Mikkey Dee (Motorhead, Scorpions) – When It Is + Is not Okay to Use Backing Tracks

The topic of lip syncing and using backing tracks stays one of many hottest, most divisive matters in rock and steel proper now and weighing in on each is drummer Mikkey Dee (Scorpions, Motorhead), who explains when it’s and is not okay to undertake the practices.

The topic is one that’s monitored carefully by the Syncin’ Stanley YouTube channel, which incessantly seeks opinions from rock and steel artists with a main purpose (as specified by the channel’s “about” part) to mock KISS and, particularly, Paul Stanley. The channel even spoke with KISS supervisor Doc McGhee and uncovered that the band is certainly utilizing backing tracks, however that Stanley can be singing alongside to them every night time.

Commissioning a response from Dee through Cameo, Syncin’ Stanley bought the drummer to open up about all of it, revealing that even the late Lemmy Kilmister, a famous no-frills rocker, understood when backing tracks could possibly be a helpful factor of a reside present.

Mikkey Dee on lip syncing and backing tracks

“Lip syncing sucks big time. I hate it. That’s not fun at all,” Dee says outright (transcription through Blabbermouth), “But when it comes to backing tracks, sometimes it’s not too bad, if you use it in a proper way.”

Reasoning when it is a truthful software, he goes on, “Let’s say, you could have a rhythm guitar as a backtrack in certain solos. We never had it with Motorhead, ever. And I know a lot of bands that want to fill up certain parts of a song with some backing tracks — maybe a guitar, a rhythm guitar usually, or maybe some kind of keyboard or something — just to fill up spaces where it’s impossible to play. And if you recorded something and you dubbed something on there, some little theme or something, I think that’s okay; that’s not too bad. I can live with that, as long as the rest of the song is being played properly.”

“But lip syncing — absolutely no. And backing tracks, if you use them properly; if you use them, I would say the way they were intended,” the 59-year-old drummer reiterates, “But a lot of bands might use backing tracks for the whole musical part of it. And trust me, I hate that — absolutely terrible.”

READ MORE: Let’s Discuss Concerning the Backing Tracks / Laptop computer Debate – Is It Actually That Huge of a Deal?

So, what would Lemmy assume?

“Lemmy had the same kind of view, I guess, as me, because we never used backing tracks,” Dee replies when requested about his longtime bandmate’s perspective, “But sometimes it could have been okay to do it, because it maybe got too thin in certain kind of solo or something, because we were only three [members in Motorhead]. So he didn’t like it. He would never do it.”

Even with Lemmy, it is not a rule of absolutes, nonetheless.

Dee explains, “But he could see bands that used it in a proper way, in a good way. Then I think it’s acceptable and then it’s all right. But I don’t think he would like it. He would be mostly against it. I think it’s okay here and there, as I said, in the case of… depending on what kind of song they needed to work on, to fill up, as I said, a solo, a B section, maybe a theme in a solo — I mean, in a chorus — also play something like that. But the song needs to be played by the band and the band only live. That’s my view on it.”

View the complete video clip beneath.

Who else has spoken about this recently?

Earlier this month, guitar virtuoso Marty Friedman provided his ideas on the matter, additionally on the Syncin’ Stanley channel.

“Who cares? I don’t really know anything about that side of it; I don’t know if [Paul Stanley] does or if he doesn’t. But if you’re caring about lip-syncing and things that are going on, you can’t go to any gigs anymore because even … indie bands are doing all kinds of stuff with tracks and click tracks and adding vocals,” he says, partly.

Mikkey Dee on Lip Syncing + Utilizing Backing Tracks