Professional wrestler *Sports entertainer* turned metal musician Chris Jericho has weighed in on his own band’s use of backing tracks during live performances. The implementation of such elements in live music has remained a divisive issue over the years, for both artists and audience members alike.
On one hand it allows some performers the ability to help recreate the more ambitious aspects of their studio recordings without having to bring out the requisite additional musical personnel. On the other hand, some have been accused of relying heavier on the backing tracks than their own actual live performances, essentially lip syncing—something Jericho has been accused of in the past.
Jericho who fronts Fozzy recently told Meltdown of WRIF of his band’s own
“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.”
