February 14, 2002

More than 5,000 guitarists across the country came looking for his or her shot at the big time by auditioning to join Limp Bizkit. Hopefuls, ranging in age from 11 to 52, strutted their stuff for Fred Durst and his Flawless Records team, and at least 30 talented musicians were invited back to jam with Limp Bizkit over the course of the tour.

"People saw this as an unique opportunity to show us their talent, and that's exactly what we were hoping for!" said Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst. "We're going to continue to jam, rehearse, and possibly even record with a couple of players that we found on the tour and see what develops from there."

Not wanting to limit themselves to Los Angeles or to known talent, the multi-platinum band took it on the road and to the people, hitting Guitar Centers in 22 cities across the United States. Kicking off January 10th in Fresno, CA, the finale occurred this Monday in Los Angeles, where more than 600 people showed up, guitar at the ready (150 contestants were lined up by midnight the previous night to get a good a jump on the competition). From 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 320 people played before time finally dictated the pre-auditions come to a close. Three outstanding players were selected to play with the band in closed auditions.

The band was not only looking for a guitarist, but the search provided an excellent opportunity to seek out new talent for Flawless Records. The label, helmed by Durst, has seen its first signing, Puddle of Mudd, go multi-platinum recently. Up to 100 demo tapes were taken in at every stop on the tour, giving talented kids in towns across America the well-deserved access they needed.

"Flawless is definitely interested in signing at least three bands that we heard from the tour, so stay tuned for the news!" says Durst.

"There are several other players that we found that we will keep in mind for all future projects. We would like to help as many people as possible, and we want the word put out that you can get to us!"

Durst says he knows first-hand how difficult it is to get material heard if you are not in a major media center like New York or Los Angeles, as Limp Bizkit hails from Jacksonville, FL.

And so Limp Bizkit reached out to fans and went to them, rather than sit on their heels in LA. "We thought it was important to see our fans, since we can't tour right now," said Durst. The event was also a great way for the band to meet or stay in touch with fans: Fred Durst, drummer John Otto, bassist Sam Rivers and DJ Lethal often arrived early to shake hands, sign autographs and hang-out.

The pre-audition process was designed to give as many people as possible a chance to try-out, and, of the 5,000 or so guitarists who pre-auditioned, none of the performances were taped. Standard clearance forms were signed by each participant in case they were chosen to play with the band or video taped by news/entertainment media or MTV.