Wes Borland has spoken about the loss of bassist Sam Rivers, nearly six months on from his death, saying that it feels like Limp Bizkit “lost a piece of our DNA”.
News broke last October that Rivers had died at the age of 48. The bassist helped form the iconic nu-metal band back in 1994, and in the days after his passing, frontman Fred Durst shared a personal video tribute where he described his bandmate as “such a gifted, unbelievably sweet and wonderful person”.
“He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of human. A true legend of legends. And his spirit will live forever in every groove, every stage, every memory,” the band then wrote in a statement. “We love you, Sam. We’ll carry you with us, always. Rest easy, brother. Your music never ends.”
Limp Bizkit later paid tribute again at their first show since his passing the following month, where Ecca Vandal‘s Richie Buxton stepped in as touring bassist, but have rarely spoken publicly about the loss since then.
Now, in a new interview with Consequence, guitarist Wes Borland has opened up about how he still feels “very emotional” about the loss, and said that he struggles to speak about it still.
“He was like family,” he explained. “I’m gonna try not to cry. It’s just like we lost a piece of our DNA… It’s too hard to talk about right now in depth.”
He continued: “He can’t ever be replaced. We’re so lucky for Richie… he’s such a great player, and he’s just a wonderful guy, and we’re gonna hold onto him for as long as we can.
“[But] Sam is not a replaceable person. He was the heartbeat. It’s very emotional talking about it. I think that last year when it happened, we were all kind of in shock, and now we’re all grieving.”
Limp Bizkit are performing various festival slots across Europe this summer, and recently headlined Download Festival for the first time – 23 years after they were first meant to. Upcoming appearances include slots at festivals including Louder Than Life and Aftershock. Tickets to their upcoming shows are available here.
Their last new music dropped last September, when they released the standalone single ‘Making Love To Morgan Wallen’ as the first new music since their last album, 2021’s ‘Still Sucks‘.