Wes Borland

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Wesley Louden Borland (born February 7, 1975) is an American rock musician and artist.

He is best known as the current guitarist and backing vocalist of the American rap rock band Limp Bizkit and as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative and industrial rock band Black Light Burns and the metal band Big Dumb Face. He 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 and started many side projects such as 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 sixth 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.

Early life

Borland's initial interest in music took the form of drumming, but this ended quickly due to his parents' disapproval of percussive instruments in the home. Borland then switched to taking guitar lessons from a member of his parents' Presbyterian church. However, Borland quickly found his own musical tastes and interests at odds with local music trends which, due to his proximity to Nashville, skewed heavily towards country music. He later recalled, "I would bring in something, and my teacher would go, 'I've never heard of The Damned. Don't you want to play some Merle Haggard?'"

When Borland's brother Scott took an interest in bass guitar, the two brothers began to play together. Borland found his interest in hip hop music piqued with the release of "Bring the Noise," a collaboration between heavy metal band Anthrax and hip hop group Public Enemy.

Borland then relocated to Jacksonville, Florida with his parents where, disillusioned with the local music scene, he began attending the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. While there, he explored other artistic endeavors, such as sculpture and special effects. However, Borland continued his pursuit of music through guitar lessons, working with a guitar teacher that specialized in jazz music. According to Borland, "My first teacher had ingrained playing by ear so much that, when my jazz teacher gave me a sheet of music and an audio tape to go with it, I would learn via the tape instantly, but I couldn't make myself learn the sheet music." As his guitar skills continued to improve, Borland began to craft his own guitar parts and style. Eventually, finding himself forced into church attendance and feeling a lack of interest in religion, Borland's frustration and confinement pushed him to move out of his parents' house at the age of 18.

Personal life

In April 1998, Wes married his long-time girlfriend Heather McMillan. The couple divorced in 2001. His second marriage was to Anna Carlise in March 2009. They divorced in 2013. In October 2016, he married Carré Callaway, lead singer of Queen Kwong. The couple resided together in Detroit. Callaway filed for divorce in 2019.

Callaway and Borland were passionate about rescuing abandoned cats around the Detroit area, and together starred in a DIY Network renovation show, which followed their relocation to Detroit and subsequent renovation of a large house.

Borland says "growing up as a minister's son in a Christian family who were conservative with that kind of stuff had an effect on me". Borland says he's an atheist, but although he does not believe in heaven, he hopes he is wrong.

Borland revealed on Dean Delray’s Let There Be Talk podcast, that he had invested most of his early earnings in risky stock market investments. He stated that the market decline as a result of the September 11 attacks, wiped out most of his wealth.

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Career

Borland joined Limp Bizkit, a group formed by Fred Durst, Sam Rivers, and John Otto. Limp Bizkit developed a following in the underground music scene, particularly at the Milk Bar, an underground punk bar in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The band attracted large audiences with word of mouth and covering George Michael's "Faith" and "Straight Up" by word of mouth and a television; the band also performed energetic live performances in which Borland was seen in bizarre costumes. For several concert enthusiasts, Borland's dramatic rock style was the primary attraction. Borland left Limp Bizkit after DJ Lethal joined the band as a turntablist, prompting a spat with Durst. However, Borland recovered after the band signed with Mojo, a MCA Records affiliate. Limp Bizkit, a Mojo subsidiary, signed with Flip, Interscope Records' affiliate, and released their debut, Three Dollar Bill, Yall, which featured an abrasive, jolly sound, after a controversy with Mojo.

Despite the fact that the album was met with little interest, touring regularly increased Limp Bizkit's success, and Three Dollar Bill's third single "Faith" became a radio hit, earning a slot on Ozzfest, a tour produced by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. Borland began making a side project, Big Dumb Face with his brother, which was inspired by Ween and Mr. Bungle.

Limp Bizkit, for example, was on display in another country at a new point of commercial success. The album reached No. 81 on the charts. In its first week of introduction, Billboard 200 was the most popular of the series, selling 643,874 copies. Durst's third studio album, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, will be released in 2000. Durst was joking about this role, according to the press. The album is designed to sound like a fictional band, and Durst himself was referred to as a 'Chocolate Starfish,' because he had been labeled an asshole before. When Borland appeared at a truck stop and tasting bottles of flavored water, he joked that the truck stop didn't have hot dog or meat-flavored water. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 1.05 million copies in its first week, and it was the country's 18th best-selling album of the 2000s.

When asked "Where will you be ten years from now," a 1999 Spin profile on Limp Bizkit asked. "Probably not in the band," Borland said.

Big Dumbface's debut album, Duke Lion Fights the Terror, was released in March 2001. Borland said that the band's music is "very stupid and idiotic and bizarre." [...] It's nothing but stupid; all these retarded songs are retarded." Borland left Limp Bizkit in the fall of 2001, citing cultural differences with the band. Ross Robinson said he resigned because "He doesn't sell out for money anymore." When asked why Borland left the band, Ross Robinson said he resigned because "he doesn't sell out for money anymore."

Borland formed Eat the Day, which saw him and his brother Scott act as co-lead vocalists. Eat The Day began an open hunt for a new vocalist after realizing that this system restricted their guitar-playing abilities. Initially, the band released three full-length instrumental tracks for hopeful singers that were available to download and purchase. The tracks were dAdA, Beeblicowcarapis, and Taste My Gun, but they were later limited to small samples. Borland said in a 2021 interview that he went through at least 150 audition recordings.

