While chatting about how he has been able to maintain the strength of his voice throughout the band’s 40-plus-year career, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott has also addressed Chris Holmes’ accusations about ‘fake vocals.’
“So looking after my voice, a lot of it is just common sense. At 65 years old, since we came back after COVID, we just made a point of going, ‘We can sustain this for 10 years if we don’t kill ourselves,’” Elliott started explaining in a new interview with Rock Sound.
“As we saw earlier on this tour, a couple of people, saying, like, ‘Oh, Def Leppard they obviously use all these samples’ — I think it was Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P. and some dude [Chuck Billy] from Testament,” the singer revealed. However, he isn’t bitter about the comments. “It’s, like, actually, mates, no, we don’t. We actually practice. And maybe the three guys that you think are miming all the backing vocals, maybe they’re actually quite good at their jobs… We take it as a compliment. I’m not bitter about it.”
“I mean, they can think what they want, because that’s what they’re used to. 99 percent of bands, maybe that’s what they do. I don’t know. I don’t judge bands on whether they use samples or not. I just judge them on whether I like them. If I go see a band live, I could be the first to go, ‘Yep. That’s definitely not live.’ There’s a keyboard player going, whatever, and he’s got the backing vocals there. But not us. It’ll be real until it’s terrible, and then we’ll stop,” the rocker added.
While Def Leppard hasn’t been accused of using backing tracks, apparently both Holmes and Chuck Billy did claim they were doing so. In November 2023, Billy shared his thoughts on bands that rely on pre-recorded tracks during live performances: “ Every band does it. You perform to the track and you lip sync it. So it’s not the most fun, cause it’s not real. So I’m sure I’m much uglier and nastier-looking when I’m singing live than in a video you see on MTV or somewhere out there. I guess there’s bands out there that probably need help. I know there’s bands like Def Leppard that use a lot of backing tracks, but that’s also backing tracks for that big sound, ’cause, obviously, you can’t get all their voices live unless you brought in a choir. So, there’s an exception to the rule.”
“If you pay to see a real gig, it should be real, whether they sound good or like crap,” Chris Holmes also added in another interview. “That’s the way I look at it. I don’t sample; I never will. I would rather play when I’m a little bit off, but it’s for real. Some people would rather do it. I heard Mötley Crüe is doing it. Def Leppard has to sample. You can’t do them eight-part harmonies on the vocals — unless you have other people singing in the background.”
Elliott earlier told Stereogum about the matter: “I don’t normally comment on this kind of stuff, but a friend of mine just sent me some link to something on YouTube, a recent posting by, forgive me, I don’t know his name, Chuck something from Testament, I think it is, and Chris Holmes accusing us of using backing tracks.”
“I don’t get angry at this. I’m flattered because their standards must be very different to ours. For anybody that thinks we use backing tracks, it must mean that when they hear us, they can’t believe how good it is for real,” he added.
The rocker also added that they use effects to enhance the performance, not backing tracks.
Def Leppard is scheduled to play at the Harvest Nights Festival on November 23 in Immokalee, Florida.