_DJ Lethal - Limp Bizkit (13/12/2011)
_ Last week saw the opening of the iconic Hard Rock Café in Cockle Bay Wharf, Sydney. The night featured the traditional inaugural guitar smash as well as live performances from both local and international acts – with DJ Lethal (of Limp Bizkit and House Of Pain fame) leading the way.
The next day, Olivia Fusca from The 59th Sound sat down with the American artist and producer in the Café itself to talk about his various projects and solo career, Limp Bizkit’s recent split from Interscope Records, and Courtney Love. In true rock star/celebrity fashion, Lethal ran one hour late to the mid-afternoon interview before inviting me into a quieter part of the restaurant and away from the buzzing chatter and blasting rock music.
Short in stature but big in personality, Lethal – or Lee, as he introduces himself – talks with his hands. Even a blind person could see the way music affects him: his eyes light up and his voice is rich with excitement. This is the type of guy who doesn’t play music, he lives it.
How has your trip been in Australia?
Awesome! I love it here. It reminds me a lot of LA, New York, Miami scrunched into one place.
You did a show for the opening of Hard Rock Café last night. How did you find that?
It was great; I got to see a bunch of Australian local acts and bands that I really liked. Screaming Bikini – they were rad! I liked Syndicate – they were cool. A bunch of Limp Bizkit fans showed up and I got to sign stuff. But na it was good; one day I’m going to be begging people to come and see me [laughs].
I doubt that! You’re going to be here for Soundwave in February anyway.
Yeah I’m really looking forward to that.
So when you were young your father was in a rock band, which I assume introduced you to the whole music scene. What do you think your other big influences were?
Basically that was my main influence. His studio was my bedroom; he was a performer in clubs - he was the Ricki Ricardo of the Russian scene. He was the DJ before the DJ. [When I was] growing up, he always had records surrounding me so that was my main influence. Outside of that, I listened to a lot of classic rock actually. If I sat down with two records one would be Zeppelin or something like that, y’know? Funk was also a huge influence on me like James Brown and the JBs and The Meters.
You’ve got multiple projects under your sleeve (Limp Bizkit, House of Pain etc). How do you find a balance between those?
It’s tough because sometimes there’ll be nothing going on for like three years and then all of a sudden House Of Pain will decide to do shows and then three days later I’d get a call from Limp Bizkit saying “We’re going on tour” so then I’d have to break the news to the other guys saying “I have to go with Limp Bizkit, sorry!”
So it’s definitely a little bit of a juggle. I also have another group called La Coka Nostra, which is kinda like the lead rappers from House Of Pain and Ill Bill and Slaine so I do that too. Juggling three bands is pretty hard!
Plus your solo career on top!
Yeah I produce a lot of different stuff. I also have an electronic bass band called Party Slayers. We do stuff like Wolfgang Gartner and Deadmau5. It’s more electronic but with an edge. We’re still developing it; I want it to be faster, crazier, harder. I want it to be the Metallica of the electronic scene by adding our little metal flavour to it.
Do you think that will be taking the foreground in the future?
Well it’s great because between touring [with the other bands] there’s a lot of time to do things. Not all of the bands are touring all the time so there are some pretty substantial breaks where I just can’t sit at home because I’ve been touring since I was 17. My first tour was with Ice T and Everlast in Europe. I left in the middle of Eleventh Grade to go on tour so it’s in my blood. When I get home it’s cool for a week but that I start going crazy. I’ve been spoilt by seeing all the world and it’s fun coz there’s things to do but then I get home and I get so tired of LA – it drives me crazy. Thankfully I have a studio at home where I can just let loose on the drum machines.
Would that be where most of your material comes out, from your studio?
These days with the technology I can be in a hotel room with my laptop and do more than I could 15 years ago in my studio. A lot of it just comes with me just sitting by myself in a room and just creating. I probably have 40,000 records so sometimes I’ll just go to my wall, grab 10 records and start taking kick drums and snare drums and little sounds. It’s always just a source of inspiration. Most of the stuff I do just by myself at home. If I’m just sitting there and I want to rap to it I’m thinking it must be good because I’m just dancing around! I hate rapping, I don’t rap at all.
You used to beatbox though.
Yeah I used to but that’s more of a “Gimme a couple of shots and I’ll punch out a beatbox”. I feel silly doing it now!
You’ve also got a solo career where you’re trying to get out a new album.
