GODSMACK Guitarist Teaches JAMES HETFIELD How To Play LED ZEPPELIN

Chris Rolls of MP3.com recently conducted an interview with GODSMACK guitarist Tony Rambola. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

MP3.com: So what can we expect from this forthcoming album?

Tony: "A different-sounding record. We worked with Andy Johns, so sonically it sounds a lot different. We used a lot of different amplifiers. I used a lot of Marshall stuff instead of Boogie, what I used for years. So, I mean, tonally it's a little different like that, and actually the band wrote a lot more of the music on this one. I wrote more than I have on the previous records. So on the previous records I would have a riff and Sully [Erna, guitar/vocals] would get together with me and make it into a song and I'd, you know, it would be a collaboration thing. Where on this one, Sully was really busy, he wasn't around for the writing a lot, and we wrote our own songs. So he used a lot more of our material as a whole."

MP3.com: OK. Are there any particular themes or topics when you're writing a song?

Tony: "Yeah, you know, I'm not even a lyric guy, but we've talked about this with Sully through the process and he...it was a lot of...in 2005 he went through a lot of changes and changed a lot of things in his life. He stopped drinking, he tried to just change his whole life…there was a song called 'Living in Sin' he wrote, and it kind of opened the door to all the other songs. So the whole album overall is more of a positive vibe on his life being changed into something more positive from something that was kind of dark."

MP3.com: How was it touring with METALLICA?

Tony: "It was great. I like what they do and I admire [them], but I was never, I've never bought any of their material, you know. I wasn't that kind of fan. But I grew up listening to the radio and I always knew their music, and I liked a lot of it. But after touring with them, you know, they were so nice. James Hetfield was a super guy, and I became a fan after we were on tour with them."

MP3.com: Did you see the documentary about them?

Tony: "No, I haven't seen it."

MP3.com: I recommend that you watch it...it's a very strange film. I was just curious what you would think of it after being on the road with them.

Tony: "They seemed really nice. I mean, they were all like, James Hetfield, I swear to god, every day he came in our dressing room at some point and just said, 'Hey.' And it was funny, when I first met him it was in Europe and I was in the dressing room playing an acoustic guitar…I was playing this old song from LED ZEPPELIN called the 'Rain Song'. And it's got this really cool tuning to it, and he walked by our dressing room and it caught his ear and he came in, and he goes, 'Hey, is that the 'Rain Song'?' And I went, 'Yeah.' And he goes, 'Well, you got to show me that.' Next thing, you know, I'm sitting down teaching James Hetfield how to play the 'Rain Song' from LED ZEPPELIN. So that's how I kind of met him. And it was awesome. I was trying to keep my composure, but I was shaking in my boots."

Read the entire interview at MP3.com.