GODSMACK

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK Set Release Date For New Album

GODSMACK have set an April 25 release date for their new album, "IV". The album's first single, "Speak", will be released to radio on Tuesday, February 14.

In a recent interview with MTV.com, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna had the following to say about the follow-up to 2003's "Faceless": "It's a killer record, and I'm really curious to see what the public's going to think of it. It's still GODSMACK — I don't think it's lost the integrity of what GODSMACK has built our career off. The toughness of the sound is still there. But we've expanded a little bit more. After 'Faceless', we started to spread our wings a bit and reintroduce guitar solos and stuff like that. The acoustic record [2004's 'The Other Side'] was a departure and it was very well received. It opened up a new audience for us — a lot more adults were coming to the shows, bringing their kids and having a glass of wine. That gave us a permission slip to take it to the next level.

"It will perk people's eyebrows up again," he added. "The first couple of records were kind of the same record, in a sense. They were sort of bordering that metal sound and then the third record had more rock mixed into it. ['The Other Side'] really softened up the sound. This one is more rock and roll, and some songs are very epic, in a TOOL [-ish] sense. Some songs are like old-school GODSMACK, like 'Bad Religion'. It's going to service the core fans and introduce some new music to those fans. It's also going to recruit a bigger and broader audience, because the songwriting has matured so much."

Other songtitles expected to appear on the CD include "Livin' in Sin", "Shine Down" (which comes complete with "killer harmonica") and "Voodoo Too".



"Hey Kid Rick... are you still a witch like me?!"

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK's SULLY ERNA Working On NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS Theme Song

Launch Radio Networks reports: To call Sully Erna of GODSMACK a fan of the New England Patriots would be an understatement.

The singer rang in 2006 by performing the national anthem at a January 1 game in New England and now comes word that he's working on a theme song for the team.

Erna tells Launch he hopes to finish the song soon and present it to team owner Jonathan Kraft. "It's something I was working on and I'm continuing to work on but it's not a sealed deal yet so it's just kind of like a little novelty hobby I was throwing around and passing some ideas with Jonathan Kraft on and when I finish it I'll present it to him and if he's into it, he's into it, if he's not, he's not," he said. "It's not a big deal to me but it would be really cool if we ended up nailing something like that."



"Leave something witchy!"

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK Frontman To Publish Memoir In February

A web site has been launched for GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna's upcoming memoir, "The Paths We Choose", which details the first 30 years of his life up until GODSMACK got signed.

www.thepathswechoose.com/

Due on February 7 via Bartleby Press, the book "is about what it took to get from Point A to Point B," Sully previously told Launch. "It's not the autobiography that's so cliché that talks about all the girls we (slept with) and how many drugs we've done and... who cares. This is a cooler story for me." Erna also said that the book will have "a lot of morals and lessons to be learned in it."

GODSMACK plans to take some time off at the beginning of 2007 so that bassist Robbie Merrill and his wife can welcome their first child, a girl. Erna told Launch what else is in the works for the beginning of the year. "January through March is gonna be dead time for us," he said. "We're just gonna take some time to relax with our families, maybe have a little vacation. I'm probably gonna go out to California and work, and I might try to tap into the acting thing a little bit more and maybe take some courses and that's kind of really where I'd like to go, is into the movie world a little bit. So I might go pursue that a little bit, and probably fire it back up around March or April."



GODSMACK drummer Shannon Larkin, guitarist Tony Rombola and bassist Robbie Merrill's side project, called ANOTHER ANIMAL, is tentatively scheduled to release its debut disc in early 2007.

GODSMACK plans to shoot a video for its new single, "The Enemy", and might enlist veteran actor Chazz Palminteri to direct it. Palminteri's acting credits include "The Usual Suspects", "A Bronx Tale" and "Analyze This".

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK Frontman 'Traumatized' By Car Crash

GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna's manager has told Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa of BostonHerald.com that the three-car pile-up in Methuen, Massachusetts the other night still has the bruised rocker "shaken up."

"He's deeply concerned for the girl who was hurt in this unfortunate accident," said Paul Geary, referring to Lindsay Taylor, 25, of Chelmsford, who remains in serious condition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

But, he said, Erna will put in an appearance tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 18) at Tresca for a private, low-key book reception for his memoir, "The Paths We Choose", thrown by family and friends. And on Saturday afternoon, Sully will sign his rags-to-rock 'n' roll riches book at Borders in the Back Bay.

Erna crashed his Hummer H3 into the rear of a Toyota Camry on the Route 93 ramp at Route 213 at 7 p.m. Wednesday night (April 11). Taylor, who the Eagle-Tribune reported is in a coma and on life support, was sitting in the back seat of the Camry.

Mass. State Police spokesman Sgt. Robert Bousquet said no charges were filed since the accident is "still under investigation."

Geary said Erna explained to the staties that his car was the third car in the pile-up. He rear-ended the Toyota after it had rammed into a Honda Odyssey driven by a Londonderry, N.H., woman, according to his manager.

"Sully's thankful he got out with a split lip and some aches and pains, but he's traumatized about the girl," Geary said.