I’ve been working on a solo album for like 20 years [laughs]. I have thousands of songs and I’ve got it signed a few times but it becomes a mess when you have so many different record companies and artists on the record. The artist will be like “Yeah I’ll do it just give me 5, 10 grand” and then all of a sudden I’ll be ready to put the record out and the label’s like, no. So there have been a few incidences [like that]. I did a song with Chester from Linkin Park and I gave him 25 grand to do the track a d then when I tried to put it out the label didn’t let me do it.
How come?
I don’t know but he’s still got his 25 grand and never looked back. It’s not like he’s gonna give it back or anything. Maybe that’s why I’m a little pissed off at those guys.
Do you think you will be putting the album out in the future?
I want to, definitely. I just need a distribution deal and if worst comes to worse I’m just going to give it away. I have to get it out of my computer because it’s just been there for so long. It’s like a painting that you want to be so perfect. With other artists that I produce with I can say it’s done, it’s finished but I’ve remixed it like three times and I just need someone else to tell me it’s done. Then I can move on.
But yeah I’ve got some amazing artists on the record so it definitely needs to see the light of day but I’m just probably leak it. I can move on and make another one though I’ll have to move a little faster, not 10 years [like this one]!
Just a few days before the interview, news broke that Limp Bizkit was “dropped” from their label, Interscope Records. This is arguably due to poor sales of their newest record Gold Cobra, which was released in 2010. The band had been signed to Interscope since 1997.
Talking about record companies, Limp Bizkit recently got dropped from their label. Do you think that’s a good or bad thing in your opinion?
Some people want to say dropped; some people want to say something else. We’ve been trying to get out of there for a while. Basically the deal that we had was so old that we were wrapped up and they didn’t have us in a 360 deal which means that they don’t get a piece of our concerts or merchandise or any of that stuff. And records don’t sell as much anymore so they’re like, “Why are we messing with these guys, we’re just losing money and we’re not going to make anything off them.” We had no promotion [for Gold Cobra], we made the video on like 5 grand. It’s kinda punk rock, almost. I feel like we didn’t come out and try to resurrect ourselves with a new sound. We stayed true to our roots, we know who we are, and we just wanted to own our own thing and do it how we do it. Sometimes you listen to your favourite band, one day they’re normal and then the next day they’re wearing eyeliner and you’re like, “what happened to my band?!” So we know who we are – we’re Limp Bizkit. We’re the rap-rock dudes who rock out! So it’s a great opportunity, that’s the way I see it. We’re already getting offers from a lot of different labels and we had an amazing run with [Interscope Records] but I think they’re more about headphones and Lady Gaga. It is what it is.
That’s kind of like Marilyn Manson; he was with Interscope before they dropped him, as well.
They’ve got like three acts that they concentrate on. There’s no more developing man or demos budgets. You either blow up randomly on YouTube as some phenomenon or it’s good for people like me that can find bands and do artist-driven stuff. These days, before your record company even looks at you, you already have to have your whole own thing going: your social networking, your following. The world is an A&R [Artist and Repertoire] now; the kids are the A&Rs. The people on the computer are telling you what’s good. There’s no more real A&R guy that builds and develops bands. It’s flipped upside down. But it gives an opportunity for everyone to have an equal shot [in the industry].
Limp Bizkit was on a hiatus for a while; what was your personal reason for coming back to the band?
It’s just what I do. It’s like my baby! I dropped out of school so it’s not like I’m going to be a gardener! Nor can I go into a normal place and get a normal job. I don’t have a diploma, I didn’t even finish high school. I have to make music and luckily my hobby is also my job. I’m blessed but it’s also scary at the same time because there’re no guarantees.
Both Limp Bizkit and Hole were initially set to play at 2012’s Soundwave Festival. In October however, frontwoman Courtney Love pulled Hole out of the lineup stating, “What bloody flight of crazed fancy made you think we’d open for Limp dude?” This little fiasco was only the highlight of the clashes involving Limp Bizkit (specifically Fred Durst).
Now there’ve been a couple of disputes between Limp Bizkit and a lot of the Soundwave 2012 artists. Namely between Fred Durst and Courtney Love. How do you receive this?
I think it’s hilarious! At the same time, no body cares. It’s not like people are going to be like, “Oh my god I’m not buying Soundwave tickets because Courtney Love’s not gonna play.” And I mean [the dispute] is just ridiculous! She’s the plug in Hole.[laughs]
My god, no body likes her!
