The study of rock performance must inevitability be performed on recorded material, since a performance only exists hic et nunc. This brings certain limitations into the analysis, since a recording can’t cover everything that happens on stage. In this paper I will discuss a possible use of intermedial studies and new materialism on the rock performances in focus of my project, to bring forth what is gained and what is lost “in translation” between a live performance and a recording. Is it possible to see the recording as a material trace of the entanglements of abject bodies and different media on stage, which can, if not expose all that occurred, at least bring forth enough evidence of the initial act to make the analysis fruitful? While I have sketched on my research project about “abject bodies on stage” for a while, the inclusion of intermedial studies and new materialism is new to it, which means that I will bring these fields into the project on a tentative basis in this paper, to see if they can open up the perspective and maybe untighten the knots inflicted by the necessity to study recordings instead of live performances.