Mudvayne’s Chad Gray is sick of the bands that lip-sync and use backing tracks on stage.
During a new interview with The Underground, the frontman expressed frustration with the scarcity of new bands establishing their unique musical identity. Additionally, he voiced concern over the increasing reliance of artists on backing tracks during their live performances. Resembling it to Ashlee Simpson’s lip-syncing, he said:
“Even more than bands sounding like other f*cking bands, the thing I’m f*cking over is bands that don’t f*cking play their music. I’m f*cking over that sh*t. These motherf*ckers that roll so much track, it’s, like, dude, when Ashlee Simpson — you remember that — when she was on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and they f*cked up, and her drummer hit the f*cking wrong song, it was straight-up lip syncing. That girl got f*cking lambasted; she was murdered for that sh*t. Dude, now that’s what people do. They just don’t wanna say it.”
Touching on the fact that many rockers use more electronics than instruments today, he continued:
“It’s, like, motherf*cker, you are Ashlee Simpson — you are Ashlee Simpson. If you cannot get on stage and play your sh*t without a f*cking laptop, you are relying way too much on that f*cking laptop. You are telling me that you cannot play your music without a piece of electronic equipment. And if you’re gonna talk about electronic equipment, it better be a f*cking keyboard or a guitar or something electronic, not a f*cking computer that has f*cking track upon track upon track, f*cking guitars stacked, bass stacked, vocals stacked, singing to f*cking tracks of your own lead vocal.”
The frontman went on to express how he would sing better with a worse way of performing:
“Like, dude, if I f*cking piped my own lead vocal into my ears, I would sing perfect. Or if I got to sing along to a track of my own vocals, like a couple tracks of it, and my vocal could be pulled back and I just kind of sat in the back of it, dude, I’d be incredible. But I don’t do that. I don’t believe in that sh*t. I was inspired by f*cking great bands. And great bands never did that sh*t. And I wanna carry that on.”
The Controversy Continues
Over the years, many bands have faced allegations of using backing tracks, some of which turned out to be true, while the rest were false.
An example of that would be the ongoing rumors about Kiss possibly using backing tracks, and in June 2022, a video surfaced showing Stanley stepping away from the microphone briefly during a performance in Antwerp, Belgium. Meanwhile, his vocals continued to play through the PA system. After the video went viral among the fans and critics, Kiss manager Doc McGhee responded to the claims that suggested Stanley was lip-syncing during live performances. McGhee reassured fans that the Starchild does sing at the band’s concerts, although backing tracks are used to ‘enhance’ the live experience.
Another band that faced the allegations is Mötley Crüe. The controversy intensified when Carmine Appice supported Mick Mars’ statements regarding Nikki Sixx’s live bass playing. In response to these assertions, the bassist of Mötley Crüe addressed and refuted the claims. However, Sixx also acknowledged taking bass lessons as part of his efforts to enhance his live performances.
Some Rockers Support The Use Of Backing Tracks
While most fans and rockers are not okay with bands using backing tracks, there are a few that support it like Anthrax’s Scott Ian.
Despite not using backing tracks himself, the guitarist seems to not care about those who do:
“Obviously, I’m aware that this is something that’s going on these days now that technology has made it possible to do these kinds of things. And my opinion is I really don’t care. I don’t care what artists do or what bands do to make their shows happen.”
Among the people who support the idea of lip-sync and backing tracks, there is also Shinedown’s Zach Myers. Apparently, the only thing that bothers him about the issue is the fact that others are bothered by it:
“It bothers me that it bothers people. I’m, like, ‘Why does this bother you?’ It’s the way it is. People have been doing this since the ’80s. And we want the sound to be the best it can be. Could we go up there, just the four of us, and put on the best rock show ever? Of course. But that’s not how we wanna do it.”
Nita Strauss, too, said:
“I’ve used a track for David Draiman’s vocal for ‘Dead Inside’ since the song came out. We made no secret of it. It wasn’t feasible to pay a singer for a whole tour to only sing one song with us. So in my humble opinion, there are circumstances where it makes sense.”
You can watch the interview below.