Like I didn’t even know there was tension or beef for whatever. I don’t even know her. Like I don’t even know what her reason was for pulling out. Was she not going to open up or play before?
She didn’t want to open before you guys.
Well she’s lucky [that she got kicked off] because if she came after us, she wouldn’t be able to deal with it. We would rip her apart. Just please, Courtney, go home.
She might be a great person, I don’t know. But go and worry about your kids rather than who you’re opening up for. Take care of your kids; you just took some money out of your kids’ pockets.
Now, if you could pick, what would you say is the highlight of your music career?
There’ve been a few but I have to say hearing “Jump Around” [by House Of Pain] on the radio for the first time. It’s such a cool feeling; the first time you hear your song on the radio. I was like, “Oh my god we made that in the garage and now it’s on the radio!”
I also have a horror story: it was the first show we ever did and House Of Pain was opening up for the Ramones. This was after they broke up for a while and got back together. We were booked to do three shows at the Hollywood Palladium with the Ramones. White rap guys were opening for the Ramones! I remember we got on stage and something didn’t work and finally the music came on and all of a sudden the whole crowd started chanting, “You suck, you suck, you suck!” And we were just like, oh my god! I remember I got hit in the hand – somebody rolled together like 5 nickels with tape. It hit me on stage but luckily it didn’t knock my eye out. We played the show, we finished the show. We came back and did it again and we won them over the second night and then the third night was awesome.
Ouch! Now you’ve obviously got the really popular songs like “Jump Around” and “Break Stuff”. Do you ever get sick of playing certain songs?
Pretty much all of them! Except, I don’t listen to them at all until I’m playing it. I might listen to it one time before I go to a rehearsal just to spark the memory. I kind of just go into autopilot mode but I enjoy it because I don’t listen to it. When you’re on the road you have to listen to it so much that you get used to it.
Love or hate Limp Bizkit, there’s no denial DJ Lethal has a knack for the music industry. With three (potentially four) bands under his belt, his diverse ability with sound and technology makes him a hot commodity on the music market. Tuesday’s opening of Hard Rock Café saw an impressive performance from the DJ, mixing songs such as “Jump Around” with Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”, and “Break Stuff” collaborated with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. If that performance was anything to go by, the thirty-eight year old is no-where close to calling it quits.
DJ Lethal and Limp Bizkit will be touring with Soundwave Festival in February and March next year.
Olivia Fusca
The next day, Olivia Fusca from The 59th Sound sat down with the American artist and producer in the Café itself to talk about his various projects and solo career, Limp Bizkit’s recent split from Interscope Records, and Courtney Love. In true rock star/celebrity fashion, Lethal ran one hour late to the mid-afternoon interview before inviting me into a quieter part of the restaurant and away from the buzzing chatter and blasting rock music.
Short in stature but big in personality, Lethal – or Lee, as he introduces himself – talks with his hands. Even a blind person could see the way music affects him: his eyes light up and his voice is rich with excitement. This is the type of guy who doesn’t play music, he lives it.
How has your trip been in Australia?
Awesome! I love it here. It reminds me a lot of LA, New York, Miami scrunched into one place.
You did a show for the opening of Hard Rock Café last night. How did you find that?
It was great; I got to see a bunch of Australian local acts and bands that I really liked. Screaming Bikini – they were rad! I liked Syndicate – they were cool. A bunch of Limp Bizkit fans showed up and I got to sign stuff. But na it was good; one day I’m going to be begging people to come and see me [laughs].
I doubt that! You’re going to be here for Soundwave in February anyway.
Yeah I’m really looking forward to that.
So when you were young your father was in a rock band, which I assume introduced you to the whole music scene. What do you think your other big influences were?
Basically that was my main influence. His studio was my bedroom; he was a performer in clubs - he was the Ricki Ricardo of the Russian scene. He was the DJ before the DJ. [When I was] growing up, he always had records surrounding me so that was my main influence. Outside of that, I listened to a lot of classic rock actually. If I sat down with two records one would be Zeppelin or something like that, y’know? Funk was also a huge influence on me like James Brown and the JBs and The Meters.
You’ve got multiple projects under your sleeve (Limp Bizkit, House of Pain etc). How do you find a balance between those?
It’s tough because sometimes there’ll be nothing going on for like three years and then all of a sudden House Of Pain will decide to do shows and then three days later I’d get a call from Limp Bizkit saying “We’re going on tour” so then I’d have to break the news to the other guys saying “I have to go with Limp Bizkit, sorry!”
