Acclaimed hard rock vocalist Jeff Scott Soto has opened up about his use of using backing tracks for certain songs during his live performances, saying he doesn’t “wanna bullshit anybody.” 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. Speaking to Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com about his use of backing tracks, Jeff said: “I’ve always tried to be candid. I don’t wanna bullshit anybody. If I’m doing something and we’re using some kind of assistance, I would be the first one to say, ‘Hey, all those big backing vocals you’re hearing, of course, they’re being played behind us, because we feel the songs sounded naked without them and because we don’t have an arsenal of a choir behind us to be able to pull them off.’ And even if I’ve ever used backing tapes live, I never ripped them straight from the album so it sounds too fabricated. I’ll make it so it’s just a few voices or a few pieces and a few drum loops and things to kind of to give you a feel of the main record, but not to sound completely false, like we’re just miming it up there. Why are you playing live if you’re gonna be doing that to every song?” He continued: “I’ve done that with SOTO, I’ve done that with JSS, because there are certain songs that might have a groove under them that without that, like a loop or something that makes that thing swing, it’s just gonna sound too straight; it’s not gonna have the same feel. So, of course, I have the drummer count off, and you have this kind of movement of a group that you can’t really emulate unless you have those things underneath it. Of course, I’ve done that in the past. There’s stuff where there’s keyboards in a song, but we also need two guitar players, so I put the keyboards within the context of that loop just to make it sound and swing more. Of course, I’ve done it, but I’m not gonna lie about it. And if you’re at a show and going, ‘Wait a minute. There’s nobody playing the keys and I hear keys,’ I’m not gonna say, ‘What are you talking about?’ You’ve gotta be an imbecile to think that your audience doesn’t notice that stuff.” Last March, 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 used 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.” KISS lead singer 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.”
JEFF SCOTT SOTO Opens Up About His Use Of Pre-Recorded Tracks During Live Performances: ‘I Don’t Wanna Bulls**t Anybody’
