GODSMACK's SULLY ERNA Rips Bands Who Rely Heavily On Backing Tracks During Live Performances: 'Don't Go Up There And Pretend You're A Rock Musician'

In a new interview with Get On The Bus, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna weighed in on some artists' use of backing tracks to add extra instrumental or vocal tracks to a live performance, to enhance the sound or to replicate more closely the instrumentation heard on a recording. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "There's still an imperfection about rock music and music in general. The Janis Joplins, the Jim Morrisons, the Jimi Hendrixes, they bend that note. It's a little bit out of tune 'cause they were a little excited that moment, or she cracks her voice a little bit because she was reaching for a note that she didn't quite get to. There's a fucking beautiful passion in that, that you will never be able to replicate through A.I. It's a moment. It's a unique moment that you get to experience and witness that will never happen again in another show the same way."

Asked if GODSMACK has ever used any A.I. tools during the recording and mixing process, Sully said: "No… They have things where you can even out the tempos, the drum beats or whatever, but most of us still play to click tracks. And we just make the adjustments.

"Listen, there's a difference why we're not seeing those unbelievable generational artists like we did back in the Eddie Van Halen days and the Jimi Hendrix days, and all these greats that came along the way," Erna explained. "There's just a general rule that if you don't put in your 10,000 hours of practice, you're not gonna be great. So you can put an A.I. band on stage all you want. You can put a band on stage that runs computers, runs tracks, mixes their shit to sound good on their iPhone because that's how everybody's doomscrolling these days. But go watch one of those bands, and I can name a handful of them right now, and I won't because I don't want to embarrass them. And a lot of them are in our genre. But go watch one of those bands, and then go over and unplug their technology, and let's see what they sound like."

When the interviewer noted that industrial metal and rock bands like MINISTRY and NINE INCH NAILS have incorporated electronics and technology into their sound from the very beginning, Sully clarified: "[But] that is a certain genre in itself. MINISTRY, NINE INCH NAILS, SKINNY PUPPY, all those bands, they're called electronic industrial metal. It's supposed to sound like that. It's for the same reason why a DJ sounds like a DJ. That's a certain art and a certain thing that they do. But don't go up there and pretend you're a rock musician and you have six guitars playing on a computer with you, a bunch of background vocals, half your drum set's playing, all the samples and keyboards. At that point, you're no different than sitting in your bedroom lip syncing to the album that you have on into your mirror."

This past September, Erna was asked by Rock 100.5 The KATT FM's Cameron Buchholtz if he and his GODSMACK bandmates have ever been tempted to incorporate some of that technology into their live performances. Erna said: "No, never. And we never will. I can't wrap my head around that. EDM, sure. But musicians who spend tens of thousands of hours practicing to get great, and then they record a record, and then they go out and play computers so they can fill up the sound? No. That doesn't fly with me. I'm sorry. It's never going to.

"I try to have a mutual respect for all artists, but when it comes to rock, comes to metal, those kind of things, I really feel like if you're layering your music that much, then you shouldn't be either performing the song or you shouldn't layer the album so much that you have to run track with you," Erna explained. "Especially if you're that good of a player.

"Listen, that's just my opinion. Everybody has their own opinion," Sully clarified. "I come from an older school, '70s, '80s background of music. We're just groomed a different way, and we're groomed to play our instruments and practice our ass off until you get it right. That's just where I come from. That's what it's supposed to be. And that's what it's always gonna be for us, and the FOO FIGHTERS, and METALLICA and the [RED HOT] CHILI PEPPERS, and all the people that come from that same era.

"There's still bands out there that they just — I don't know — they wanna sound perfect, or they wanna sound fuller, or they don't have enough musicians to fill up the extra layers they put on the album. So I understand it; I just don't agree with it. There's ways around that stuff."

GODSMACK's current lineup consists of Sully on vocals and guitar, bassist Robbie Merrill, guitarist Sam Koltun and former DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Mangini. Mangini made his live debut with GODSMACK on June 12 at the Morton Amphitheater in Riverside, Missouri following the abrupt departure of Wade Murff. Wade stepped into GODSMACK in early May as the replacement for longtime GODSMACK drummer Shannon Larkin, who quit the band in late 2024, along with guitarist Tony Rombola, because they didn't want to tour anymore.

GODSMACK's recently released live album, "Live At Mohegan Sun", served as a tribute to the band's classic lineup of Erna, Larkin, Rombola and Merrill.