SULLY ERNA: 'GODSMACK Is A Big, Hard Rock Band'

Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times recently conducted an interview with GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On pursuing a solo career alongside his main gig as the singer and leader of GODSMACK:

Erna: "I just know that we [GODSMACK] do what we do, and we'll continue to do what we do. I don't really see GODSMACK going anywhere, unless something weird happens and internally the band self-destructs. We've gotten over a lot and come a long way since we were younger and kids — doing drugs, drinking, fighting, not getting along. We've way come over that hill and gotten to the other side and found that love again. I don't see GODSMACK going anywhere, and I don't see anything that I do is going to hurt it. Even if branding my own name and doing movie scores really takes off and becomes five times more popular than GODSMACK, it's only going to strengthen GODSMACK, and I think people will continue to follow where I go and what I do."

On last year's GODSMACK album "The Oracle", which was the band's third straight studio album to debut at No. 1:

Erna: "I feel like we've identified what our sound is — GODSMACK is a big, hard rock band. We're not really metal, and we're not really rock 'n' roll — we're in that in-between that's lighter than metal but harder than rock. It is what it is, man, and it's important to continue to try and stay in our niche. We've learned we don't want to branch out too far. Sometimes, we've experimented with that, and it seems like when we have, the audience humors us a bit. 'Serenity', 'Shine Down', 'One Rainy Day' — people seem to say, 'Those are good songs, but when are you going to play the hard stuff?' That's what they want, and that's what we'll deliver. That's what we did on 'The Oracle' — we said (forget) the ballads; let's go put out a badass hard rock record."

On "Avalon", Erna's solo album that was released last fall:

Erna: "The bottom line is that I'm known for being in a hard rock band as a hard rock singer, and that band that took off and gave me a career. But I've been a musician my whole life, since I was 3, playing multiple instruments. A lot of times I'll be sitting in a dressing room with an acoustic guitar or at home playing piano with my daughter, and a lot of times I'll create beautiful cool different kinds of pieces that I just know wouldn't be right for GODSMACK, even acoustically. So I've tucked them away and waited for the opportunity when we took a decent enough break to record them and put them out there for myself. I just love to write and compose music, and GODSMACK happened to be what put me out there. I'm not trying to kill GODSMACK, because I love the guys and the band, but there's another side to me that I love, and I love to challenge myself. I think there's a moment in every artist's career where, if you're passionate about continuing to grow, you need to think about branching out."

Read the entire interview from The Daily Times.