Wes Borland

 

Wesley Louden Borland (born February 7, 1975 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American musician and artist, best known as the guitarist for the band Limp Bizkit. He has been in several other bands as well, such as The Damning Well, Goatslayer and Big Dumb Face. He also recorded on From First to Last's Heroine album in 2006, and served as bass guitarist for the band's subsequent tour. Borland is well known for his dark and bizarre stage appearance, and for his fondness of musical artists that differed greatly from the musical tastes of his bandmates in Limp Bizkit. Borland performed in Black Light Burns, in which he sang and wrote most of the music. As of 2009, Borland has rejoined Limp Bizkit.

Borland's family moved from Virginia to Jacksonville, Florida 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, North Carolina, working in the sound booth for Montreat conference center, 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. 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", "Re-Arranged" and "Indigo Flow".
Fred Durst left to Philadelphia for a short while, leaving the others to speak to Wes and see if he'd join the band. Borland accepted, and the three practiced, while keeping in touch with Durst over the phone. Later Durst came back to Jacksonville, and the band had a show scheduled. Durst and Borland met for the first time and played their first show together 30 minutes later. On stage, Borland was known for his eccentricity, frequently wearing elaborate face paint and black-tinted contact lenses.
In the very early stages of Limp Bizkit, Borland'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 success. Scott played with Limp Bizkit as a session keyboard player on Limp Bizkit's first three releases, until Borland quit in 2001, which is when the two brothers formed Eat the Day.