So it’s definitely a little bit of a juggle. I also have another group called La Coka Nostra, which is kinda like the lead rappers from House Of Pain and Ill Bill and Slaine so I do that too. Juggling three bands is pretty hard!
Plus your solo career on top!
Yeah I produce a lot of different stuff. I also have an electronic bass band called Party Slayers. We do stuff like Wolfgang Gartner and Deadmau5. It’s more electronic but with an edge. We’re still developing it; I want it to be faster, crazier, harder. I want it to be the Metallica of the electronic scene by adding our little metal flavour to it.
Do you think that will be taking the foreground in the future?
Well it’s great because between touring [with the other bands] there’s a lot of time to do things. Not all of the bands are touring all the time so there are some pretty substantial breaks where I just can’t sit at home because I’ve been touring since I was 17. My first tour was with Ice T and Everlast in Europe. I left in the middle of Eleventh Grade to go on tour so it’s in my blood. When I get home it’s cool for a week but that I start going crazy. I’ve been spoilt by seeing all the world and it’s fun coz there’s things to do but then I get home and I get so tired of LA – it drives me crazy. Thankfully I have a studio at home where I can just let loose on the drum machines.
Would that be where most of your material comes out, from your studio?
These days with the technology I can be in a hotel room with my laptop and do more than I could 15 years ago in my studio. A lot of it just comes with me just sitting by myself in a room and just creating. I probably have 40,000 records so sometimes I’ll just go to my wall, grab 10 records and start taking kick drums and snare drums and little sounds. It’s always just a source of inspiration. Most of the stuff I do just by myself at home. If I’m just sitting there and I want to rap to it I’m thinking it must be good because I’m just dancing around! I hate rapping, I don’t rap at all.
You used to beatbox though.
Yeah I used to but that’s more of a “Gimme a couple of shots and I’ll punch out a beatbox”. I feel silly doing it now!
You’ve also got a solo career where you’re trying to get out a new album.
I’ve been working on a solo album for like 20 years [laughs]. I have thousands of songs and I’ve got it signed a few times but it becomes a mess when you have so many different record companies and artists on the record. The artist will be like “Yeah I’ll do it just give me 5, 10 grand” and then all of a sudden I’ll be ready to put the record out and the label’s like, no. So there have been a few incidences [like that]. I did a song with Chester from Linkin Park and I gave him 25 grand to do the track a d then when I tried to put it out the label didn’t let me do it.
How come?
I don’t know but he’s still got his 25 grand and never looked back. It’s not like he’s gonna give it back or anything. Maybe that’s why I’m a little pissed off at those guys.
Do you think you will be putting the album out in the future?
I want to, definitely. I just need a distribution deal and if worst comes to worse I’m just going to give it away. I have to get it out of my computer because it’s just been there for so long. It’s like a painting that you want to be so perfect. With other artists that I produce with I can say it’s done, it’s finished but I’ve remixed it like three times and I just need someone else to tell me it’s done. Then I can move on.
But yeah I’ve got some amazing artists on the record so it definitely needs to see the light of day but I’m just probably leak it. I can move on and make another one though I’ll have to move a little faster, not 10 years [like this one]!
Just a few days before the interview, news broke that Limp Bizkit was “dropped” from their label, Interscope Records. This is arguably due to poor sales of their newest record Gold Cobra, which was released in 2010. The band had been signed to Interscope since 1997.
Talking about record companies, Limp Bizkit recently got dropped from their label. Do you think that’s a good or bad thing in your opinion?
Some people want to say dropped; some people want to say something else. We’ve been trying to get out of there for a while. Basically the deal that we had was so old that we were wrapped up and they didn’t have us in a 360 deal which means that they don’t get a piece of our concerts or merchandise or any of that stuff. And records don’t sell as much anymore so they’re like, “Why are we messing with these guys, we’re just losing money and we’re not going to make anything off them.” We had no promotion [for Gold Cobra], we made the video on like 5 grand. It’s kinda punk rock, almost. I feel like we didn’t come out and try to resurrect ourselves with a new sound. We stayed true to our roots, we know who we are, and we just wanted to own our own thing and do it how we do it. Sometimes you listen to your favourite band, one day they’re normal and then the next day they’re wearing eyeliner and you’re like, “what happened to my band?!” So we know who we are – we’re Limp Bizkit. We’re the rap-rock dudes who rock out! So it’s a great opportunity, that’s the way I see it. We’re already getting offers from a lot of different labels and we had an amazing run with [Interscope Records] but I think they’re more about headphones and Lady Gaga. It is what it is.
