Wes was born and lived in Nashville, TN where his father was a Presbyterian minister, before his family moved to Jacksonville, FL.

He got his first guitar at the age of twelve, but originally wanted to play the drums. His parents were strict about not letting him get a set because of the noise that would accompany them, so young Wes was forced to play the guitar. When he was growing up, he took guitar lessons with a friend of his fathers from church, where he was able to learn blues, country, and finger picking. Wes hated country music with a passion, so he readily chose blues. As a young kid, Wes listened to mainly Metallica, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Black Flag and Testament.

 

Wes's talent on the guitar began to show through as he practised more and more and soon began studying three years of jazz at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts (where Sam Rivers also attended studying the arts). Wes had a difficult time learning to read music after his first guitar teacher had taught him to play by ear.

 

High school for Wes were some of the worst years of his life. He went to school at Hillsboro High School, 3812 Hillsboro Rd. Nashville, TN 298-8400. Nearly everyday he was beat up and made fun of. Kids called him "Freak" and nobody liked him. He spent most of his time alone or in fear of getting beat up.

 

In Jacksonville, Wes was working as a bartender in a coffeehouse when he first heard about Limp Bizkit. He also played in a band called Krank with his brother Scott. Wes played the positions of vocals and guitars. While working at the coffee shop, Sam came in and they had a chat over dissing each other's bands. Fred had told the others in the band at the time (John and Sam) that they had to have Wes in the band. The others gave negative responses to this but Fred finally convinced them to call Wes, whilst Durst was in Philadelphia.

 

Wes came to the show, still not introduced to Fred. "If he was in town I woulda realised he was a dickhead immediately...And not joined the band- so good thing he was in Philadelphia!"

For their first performance they clicked almost immediately. Things were going great. But when the band was getting ready to sign a record deal tensions within the band exploded. Fred and Wes didn't get along with each other. All of a sudden Wes was kicked out and Rob Waters and another guitarist were brought in.

 

"Yeah, we were about to sign a record deal, and everybody got all just completely at each other's throats. Fred and I, both, just not getting along at all, and I was bull headed about a lot of stuff." Wes says.

"I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and I take speed." (he chuckles) "Legal speed. Dexidrine 10 ml spancils for it. And I quit takin em for, like, a week, and I'd never gone with out takin em before. And I didn't know I was gonna become a baaaad, bad man."

 

Durst eventually got a new guitarist, but admitted it wasn't great, actually, he says, it was terrible. The group's DJ, Lethal comments on this, "It wasn't the same as the demos I heard. I was, like, man, we gotta get Wes back!"

Nothing was the same though and Fred called Wes every night until he submitted to joining the band again. Wes, who says he had some issues to deal with, declined each time, until finally he gave in, and reunited with Limp Bizkit.

 

"I wasn't ready to go yet. I think I had some personal issues to resolve, before I went, you know, off and became a (stutters hesitantly) r-r-rock star."

 

Wes was married to sweetheart, Heather McMilian on April 10, 1998. On their honeymoon, the couple went on a trip across America to a lot different theme parks. The fans only added to the constant stress of their demanding schedule.

 

"We went on tour for, like, two and a half years. I went home for one day, to get a few things that I would need, get my wife, and just went straight into pre-production."

 

"Faith" was still a happening track at the time, getting LB constant airplay, and MTV just would not stop showing the video. But, LB decided their fans needed something more and that, an added dose of hard core rap rock would be their second album, "Significant Other". Wes comments on the subject with extreme sarcasm.

 

"Wow, you know, it's gonna be real hard to write these songs that are better than, you know, (giggles gleefully) "Counterfeit!" And we're like, what are we gonna do? And all of a sudden (snaps his fingers) BAM!"

 

Song writing for the new album proved to be not such an easy task.

 

"I am so stupid when it comes ta, when it comes ta, writing...And Fred gets on my nerves like you won't believe!"

 

But, the band persevered. The album produced cameos by two of rock's greatest icons, KoRn's Jon Davis, and Stone Temples Pilot's Scott Weiland, not to mention one of rap's, Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man.

The album proved to be a huge hit, the only group capable of putting up an even fight to pop's Backstreet Boys for the top of the Billboard charts. The BSB recently released their sophmore album, Millenium, already 2x platinum, but Limp Bizkit knocked it outta the top spot several times. A feat worthy of serious praise. The hard song writing process, for which all five members of the group contributed, turned out to be fruitful.

 

Wes explains: "That's how much we care about what it sounds like. We're not just, (extremely voice) Hey, this is cooool, let's write a song, oh they'll love it! You know we're like, it's not good enough! It's never good enough! And then all of a sudden, it is good enough, and we go (thoughtful look on his face) Oh, I love you, man."

 

Wes' stage appearance can only be described as "freaky" mainly because of his contacts, supplied by Sci Fi series 'Babylon 5' for around £1000 each. A big fan of science fiction and horror, Wes wanted to work with special effects and make up before choosing a career in music, which explains his bizarre costumes and face paint and his favourite film, is Starwars. He loves to make his own stage costumes, including the one he wears in the 'nookie' video.

Wes is also a keen artist, designing and drawing covers for their albums and other LB merchandise. He quit smoking on 9th February 1999, previously smoking three packs a day and at present drives a 1999 Toyota pick up truck.

Wes has been given a lot of nicknames 'Lucy, Tongue of Colicab, Wessy Poopy Head, and Little Cracker Spawn'. Lucy is also the name given to the wooden bunny used as a prop and lucky charm for all LB shows.

Wes' favourite music includes Davis Bowie, Tori Amos, Portishead, Aphex Twin, Fiona Apple, Deftones Ministry, Ice Cube, Megadeath, and Testament, whilst has been influenced by Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Metallic and Testament.

 

He is also working on a side project titled "Big Dumb Face". The solo project will be an album of 40 or more tracks, which Wes describes as "stuff that falls out of the Limp Bizkit territory".

 

He adds, "I'm doing everything. All of the vocals are totally distorted, either high-pitched or... whatever. It's terrible - it's a tragedy! It's a travesty, as well."

 

He has released a demo tape supposedly. As seen on other various web-sites here is the track listing of the demo tape:

Wes's sister Jana Borland is WCW Nitro Girl Baby and his brother, Scott provided keyboards on both LB albums