Sebastian Bach‘s longtime bassist Rob DeLuca has defended the former SKID ROW singer after he accused FOZZY‘s Chris Jericho of using pre-recorded vocal tracks during live performances.
On July 16, Jericho challenged Bach to a “singoff” with “no effects, no tuning, no bullshit” in response to Sebastian‘s allegation that Chris “mimes to a tape” during FOZZY‘s live shows. “Bas is a great singer…but I’m better,” Chris wrote on Twitter.” The wrestler-turned-singer added: “I’ve never mimed anything ever! I will fucking sing in your face anytime, anyplace dude. I’ve been a fan & a defender of u since day one…but don’t u ever question my rock abilities!” Bach fired back: ” You’re full of s*** bro. Every clip on the Internet is you miming to a tape. I will sing in your f****** face anytime. Wrestling is not rock and roll. I will show you f****** rock and roll. Check your texts set up The Sing-Off I am ready when you are”.
DeLuca, who also plays with UFO and SPREAD EAGLE, addressed the feud in a brand new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station. He said: “I think people might think that it’s staged, but it’s not, because I know Baz very well, and I know his opinions. I can’t say anything about Chris — I’ve never met him, I’ve never actually heard his band — and because I knew we were gonna talk and you were gonna mention this, I haven’t listened to his stuff, ’cause I don’t wanna be really talking about him, good or bad. He’s a musician trying to succeed, and it’s a very hard business, and I wish everyone luck who’s trying to succeed. And I’m not gonna sit here and speak for Baz either — Baz is his own person. I’ve been playing with Baz for 15 years, but I have a lot of other stuff going on also.
“I’ve read that people think it’s staged and they think different things — they think Baz is overreacting,” he continued. “But I will say I don’t think — in general; not about Chris; just about the whole issue — I do not think Baz is overreacting, because I think backing tracks in the music industry is a huge deal. And it’s something that a lot of people don’t know about.
“You and I, we’re in the music industry — we know about what goes on. Some people who aren’t in the music industry know about things like backing tracks and how prevalent they are, but some people don’t know.
“Just to be clear with everyone, we’re talking about a band getting up and playing and having digital tracks playing along with them, while their drummer has a click track in his ears and he’s making sure that he’s synced up to it. And if the band is synced up to the drummer and the drummer is synced up to those backing tracks, it all sounds in time. Of course, if something goes wrong, it’s a complete disaster.
“All the bands I’m in — Sebastian, UFO, SPREAD EAGLE— we don’t use backing tracks,” he added. “I’ve actually never been in a band that’s used backing tracks in my life, so I’ve never experienced it, and I won’t, and I don’t want to. But if Baz seems very frustrated, it’s because it’s incredibly frustrating when people don’t realize there are two different approaches, there are two different camps — of people who use backing tracks, and people who don’t. And I’m not judging, saying one is right or the other. I know what’s right for me, but every band has to make their own decisions.
“Backing tracks are becoming so common in the touring industry that, in my opinion, I think it’s unfair to people buying tickets because they should have a choice of knowing what they’re paying for.
“It’s rare that a band is not playing at all and that it’s just all tracks — it’s usually the bands playing along, and it’s all mixed in,” he clarified. “But I’ve gone to see bands where I’ve heard guitars coming out of nowhere, where there’s no guitar player playing that part or no other guitar player even on the stage, or people singing way off the mic, where you’re, like, ‘Where are all these vocals coming from?’ I see one guy singing a foot away from the microphone, or he drops his pick and his vocals are still going and he’s, like, digging around by his shoes. It’s gotten ridiculous.
“The reason I feel — I can’t speak for Baz, but the reason why he may be so frustrated is why I’m frustrated, because there is a huge difference between the two, and I think people should know what they’re paying for.
“Say you wanna go see your favorite band and you know that they’re running backing tracks, but if you’re okay with it, that’s fine,” Rob said. “It’s just an experience, and it’s fun, you wanna see them. Like KISS, who supposedly use backing tracks, but I don’t know, there’s so much to see there, it’s more than just a concert. And even if you know about it, you might be cool with it. But if you don’t know about it and you hear about it, and you’re paying 50 to 200 dollars a ticket, you might wanna be able to make that decision before you go. And it can be extreme, of how overused tracks are. And it’s not just older guys who are in their 60s or 70s and who just can’t physically do what they used to do, it’s a lot of young bands. Right from the start, they’re using tracks, ’cause it’s just so commonplace.
“If people seem frustrated, it’s ’cause it’s a frustrating situation. Bands like Sebastian Bach and UFO and SPREAD EAGLE, we’re up there doing the best we can of our art, which is playing live music.”
Jericho has long been suspected of relying on backing tapes during FOZZY‘s live performances. When the band played in Canada in November 2018, several concert-goers accused Jericho of singing along to pre-recorded tracks. After a video of FOZZY‘s Toronto gig surfaced online, Bach weighed in, writing from his personal Facebook account: “Wow he mimes to a tape very well”.
