Aaron Lewis is out on the road giving fans a taste of his new country album, songs from his solo catalog and some Staind classics. The singer and songwriter took some time out of his recent show in Virginia Beach, Va. on Friday (Feb. 22) to praise Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who of course helped sign his band to Flip Records back in 1998.

Following a performance of the Staind song “Epiphany,” Lewis says, “How crazy is it that Billy Zane is the lead character in that,” referring to the music video, which was helmed by Durst. “You know we spent – well we didn’t. Well we did – but Fred spent like a million and a half dollars on that fucking video. Dumb shit. There’s so many ways I could have spent that money.”

A fan in the audience yelled out, “Fred’s an asshole,” but Lewis immediately replied, “No, Fred’s the whole reason I’m sitting in front of you tonight. And I gotta say that at this point in my life I call Fred when I need like Dalai Lama advice, for real.” Watch the video below starting at the 1:17:00 mark.

Lewis continues, “Fred is fucking awesome, he really is. He blows my mind every fucking time I talk to him. He does. I’m very thankful. I’m thankful that after… Honestly after I offended the fuck out of him, cause I did. The first time we ever met I offended his ass bad, and I’m very grateful that he was able to get past that… every time I hear someone yell something back about Fred I want to just like screech to a halt and be like ‘What?’ That is the reason I’m here. I’d have given up a long time ago I think and I probably would have written songs that made my kids laugh and I would have been okay with that.”

He adds, “Fred is the reason that I’m here So any fucking hate that you may harbor in your heart for no reason whatsoever, because you don’t even know the boy, let it go. He’s alright in my book.”

Lewis began to strum his guitar while singing “I love Fred” and then shared a sobering story about the Limp Bizkit frontman: “So this is what kind of motherfucker he is. Did any of you know that he lost everything in that West Coast fire that just happened? Everything. Everything. He drove his Harley Davidson away from his house because he couldn’t even get his car out of the garage. That’s what kind of motherfucker he is. You don’t know that. Nobody knows that. He lost everything in that fire. So, don’t hate on a motherfucker.”

Aaron Lewis recently made headlines when he ended a concert early because the audience refused to be quiet. He will kick off a two-night stand at the Carolina Theater in Durham, N.C. on Thursday (Feb. 28).

His new album, State I'm In, features 10 songs written by a mix of songwriters aside from Lewis, including country artists Dan Tyminski, Keith Gattis, Waylon Payne and more. It is available for preorder now and will be released on April 12.

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