Durst seeks Revenge....and gets it....

[RonJonSurfer]

Fred Durst sought Revenge and got it.

The Limp Bizkit frontman recently signed Los Angeles dance-rock duo She Wants Revenge to his Flawless Records imprint. Durst was turned on to the group through Ringside, another L.A. duo on his label (see

"I'm not signing you to mold you and manufacture you. ... I'm gonna ... fight this big corporate monster for you." — Fred Durst

"Ringside: The Coolest Beatbox-Pop Band On ... Fred Durst's Label?!").

"[They're] another band that you're going to hear about real soon," Durst promised. "They're killer, man, you're going to bug out on 'em."

She Wants Revenge's debut record is done, according to a spokesperson for Flawless, but a release date has yet to be set. "We just wanted to make a record that would make girls dance and cry," the group's singer, who only goes by the name Justin, said in the band's bio. In the meantime, the duo will spend the first few weeks of May touring with buzz band Bloc Party (see "Bloc Party Feast On Film Stock For 'Banquet' Video").

As with other Flawless bands, Durst gave She Wants Revenge freedom to do their thing in the studio.

"My artists must hate the question, 'What's it like working with Fred Durst?' 'cause it's almost like you're not working with Fred Durst," he said. "I'm not signing you to mold you and manufacture you. ... I'm gonna go use all my bells and whistles to fight this big corporate monster for you, for your rights as an artist, because I was f---ed over enough.

"I made a lot mistakes that I'm grateful for, because I won't make them again and I won't let my artists make them, or I'll tell them, 'Don't do this,' " he continued. "A lot of them still make them anyway, but you can't be told things when you're doing your own thing. Strong personalities come with true artists, I think, and I'm a strong personality, so it's better for me just to step back and say, 'Hey, man, I got you to here. You can see the place up ahead. All you've got to do is go in that direction.' "

While record labels often sign bands based on demos and showcases, Durst likes to hear them in an intimate setting.

"When I first found Cold, I'd seen Scooter [Ward], the singer, on acoustic just killing it and [i was] just like, 'Man, you have something,' " he explained. "Then Staind, I saw them play live but then I saw [Aaron Lewis] in his dressing room singing 'It's Been Awhile.' I was just going, 'Oh my God, man. You have it, man. I don't care if there's a band behind you or not. I can just watch you do it.' Puddle of Mudd the same thing. When I finally found Wes [scantlin], wherever he was, he got on the acoustic and he killed it and I was like, 'You have it, you really have that thing and you turn it on and it's real.' "

Being real is the most important thing, Durst said.

"It's not a requirement to kill it live," he said. "It's not about how much movement you do, how much interaction there is, it just reeks of credibility if it's real. If it's contrived, it seems to work for a while for the people who can't filter out the real and unreal. And if you're selling records to those people, it's a small, small window. But if you're really just doing it from the heart, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen, and it's going to stick around.

"With me and Limp Bizkit, our hearts have always been there, regardless of how ridiculous it got," he continued. "Our intentions were true. As long as the artists that I'm interested in have those true intentions, I'm sold."

Speaking of Bizkit, the band's fifth studio album is due next month (see "Fred Durst Promises 'Brutal' New Limp Bizkit Album").

— Corey Moss