Last week, SiriusXM radio personality Eddie Trunk went off on bands using backing tracks. On his social media, Trunk posted a video that involved the rock band Santa Cruz allegedly using pre-recorded tracks during a recent concert. In the footage, you can find band frontman Archie Cruz walking away from the microphone, but his vocals to the song “Under The Gun” are still being heard through the P.A.
Along with posting the video, Trunk wrote:
“This is beyond words … everyone I guess just okay with this?! As I’ve said and have been saying this has become an epidemic that needs to stop . So bad it’s to the point this band doesn’t event attempt to fake their lip synching.. stunning. Imagine paying to see a band you love ‘live’ and it’s anything but. What’s the point? Imagine you are a band that puts the work in to be live, and others don’t, play to a computer , and fans talk about how great they sound.. pathetic. It’s the norm in pop, it’s gotta stop in rock. Bands, fans and promoters have to care that a live rock show is live or it will only get worse. Madness.”
Well now Santa Cruz frontman Archie Cruz has provided a statement regarding that live show incident. Posted some hours ago on his Instagram account, Cruz speaks to the band being accused of “miming” and using backing tracks. When it comes to “miming,” Cruz says the band has done nothing like that; when it comes to backing tracks, he defends himself and the band, saying, “We did have backing tracks, but we just had some layers, and that is literally what every fucking big band is doing right now.”
Per Cruz, he begins his statement with the following:
“I just feel like I need to clear some shit out. Obviously, there’s been a lot of backlash after our show at the Whisky last Wednesday. And we’ve been accused of ‘miming’ on the track, which is not true. We did have backing tracks, but we just had some layers, and that is literally what every fucking big band is doing right now, which just happened to fuck up the timing, so I feel like I need to clear that out right now.”
At this point, Cruz begins playing the band’s song “Under The Gun” – this is the song that was featured in the video Trunk shared last week. Cruz plays his guitar and sings to the song for a brief period before continuing the rest of his statement.
“This is my vocal. This is what I do live. That’s my track. That’s 100 percent live. And what we had in the P.A. was an octave-lower harmony and an octave-higher harmony to back that shit up.”
The Santa Cruz frontman then plays a recording of what was used to back up his vocals during that live performance. Cruz then concludes with the following:
“So, please do not talk about something you don’t know anything about or do not accuse us of doing something that’s not true. So, piss off and shut the fuck up.”
It’s also worth noting that Cruz went off on Eddie Trunk initially – saying some harsh shit to the radio personality after hearing what Trunk had to say. However, Cruz eventually posted a public apology, via Instagram story, to Trunk. Per Cruz, he wrote:
“Even though I don’t think he was in the right for what he did, calling him names was NOT the move and not how one should behave.”
Trunk replied to this via Twitter, referring to Cruz’s apology and the use of backing tracks with the following:
“As I said during my show yesterday this issue is way beyond just @SantaCruzBand. I actually like the band & had Archie on once. I appreciate the apology but I personally will always believe live rock should be live. And a TON of bands do NOT play to tracks.”
What are your thoughts on the performance from Santa Cruz? You can find that video Eddie Trunk shared below:
You can also find Cruz’s video statement from his Instagram account and Trunk’s response to Cruz’s apology below.
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As I said during my show yesterday this issue is way beyond just @SantaCruzBand . I actually like the band & had Archie on once. I appreciate the apology but I personally will always believe live rock should be live. And a TON of bands do NOT play to tracks. https://t.co/X40ZMv6rV7
— Eddie Trunk (@EddieTrunk) April 13, 2022
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Words by: Michael Pementel