Sully Erna - vocals
Tony Rombolo - guitar
Robbie Merrill - bass
Tommy Stewart - drums
Band Biography:
GODSMACK is a Boston-based band who were simply
too undeniable to be ignored. Their self titled major label
debut isn't a calculated, big budget offering. In fact, it
started out as a self-released CD the band recorded in
1996 for about $2,500 with the money they borrowed
from a friend. Expecting maybe to make back the cost of
the recording, they peddled the disc to a local retail
chain, Newbury Comics, the only outlet that agreed to
carry the project. Shortly thereafter, a disc jockey at
local radio station WAAF embraced the song "Keep
Away" and began playing the song 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
inevitably signed the band to his management group
PGE.
Before long, airplay increased dramatically. With the
blistering track "Whatever" (a combustive cut that
grooves as it grinds) being spun regularly on WAAF,
sales grew at a staggering rate. The disc became the #2
best-selling album at Newbury Comics.
"I was really shocked," recalls Sully, "Our album began
selling 900 to 1000 copies a week!" After meeting with
several interested labels, GODSMACK chose to sign
with Republic Records in July 1998.
Before Sully formed GODSMACK, he played drums in
a band called Strip Mind, which broke up in 1994. For a
year, he went into hibernation, then he started getting that
itch to write music again, so he called up his friend/bassist
Robbie Merrill and asked him if he was interested in
jamming on some new stuff. The two hooked up with
drummer Tommy Stewart (ex-Lillian Axe) and local
guitarist Lee Richards. A few months later, both Richards
and Stewart quit the band. Guitarist Tony Rombolo
skillfully slipped into the guitar slot and a guy named Joe
Darko filled the drumseat for years, although he didn't
actually play on the band's record. That honor was held
by Sully , who has been playing drums since age four. In
1997, after the band's star sign had begun to rise, Darko
left and GODSMACK invited original drummer Stewart
back into the fold.
Throughout the album, Sully sings about the emotional
extremes that often shadow people with intense lifestyles
. "Timebomb" addresses the day-to-day pressures and
frustrations that life often dishes out, "Immune" is about
urban vampires who suck the identities from their victims
by emulating their fashion sense and behavior patterns
and "Voodoo" is based on the bizarre film epic The
Serpent and the Rainbow.
"There are a lot of emotional highs and lows in my songs,
but they're genuine emotions" says Sully, " I seem to do
my best writing when I'm down. For me, writing is a
release of energy." In addition to channeling his energies
through GODSMACK's aggressive music, he channels
the 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, it's simply about
worshipping the power of the earth, and that's it! It's a
positive religion that has helped me through a lot of bad
times."
