Blackie Lawless sat down with Ultimate Classic Rock Nights and discussed his songs and albums.
He talked about using backing tracks in their live shows to enhance the performances, but apparently, there are still some fans who believe none of it is live at all. When asked about it, Lawless stated that people don’t have to attend their shows if they don’t believe it:
“Well, if they’re crazy enough to believe it, that’s their business. But if they genuinely feel like that, then don’t go. Listen, God blessed me with this foghorn in my throat. Like anybody who’s got one, we like showing ‘em off — and I’m no different.”
Lawless then shared a thought that might sound ‘arrogant’:
“I’m sorry if this sounds arrogant, but there will be times where I’m up there and I hear what’s coming out of me, when I’m sustaining a note or something. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool. I’m not sure most people would have the opportunity to experience something like that in their lives.’ So from my perspective, I’m pretty appreciative of it. As I said, when you’ve got this thing that really not a lot of people can do, you like to show it.”
He also named one band he grew up listening to but didn’t realize they were using backing tracks as well:
“Let me add one more thing. I grew up listening to Live at Leeds [by the Who]. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, there are overdubs on it.”
How Lawless Uses Backing Tracks
The band has been open about using these tracks as a way of enhancing their performances, but Lawless made it clear they don’t use pre-recorded vocals for his part during performances. During another interview back in November last year, the frontman explained:
“As a singer, I take a lot of pride in what I do. When you’ve been given a gift like I’ve been given, most singers I know want to show that thing off. And I’m no different. So, yeah, that’s me singing out there. But as far as any other orchestra tracks or backing vocal tracks, I’m sorry, there’s just not enough of us on stage to make it sound like that record — it’s impossible.”
Why Using Backing Tracks Is Okay
The argument about W.A.S.P. using backing tracks has been going on for more than 10 years, so this wasn’t the first time Lawless has talked about this. He addressed it again after people started paying more attention to their backing track use two years ago. He explained why he thinks using these tracks live has more upsides than downsides:
“Yes, we are using backing tracks. Do you want to know why? When we go into a studio — and let me clarify that statement; that’s me singing — but when we go in a studio, we do choruses, we double, triple, quadruple the vocals. o my feelings were when I listened to live YouTube [recordings of W.A.S.P. shows] and we weren’t doing that, it sounded thin. When we started supplementing it, it sounded better.”