Godsmack originated in New England. at first they were a small, unknown rock band. That was then. Over the past fourteen mounths they've toured the world, set the record for most weeks on Billboard's active rock chart, sold over a million copies of their self-titled debut album, garnered four Boston Music Award nominations, and appeared on The Late Night With Conan O'Brein Rolling Stone described Godsmack as "hard as nails and cranked to eleven", while Alternative Press praised the band for its "churning, riff-driven hybrid of all that is heavy, past and present". Of the album, Guitar World wrote, "Godsmack's debut is a no-frills, no-nonsense dose of hard, brooding rock , which despite it's low budget sounds totally awesome and champions and substance over flash". "Som times the four of us look at each other in disbelief, all this stuff is almost too good to be true. When we hear the album had gone platinum, we were in shock. Up to that point, we were still trying to comprehend the fact that it had gone gold", says vocalist Sully Erna. With their debut album, Godsmack emerged fully formed and burning rubber, their succes fueled by the adreniline-charged bast of lead single "Whatever" spent more than a year on the Billboard Active Rock Chart. The song also holds the record on the same chart for most weeks spent in the top 10 (32 weeks). At one point the band acheived another milestone for having two songs in the top 10 of Billboard Monitor's Active Rock chart-stimutaniously- as t "Whatever" was joined by their second blistering single - "Keep Away". No wonder they won the Boston Music Award for Debut Album of the Year. Godsmack toured relentlesly in the support of the record, playing with bigger crowds each gig. In addition to a plathora of club shows, the band gave electrifieing performances at both Ozzfest and Woodstock '99, followed by a tour opening for the legendary Black Sabbath.
"The guys in Black Sabbath hve been reallt good to us" says Sully, "One day during he Ozzfest tour I was kidding around with (Black Sabbath guitarist) Tony Lommi and said, "My favorite song is Heaven And Hell...you have to play it". He said that Ozzy wasnt into it, so I jokingly answered, "Well, I'll sing it". Two days later he called my bluff, asking me to sing the song with them during their soundcheck. Although i was really nervous, I got up there and fronted Sabbath. That was huge talk of a lifetime. We did Woodstock right after that and was just as amazing. To see 100,000 people Going nuts like that blew us away. We were totally overwhelmed. That was probably the most fun we've ever had on stage."
Godsmack's rapid rise throug the rock ranks can be traced back to Boston's New Alliance Studios in 1996. With money borrowed frm a friend, they recorded their debut album in just three days at a bargain basement price of only $2,500. Hoping to break even, they peddeled the disk to a local retail chain, Newbury Comics, the only outlet that agreed to carry the album. Shortly after, Rocko, a dick jockey at a local radio station, "WAAF" embraced the song "Keep Away" and began spinning the track on his weekly evening program. Meanwhile, the band was performing regularly on the Boston Club scene and soon drew the attention of Paul Geary, a long-time friend of Sully's and former drummer and manager of the group Extreme, who signed the band to his managment company, PGM. Before long, airplay increased dramaticly with several other New England Staion on the board spinning "Whatever" , and sales grew at a staggering rate.
Sully said, "We had maybe been selling 50 copies a month at the time WAAF picked up the album. All of a sudden we started moving over 1,00 albums a week. It was insane. Even crazier, I was doing all this from my bedroom. After years of grinding away, things were finally starting to take off." According to Sully, when the blistering disk became he #2 hottest sellling album at Newbury Comics, the industry sat up and took notice, asking, "Who is this unsigned band thats out-selling our artists?" After meeting with several interested labels, Godsmack chose to sign with Republic Records in July of 1998. Sully, who played drums for the now-defunct Strip Mind, formed Godsmack in 1995, with friend/bassist Robbie Merril and drummer Tommy Stewart, solidifieing the lineup shortly after wih the addition of guitarist Tony Rombola. Throughout the album, Sully sings about the emotional extreems that often shadow people with intense lifestyles. "Timebomb" addresses the day-to-day frustrations of life on the edge. "Immune" is about urban vampires that suck the identities from their victims by emulating their fashion sense and behavior patterns. "Voodoo" is based on the bizzare film, "The Serpant and the Rainbow". "There are a lot of emotional highs and lows in my songs, but theyre genuine emotions", says Sully, "I seem to do my best writing when im down. For me writing is a release of energy." In addition to channeling his energies through Godsmack's aggreessive sound, he channels that energy via more spiritual paths as well. He is a practicing Witch of the Celtic Religion (WICCA) under Salem Witch Laurie Cabot., and he continues to weave the Wiccan arts and rituals into the fabric of his daily life. "It's been my salvation." He says candidly. "A lot of people are confused about witchcraft, but its simply about worshiping the power of the earth. It's a positive religion that has helped me hrough a lot of bad times." As for the future, Sully says the band plans to head into the studio next year, hoping to have a finished record out by the middle of 2000. In the meantime they'll continue to spread the Godsmack gospel, including an end-of-the-year European tour with Black Sabbath. "This has been an unbelievable year for us" says the vocalist. "We've been working so hard we almost didn't notice what was happening. It's only when we look back and see what we've accomplished. To be honest, we couldn't have written this story any better". |
