In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, FOZZY frontman Chris Jericho touched upon the subject of rock bands using pre-recorded backing tracks during live performances. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We use backing tracks for some songs, and everybody does. Unless you’re GUNS N’ ROSES… Let me rephrase that… If you’re in Slash‘s band… GUNS N’ ROSES has backing tracks. They have a keyboard player. It’s just the way of the world right now. It doesn’t mean we’re not singing and not playing. If you’re listening to a record, you go to a DEF LEPPARD gig and you hear ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ that was recorded with 25 tracks of guitars, you can’t just go with two guitars on stage and in your right mind think there wasn’t something building up the background there. It’s just kind of the way that bands are. It doesn’t make you any less of a band. ‘Cause you know what? QUEEN used tracks in the ’70s. If you don’t believe me, watch it when they play ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ live.”
Back in July 2020, Jericho was accused by Sebastian Bach of using pre-recorded lead vocal tracks during live performances. Thef former SKID ROW frontman initially claimed Jericho was “miming to a tape” at FOZZY concerts in a social media post. In response, the wrestler-turned-rocker insisted that he had “never mimed anything ever” and challenged Bach to a “singoff” with “no effects, no tuning, no bullshit”, saying “Bas is a great singer…but I’m better”.
In the months that ensued, Bach brought up Jericho‘s alleged lip syncing on several occasions, most recently in January 2021 in an interview with The Aquarian Weekly. Asked specifically about his feud with Chris, Sebastian said: “I have an open mind about everyone. If I read on Blabbermouth.com [sic] that some band says, ‘We’re the future of rock ‘n’ roll and we are the next thing after THE ROLLING STONES,’ I think, this must be incredible! What have I been missing out on? So, I checked out one video during which the singer was 100% miming to a tape on stage at The Rockpile in Toronto. I thought to myself, ‘That’s weird, that’s not the next ROLLING STONES.’ So, I watch another video where he was opening up for NICKELBACK in an arena and, again, he’s miming to a tape. You can go watch it for yourself. Then someone said, ‘Here’s a clip of him singing live. Legit, bro.’ And it’s him miming to a tape again. It’s crazy obvious. It is not my opinion, it’s fact. It is not me starting a fight. But don’t tell me what singing live is, ’cause I have never used tape. I don’t even know how to do that.”
Bach also addressed the fact that Jericho accused him of having a less-than-original stage name after Sebastian slammed Jericho for copying the name of a SKID ROW tour for FOZZY.
“I switched a couple of letters of my legal last name [Bierk]. Who’s Mongoose McQueen?” Bach asked, referring to Jericho‘s original FOZZY stage name. “What kind of a stage name is that?
“How about this: professional wrestling sucks,” he added. “Everyone wishes they were a rock star. It hilarious. Evidently, all you have to do is [record] a tape, go on stage, and jump around. You can jump off the drum riser and do jumping jacks. It doesn’t matter if you are miming to tape.”
Jericho‘s most public reaction to Bach‘s criticism came in a January 2021 tweet. At the time, he wrote: “I’ve been told that @sebastianbach continues to go out of his way to bury me. My response is this…be my guest! You are entitled to ur opinion & it doesn’t affect me either way. I still dig ur work on the first 3 @OfficialSkidRow albums & look forward to ur new record.”
When Bach first went public with his Jericho accusation, FOZZY guitarist Rich Ward called Sebastian “universally disliked” and said that seeing Bach “publicly go after the only guy that I have ever witness utter a nice word about him is sad.”
Sebastian, who has been outspoken about rock bands using pre-recorded backing tracks during live shows, later tried to explain his outburst, writing: “I’m not trying to beat anybody at anything. I’m actually trying to say hey Chris maybe you’re right maybe I’ll stop singing live and prance around while the tape is playing just like you do Chris. I’m tired of trying so hard it’s like beating my head against the wall.”
After a self-proclaimed Bach fan called Sebastian “an asshat” on Twitter for firing “the first shots” in his war of words with Jericho, Bach came back with: “Hey man f*** you. I have spent my life learning how to sing live on stage. When someone comes along and mimes to a tape it sucks for all of the rest of us that don’t. You want to go see a wrestling match good. Don’t call it rock and roll”.
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Tagged: Alternative Music, music blog