No longer are Godsmack the new kids on the metal block. More than four years after their multi-platinum debut first rocketed this Boston-based unite to international prominence, and two years after their sophomore effort, Awake, added additional luster to this hard rocking band’s musical resume, vocalist Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill and new drummer Shannon Larkin are ready to do it all over again. This power-packed lineup has put the final touches on the Smack’s new disc, Faceless, and they’ve done so with the style and the confidence of a band totally at ease with their position of prominence within rock and roll society.
”I like the idea that we’ve been around for a while and that we’ve established a pretty loyal fan base,” Erna said. When a band breaks out of the box the way we did with our first album, there’s no telling where things can go from there. We’ve all seen a lot of groups in that position who crash and burn because they can’t handle the pressure, and they don’t know how to handle the notoriety. We’ve handled it by maintaining our focus on who and what we are as people and as a band. Especially with this album, it’s brought us closer together and really provided us with a great perspective on things.”
Yet despite all of the feeling of strength and solidarity the recording of their new album has generated, Godsmack hasn’t survived the rock and roll growth process totally unscathed. Shortly before the beginning of the writing and recording of their latest opus, the group parted ways with long time drummer Tommy Stewart. While Erna prefers to talk “around” the topic of Stewart’s departure rather than address the matter directly, his words seem to indicate that in order for Godsmack to continue growing as a band, all its members needed to be on the same page of their musical playbook.
”Let’s just say that thing happen within a band,” Erna said. We’ve been together for a long time, and people’s priorities change. We all wish Tommy the best in what he chooses to do with his life, and we know he wishes the same for us. But it was time to move on, and we have.”
So what does the immediate future hold for Godsmack? Having recruited Ugly Kid Joe drummer Larkin for their album recording sessions, and having asked him to join the band on their latest world tour, it is clear that his dynamic presence has added new life to the time-tested Godsmack mix. So with their lineup once again full, and their latest disc climbing the charts, it certainly seems as if Godsmack has quickly regained solid footing on the often treacherous cliffs of rock and roll stardom. While they may have taken a small commercial step back with Awake, they seem bound and determined to forge boldly ahead with Faceless.
”Making this album has been a very satisfying experience, “ Erna said. “So much effort and strain goes into the writing of songs and the recording process. But when it’s done, you get a feeling of accomplishment unlike everything else you’ve ever experienced.”
For Erna the success of Godsmack’s third album comes at an interesting time in his life. Ever since his band hit the spotlight in the late ‘90’s, the vocalist has often found his sudden notoriety somewhat confusing. While few contemporary music performers appear more at home under the glaring onstage spotlight, the way the fans have treated him, the questions the media has asked him and the manner in which the music industry has functioned in regard to his upstart unit have all occasionally left a quizzical look on Erna’s goateed face.
At times over the last few years, though he desired to be treated like “just another guy from Boston”, he found his life turned upside down by legions of overzealous ‘Smack followers. Just when he wanted focus placed squarely on the diverse musical reactants that comprise Godsmack’s darkly brooding metal anthems, often he was asked about his belief in the Wiccan religion. And at times when he sought out praise for the volatile, vitriolic sounds featured on their albums, all the voracious recording industry wanted to know was what Godsmack was going to do next. Yet the fact of the matter is that Erna is only too aware that all such reactions go hand-in-hand with being the most prominent member of a successful rock and roll band.
”I understand why people focus on certain things, and why the media asks about other thins, but I do wonder why they tend to overlook a lot of the issues that I think are kind of interesting about this band and the music we make,” he said. “But that’s okay with us. As long as they relate to it on whatever level they want, in any way they want that’s fine. That’s all I can ask.”
Now Erna and his bandmates have answered these various queries and questions in the best possible manner—by releasing a new album that expands upon every artistic element presented on their two best selling earlier discs. Sure there still may remain a myriad of mysteries surrounding this eminently exciting band, but would any of us really want it any other way? After all, when this unit burst seemingly from nowhere in 1998 with their Godsmack album, it was the mystery, the mystical musical magic that seemed to envelope the band like a harbor fog, that aided in their amazingly rapid transformation from music biz outcasts to cutting-edge leaders of the New Metal movement. Fans everywhere were drawn to the quasi-occult-tinged messages contained within “Voodoo” and “Keep Away,” as well as to the pulsating, hypnotic rhythms produced during the band’s increasingly more frenetic live shows. They all added up to create the rock-solid base of support upon which the Smack has now added another key building block in their long-range plans for success.
”I spoke with our manager, who used to be the drummer in the band Extreme, about it,” Erna said. “He agreed that on one hand surviving long enough to make a third album means that you’ve made it over one of the major steps in your career. But on the other hand, it brings its own unique set of problems and pressures. If you want to be a really successful band, this is where you often begin to separate the pretenders from the contenders.”