Godsmack Plan To Tell Of Fame's Travails On Next LP
A lot of bands gripe about how success can show you who your real friends are, but few go so far as to channel that frustration into their music.
Godsmack singer Sully Erna sees no way around it.
"There's been a bunch of leeches on our tail since we got signed trying to siphon money out of us," he said. "So I'm sure that's going to be an issue on the next record."
You'd think the members of the Boston hard-rock band would be satisfied with a platinum debut album, a slot on the main stage at Woodstock '99 and an opening gig on metal legends Black Sabbath's upcoming tour.
You'd be wrong, the 31-year-old Erna said, explaining that the group already has written three or four songs for their next album. "[The new album is] not really that different. I think Godsmack is probably going to maintain a similar sound, but, I think, ultimately it will stay heavy," he explained, speaking backstage prior to his band's crunching set at Woodstock '99, held July 23-25.
What will change, Erna said, is the band's attitude. "We're going to try and get a bit raunchier on the next record. Soundwise and lyrically," said Erna (RealAudio excerpt of interview), dressed all in black, a five-pointed star tattoo below his right eye peeking out beneath his sunglasses.
Named after a song from grunge-rockers Alice in Chains, Godsmack rose to prominence earlier this year on the strength of their bruising single "Whatever" (RealAudio excerpt).
The group had released its debut under the title All Wound Up in 1997, re-releasing it a year later as Godsmack with several additional tracks. Godsmack will be at #47 on the upcoming Billboard 200 albums chart. The quartet played Boston clubs for two years before being discovered. Ironically, "Whatever" was not originally slated to appear on the album, Erna said.
Wary of one-hit-wonder status, the singer said he now worries that the break-up song — during which he grunts "And I wonder from day to day/ I don't like you anyway/ Don't need your shit today/ You're pathetic in your own way/ I feel for you" — is impeding the band's next single.
"I can honestly say I don't think any of us expected the first single to do what it did," Erna said.
"It pretty much was responsible for taking the album to platinum status. Now we're facing a bit of another problem, which is a good problem, but 'Whatever' became such a strong single it's kind of blocking the next single from going anywhere. We're just hoping to get a good record out of this and not just be a one-hit wonder"
The other members of Godsmack include guitarist Tony Rambola, bassist Robbie Merrill and drummer Tommy Stewart.
Godsmack's latest single, "Keep Away," is accompanied by a dark video
directed by Peter Christopherson (Filter). The group's next single will
be "Voodoo," a nine-minute homage to horror director Wes Craven's 1987
film "The Serpent and the Rainbow," Erna said.
With a raft of heavy-rock bands such as Korn and Sevendust getting major airplay, it would seem to be the ideal time for Godsmack's music. But Rambola said timing was only partly responsible for their success.
"For us, it's always been a good time [to play heavy music]," Rambola said. "This is all we've ever done. I think hard rock's always been around — there's always fans there. Maybe just people are digging our stuff and it's in the forefront"
