Godsmack |
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Tue. April 01.2003 12:00 AM EST |
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Godsmack: Defenders of the FacelessSinger Sully talks anger management, on-stage fisticuffs, and kicking the ass of crooked contractors. by C. Bottomley |
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Godsmack (Publicity) |
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The first thing that strikes you on meeting Godsmack’s Sully Erna is his voice. Listen to the hour-plus of metal turmoil that is the Boston band’s Faceless, and you might expect a deep, sewer-rattling bellow to leap from the compact singer.
Don’t judge him, then, by the rage he produces on record. That might be the message behind Faceless – whose title takes aim at the fact that Godsmack are better known for their music than their image. Sure, Erna rails on bruising songs like “I F*cking Hate You.” And he gives the world the finger on “I Stand Alone,” last year’s surprise Grammy nominee from The Scorpion King soundtrack. But you can quickly tell that life is pretty peachy for the singer; in conversation he enthuses over his new daughter and shakes his head in bemusement over meeting his longtime hero Hugh Hefner. Sully's also damned pleased with Godsmack’s latest – and best – album. The first single “Straight Out of Line” provides a representative taste. With its martial choruses and muscular guitar, “Line” is a lean rocker on a mission to decimate your eardrums. The band seems a bit more limber these days. The addition of drummer Shannon Larkin has let the band flex their musical muscles - check the rhythmic wriggling of their drug song, “I Am.” Erna’s new sense of hope also comes into play on songs like “Releasing the Demons,” which considers the dilemma of an angst rocker who has a little less to be angst-ridden over. So what’s a mellower Godsmack to do? Erna says that there's "plenty of other stuff to get pissed off about.” The dudes he "f*cking hates" on the above-mentioned tune are the construction workers who tried to stiff him on the price of building his dream house. But, as he told VH1, “it’s so much better to be a nice guy than a bulldog.” He can’t help but look forward to taking his tribal crew on surprise picnics, and giving the real faceless rockers something to worry about. VH1: You guys threw a party at the Playboy Mansion at the end of your last tour. What was it like meeting Hugh Hefner? Sully: It’s killer. He’s the king. His bedroom is literally the size of whole city block. It’s exactly what you would think when you meet him. He’s got the red robe and the pipe. He’s like the president. [Watch Clip] VH1: When you started Godsmack, did you ever think you’d end up partying with a hero like Hef? Sully: Playing music in clubs, you’re just hoping to make that deal. Once you get the deal, you never really think, “I wonder if I’ll ever have a platinum record?” or “I wonder if I’ll ever meet Al Pacino?” Those are bonuses that just come along the way. VH1: You made your second album Awake coming straight off tour. With Faceless you took a break first. How did that affect the final product? Sully: Your second record is important because you have to prove to people that you can do it again. The third album either plants your feet or shows that the first two records were a fluke. We had been touring for 4½ years, so we thought we’d take time to chill out. When we started writing again, there were too many distractions. So we rented a house in Florida together, and wrote and rehearsed and recorded. We just wanted to write a great record. We’ve gone back to our roots, and allowed the band to stretch out and jam, with big drum fills and cool guitar solos and great vocal melodies. That’s something the kids have been deprived of for a while. The grunge thing and rap-rock thing is great in its own right, but at the same time people have forgotten what real rock music was. This record is a real rock record. I can guarantee that. VH1: You’re clearly very dedicated to your work. When you take that time off, how do you unwind? Sully: It’s almost cruel what the record labels do to you. For two years you’re writing a record, then you’re writing your second record while touring your first one. You take six weeks off to record the second record, then go back on tour to finish touring the first. So your second album comes out - now you have to flip your set-list. Five years later they go, “No more records. Go home and relax.” You’ve been in a tornado for five years and they expect you to shut it off! I have a hard time sleeping in my own bed when I first get home. I’m so used to the bunks and the sound of the generators of the bus. After a few weeks of being home, I start to unwind. Then I’m a vegetable. I’m on the couch, clicking channels for days. [Watch Clip] VH1: Getting back on the promotion and tour treadmill, do you think, “This is where I belong?” Sully: It’s time to get back to work. Even our crew and our caterers are excited to be able to get back to work. Our group is like a tribe and our crew is like a family to us. Everybody involved in the tribe is treated really well. There are a lot of bands that don’t have that harmony amongst their crew members. VH1: How do you guys have fun with one another? Sully: On a day off, we’ll take whoever wants to come with us it to some camp grounds in Michigan or whatever. We rent boats and jet skis, do some fishing and cook on the grill. It’s such a better vibe to go out and enjoy the life that you’ve always wanted to have. The one thing I’ve learned in this business is that it’s so much better to be a nice guy than a bulldog. The reward internally, is priceless. VH1: Is anger still an important muse for you? Sully: Emotion is very important. When I’m feeling angry, sad, depressed or whatever I pick up a pen and write down how I feel. Some of those journal entries turn out to be songs. Others just sit there for myself. On the flip side, I’ve washed a lot of that emotion away on my first two records. I feel better now. I just had a beautiful baby daughter – 14 months old now – who has healed me so much and ridden me of my selfishness. It’s not about me anymore. It’s about taking care of her. I’m not pissed at the world anymore. But I am a human being and things still happen. There’s plenty of other stuff to get pissed off about. VH1: Well, there’s that ditty called “I F*cking Hate You.” Sully: That’s about the construction workers that built my house. I wanted to build my own house. They turned what was supposed to be a beautiful process into something horrible. They charged too much for things. I’m currently in a lawsuit over it. I’m kicking their ass and loving it. I believe in karma, what you do comes back to you. They got away with it for a certain period of time, but I will get back what’s owed to me - and I got a great song out of it! VH1: When was the last time you were in a physical fight? Sully: Late ’98 or early ’99. We were doing a show in Florida and I had jumped out into the crowd during one of the songs. The security guards at the barricades didn’t see me go out. When [one guard] saw me coming back, he assumed I was a fan and chased me up on stage. He was on a mission to tackle me. I was going for my microphone and tried to say, ‘’I’m the singer!’’ He grabbed me and put me in this crazy bear-hug hold. At that point, I knew it was on. That was the last time I ever hit anybody. The headline was “Security Guard Gets Godsmack-ed at Local Concert.” [Watch Clip] VH1: What’s the band dynamic like? Are you the boss? Sully: I’m definitely not the peacemaker. If anything I’m the troublemaker! In any company, there’s always the leader that has to carve out the path, and I guess that’s what I am. But it works okay, because everyone really respects the vision that I have for this band. I started the band. I single-handedly picked every member in it. Now it’s easier, ever since we got our new drummer, Shannon Larkin. His aura is so positive, that he breathes a whole new life into us. The band is closer now than we’ve ever been. That’s why we’ve put out such a great record. VH1: There’s only one rock record in the Billboard Top 20 at the moment. Does that worry you a bit? Sully: Yeah - it bums me out. It’s a total drag to see some of the bands considered rock actually in a rock category. People need to get their sh*t together when it comes to categorizing bands, because some of those groups shouldn’t be in a rock category. That’s a rip-off for those that are rock bands. VH1: When you listen to the new rock bands, are you encouraged? Sully: We went through the ‘90s grunge thing and the rap-rock thing, and now, that’s starting to go away a bit. I definitely think we’re in an in-between stage, because the bands like Saliva and Creed and Nickelback are boring to me. We’re not the new music, though. We’re a simple, hard rock band, and we play the basics. We’re no different than Zeppelin was - but we’re not as vintage sounding as them. |
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