AARON LEWIS Blasts Bands Who Rely On Backing Tracks During Concerts: 'It's Robbing The Person That Is Going To See A Live Show'

On the latest episode of "The Anchormen" podcast with Dan Ball and Riley Lewis, STAIND frontman Aaron Lewis weighed in on some artists' use of backing tracks to add extra instrumental or vocal tracks to a live performance, to enhance the sound or to replicate more closely the instrumentation heard on a recording. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I honestly feel like what I'm about to talk about, it's robbing the person that is going to see a live show. What tends to happen more often than not these days is that there's full tracks running underneath what is getting played on stage. The band themselves could put their instruments down and walk off stage and the listener in the crowd would barely even notice if they weren't looking at the stage to see everybody walk off. And that's real. It's real. The last three or four tours that we've done, we were the only person that wasn't running tracks."

Lewis released his sixth solo country album, "Give My Country Back", on July 17 via Big Machine Label Group. Produced by Sol Philcox-Littlefield, the LP blends roughhewn honky-tonk roots with modern country muscle, creating a project that feels both deeply personal and defiantly bold.

Lewis co-wrote five songs on the record alongside longtime collaborators including Jeffrey Steele and Bobby Pinson, while additional contributions from Casey Bethard, Travis Meadows and others helped shape the album's reflective yet fiery spirit.

Since launching his solo country career, Lewis has earned two No. 1 Billboard Country Album debuts with "Town Line" and "Sinner", released the platinum-certified collaboration "Country Boy" featuring George Jones and Charlie Daniels, and scored a gold-certified No. 1 hit with 2021's "Am I The Only One". His catalog has now surpassed 5.7 billion career streams worldwide.

Lewis is currently on the road on his "2026 American Tour", featuring his band THE STATELINERS.

Lewis grew up in Springfield, Vermont, listening to his grandparents' country 8-tracks. Those roots inspired the multi-platinum STAIND founder to return to his origins for the No. 1 Billboard Country album debuts "Town Line" and "Sinner", as well as Billboard's No. 1 Hot Country song debut "Am I The Only One", only the ninth time since 1958. Having recorded with George Jones, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Alison Krauss and Vince Gill, Lewis put a traditionalist brand on his outlier country.

In 2024, Lewis was awarded Pandora's Billionaires Plaque, recognizing over one billion streams on the platform.