Corey Taylor Has Something To Say About Bands Using Backing Tracks

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Corey Taylor Photo by Gus Stewart/Redferns (via Getty Images)
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So… what does Corey Taylor think of bands who use backing tracks while playing live? Well, we now know.

At one point during a conversation with Loudwire Nights, Taylor expressed how he feels about the use of backing tracks. In the past, Taylor has expressed a lack of fondness for acts that use computers while performing live. Recently, while talking about what he wants to see from bands when considering who to sign to his new label imprint, Taylor said:

“It all depends. The thing that I look for, really, first is something that catches me. I look for passion. I look for the ability to really pull it off live, which, to me, is a dying… and I mean ‘live live’; I don’t mean iPads and MacBook Pros and all that stuff.”

In this new interview with Loudwire Nights, the Slipknot singer opens up a little more about how he feels regarding bands using backing tracks while playing live. Per Taylor:

“I want to set the record straight. Something I’ve been saying onstage at the solo shows is I’ve been trying to make a point about real live as opposed to tracks and computer live.

“Now, before I say anything, I want to say that I am not saying there is anything wrong with using computers or using tracks. To each his own, it’s fine. If that’s what you want to do, that’s fine. But for me, my proudest moment is that we get up onstage and we do it as a band. If you hear wrong notes, that is live. If you hear wrong chords, that is live. If you hear me mess the words up, that is live. That makes the experience completely individual to the person at the show.”

He goes on to share how confident he is in delivering an incredible show without “hard drives” or a “full Pro Tools session.” Per Taylor: “We could get up there and make it sound 100-percent amazing and it doesn’t take a stack of hard drives, it doesn’t take a full Pro Tools session. We get up there and it’s a very punk rock approach. I like the fact that I can go up there, as a human, and produce and you’re going to get everything that I’ve got. I want people to see that it can be done. That’s the whole point of it.”

Taylor then concludes by expressing how proud he is that he doesn’t use backing tracks: “I want to provide the alternative to these people who use a ton of tracks. And like I said, I’m not saying it’s wrong, but I don’t want people who are coming to a show to think that every show is like that. No matter how many times people who run tracks try to tell everybody that everybody runs tracks, not everybody runs tracks. I’m very proud of the fact that I don’t do that.”

Where do you stand when it comes to the topic of backing tracks?

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