SULLY ERNA Doesn't Rule Out More New Music From GODSMACK: 'You Can Never Say Never'

During an appearance on yesterday's (Tuesday, January 9) episode of SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Sully Erna spoke about GODSMACK's announcement that the band's latest album, "Lighting Up The Sky", will likely be its final collection of new material. Asked if there is a chance that he will change his mind about releasing new music in the future, Sully said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's funny. I just had this talk with my record label yesterday. We had a meeting about some other stuff, and I told them that, like, listen… 'Cause they're a little bummed out. They're, like, 'Ah, is this the last [album]?' And I said, 'Listen, you can never say never.' But I do know this: [late RUSH drummer] Neil Peart said this to me once — all great things must come to an end eventually. It doesn't matter how great you are, who you are. But all great things are gonna come to an end at some point. And I just never forgot that. And I'm, like, at what point do you just start living your life for you and not always be on a schedule, not always be in a recording studio, not always be signing autographs, taking pictures, touring, playing shows, doing podcasts, doing videos. It's a lot, man. It consumes your life, and it's what I've always wanted, and I'm so proud of it, and I'm so grateful for this career. I have nothing to complain about. But am I gonna do this forever, until I'm in my grave? I don't know. I know right now I'm still good, and I like it. And I'm enjoying it. I'm getting tired. And there is more things I wanna do with my life. Music's not everything I wanna do with my life."

Erna continued: "So, I don't know. I know right now we're gonna finish this album cycle. We'll take a break. I have a feeling I'll end up doing some solo stuff. I don't even know what that's gonna sound like yet, but I may want to do a little bit more of a rock album on the solo side. But I don't know.

"I have a feeling that in time, I'm just gonna be writing," he added. "And I'm gonna do what I've always done. I'll finish a song and it'll go in one folder 'cause it sounds like solo music to me. And I'll finish another song and it'll be banging and heavy and I'll be, like, 'It's going in that folder 'cause that's a GODSMACK song.' And then eventually I'm gonna have a record. And, of course, I'm gonna release it. [Laughs] And then here we go again."

Regarding how he and his GODSMACK bandmates arrived at the decision to make "Lighting Up The Sky" their final album, Sully said: "It's just what we feel at the moment. We tripped across this conversation. The more we thought about it, the more we were like… We're starting to bum out a little bit live because there's a lot more songs that we wanna play. And again, I'm not complaining. We've been very blessed to have a good career and a good run of Top 10 singles — we're at, I think, 27 Top 10 singles with 13 Number Ones. So that means — I don't know — if we get two or three off this record, we're gonna be at 30 Top 10 singles. That means we could do 15 songs a night, play back-to-back nights in the same venue and never play the same single twice, let alone the deep cuts. So we're going, like, 'Fuck, at what point do we honor the catalog and do what we want as fans when we go to see our favorite bands, like AEROSMITH or METALLICA, whatever? Are we really going to see their new record? Hmmm, no. I'm just being honest. I'm glad you put it out. I'm gonna check it out, but am I gonna love it as much as 'Train Kept A-Rollin'' and 'Dream On' and 'Same Old Song And Dance' and 'Walk This Way'? No. That's the shit I'm going to see. I wanna see it. Play those songs. Don't spend 45 minutes playing your new record because that's not the nostalgia of why you've been around for 40, 50 years."

He continued: "So we're just trying to like set ourselves up to at least give our fans what I think they expect us to do. And with this many singles, we're, like, man, how many more things are we gonna pile on our plate here before we can't even get to all of them, which is now. And that's kind of part of the reasoning behind it. So we were, like, 'Yeah, maybe it's the right time. Maybe we just go out and honor the catalog and go play live shows,' which is what we love to do, what the people love to see us do. And, again, if we write some new music, we write some new music. I don't know what's gonna happen with that right now. But we do love playing shows, and that's what we're gonna do for now."

GODSMACK will embark on the "Vibez Tour" in February 2024. The band is set to deliver a series of intimate evenings featuring acoustic/electric performances and untold stories in theatres across North America. The first leg is scheduled to begin on February 15 in Catoosa, Oklahoma, while the second leg will kick off April 9 in Valley Center, California.

"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).

The first single from "Lighting Up The Sky", "Surrender", which arrived in September 2022, marked the first release from GODSMACK in four years, following their globally acclaimed and gold-certified 2018 album "When Legends Rise", which earned the Erna-fronted outfit a No. 1 spot across U.S. Hard Rock, Rock, and Alternative album charts.

Photo credit: Chris Bradshaw