June 24th, 2013 
James Shotwell 
Forums and social networks are alive and well with Black Veil Brides gossip this morning following a weekend Facebook post from The Bronx/Mariachi El Bronx drummer Jorma Vik.
Writing in the description of a new photo upload featuring a band performing with empty/fake amps posted on his personal account, Vik wrote, “A friend of mine took this photo at warped tour. This is what the kids are calling “rock n roll” these days. I’m lighting fire to every drum I have and becoming an investment banker.” The band remained unnamed at the time, but Vik later replied to an inquiry about the identity of the posers by stating “Black Veil Brides from “Hollywood” aka Ohio.”
Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack tweeted in reference to the photo, which you can view at the end of this post, late last night. He posted, “Hey guys, we use staging in our stage show. Also these are tattoos, I wasn’t born with the batman logo on my arm. #uselessnews”
Black Veil Brides are one of dozens of bands currently criss-crossing the United States on the Vans Warped Tour, and while the use of fake amps may upset some fans and be cause for further mockery from others, it’s certainly not a practice limited to BVB. In fact, Rise Records’ Of Mice & Men used much larger (yet equally empty) stacks during their main stage run on Warped Tour in 2012. These are just two examples, but there are plenty more currently touring North America and abroad.
For the record, Black Veil Brides and the vast majority of artists using these fake setups are in fact playing their instruments. Plugging directly into the PA is common practice for acts on these large, multi-band outings. Not only does it help maintain quality of the overall sound, but it also cuts down on set changes and minimizes the risk of faulty gear impacting a performance.
Given the various comments we’ve already seen on social networking sites, we’re curious to know where you stand on this subject. Does it matter whether or not a band uses fake amps on stage? If so, why? Comment below and let us know your thoughts on this ongoing debate.
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I’m not a fan of BVB, but I have no issue with this. Kiss has been doing this since 1974. I’m sure there are countless others. Bashing this is like bashing a light show.
This is a complete non-story. The empty cabinets are part of the BVB stage set. They are nothing more than what some bands use to show off their logos. They are called scrims. In fact, BVB’s Legion Of The Black mask logo is on the front of these cabinets.
This is the logo, spread out over the four empty cabinets.
You can clearly see it on both sides of the stage in this photo. The dude who made that comment (Jorma Vik?) doesn’t have a freaking clue. Just another failed musician, angry and bitter, looking to take down a young, successful band. Go ahead and light fire to your drums, Vik! No one will care. Career advice, bro. You’re clearly not smart enough to be an investment banker if you’ve never heard of scrims or staging.
their real amps are behind all that. I’ve watched live videos of them playing on this warped tour. i can HEAR when Jake Pitts misses a pinch harmonic, or accidentally plays the wrong note during a solo. There is no reason for them to be faking it. They KNOW how to play their instruments very well
No. I can’t believe another band even called them out for “staging” their stage. Metallica has done the very exact thing because Lars explained it to me many years ago. Does Vik not respect Metallica? Screw u Vik. Burn your drum sets and become a banker, or go live in your Mona’s garage.
I am sure if ‘Jorma Vik’ set fire to his drums, he would only be doing the music world a favour…. you can clearly see in the picture, I assume he posted the amps sat just to the side of the scrims…. a rookie error Mr Vik? I would much rather look at some staging then some great big boring amps as it adds to the aesthetics of the performance.
But if he has nothing better to do with his life than ‘call out’ other more successful bands on the circuit then let the baby have his bottle, we all know the truth.
Anything to try and give them a bad rep, eh?
As you said, TONS of bands still do this. KISS did it for years, and as Andy said, it’s part of their stage set up. Not meant to try and pass them off as actual amps.
Aside from this being a ploy to get kids to buy amps, it’s just dumb. You can hang a skrim from above, and if you’re trying to get on and off stage in a hurry, how is carrying around 4 fake cabs gonna help? Not to mention the space this wastes. Anybody doing this is as lame as homeboy down there with the wireless headset microphone.
Doesn’t make it any less lame.
Now, I’ve seen countless bands do this with cabs. The famous Edward Van Halen did it in his classic amp jump picture (if you havent seen it, google image search van halen, you’ll see it) BUT, this band is fake. Im not gonna be “that guy” just cuz im not a BVB fan, but my band opened for these guys in New Hampshire a few months back. The start of the show was nothing short of awesome, until their power went out. CC is clearly seen doing a drum solo………WITH NO DRUM SOUND! He’s doing a standard snare-tom fill, but you cant hear anything. Maybe his drum mics went out do to the power outage, you may ask. But I was side stage and heard no acoustics comming from his kit. He was playing air drums essentially with random cymbal hits to emphasis that hes “actually” playing. but hes not. Listen, Im all for bands doing things the not-so-traditional way with somethings, but if your drummer isnt even playing and you have fake cabs, whos the actual atrist that should be getting paid for this??? Im a hard working musician and use my guitar to have fun and Im doing music to put food on my table and my family to have a roof over their heads. You guys can say what you want about this “fake cab” situation, but I have personally seen this band fail big time. They’re fake. We’re real. Listen to musicians play, not actors.
Andy’s pa IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!
http://youtu.be/5iTXdZscdm4….. excuse me Andy’s dorky dad this is an Amplifier and this is also how you use one. take lessons I bet you were a failed musician too so dont be a Hypocrite.
Hello. I enjoy eating sour worms!
Hah this band sucks and their teeny sceney weeny fan base are freaking out because BVB just proved that their schtick isn’t rock’n’roll. What a bunch of gay faggots
bullshit sorry , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0c3YsXjNnA i play in a band to and i happen to play drums too i i know what toms sound like and he is playing properly unless its not the new hampshire show were the power went perhaps its a different if so i apologise
Through some magic of technology even though BVB’s dummy cabs are turned around and empty they STILL PLAYED A LIVE SHOW. Dear clueless cred police meatheads, the cabs are staging meant to enhance the stage show, but, since you couldn’t get that, they figured it was time they show you what’s behind them. Now sadly it’s time for you to find a new thing to hate BVB about. They play live through DI profiling amps and you’re idiots. By the way amplifiers and speakers are two different things..unless your super cool “core” band has found a way to plug directly into cabs.
Why cant people just leave them alone! They are doing what they love and can always stick up for themselves if that was you and someone gave you the amount of hate they got i bet you couldn’t deal with it! Its up to them how they set their stage at warped tour <3
For the record, Vik is not a failed musician. He’s a successful full-time touring musician who has transcended genres and has had international success. He is in fact, a very good musician.
I also don’t see anything wrong with this, I do however thing that this band is garbage. Especially after the rant at the Golden Gods, not that an award show based on votes even matters. It’s funny to read about Warped Tour now, I started going back in 97′ and it’s pretty hilarious to see what kids are into these days.
Wow this is ridiculous… bands have been doing this since the dawn of rock and metal. Van Halen, Queen, Metallica, Judas Priest, etc. all do this
Sooooooooo, you’re here bashing a very well respected musically talented band? Yea no thanks not listening to you ever. Seriously when you say err but he wasn’t playyinnnggg, nobody’s going to give a fuck what you think.
like Victor implied I’m startled that you able to get paid $5379 in a few weeks on the computer. did you see this link www.KEP2.com
Just about every big time show you go to today does this, so why is it such a big deal. I think it is cool, its like an illusion of making everything sound bigger than it is. You really only need a head, and the cab miked to get the audio, or do a direct input. The rest is all for the show. I just recently saw Black Veil Brides and I could tell that the cabs were fake, but did I let it bother me? Fuck no. The show was awesome.