RAVEN's JOHN GALLAGHER Blasts Bands Who Rely On Backing Tracks: 'It's A Cheat, It's A Con And It's The Easy Way Out'

RAVEN frontman John Gallagher has weighed in on bands who rely heavily on pre-recorded tracks during their live performances.

In recent years, more and more artists have been given a pass for relying on pre-recorded tracks, drum triggers and other assorted technology that makes concerts more synthetic but also more consistent. For better or worse, pre-recorded tracks are becoming increasingly common for touring artists of all levels and genres and they're not just used in pop music — many rock artists utilize playback tracks to varying degrees.

Asked by Rock Titan if he "can see any justification" in rock acts' reliance on pre-recorded tracks, John said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No. And it actually started to piss me off towards the end with RUSH, and I love RUSH. But you listen to a lot of the later RUSH, and there was extra vocals piped in and this and that. And I get it, that in the earlier part of the career Geddy [Lee] was spinning plates while he was fire on a unicycle, and that takes away a bit from the fun of playing, because you're literally doing 90 things at once. So they had a lot of stuff triggered. But then it just started getting more and more and more. And a lot of that stuff you don't need.

"My favorite example is QUEEN," he continued. "QUEEN had outrageous albums, especially 'A Night At The Opera'. And the only thing they ever cheated with, and they made it very clear, was the middle section of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. It's, like, 'We're not gonna try this. It's too over the top. We're gonna play the tape, and we'll walk offstage, so we're not there. And then we'll come on and do the rest of it.' And other than that, up until 1982, there was only four guys onstage. And they would do songs like 'The Prophet's Song' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Brighton Rock' and 'Killer Queen' — all those amazing songs with multi layers, loads and loads, 30, 40 overdubs — and strip it down to the essence and create something better in many ways, 'cause it was more direct and it was right in your face. And live was live, and studio was studio. And that's inspirational. That means you're not tied to reproducing the album. And anyone that says, 'Well, we have to do this. We have to do that,' it's a cheat, it's a con and it's the easy way out. And it's shit. That's the way I look at it.

"Obviously, if you're in the business, it's a lot more obvious," John added. "I've seen some of these bands. There was a band on 70000 Tons [Of Metal cruise] once; half the songs had bass guitar in production, so they didn't have a bass player. And I said, 'Really?' And the aforementioned band has all this Hammond rock organ starting songs, and there's no keyboard player. It's, like, 'Really?' I don't get that. A band like MUSE, they started running into that, and they brought a couple of guys on the road with them, so it's all played. And that's fine. Because it's all about… You have the guys come on stage, and there's nothing — there's absolutely nothing — and when they start playing, you're creating something out of thin air. It's magic — it's pure magic when people create music. And pushing the 'play' button is not creating magic."

KISS frontman Paul Stanley, who has been struggling to hit the high notes in many of the band's classic songs for a number of years, has been accused of singing to a backing tape on KISS's ongoing "End Of The Road" tour.

Back in 2015, KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons slammed bands who used backing tapes for not being honest enough to include that fact on their concert tickets.

"I have a problem when you charge $100 to see a live show and the artist uses backing tracks," Simmons said. "It's like the ingredients in food. If the first ingredient on the label is sugar, that's at least honest. It should be on every ticket — you're paying $100, 30 to 50 percent of the show is [on] backing tracks and they'll sing sometimes, sometimes they'll lip sync. At least be honest. It's not about backing tracks, it's about dishonesty.

"There's nobody with a synthesizer on our stage, there's no samples on the drums, there's nothing," Gene continued. "There's very few bands who do that now — AC/DC, METALLICA, us. I can't even say that about U2 or THE [ROLLING] STONES. There's very few bands who don't use [backing] tracks."

This past March, KISS's longtime manager Doc McGhee defended Stanley's vocal performance on "End Of The Road", explaining that the "Star Child" "fully sings to every song" at every concert. He explained: It's enhanced. It's just part of the process to make sure that everybody hears the songs the way they should be sang to begin with. Nobody wants to hear people do stuff that's not real, that's not what they came to hear."

When McGhee was asked to clarify if he was "actually saying there are backing tracks that [Paul is] singing to," Doc said: "He'll sing to tracks. It's all part of a process. Because everybody wants to hear everybody sing. But he fully sings to every song."

In March 2020, SHINEDOWN guitarist Zach Myers said that "90 percent" of rock artists use at least some pre-recorded tracks during their live performances. He told Rock Feed: "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."

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach has previously said that he is "one of the last people" who are still not using pre-recorded tracks at their live shows. "I don't know how much longer I can say to you that I don't use tapes onstage, because I don't, and I never have," he told Consequence Of Sound. "And I still don't. When I have opening bands, and they're using tapes, and then I come out and I don't use tapes… sometimes, it makes me feel stupid, because I'm like, 'What am I doing, when all these kids half my age can come onstage and do all of my moves, but they don't have to warm up for an hour before the show, or weeks, before the first show?' Sometimes, I'm like, 'Why do I even bother, if the public is so used to this other way?' It's becoming very rare to come see a good band that's actually a real band — that's not miming or doing silly moves while a tape is running. It just becomes more rare as the years go on."

In 2019, IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith said that he doesn't "agree" with certain rock artists relying on pre-recorded tracks during their live performances. "I tell you what, I see it with a lot of younger bands, and I don't think it's a good thing at all," he told the New York Post. "I mean, the music is getting too technical now. You have computerized recording systems, which we use, but I think we use them more for convenience than because we need to. We've toured with a couple bands that use tapes — it's not real. You're supposed to play live; it should be live. I don't agree with using tapes … I think it's a real shame."

One musician who has been open about his band's use of taped vocals during live performances is MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx, who said: "We've used technology since '87." He added the group employed "sequencers, sub tones, background vox tracks, plus background singers and us. [MÖTLEY CRÜE also taped] stuff we can't tour with, like cello parts in ballads, etc.... We love it and don't hide it. It's a great tool to fill out the sound."

In a 2014 interview, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars admitted that he wasn't comfortable with the fact that his band used pre-recorded backing vocals in its live shows, claiming that he preferred to watch groups whose performances are delivered entirely live. "I don't like it," he said. "I think a band like ours… I have to say '60s bands were my favorite — '60s and '70s bands — because they were real, like, three-piece bands or four-piece bands, and they just got up there and kicked it up. Made a mistake? So what? Sounded a little bit empty here or there? So what? It's the bigness and the rawness and the people that developed and wrote the songs and made them and presented them. To me, that's what I really like. I mean, I could put on a MÖTLEY CD and play with it all day long. I don't wanna do that."