Mötley Crüe were just caught using a backing track

Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe performs onstage during The Stadium Tour at Truist Park on June 16, 2022

(Image credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)

It appears that, at a gig earlier this month, Mötley Crüe were caught using a backing track for Tommy Lee's drum parts.

The drum track was exposed when Lee failed to meet the count-in and join in with the band's pre-recorded music on time. Luckily, it seems he managed to sync up in just a few seconds.

Lee's mishap was caught in fan-filmed footage from the band's recent show in Kansas City on July 19, during the start of the 1983 song Looks That Kill. The performance was part of their North American stadium tour alongside Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.

Within the video, the sound of the cymbal can be heard playing, just as Lee is walking towards the instrument and taking a seat. In other words, the drums are playing, but no one is sat behind the kit. Whoops! The footage has sparked debate amongst Crüe fans in the comments, with some claiming the majority of his drumming is mimed, while others argue he simply uses a couple of triggers to help keep time with all the pyro and on-stage shenanigans going on.

Of course, using a backing track is hardly illegal, or even that rare these days, it seems. And, to be fair, Lee is still in recovery after breaking his ribs and has been giving his best effort throughout the band's current US stadium tour to play for the entire duration of each night. So, perhaps he's just been given a little help?

In spite of his injury, Lee joined Mötley Crüe for the first few songs of their set each night when their tour began earlier this month on June 16 in Atlanta, but was unable to fully play each set all the way through until June 28.

This isn't the first time a legendary rock band has been caught using help. Earlier this year at a Kiss show in Belgium as part of their End of the Road World Tour, drummer Eric Singer bungled his performance during the 1976 classic Detroit Rock City, which led to the night's timings falling out of sync, and causing backing tracks to misalign. As a result, guitarist Paul Stanley's pre-recorded backing vocal tracks were exposed, and pyro cues were apparently let off too early. Awkward.

Check out the video of Lee's own mishap below:

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Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.