GODSMACK To Work On 'Tough-Sounding,' 'Aggressive' And 'High-Energy' New Album In 2016

Kaytie of the 97.7 WQLZ radio station in Springfield, Illinois conducted an interview with GODSMACK drummer Shannon Larkin earlier today (Monday, September 14). You can now listen to the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether the members of GODSMACK have talked about writing the follow-up 2014's "1000hp" album:

"We talked about it. We're always talking about it. It's funny. It's like a football team or something; you're always talking about next year. So we've already a bunch of songs even, and we're gonna try and continue to write on tour [in the fall]. It's not as easy to write when you're on the road. But we have a jam room backstage, and we're gonna and write as much as we can. Because we are definitely gonna take some time off — probably the rest of November, December, part of January, let the New Year come in. And then we'll get back in… the plan is, February, and we'll do it in Florida, where Tony [Rombola, guitar] and I live, and we have a studio down there. We'll start there, start writing the new record, get a batch of songs, and then go up to Boston, where our headquarters is, and we have a recording studio up there that we can do our new record in. So everything is planned. We don't have any kind of release date or… 'Cause we're definitely not in a position — luckily — that we have to rush. So we'll just take our time, make sure that we get something fresh. Every band, you try and make your next record your best record ever. Our goals are lofty, but they haven't changed."

On what the new GODSMACK material will sound like:

"I don't wanna give too much away, but I would say the vein of the song '1000hp' and 'Something Different'. Those two songs were our favorites on the record, and we'd like to continue in that path — more high-energy rock and roll rather than the metal chunk or whatever… which has been a part of our sound for so long, but we don't wanna be one of those bands that just keeps making the same record over and over again. We try different things. Like, on [2006's] 'IV' record, we went for a bluesier sound. Everything is about influences, and we're definitely influenced as much by, say, LED ZEPPELIN as we were by METALLICA. And so, on the 'IV' record, we went for a more bluesy, ZEPPELIN-ish sound, and then the next record [2010's 'The Oracle'], we went back to our heavy sound. I think on '1000hp', we kind of landed on something that was a little more punk rock-y, a little bit more RAMONES-y, if you will, and AC/DC-ish, you know what I mean? And that's probably the direction that we're pushing for. As long as it's high energy, we wanna experiment with some different sounds on the next record, as far as guitar tones go. We're just gonna try and keep it to where it's still tough sounding and aggressive and high energy. But it'll be probably a more big rock sound."

"1000hp" sold approximately 58,000 copies in its first week of release to land at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 album chart. The disc followed up 2011's "The Oracle", which topped the chart with sales of 117,000 copies in its debut week.

GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna described the sound of the "1000hp" album to The Pulse Of Radio as "a little bit more raw, a little bit more open. The writing was a little freer. The production is really kind of raw and in your face, and the songs, man — I'm really, really excited about these songs. And I have to tell you honestly, I wasn't that excited about writing this record at first."