A few years back when Mötley Crüe’s original guitarist Mick Mars split with the group, he said the much of the band’s live performances were pumped through the sound system via pre-recorded tracks. While the band has never denied enhancing the backing vocals of their songs, they’ve denied claims that they’re miming or lip-synching shows.
The band’s new guitarist, John 5, responded to the claim again on the “Thinking About Guitar” podcast. “I’m so glad you brought that up, and people don’t wanna talk about it, but I’m so glad you brought it up, because here’s the thing,” he explained. “I’ve always said, ’cause there was this talk that was going on for so long, like, ‘Oh, this person’s not playing live,’ or, ‘That person’s not playing live.’ Everything — Nikki is playing every note up there, but it’s so funny that people don’t wanna accept that. They’ll be, like, ‘Oh, his hands aren’t even on the bass,’ and it’ll be up in the air. But it’s, like, he’s fretting a note, or it’s he’ll have this arm up, but he’s picking with this hand. But people don’t understand that. Nikki plays every single note on that stage. He messes up. You can hear mistakes. Tommy plays everything. I play everything. Vince is singing. And I think people just don’t wanna hear that. I don’t understand why people don’t want to accept that, but we work really hard, and the live tracks, they sound great. We play. I listen to these songs, these tracks back, and I’m, like, ‘This sounds really great.’ And that’s ’cause we work hard at it. And that’s it. Everybody plays everything.”
John 5 then addressed the band’s use of backing tracks for their vocals primarily on song choruses. “Listen, there’s backups that are on track,” he said. “Of course, there’s backups pumped in, there’s sirens pumped in, there is intros pumped in, but all the music that we’re playing is being performed by us. And I’m up there singing backups, and Nikki’s singing backups, and we do our best, and it’s probably… I’m not a singer. I’ve played with some of the greatest singers in the world, but I’m doing my best with backups. But, yeah, we play all of that stuff, and I’m proud of that. I’m proud of that. And everybody just works really hard.”
Check out John 5’s full interview below.
- MGK Loses It On Yungblud Over Tour Cancelation - May 20, 2026
- Guitarist John 5 Shoots Down Mötley Crüe Rumor - May 20, 2026
- Mötley Crüe Shares Update On Health Of Singer Vince Neil - May 20, 2026
