New England Music Scrapbook
Godsmack

Godsmack was organized in 1995. Members--Sully Erna, Robbie Merrill, Tony Rombola, Tommy Stewart--previously played in such outfits as the Fighting Cocks, Lillian Axe, Meliah Rage, Seka (a.k.a., Strip Mind), and various cover bands. The group's name resulted from an instance of divine retribution at a rehearsal, though band members also must have had the Alice in Chains song, "God Smack," in the backs of their minds.

The first couple years of Godsmack's existence, as far as I can tell, were not covered at all by Boston's major print publications. All we can do is imagine a string of club dates in and around the city.

A turning point was needed, and one came, evidently in 1997, when Godsmack spent fourteen days recording at Boston's New Alliance Studio with producer Andrew Murdoch. (His last name has been affectionately transformed into "Mudrock.") Out of these sessions came their debut album, All Wound Up (CD, self-published, 1997). Another break came not much later, when Newbury Comics agreed to take the album on consignment. It began selling at a decent rate.

Rocko, WAAF's overnight disk jockey, got the disc and asked the station's program director, Dave Douglas, if he could play it. Un huh. "Keep Away" went into rotation at night, and soon it was picked up by other WAAF programs. Growing numbers of listeners called in, requestion to hear material from the Godsmack album.

Little if any reason exists to believe that Godsmack was catching on in any big way in Boston; but they were starting to become a phenomenon in the suburbs.

Various players tell different stories about what happened next. No matter. Sources generally agree that the result was a weekend session at New Alliance at which the band recorded their song, "Whatever." "I thought it was heads above whatever else was on the album," said WAAF's Dave Douglas. "So we created our own edit and put it in regular rotation starting right then." That would have been around the start of 1998.

Suddenly the members of Godsmack found themselves with a serious local hit on their hands. They used shrink wrap to bundle the new single together with the album. All Wound Up had been selling at Newbury Comics at a rate of about fifty copies a week. The new single caused sales to increase nearly ten fold.

"Whatever" was about the breakup of a relationship. "It's also about getting over it, saying whatever," observed frontman Sully Erna. "That cycle is a universal occurrence, which is why people are relating to it."

GODSMACK WAS PLAYING TO FULL HOUSES at larger venues and their record entered Billboard's regional chart. They signed on with an agent whose other bands included Korn and Tool. In June 1998, they agreed to a recording contract with Republic/Universal. By that time, All Wound Up had sold nearly 20,000 copies.

Mudrock remixed their album; and in August, a remastered version, with "Whatever" included, was issued nationally as Godsmack (CD, Republic, 1998). An in-concert performance of "Whatever" was made into a video.

Godsmack's management, record-label executives, and members of the band agreed, early on, to break the group largely through extensive touring. So the first few months of 1999 found this outfit headlining at large clubs across the country. All the while, "Whatever" was on the rise, even on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. Back home, Godsmack was nominated for four Boston Music Awards. 1999 was looking to be a very good year.

During the early summer months, Godsmack played in amphitheaters and then they performed as part of the Ozzfest. By the fall, the followup single, "Keep Away," gave the band its second national hit. By winter, their album had gone platinum--a million copies sold. (By mid-summer, it had gone triple platinum.) Members of the group actually knew few details of their success. "We don't really hear much about that stuff," said frontman Sully Erna. "We ask to be cut out of that kind of information...."

By spring of the year 2000, Godsmack ended fourteen months of nearly constant touring. Erna got busy working up material for the band's second album. "I wanted to ... rest for a couple of weeks," he said. "But I found that I couldn't relax until this thing is done. I'll take a break after I write this record." Time was tight, though, with individual shows booked here and there and the next tour already on the horizon.

The April 14th issue of the Boston Globe carried the headline, "Godsmack Wins Big at Music Awards." Yes indeed, these guys were doing okay in the old home town. Godsmack won the Kahlua Boston Music Awards' Act of the Year and best rock band on a major label. Sully Erna won for best male vocalist on a major label and for writing the song, "Keep Away." Godsmack performed that number, as well as "Voodoo." Steve Morse of the Boston Globe said the group "electrified" the BMA crowd. Erna thanked all the band's fans and said, "You have given us the most unbelievable year of our lives."

BY THIS TIME, MUDROCK HAD RELOCATED to Los Angeles; but he came back to produce Godsmack's followup album. Recording took place at River's Edge Studio, a converted "crappy, smelly warehouse" in Haverhill. "I didn't want to move too far from what we really are," said Sully Erna. "So I chose to stay in the dumps." Judging from Erna's numerous press interviews, it would appear, in fact, that the members of Godsmack have gone far out of their way to remain true to the band's gritty, work-ethic origins. This is part of Godsmack's charm.

A local appearance followed in May at WBCN's River Rave in Foxboro Stadium. Late in July at the Tweeter Center, according to the Boston Globe, Godsmack "ignited the sold-out crowd of 19,900 fans" during their part of the Ozzfest. Godsmack's set included a new song, "Sick of Life," from their forthcoming album.

Sully Erna, in the past, has spoken ill of Napster. At the Tweeter Center, his remarks about the controversial file-swapping Web service drew scattered booing. However, such disputes could hardly be said to have harmed the band's popularity, as evidenced by the fact that their debut album had sold more than 3,000,000 copies. The Globe called Godsmack "the biggest Boston band since Aerosmith." *

Godsmack agreed to co-star, along with the Stone Temple Pilots, in the MTV "Return of the Rock Tour" in the fall, which put an end to talk that the Boston band might play at Winter Island in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween--the release date of their second album. Sully Erna has received much publicity--not all of it serious and respectful--for his involvement in Wicca, a religion of witches.

"Awake," the first single from the new album, went out to radio stations the first week in October. Steve Morse called the new album, also titled Awake (CD, Republic, 2000), "another bone-crunching winner;" and he included it on the list of his ten favorite discs of the year. "We think," said Sully Erna, "it's a very aggressive record, but also shows more maturity." "It has a very raw edge to it. ... But it still has a lot of good grooves, and it still has a lot of power."

Each of Godsmack's records has its strengths. My personal favorite is their national debut album, because its melodies are more varied. This may be one reason why they had success with such singles as "Whatever," "Keep Away," "Voodoo," and "Bad Religion." Awake, the second national release, is as raw as the folks in the Godsmack camp say, though the sound quality is much better. Clearly Mudrock was a key player in the making of Awake, producing an hypnotic bottom for the recording. Godsmack is often called an alt-metal band. Their third album may very well determine whether their music is indeed an alternative to mainstream heavy metal.

"What started out as just this little band from the Boston area has grown into a leader," said Avery Lippmann, president of Republic Records. "Everyone is talking about the return of rock music. Well, guess what? They're leading the charge."

"Being in a band that made it out of Boston," said Sully Erna, "is like living out a dream for me. It's the way I always wanted it to happen rather than jumping into some band that was already together in LA or something. It means a lot more to me personally this way."

-- Alan Lewis, January 16, 2001

New England Music Scrapbook News
A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I-J	K	L
M	N	O	P-Q	R	S	T	U-V	W	XYZ
New England Music Scrapbook Home Page

Webmaster: Alan Lewis