes Borland | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Wes |
| Born | February 7, 1975 Richmond, Virginia |
| Genre(s) | Industrial metal Industrial rock Alternative metal Nu metal Experimental rock Rapcore Post-hardcore |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Piano, Drums, Percussion, Synth, Violin, Cello, Rhodes piano |
| Years active | 1994 – present |
| Associated acts | Black Light Burns Limp Bizkit Big Dumb Face From First to Last X Japan Fear and the Nervous System The Damning Well Goatslayer Eat the Day Filter Anna Tsuchiya |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| PRS Guitars Ibanez Guitars Signature Yamaha Guitars |
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Wesley Louden Borland (born February 7, 1975 in Richmond, Virginia) is a musician, best known as the former guitarist in the band Limp Bizkit. He has been in several other bands as well, including The Damning Well, Goatslayer, Big Dumb Face and once played bass for From First to Last (although FFTL now have a full time bassist). Borland currently performs in Black Light Burns, where he writes most of the music and sings. Borland is well known for his bizarre appearance during his Limp Bizkit years (covering his entire face with makeup, and wearing completely black contact lenses), and for his fondness of underground musical artists that differed greatly from the musical tastes of his bandmates in Limp Bizkit.
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[edit] Early years
Borland's family moved to Jacksonville, Florida (from Michigan) where his father took a pastoral job at a Presbyterian Church. In Florida, Borland met bassist Sam Rivers, but the two did not get along due to rivalries between local bands. He went to school with John Otto. He spent his summers in Montreat, NC working in the sound booth for Montreat Conference Center at Montreat College, a Presbyterian Church institution. When Limp Bizkit was looking for a guitarist, John Otto threw out his name, stating he was more of an artist than a guitarist, but the band decided he'd be worthwhile for the position. Before this, Borland was "embarrassing [him]self in bars, playing really weird music that wasn't...good", as he later said in an interview with From First to Last. In one of these bands, Borland sang and played guitar but didn't use a guitar pick. He would only play guitar using the two hand tapping style of guitar playing that he would go on to use in Limp Bizkit songs such as "Stalemate", "Sour", and "Re-Arranged".
Fred Durst left Philadelphia, leaving the others to speak to Wes and see if he'd join the band. Wes accepted, and the three practiced, while keeping in touch with Fred over the phone. Later Fred came back to Jacksonville, and the band had a show scheduled. Fred and Wes met for the first time and played their first show together 30 minutes later. When Limp Bizkit played locally in Jacksonville, Wes would dress up as a girl, wearing tight pink clothes and putting his hair in ponytails. Certain people in the audience of these shows found Wes attractive from a distance, but once they got closer to the stage and realized it was Wes, were quite embarrassed. Wes dressing up as a girl greatly angered frontman Fred Durst.
In the very early stages of Limp Bizkit, Wes's brother and future Eat the Day bandmate Scott Borland played keyboards, but with the early inclusion of DJ Lethal, the band eventually became a huge success. Scott played with Limp Bizkit as a session keyboard player on Limp Bizkit's first three releases, until Wes quit in 2001, which is when the two brothers formed Eat the Day.
On stage, Borland was known for his eccentricity, frequently wearing elaborate face paint and black-tinted contact lenses.
As far as his role as Limp Bizkit's guitarist, on Limp Bizkit's first CD, Three Dollar Bill, Y'all, Borland would cover much ground. Some guitar parts were inspired by thrash metal with harmonic usage inspired by Industrial music, whereas some other guitar parts were meant to sound like strange noises and sounds, some were soft and beautiful Jazzy Melodies and the songs themselves were somewhat progressive, as there were traditional song-structures mixed with more experimental ideas. On the subsequent hit record, Significant Other, Borland's playing became slower with increased emphasis on groove and heaviness, with more traditional song structures used[citation needed]. On the third Limp Bizkit release, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, Borland's playing became more eclectic, combining the prior elements of heaviness and traditional structure with playing big, complex guitar chords not normally played in metal music before then. On the other hand, The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1), recorded five years later after he shortly rejoined the band, featured some of his most aggressive guitar work ever released, using distortion through most of the album and putting all of his trademark effect pedals to rest, instead focusing on heavy riffing, metal tremolo picking and palm mute/release techniques. However, in Black Light Burns, Borland's guitar playing is at its most eclectic. Borland's metal,electronic, jazz, indie rock, soft, and progressive influences come through, and the songs take unexpected turns all throughout. Wes played Ibanez 7 string guitars with Limp Bizkit and later used Paul Reed Smith guitars. He plays a custom 4 string AX series Ibanez on songs "Don't Remember", "The One", "Nookie", "Full Nelson", and "Stalemate". He tuned his 7 strings to [Low to High] Db Gb B E Ab Db Db and tuned his 4 string to [Low to High] F# F# B E, with the lowest F# string being a bass guitar string.
