“He was a very special, genuine person”: See Fred Durst pay tribute to Sam Rivers

Fred Durst has taken to Instagram to beautifully pay tribute to late Limp Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers.

Sam’s passing was announced over the weekend, with Fred sharing how “tragic” the news is and how he’s “gone through gallons and gallons of tears since yesterday”. In an eight-minute-long video, the vocalist starts off by calling Sam a “legend” and a “gifted, unbelievably sweet and wonderful person”, reflecting on how they met in Jacksonville, Florida in the early ’90s when Fred was on the lookout for the right bandmates.

“I had this idea and vision for this particular type of style and sound, and I just couldn’t get it together right,” he says (transcribed by ThePRP). “And so I decided, ‘I’m gonna go out and find the right players to do this and bring this thing together.’”

Coming across Sam onstage at a “little tiny bar/pub”, Fred reveals how his initial reaction was, “Oh my gosh, this guy’s amazing.”

“I saw Sam play and I was blown away,” he says. “He was playing a five-string bass, too – I’d never really seen someone using a five-string bass. And he was so smooth and good and he stood out, and I could hear nothing else but Sam. Everything disappeared besides his gift. And I went up to Sam after the show and I said, ‘Hey, man, you’re unbelievable. I got this idea for this band I wanna do,’ and kind of threw it out there and told him what I wanted it to be. And he looked at me and he says, ‘Killer. I’m in. Let’s do it.’ I was, like, ‘Oh my god. Well, let’s do it.’”

After then bringing John Otto into the fold, Fred says of their early jam sessions: “John and Sam, it was a magical thing, the two of them. And I felt like, ‘This is it. This is it. This is what I’ve been looking for.’”

Fast-forwarding to the present day and the huge resurgence Bizkit have experienced, Fred says that, “It’s been a massive rollercoaster. Here we are just having this incredible moment, man, and it’s going so, so beautifully smooth. And Sam was just really, really happy about it. We’ve rocked stadiums together, been around the world together, shared so many moments together. And I know that wherever Sam is right now, he’s smiling and feeling like, ‘Man, I did it. I did it.’ And man, did he do it.

“What he’s left us behind is priceless. He was such a special person. And Sam was a very private person too. So the few people that were able to be close with him and around him know what I’m saying to be true. He was a very, very special, genuine person. And when he got on that stage, that Sam Rivers came out and he was a beast. Just an amazing, amazing person. And when I think back to how I met him and how all this kind of came together, Sam was the first guy that really came in and helped make this dream come true.”

Watch the full video below:

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