SKID ROW's RACHEL BOLAN: Bands Who Use Pre-Recorded Tracks During Live Shows Are 'Ripping Off' Fans

SKID ROW bassist Rachel Bolan has slammed bands who use pre-recorded backing tracks in their live shows, saying that he feels "ripped off" when he sees groups lip-synching in concert.

Asked about reports that MÖTLEY CRÜE is using "backing tracks to sing and play to" on the band's current tour and his opinion on the practice, Bolan told The Great Southern Brainfart: "I feel ripped off. I mean, if you want to do something, just do it. If you can't do it like you did on the record, just leave it out. A band like QUEEN, whey they did 'Bohemian Rhapsody', they used tapes for that 'Galileo' part and they would just leave they stage and let it be known they were running tape. I respect that, but bands that are running all kinds of tracks, I've seen bands that I really like do that, and I feel kind of ripped off."

He added: "Every note that comes off of a SKID ROW stage is coming from those five guys you see up there. There's no tracks, and be it good or bad, it's us doing it. [laughs] I'll take full responsibility for any fucking bad note you hear. [laughs]

"I mean, when did it get to that point that a band got that bored with what you're doing that you just start running tracks all the time?"

Bolan was also asked if he felt social media "killed the rock star persona" through the fans' ability to have direct access to their idols. "Absolutely. I think it totally did," he replied. "It's something that I've grown used to."

He continued: "I still try to keep my personal life as private as I possibly can.

"I used to love waiting around for the next month's Circus magazine to come out because they were doing a four-part KISS story or something. It was the anticipation of having to wait another month and I'd go to 7-11 every day just to see if was there and then I'd get and I'd read it over and over again. I miss that. They were like superheroes, but nowadays, everything is so instant and it kind of takes the fun out of it, to be honest."

MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars said in an interview earlier this year that he didn't like the fact that his band used pre-recorded backing vocals in its live shows, claiming that he preferred to watch groups whose performances are delivered entirely live.

During an appearance on this the March 3 edition of Eddie Trunk's show "Trunk Nation" on SiriusXM's Hair Nation, Mars was asked about the fact that he has a microphone in front of him on stage during MÖTLEY CRÜE's live shows even though, by his own admission, his "voice sucks so bad."

"That's a whole another story right there, son…." Mars laughed nervously, seemingly unsure how he should comment on the issue. "That could get me in a lot of trouble. I could say there's, like, a… Let me put it this way… I'll just say two words and you'll know: Britney Spears."

Pressed on whether this was somewhat of a controversial issue within the band, Mars said: "No, but I think that it is between a lot of fans, a lot of music people."

Asked how he personally feels about "supplementation on the live stage," Mick said: "I don't like it. I think a band like ours… I have to say '60s bands were my favorite — '60s and '70s bands — because they were real, like, three-piece bands or four-piece bands, and they just got up there and kicked it up. Made a mistake? So what? Sounded a little bit empty here or there? So what? It's the bigness and the rawness and the people that developed and wrote the songs and made them and presented them. To me, that's what I really like. I mean, I could put on a MÖTLEY CD and play with it all day long. I don't wanna do that."