Borland told crowds at his guitar clinics in the middle east and Total Guitar magazine that he considers himself more a songwriter/rhythm guitarist than a lead guitarist, saying that he never got into shredder bands or jazz fuison artists. He says his two hand tapping technique was inspired somewhat by Les Claypool of Primus and the rhythmic nature of his bass playing, and not so much from the lead guitar craze of the 1980's. However, he has incorporated lead guitar into his music after leaving Limp Bizkit from time to time.
[edit] Leaving Limp Bizkit
On October 12, 2001, Borland left Limp Bizkit because, he claims, the band limited his ability to express himself artistically. There were also rumors that Wes believed the band had become a "sell-out" band, and were becoming too popular for their own good. Before leaving Bizkit he formed the band Big Dumb Face as an outlet for his creativity. Big Dumb Face has since been put to the side. Borland then started the band Eat the Day with his brother, Scott Borland. Eat The Day was described as heavy and dramatic, with Borland pushing the envelope of his heavy and soft playing within epic, normally over five minute song lengths.
Wes and his brother Scott initially were going to both be the lead vocalists to avoid the stigmas associated with singular frontmen, but both Borlands felt their guitar playing was starting to suffer due to having to contribute vocals at the same time. They first tried fixing this with going through Interscope Records' demos to find a singer, only to find nobody they were satisfied with. During this period of Eat the Day, the band's website released several mp3s with no vocal tracks, asking for interested vocalists to record over the tracks and submit their recordings as an audition to front the band. The songs "Beeblicowcarapis", "dAdA", and "Taste My Gun" were initially released (and still are available via the internet) as their full length selves, but later, Eat the Day only put up the beginning portions of the songs to have vocalists to sing over. This gesture was similar to the Limp Bizkit national guitarist audition after Borland left the band, and proved to be ultimately futile, other than showcasing what the ultimate sound of the project could have become. The members of Eat The Day instead decided to take a small break from the project and focus on other things to see if a vocalist would naturally pop up.
During this down period, Wes also began production on his solo album with friend and producer Danny Lohner of Nine Inch Nails' fame. He was also featured twice on the Underworld soundtrack: once on a remix version of the A Perfect Circle song "Weak and Powerless" and another time on the song "The Awakening" with a supergroup of sorts called The Damning Well. The group features Wes Borland on guitars, Danny Lohner on bass, Richard Patrick on vocals and Josh Freese on drums. It was also revealed by Borland himself that during this time, he turned down the offer to join A Perfect Circle as the second guitarist alongside band founder/songwriter Billy Howerdel in order to focus on Eat The Day. In fall of 2003, it was announced that Eat The Day had found an unnamed vocalist. It turned out to be Richard Patrick of Filter and Nine Inch Nails fame. With legendary producer Bob Ezrin at the helm, material for Eat The Day and The Damning Well merged, as did the bands, but Patrick had a falling out with the whole camp. This was announced via Eat The Day's website in fall of 2003/early 2004, as did the announcement that Eat The Day and The Damning Well had either split permanently or gone on hiatus. The conclusion of this post stated Wes' beginning stages of creating a new, band driven solo record with Danny Lohner, Josh Freese, Josh Eustis, and John Bates.
