Fred Durst Pays Emotional Tribute To Sam Rivers

10-19-2025

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst took to social media to share a video tribute to his bandmate and group cofounder Sam Rivers, who passed away on Saturday (October 18th) at the age of 48.

Durst said in the video (via Lambgoat), Sam Rivers, the legend, truly. Such a gifted, unbelievably sweet and wonderful person. How I met Sam was... I'd put a couple iterations of an idea of a band I was trying to make happen in Jacksonville, Florida. I had this idea and vision for this particular type of style and sound, and I just couldn't get it together right. So I decided I'm going to go out and find the right players to do this and bring this thing together. I'd gone into this little tiny bar, pub, where this band was playing at Jack's Beach called Pier 7. There Sam was on the stage with his band, killing it on the bass, and I went, Oh, my gosh, this guy's amazing. In my mind, it was you had to start with the rhythm section, the bass and the drums, and didn't know who I was going to meet first to put this idea together. I didn't know if it be the drummer or the bass player, but it was the bass player. I saw Sam play, and I was blown away. He's playing a five- string bass, too. I'd never really seen someone using a five- string bass. He was so smooth and good, and he stood out, and I could hear nothing else but Sam.

"Everything disappeared besides his gift. I went up to Sam after the show, and I said, Hey, man, you're unbelievable. I got this idea for this band I want to do, and throw 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.' And that's how things started to come together. I had a bass player. And after me and Sam been jamming around and messing around for a bit, I started looking around for other players and things. Sam said, 'Well, you know my cousin John's a killer drummer. He's a jazz drummer. He should jam with us.' I said, 'Well, jazz would be great because it'll give us that beat we want, that swag.' I met John through Sam and saw that John had the thing. He had it. Me, John, and Sam are jamming in Sam's garage. I'm playing the guitar at the time and rapping and singing. I can't really play guitar well, so it's tuned to drop D. I'm one finger noodling it, and Sam's filling it in and holding it up because clearly, I couldn't.

"John and Sam, it was a magical thing, the two of them. I felt like, this is it. This is what I've been looking for. Sam had this thing about him where anything I could spit out of my mouth, I'd, Try this, try this, we'll do this or Sam could do it and do it a thousand times better than I could hear it in my head. Also, Sam and I shared an affinity, a love for grunge music. That's something that we were both really on the same page about. Sam really loved Mother Love Bone and Alice In Chains and Stone Temple Pilots and the whole Seattle grunge movement. He had this ability to pull this beautiful sadness out of the bass that I'd never heard. I mean, he would play chords in the way he... Just so talented. I can't explain. I know I'm all over the place here. Just thinking about him, and it's so tragic that he's not here right now. I've gone through gallons and gallons of tears since yesterday. I'm thinking, my God, Sam's a legend. He did it. He lived it. With Limp Bizkit, we've just been on such a journey It's been a massive roller coaster.

"Here we are just having this incredible moment, man. It's going so beautifully smooth. Sam was just really, really happy about it. Rock stadiums together, been around the world together, shared so many moments together. 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 He's priceless. He's such a special person. Sam is 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's a very special, genuine person. When he got on that stage, it's that Sam I am, that Sam Rivers came out. He's a beast, just an amazing, amazing person. When I think back to how I met him and how all this came together, Sam was the first guy, the first guy that really came in and helped make this dream come true. He didn't think twice about it. He was just like, 'Yeah, let's go. Sounds great to me. Let's do it.' I was 25 years old, and he was 18 years old and young and just had all that fire in him and all that talent.

"I just knew that I was very, very, very fortunate. I'm very fortunate to have him in my life. I'm so grateful, so incredibly grateful to have shared part of this journey with Sam Rivers, a huge part of this journey, huge part of my journey. I'm super, super grateful, and I miss him terribly already. All the support and love out there I've seen online, it's overwhelming. He really did have an impact on the world. His music and gift is the one that's going to keep on giving. I just love him so much. Thank you, guys."