Sebastian Bach has weighed in on artists who use pre-recorded tracks at their live shows, saying that "it's becoming very rare" to see bands "not miming or doing silly moves while a tape is running."
The former SKID ROW singer made his comments while speaking to Consequence Of Sound about his upcoming tour on which he will perform the band's 1989 self-titled debut album in its entirety.
Bach said: "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. And I still don't. I'm not going to for this tour. I feel like I'm one of the last people. 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'?”
"I just did this cruise, called the Legends Of Rock cruise, and there were all older bands — like KANSAS and Edgar Winter ," he continued. "These guys come onstage and destroy you with their musicality. None of these bands on this cruise used tapes. And KANSAS , I was hanging out with that dude with the eyepatch [guitarist Rich Williams ], and he said, 'I tell people, 'Come see this while it still exists,'' because 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."
He added: "I'm very happy to say that this tour that we're doing, we're going to attempt — our best, as human beings — to play the record in its entirety. And my band is Bobby Jarzombek on drums, who I've been with since 2004, from FATES WARNING and HALFORD , and then Rob De Luca on bass from UFO , and [guitarist] Brent Woods from VINCE NEIL and CHEVY METAL . I've had these guys for a long, long time, so you're not getting some new surprise. 'Surprise, surprise, I bought a ticket… what the fuck is this?' [ Laughs ] You know what you're getting with me. It's like Coca-Cola."
Asked why he thinks artists using pre-recorded tracks live seems much more prevalent nowadays, Bach said: "Because everybody films everything on their phones, and then posts it all. That's the reason. Nobody wants to jump around too much and then hit a bad note, and then have it be posted on the internet, and people say, 'He's not singing it like the record.' Well, nobody is jumping around when they're on the record. So, you can either freeze or sit in a chair — that's how you make a record — and if you want to do that, it's going to be a pretty boring show.
He went on to say: "Most performers say, 'Singing is too hard.' I'm not from that school. I've done four Broadway shows — I don't transpose the keys down; I can still hit all the notes. I might not hit them all just like the record on any given night. I might not be as good as I once was… but I'm good once as I ever was. [ Laughs ]"
Bach recently defended KISS against claims that the band is using pre-recorded tracks during its farewell tour. "I listened to Paul Stanley sing his ass off LIVE," Sebastian tweeted after witnessing KISS 's February 12 concert at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. "I have seen way more obvious use of backing tracks than with KISS … KISS is not lip syncing," he added. "There are too busy putting on the greatest rock show you will ever see."
Bach 's aforementioned tour will kick off on August 29 in Nashville, Tennessee and end on November 2 in Pinellas Park, Florida.