At some point in 2004 as well, Borland was reportedly offered to join Nine Inch Nails as the band's guitarist, replacing Robin Finck who left Nine Inch Nails yet again for Guns N' Roses. Borland stated he wrote some material with Trent Reznor, but that the material is still unreleased. He also explained that Black Light Burns was beginning at that time, and that he turned down the spot in Nine Inch Nails because he wanted to pursue his own creative vision instead of supporting someone else's musical vision, which Reznor greatly respected. Reznor also gave Wes valuable pointers for where Black Light Burns songs should go during this time.
In late 2003, Wes co-produced and played guitar on several songs on "Legion of Boom", the third studio album by electronic musicians The Crystal Method, released in January 2004. The tracks he worked on were "Broken Glass", "Weapons of Mass Distortion" (also a Japanese bonus track "Weapons of Mad Destruction" featuring Kyono from The Mad Capsule Markets) and the lead single "Born Too Slow". Born Too Slow also featured former Kyuss frontman John Garcia on vocals.
[edit] Rejoining Limp Bizkit
In August 2004 or around, Wes Borland rejoined Limp Bizkit. Borland reportedly had to see for himself if he still was at odds with Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst before he officially joined Nine Inch Nails as the guitarist. They met one day and realized that they weren't at odds with each other anymore, so Borland turned down the invitation to join Nine Inch Nails without friction from Trent Reznor, and Wes began writing with Limp Bizkit again. He worked on their latest album, but the only material released from these sessions in Prague was in the form of an EP, titled The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1), released on May 3, 2005. Ross Robinson, well known producer, was brought in to produce it. However, relations between Borland and the other members of Limp Bizkit became strained again after drummer John Otto began having drug issues while recording Limp Bizkit material in Prague in late 2004, as documented in the video material included on The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1).
[edit] Second Fall Out with Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit did make plans to tour behind the EP and to release more material from those sessions in the form of The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2). None of the tour plans materialized, with Borland citing the reason of "nobody (else) wants to tour", and that Limp Bizkit had possibly broken up during this time. By then, Borland was also very disenchanted with how the material he worked on with Limp Bizkit turned out, as he wanted to push the band's envelope but was met with a great deal of resistance, primarily from Durst. However, after an uncharacteristically long time off from the band to do cinema work (that was so long it led Borland to believe that Durst was done with Limp Bizkit) and the rest of the members dispersing to be involved in other projects, Fred Durst came back and began posting on Limp Bizkit's MySpace page, much in the same fashion that Wes was posting on the myspace of his then new band, Black Light Burns. Among other things, Durst accused Borland of "abandoning" drummer John Otto in his "time of need", and elaborated on the other Limp Bizkit members' year-old decision to have Wes kicked out of Limp Bizkit again. This was a surprise to not only the Limp Bizkit fan base but Borland himself as they neglected to tell him of the decision, so he kept planning his time around the never to be materialized plans of Limp Bizkit's tour for a year before this occurred. Durst also stated that the band's upcoming release, The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2) will be released with Borland's guitar playing on certain songs that they recorded in Prague and the full length disc will be dedicated to him. Borland responded to Durst's massive MySpace post simply stating the slanderous nature of the remarks, and leaving it at that.
Wes has since declared himself a full time member of his new project, Black Light Burns. Borland said on leaving the band: "I feel that they think I'm no good for them but fuck it." Borland and Danny Lohner also contributed guitar parts and instrumentals to Rob Zombie's album, Educated Horses, only to not have their contributions on the record. In late 2005, Wes played all the bass on the post-hardcore band From First to Last's second full length album Heroine (after bassist Jon Weisberg left the band), with whom he also toured with for several tours afterward. Borland has since become very close with the band. He has since left the band as new bassist Matt Manning stepped up to play with From First to last. Borland played all the bass track on the CD, but co wrote a song with the band called "Save Us" which is a B side to the Heroine album that is still unreleased.
