GODSMACK's SHANNON LARKIN Gives Rundown Of His 'Lighting Up The Sky' Tour Drum Kit

In the video below, Shannon Larkin, the powerhouse drummer for GODSMACK, gives Modern Drummer magazine an in-depth tour of his custom Yamaha acrylic drums that were made specifically for the band's "Lighting Up The Sky" tour. Shannon shares his journey with GODSMACK, revealing some stories about his time with the band and friendship with frontman Sully Erna. Finally, watch as Shannon and Sully take the stage for an electrifying drum solo.

Last December, Larkin spoke about his early days as a member of GODSMACK and reflected on the moment when he realized he had "made it." He told Heavy Consequence: "My story would take forever to tell, but I went through a lot of bands on major labels even, and by the time Sully called me and gave me this gift of GODSMACK, I had already written off rock and roll as something I'd be successful at. I had already completed what I felt was success by that point. I just never really attained any kind of business success as far as selling records, playing these huge concerts, being in a band that sells… I got a gold record. In fact, I wasn't gonna get a gold record because our, our first record with me was 'Faceless'. It was our first No. 1. And it came out and sold 250,000 copies in like a week. And so I went to Sully and I said, 'Oh my God. I'm gonna get my first gold record.' And he said, 'No, you're not gonna get a gold record. It's going platinum. And these things cost money. So we'll just get platinum.' And I said, 'Well, no. I want a gold record.' And he said, 'Well, no. Platinum is better. It's more. It's a million.' And I said, 'Yeah, but the old-school [way of doing is to have] an office [with] gold records on the wall and all that.' And he said, 'Well, it's just not the way the business works.' And I said, 'Oh, okay, I guess.'"

He continued: "So we get to Europe and we're opening for METALLICA on 'Madly In Anger With The World' tour, man. It was a big tour, and it's METALLICA — idols of ours, obviously. And it was my birthday, April 24th, and [Sully] blindfolded me. He said, 'Just trust me. I'm not gonna do anything crazy.' He blindfolded me. So he takes me into this room. He takes the blindfold off and walks over there and it's him, Tony [Rombola, guitar], Robbie [Merrill, bass] and all four [members] of METALLICA with this gold record that he had special-made for me. It's the only one, the frame and everything, and so I got a gold record. So, obviously, that was the height of my 'making it' moment, like, 'Oh my God. I made it. I'm a rock star.'"

GODSMACK recently embarked on the "Vibez Tour". The trek saw Erna and his bandmates deliver a series of intimate evenings featuring acoustic/electric performances and untold stories in theatres across North America.

GODSMACK's eighth studio album, "Lighting Up The Sky" was released in February 2023 via BMG. The LP was co-produced by Erna and Andrew "Mudrock" Murdock (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ALICE COOPER).