Former Stalking Tom singer Adam Yas as the new vocalist for Eat The Day in January 2003, but two months later, the band "decided to go public with our hunt one more time" while still keeping in touch with the previously announced Yas. Bob Ezrin was brought in to record their debut album around the same time. Borland had three potential singers for the project, one of whom seemed to be the recently announced Adam Yas.

Despite his comments that the three musicians were the right options available, producer Ezrin didn't believe in their abilities enough to allow Eat the Day to begin with the production of their album, going so far as to say the singers were "terrible." Borland attempted to bring Danny Lohner into the situation, which culminated in more clashes with Ezrin and ground the project to a halt. Eat The Day was eventually cancelled due to the inability of finding a vocalist. Borland also published the unfinished demos from Eat the Day in April 2020.

Danny Lohner and Josh Freese, as well as Jonathan Bates, produced a solo album after the failure of another project, The Damning Well. This record served as a precursor to Black Light Burns. In August 2004, Borland revived Limp Bizkit and released The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1), another album. Following the unveiling of Borland's Greatest Hitz album, the band went on hiatus after verbal disputes on MySpace between Borland and frontman Fred Durst fell off, with Borland stating, "No one of my future plans including Limp Bizkit" in Borland. Borland became known as Black Light Burns in 2005. Borland said that this was his current main project, and that everything else he did, including Limp Bizkit, was a side project. Borland toured from First to Last, which was about the same as early as 2006. He announced plans for a fall 2006 tour that never came 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 forthcoming From First to Last, the band's busy schedule began to pick up, leaving no room to work with. From First to Last: Borland had debated plans to write and perform on the forthcoming From First To Last's.

In 2007, Black Light Burns unveiled its debut album, Cruel Melody, to critical acclaim. It featured Borland on the vocals and guitars. "For several, Borland was the only Limp Bizkit member who was taken seriously," Allmusic writer Greg Prato wrote. He is now legally permitted to follow whatever musical path he pleases, as shown by Cruel Melody. Borland, as well as Richard Fortus and Sugizo, all supported Japanese metal band X Japan at their sold-out reunion concerts at the Tokyo Dome in 2008.

It was revealed that Borland had joined Marilyn Manson as a guitarist in August 2008 at the ETP Conference. Borland was instrumental in the recording of The Color of Violence's 2009 album Youthanize as a bassist in the winter of 2008.

The original band of Limp Bizkit reunited and began touring in 2009, resulting in a second Black Light Burns record being set on the backburner. Borland left Manson's job in May of the same year, saying that leaving included returning to his old band and having creative differences with Manson. Limp Bizkit released a new album, which Borland called Gold Cobra. On June 28, 2011, the newspaper was released. Multiple reviewers lauded Borland's guitar playing, but mixed reactions were given. It reaches its high point at No. 8. Billboard 200, 16 people on the billboard 200.

Borland also created the album artwork for Fear and the Nervous System's 2011 eponymous debut album.

Borland has also embarked on a remixing career, releasing alternative versions of songs by metal bands. The Word Alive's song "The Hounds of Anubis" has been reimagined by Borland for the most recent. He also performed guitar in Resident Evil: Afterlife by Tomandandy.

Black Light Burns' second studio album The Moment You Realize You're Going to Fall and a concept "album" Lotus Island debut in 2012. Borland said he would never do a solo project this year, during the Black Light Burns tour. "I would do a solo project and have my name on record." But that will never happen."

Borland produced Hybrid Worlds, the League of Legends' theme song. On October 4, 2013, Borland, The Crystal Method, Tina Guo, and Black Light Burns alumni Danny Lohner and Joe Letz appeared live at the festival.

Borland unveiled an instrumental solo album named Crystal Machete on his personal record label (Edison Sound), which took him outside of his comfort zone by not having no distorted guitars or vocals on May 3, 2016. The album received rave reviews, with Drowned in Sound calling it "a stunning, sprawling post-rock mini epic." In 2016, he disbanded Black Light Burns.

Limp Bizkit began co-headlining with Korn in winter 2016, with Madball as a sponsor. As of October 2017, the condition of the new Limp Bizkit album Stampede of the Disco Elephants is unknown, with Borland noting that he has completed all of his parts for "28 or 29 songs" and waiting for Fred to decide what songs he wants to finish before he can mix and master it. He cited his time in Limp Bizkit for the difficulty of finding jobs with other bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson in the past, saying that the other bands didn't want to be associated with his previous band.

He announced on social media in June that Big Dumb Face would be back next year, before announcing that the new album, Where Is Duke Lion, will be released. He's Dead... will be announced on October 31 via Edison Sound, with a full physical release following on November 17. Explaining why he revived Big Dumb Face after 16 years, he said he wanted to make something "completely heavy" in comparison to Crystal Machete's post-rock, and that he was planning to record something "really important," whether it be solo or reviving Black Light Burns to debut a new album in June 2018. He did, however, announce that he would not tour with Big Dumb Face due to his prior touring experiences with Limp Bizkit and his ex-wife's band, Queen Kwong. Borland teased photographs of him in the studio with Travis Barker on a "as yet unidentified project" in February 2018. Jonathan Davis' debut solo album Black Labyrinth, which was released between 2007 and 2018, featured guitar on five tracks.

Borland began releasing previously unhearded data from Eat the Day and Goatslayer, an experimental project he had with brother Scott since the two were teenagers. Borland said the new project contained 23 albums of content, the first of which, The Feather Serpent, was released on April 25. Borland released his second solo album The Astral Hand on December 5th, which was released three days later.

Big Dumb Face's third album, Christmas in the Cave of Dagoth, was released on December 11, 2021.

Danny Elfman had chosen Borland to appear with his band at Coachella Festival in April 2022.

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