[edit] Black Light Burns
Borland's latest project Black Light Burns is an industrial/gothic/alternative band featuring members of Borland's previous band The Damning Well, with Borland this time on Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards and Programming, Danny Lohner on Guitar, Bass, Keys, Programming (but is sparingly using these instruments on the record, as he is mainly BLB's producer), Josh Eustis (from Telefon Tel Aviv) on Programming, Keys and Josh Freese on Drums. The project evolved from Borland's initial attempts at writing a solo effort, but according to Borland, now includes that solo material, material from Eat The Day, material from The Damning Well, and material from an ambient solo record that Borland wrote during his time in Eat The Day that still remains unreleased. The initial plans of their record release was posted on their MySpace page: "Final tracking is almost complete on the debut album and the band plans on releasing during the first quarter of 2006 with a world tour to follow." All guests on the album are confirmed to include Carina Round, Limp Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers, From First to Last frontman Sonny Moore, and Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde. However, their then record label, Geffen Records, went through a personnel change and didn't bother returning Borland's phone calls, so both parties split. Borland announced on February 3rd, 2007 that Black Light Burns will be signed to the new record label of Ross Robinson called I AM: WOLFPACK. A June 5th, 2007 release for the CD is planned, and in the meantime Borland will head to various regions in the Middle East for scheduled guitar clinics for his Yamaha signature guitar, and BLB will be rehearsing for a tour starting around summer as well.
Wes toured with From First To Last roughly since early 2006. Wes announced plans for a fall 2006 BLB/FFTL tour that never went through due to Black Light Burns needing to find a new record label after Borland left Geffen Records. Borland has also discussed plans to write and perform on the next From First To Last album, but he left the band due to Black Light Burns' busy schedule started to pick up, leaving no room for work with From First to Last.
Recently Wes appeared on select tracks of the 2007 album Worse Than A Fairy Tale, by Colorado screamo band, Drop Dead, Gorgeous. Both artists are on Ross Robinson's I AM:WOLFPACK label.
[edit] Fear and The Nervous System
Fear and the Nervous System is an experimental, industrial rock band formed in 2008, consisting of vocalist and guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer of Korn, bassist Billy Gould of Faith No More, drummer Brooks Wackerman of Bad Religion, programmer and guitarist Leopold Ross of Error and IO Echo, and keyboardist and programmer Zac Baird, previously heard on Korn's untitled album and during their live shows. Wes Borland will be contributing to two of the album's tracks, along with designing the artwork. However, he is not considered a member of the band.
[edit] Other works
Wes Borland performed as guest guitarist for the X Japan reunion shows at Tokyo Dome on March 29th and 30th, 2008. [1]
in late 2007, Wes Borland also collaborated with his former Damning Well bandmate Richard Patrick in his main band Filter, which resulted in the song In Dreams on the Anthems for the Damned album.
[edit] Painting and Art
Borland is not only known for his live stage costume getups (ranging from bunny costumes to elaborate face and body painting designs), he has also handled album art during his stint in Limp Bizkit. He has been trying to get some sort of art gallery up and going to display his paintings. He was going to do it through a painting gallery owned by Marilyn Manson, but declined the offer because the gallery is not open to the public. Borland opened up a MySpace account displaying several paintings of his (www.myspace.com/wesleyborland) Here, he has also posted ambient musical pieces that were written after the Black Light Burns debut album Cruel Melody was completed.
On Saturday, June 2, 2007, Wes Launched theborlandgallery.com which has all his paintings as well as a store where T-Shirts and prints will be available to buy.
[edit] Discography
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| With Limp Bizkit | |
| 1997 | Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ |
| 1999 | Significant Other |
| 2000 | Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water |
| 2001 | New Old Songs (Remix album) |
| 2005 | The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1) |
| Greatest Hitz (Compilation) | |
| N/A | The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2) |
| With Black Light Burns | |
| 2007 | Cruel Melody |
| With Big Dumb Face | |
| 1998 | Demo |
| 2001 | Big Dumb Metal EP |
| 2001 | Duke Lion Fights the Terror!! |
| With From First to Last | |
| 2006 | Heroine |
[edit] References
- Black Light Burns - the official band site
- Limp Bizkit - The official band site
- Goatslayer - The official band site
- Fear and the Nervous System - The official band site
- Black Light Burns' official MySpace page
- From First to Last Official Band Website
- Cruel Melody - Black Light Burns Fansite
- Limp Bizkit and Wes Borland Part Ways
- Wes Borland: Why He Left Limp Bizkit
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