PRESS RELEASE
DATE: AUGUST 25, 2000

FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/KRISTINE ASHTON/MAGGIE WANG

GODSMACK TO FOLLOW TRIPLE PLATINUM SUCCESS WITH NEW ALBUM 'AWAKE' OCTOBER 31 ON REPUBLIC/UNIVERSAL As a follow-up to their self-titled triple platinum Republic/Universal debut, GODSMACK will release their second album AWAKE on October 31. AWAKE was produced by the band's frontman SULLY ERNA and Mudrock who also did the same honors for GODSMACK, an album that spawned four consecutive rock hits including the latest Top 10 active rock track "Bad Religion." AWAKE further intensifies the group's sound: dark, majestic riffs and deep rhythmic thrusts crossed with the moody, blunt lyrics of brash vocalist SULLY. The first single, "Awake," will be released in early October.

"This one's a lot more aggressive, it has a bit more attitude and it's a little angrier," says SULLY about AWAKE, phoning in from a tour stop on Ozzfest, where GODSMACK--SULLY (vocals), TONY ROMBOLA (guitar), ROBBIE MERRILL (bass), TOMMY STEWART (drums)--are headlining the main stage alongside Ozzy Osbourne and Pantera. AWAKE song titles like "Sick of Life," "Greed," "Bad Magick" and "Goin' Down" underline SULLY's tales of frustration and anger.

The inspiration behind the album title AWAKE? "We were just a new band that came out with a record--and little by little it did better and then it became a hit," says SULLY. "But no one saw it coming--not us, not the fans, not the public. Word of mouth through the street kept spreading, and that's kind of how we did it.

The new record is more of a statement acknowledging that GODSMACK is now awake to the public and the public is now awake to GODSMACK." Earlier this year, AWAKE was recorded at River's Edge Productions in Haverhill, MA--formerly an abandoned warehouse--over a period of six weeks "in the middle of crackville," says SULLY.

"People were expecting us to go into this million-dollar luxury studio and we actually booked ourselves into a studio like that at first. But I pulled away from that because I didn't want to get too comfortable. I wanted to stay in the streets because I felt that it would help me accomplish keeping the hunger inside of me and remembering that. It wasn't that long ago when we were here trying to bum five bucks off someone for a pack of cigarettes and a drink. That helped me stay focused on who I am and who we are."

Because the studio is located directly above a boxing gym, the sounds from below would seep into the studio. "There were people downstairs working out like crazy and we're up there going, 'Alright, let's do drum tracks today since that's about the noisiest thing we can do.' And when they'd bail out for the day, we'd go into vocals and stuff like that."

As SULLY explains, he wrote the bulk of the songs on AWAKE on the road. "I wanted to take advantage of being able to play some stuff live during soundchecks and work out the kinks. What I did was get to the gigs early most of the time and sit in the dressing room with a guitar and a drum machine. I kept writing until I had it together. When I was finished with the music, I would give it to the guys and let them tweak it a little bit and I'd start working on lyrics."

The sound on AWAKE reflects SULLY's musical roots. "I've grown up with bands like Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin and I went through my Misfits and GBH and Sex Pistols phase," he says. "Now I listen to everyone from Pantera to Dead Can Dance, which is absolutely nothing like anything we play--they're just very spiritual, with tribal drums, Middle Eastern chanting kind of vocals, more humble sounding." SULLY's eclectic tastes inspired the new album's "Spiral" and "Voodoo" from the current disc. "It's like another side of me. When I want to tone it down, I would rather do stuff that's a little bit more tribal and hypnotic sounding than love ballads."

Where do GODSMACK see themselves in rock's landscape? "You know, we're not a rock-rap band and we're not a techno-rap band," says SULLY. "It's about the music and the live energy. There's no fancy tricks. We don't have monsters popping out of the P.A.'s and fireballs shooting at you and laser beams and all that." He adds: "We'd like to have the longevity, stability and respect of bands like Metallica. They've built an empire from the ground level up. They built their own army of fans, and I just want to see us--three or four years from now-comfortably be able to continue to write. Our biggest commitment is to work hard enough to prove our faithfulness to the fans and our loyalty to music and just have that become our lives."

GODSMACK ACHIEVEMENTS