Earlier this month, former Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin discussed the band hiring ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini for their current North American tour. Larkin talked about the tempo of the band’s songs and went on to explain: “Godsmack uses no click tracks, no backing tracks,” he said.
“It’s a thing that a lot of other musicians talk about too, I notice now. I’m really noticing it. We’ve been saying it for years as we watched the advent of everybody started adding some, the rhythm guitar or something being played, but there isn’t a guy behind the amps playing it. It’s on a track. Oh, it’s a new thing, kinda. And backups, you see Nikki Sixx up there (with Mötley Crüe). He’s not really singing, he looks away, but you still hear his voice. Well, it’s a track playing. But in order for those things to happen, the band has to be on a click track — and the band doesn’t have to. It’s just us, the drummer. We’re on a click, so it’s always the same every night. So it’s a homogenization of what used to be the dangerous feeling of a rock show — dangerous from the band’s aspect on stage too. You don’t know what’s gonna go on.”
Sixx took to his X account to respond. “Who’s this Shannon Larkin hater?” he wrote. “It’s funny how so many B- and C-level bands seem to spend more time talking about us than writing songs people actually remember. Maybe it’s jealousy, maybe it’s insecurity, maybe ticket sales are a little slow. Either way, borrowing someone else’s spotlight has never been much of a long-term career strategy. I genuinely feel for musicians who never figured out that the best publicity is writing great songs — over and over again, decade after decade for fans not critics.”
He concluded: “It reminds me of the endless bimbo podcast crowd that builds an audience by talking about everyone else instead of creating something worth talking about. Anyway, maybe he needs to take a nap before he does more press.”
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