WOLFGANG VAN HALEN SLAMS BANDS USING PRE-RECORDED TRACKS AT LIVE SHOWS, SAYS “I THINK THAT’S LAME AS HELL”
Bryan Rolli of Ulitmate Classic Rock spoke with Wolfgang Van Halen, portions of the column appear below.
Wolfgang Van Halen is currently getting his reps in on the road in support of Mammoth WVH’s debut album, and he wants fans to know they’re doing it live.
“I think it’s a copout to use tracks, unless it’s like, for a keyboard part that you can’t necessarily get,” the bandleader tells UCR. “But when I hear about certain bands these days, where it’s like, you have lead vocals and lead guitars pumping through the tracks, I think that’s lame as hell. I think you should just stay home and listen to s–t on Spotify if they’re going to play to tracks like that…”
…[There are] towering four-part vocal harmonies in [Mammoth WVH song] Stone, the six-and-a-half-minute, breakdown-laden stomper that’s become the band’s collective favorite to perform.
“In the second pre-chorus, there’s a four-part harmony, and we’re doing that live,” Van Halen says with a laugh. “It feels really badass to be like, we don’t have to f–kin’ sit there with tracks. We’re just straight-up doing it. I think it’s important. It’s certainly not perfect all of the time. That’s the point of live performance. It ebbs and flows…”
…”When I was in Van Halen, people thought I was using tracks, but I wasn’t,” Van Halen says with a laugh. “So it’s kind of a compliment.”
Read more at Ultimate Classic Rock.
You expect no talents like Cher and Madonna to lip synch in concert. Madonna even admitted it, on her Blonde Ambition tour, she actually said do you expect me to dance the way I do AND sing live?? But when you see our rock heroes doing it, yes, it sure is not only lame, it’s a ripoff. Most of all, dishonest. Paul Stanley is the living embodiment of this, the guy constantly goes on about if you can’t deliver the goods, stay home. And nobody likes it when someone stays too long at the party, you want steak and not a burger see Kiss, blah blah blah fill typical soundbite in here, etc. Wolfie is young, he can still sing. But it’s never an excuse to exhibit fakery. Lining your pocketbook and stroking your deluded ego, sucking to high heaven and charging people a lot of money for it? I’d rather you didn’t tour anymore. Attendees should be refunded. Nobody laid down 100 bucks or more to see karaoke, tuned down to the point of guitar strings being spaghetti. But if people want to be suckers, it’s their funeral.
At the very least there should be a
( disclaimer) fans could see before they buy
their ticket- fans should be told its not 100% live , that the band would be performing playing ,singing along with prerecorded intrumental and lead vocal tracks – then if people want to go at least they know what they are paying for , if kiss fans still go ..well then.. there is no helping them….they are part of the problem and are helping drive another nail into the coffin of rock music ~
Robert,
I think that is great idea, but it will never happen, because I think the majority may be using tapes to some degree. Maybe even musicians, and bands, we would be surprised by? How about lowering the cost of the tickets since the show isn’t technically “live?” I don’t see that happening, either-LOL!
Dana, clue us in if you know something.. save us from throwing our money away lol
LOL! I don’t have a clue, but some are quite obvious.