That’s kind of like Marilyn Manson; he was with Interscope before they dropped him, as well.
They’ve got like three acts that they concentrate on. There’s no more developing man or demos budgets. You either blow up randomly on YouTube as some phenomenon or it’s good for people like me that can find bands and do artist-driven stuff. These days, before your record company even looks at you, you already have to have your whole own thing going: your social networking, your following. The world is an A&R [Artist and Repertoire] now; the kids are the A&Rs. The people on the computer are telling you what’s good. There’s no more real A&R guy that builds and develops bands. It’s flipped upside down. But it gives an opportunity for everyone to have an equal shot [in the industry].
Limp Bizkit was on a hiatus for a while; what was your personal reason for coming back to the band?
It’s just what I do. It’s like my baby! I dropped out of school so it’s not like I’m going to be a gardener! Nor can I go into a normal place and get a normal job. I don’t have a diploma, I didn’t even finish high school. I have to make music and luckily my hobby is also my job. I’m blessed but it’s also scary at the same time because there’re no guarantees.
Both Limp Bizkit and Hole were initially set to play at 2012’s Soundwave Festival. In October however, frontwoman Courtney Love pulled Hole out of the lineup stating, “What bloody flight of crazed fancy made you think we’d open for Limp dude?” This little fiasco was only the highlight of the clashes involving Limp Bizkit (specifically Fred Durst).
Now there’ve been a couple of disputes between Limp Bizkit and a lot of the Soundwave 2012 artists. Namely between Fred Durst and Courtney Love. How do you receive this?
I think it’s hilarious! At the same time, no body cares. It’s not like people are going to be like, “Oh my god I’m not buying Soundwave tickets because Courtney Love’s not gonna play.” And I mean [the dispute] is just ridiculous! She’s the plug in Hole.[laughs]
My god, no body likes her!
Like I didn’t even know there was tension or beef for whatever. I don’t even know her. Like I don’t even know what her reason was for pulling out. Was she not going to open up or play before?
She didn’t want to open before you guys.
Well she’s lucky [that she got kicked off] because if she came after us, she wouldn’t be able to deal with it. We would rip her apart. Just please, Courtney, go home.
She might be a great person, I don’t know. But go and worry about your kids rather than who you’re opening up for. Take care of your kids; you just took some money out of your kids’ pockets.
Now, if you could pick, what would you say is the highlight of your music career?
There’ve been a few but I have to say hearing “Jump Around” [by House Of Pain] on the radio for the first time. It’s such a cool feeling; the first time you hear your song on the radio. I was like, “Oh my god we made that in the garage and now it’s on the radio!”
I also have a horror story: it was the first show we ever did and House Of Pain was opening up for the Ramones. This was after they broke up for a while and got back together. We were booked to do three shows at the Hollywood Palladium with the Ramones. White rap guys were opening for the Ramones! I remember we got on stage and something didn’t work and finally the music came on and all of a sudden the whole crowd started chanting, “You suck, you suck, you suck!” And we were just like, oh my god! I remember I got hit in the hand – somebody rolled together like 5 nickels with tape. It hit me on stage but luckily it didn’t knock my eye out. We played the show, we finished the show. We came back and did it again and we won them over the second night and then the third night was awesome.
Ouch! Now you’ve obviously got the really popular songs like “Jump Around” and “Break Stuff”. Do you ever get sick of playing certain songs?
Pretty much all of them! Except, I don’t listen to them at all until I’m playing it. I might listen to it one time before I go to a rehearsal just to spark the memory. I kind of just go into autopilot mode but I enjoy it because I don’t listen to it. When you’re on the road you have to listen to it so much that you get used to it.
Love or hate Limp Bizkit, there’s no denial DJ Lethal has a knack for the music industry. With three (potentially four) bands under his belt, his diverse ability with sound and technology makes him a hot commodity on the music market. Tuesday’s opening of Hard Rock Café saw an impressive performance from the DJ, mixing songs such as “Jump Around” with Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”, and “Break Stuff” collaborated with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. If that performance was anything to go by, the thirty-eight year old is no-where close to calling it quits.
DJ Lethal and Limp Bizkit will be touring with Soundwave Festival in February and March next year.
Olivia Fusca