Limp Bizkit ** frontman Fred Durst had barely touched down in Los Angeles on Tuesday when he was readying to head to Miami to put finishing touches on "Ready to Go," the collaborative track with Lil Wayne ** and the first fruit of the band's new deal with Cash Money Records.
"I want to get it out there soon, as soon as we can," Durst, who finished an Australian tour with Limp Bizkit during the weekend, told Billboard.com. "The song is already done for the most part. I've got a couple little things I might poke around or punch in on my verse. And I want their guys to take a crack at the mix. I mixed it myself; I think it sounds very big, but I really love the way their guys are mixing stuff, so I want to see what they can do with it."
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Durst played a bit of "Ready To Go" over the phone lines, and even with the obvious sonic limitations the energy of the banging, party-flavored track came through, with Wes Borland's slinky guitar twisting through a thundering beat from Polow da Don, with gang vocals in the chorus and Durst and Lil Wayne trading verses. "It sounds like a monster; it literally sounds dangerous," Durst exulted. "It sounds like that left of center, that place of discomfort that created rock 'n' roll, created the (heavy) metal, where it all spawned from." Durst said he's also written a concept for the song's video that will be filmed and distributed quickly.
Once it's finished, Durst said the plan for "Ready to Go" will likely be free Internet distribution. "We want to let everybody know this is just an introduction, just a taste of what throwing these two dudes together for five minutes can do," he explained. "Now that we're living together, now that we're married, we'll see what happens when we start doing more. I'm very excited."
And more is exactly what Durst has planned, sooner rather than later. Limp Bizkit is working on what he called "the heaviest, most crazy metal record of all time," "The Unquestionable Truth, Part 2," which Durst said will probably be an EP. "That will service our core and counter balance these big, fat, ginormous hip-rock songs we're going to do" with the Cash Money camp, he said. "We're gonna give out some mayhem and madness...to those people who really lean that way with us."
Durst plans to start "integrating" the Cash Money aesthetic with Limp Bizkit's crunch at the same time. "This (deal) has enabled me to make my rock music in a hip-hop fashion," he said. "I"m going to get with the producers, get with the people in the Cash Money camp, go wherever I need to go -- Miami, Atlanta. You just come in and you're there and you give it 110 percent for 12 hours, 24, 36 hours and you leave with a song. That's the vibe. You go in and walk out with a monster and keep moving forward song after song."
Durst said he and Limp Bizkit parted on good terms with Interscope, the group's home for 17 years. "I love Jimmy Iovine and everything we did together. We had a great run...and couldn't have done it without them. But to keep moving forward, sometimes you've got to make some changes." And after solidifying things with Cash Money after this year's Grammy Awards, Durst says Limp Bizkit is particularly looking forward to being able to release plenty of music on whatever terms the group wishes.
"I really believe in their instincts," he said. "Obviously these guys are really good at making songs. The producers and different types of energy and collaborations that come together through that family, the synergy, it's working. These guys are truly writing their own ticket, and it's all about great music. I've been waiting my whole life for this type of feeling. They've really empowered me to be the best I can be and do the best I can do, and I'm extremely grateful for it. So I want to put ('Ready to Go') out, and then it's my job to get in there and get in that family and be part of it."
Durst also expects Limp Bizkit to be on the road throughout the year. "We got a whole bunch of big offers coming in," he said, predicting shows in Russia, Europe, South America and the Middle East during the late spring and summer and a North American run in the fall.
