SULLY ERNA On Solo Tour: 'This Is A Very Seductive, Beautiful, Scenic, Cinematic Kind Of Show'

Keith Loria of The Stamford Times recently conducted an interview with GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On his debut solo album, "Avalon":

"It was important for me to show who I am now. When I am home, I'm not a guy who is banging shots and drinking beers all night and standing on the bar and being a maniac. I have those moments, but I also have moments where I want to lie on the couch with a comforter and eat chicken soup and watch movies and just be in my sweat pants all day and be mellow. I wanted to reflect that in my music."

"The goal is to try and touch people on an emotional level. It's built off seven other world-class musicians. I have a classically trained cello player from Bulgaria, one of the original guys from DEAD CAN DANCE, who came over from Ireland; and Lisa Guyer, who has a four-octave bluesy background voice. It's very cool and different."

"Back in the day, when PINK FLOYD did 'Dark Side Of The Moon' and those sort of records, it was an experience. You put the record on, and you would never put the needle in the middle of the album. You would start at the beginning and play the whole record. That's what I feel like 'Avalon' is a musical journey down the rabbit hole and it really touches you on an emotional level."

On the differences between GODSMACK and his solo material:

"I was a very young, angry boy at the time as I was writing a lot of that stuff but I've grown so much over the last 15 years. This big machine like GODSMACK really built my career, but through that birthed this beautiful side of me that I knew was always there but I just had to tap into at some point."

"Of course there will always be the knuckleheads who can't accept any type of music but metal. ... but for sure, it's drawing a different demographic of people, but also the fan base I had. If history has taught us anything, it's that sometimes very beautiful things come out of something very dark."

On how his solo performances differ from those of GODSMACK:

"It's going to be a very distinct departure from GODSMACK. This is not about pyro and all the bells and whistles and who can jump higher off the drum rise and things like that. This is a very kind of seductive, beautiful, scenic, cinematic kind of show."

On whether his GODSMACK bandmates been supportive of his solo effort:

"They all wished me luck and we have gotten through a lot of difficult times with much difficult problems through the years. They may wonder if this thing goes, will GODSMACK be done, but I have reassured them that I have no reason to kill GODSMACK. That would be stupid for me to do. It's not only my bread and butter, but it's the other side that I need. I would only be half a man if I didn't have both."

Read the entire interview from The Stamford Times.