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK To Release 10th Anniversary Box Set

Gary Graff of Billboard.com reports that GODSMACK will release a 10th anniversary box set later this year.

The Boston band — currently on a theater run continuing to promote its 2006 release "IV" — plan to commemorate the 10-year celebration of their first album with a package that gathers together its four studio albums, the acoustic EP "The Other Side" and a DVD featuring mini-documentaries about the making of each album. There will also be some live footage and possibly the group's 2004 acoustic performance in Las Vegas.

"We're just gonna try to make it really special," drummer Shannon Larkin tells Billboard.com. "Basically Universal, who we've been with since day one, said to us, 'You tell us what you need and we'll write the check. We want this to be special, too.' We wanted to make it a road case, but as we were doing some research we saw that METALLICA made one of their box sets look like a road case, so that's out. If anyone has any suggestions, we're open..."

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK Frontman Questioned In Massachusetts Murder Probe

Grammy-nominated Godsmack frontman Sully Erna and a guitar hero pal partied with a Tyngsboro woman just days before she was allegedly slashed to death by her jealous husband, and both rockers have been questioned as part of the murder probe, the Herald has learned.

Erna, lead singer of the multi-platinum Bay State metal band, recently met Christine McGee and hung out with her and others on at least three occasions in the days leading up to her savage murder last week, according to Erna’s manager, Paul Geary.

“She was pretty enamored with the whole thing. She was at his house and couldn’t believe she was hanging around Sully,” Geary said. “She was kind of like star-struck.”

But Geary said Erna was not romantically involved with the 31-year-old McGee, and that the rocker met her through his musician pal Gary Hoey.

Hoey, a world-renowned guitar virtuoso with 13 albums under his belt, and Erna have both been questioned by police investigating the slaying, Geary and Hoey’s lawyer, Andrew LaCourse, said.

Neither man is a suspect in the case. A spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone declined comment.

Prosecutors say Jeffrey McGee, a wannabe rock singer, slashed his estranged wife’s throat in front of their 3-year-old son in a Chelmsford apartment Nov. 20. McGee, 36, fled the scene with the toddler and intentionally drove into oncoming traffic, injuring himself and the boy, police say.

McGee, who is being held without bail on murder charges, had a turbulent history with his wife that included a 2003 domestic violence charge, court records show. He also filed for bankruptcy in 2005 after he racked up more than $48,000 in credit card debt and loans, according to filings.

His attorney, Thomas J. Ford, said he had no information on the couple’s relationship. Jeffrey McGee’s mother hung up on a reporter and Christine McGee’s family could not be reached.

According to Geary, Hoey brought McGee to a party at Erna’s New Hampshire house just days before the murder. Erna, 39, also met her at a club and a concert.

“He met her a couple of times but Sully didn’t have that kind (romantic) of a relationship with her,” he said.

Hoey, 47, grew up in Lowell and has toured with fellow guitar heroes Ted Nugent, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Peter Frampton. He’s also a music producer and once played the national anthem at a Red Sox [team stats] game.

Erna, a Lawrence native whose band has sold more than 12 million albums, released an autobiography this year that details his legal scrapes, failed relationships, drug use and meteoric rise to fame.

He was also involved in a terrifying three-car pile-up in Chelmsford in April in which his Hummer rear-ended a woman’s vehicle, leaving her seriously injured.

Geary said Erna was “freaked out” when he learned of the murder.

“Sully’s got his own life, his own girlfriend and his own career,” he said. “He doesn’t want anyone to believe he was involved in this thing.”

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK Frontman Sully Erna... Still a Witch

BostonHerald.com reports that GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna was among the 100 Wiccans who flew in from around the country over the weekend for a surprise 75th birthday party for Laurie Cabot, the Official Witch of Salem.

"Before I met Laurie, I was in a really low point in my life," Sully told the crowd. "I owe Laurie everything. (She) changed my life around."

Spooky Spooky.

[muthagoose]

GODSMACK Singer Launching Solo Tour

The Pulse of Radio reports that GODSMACK lead singer Sully Erna will head out on a solo acoustic tour beginning May 1, according to a post at the band's official web site. Erna has four shows confirmed so far, with more to be announced, and the post says that the vocalist plans to perform "songs from GODSMACK's decade-long repertoire and several new solo pieces in what he describes as a 'living room'atmosphere." Erna himself said in the statement, "My goal doing these shows is that fans get to experience me as I see myself. Not filtered through the fame and the hype."

Erna is also said to be working on songs for a solo recording project.

GODSMACK went on hiatus at the end of 2007 after touring in support of its fourth album, 2006's "IV". The band issued a greatest hits collection, called "Good Times Bad Times...Ten Years of Godsmack", this past December.

The other three members of GODSMACK recorded and released an album under the name ANOTHER ANIMAL last fall.

Confirmed Sully Erna solo dates:

May 01 - Niagara Falls, NY - Seneca Casino
May 03 - Wilmington, DE - Grand Opera House
May 16 - Atlantic City, NJ - The Music Box at Borgata Casino
May 17 - Albany, NY - The Egg