BMMS Interviews Sully from Godsmack

Sully stopped by for a chat about his documentary, the new tour and playing poker.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning, good afternoon, goodevening, good night. Right, it's
not it's not the morning. You'renot your radio's not broken. I just
have a special guest. We wantedto make sure we got to talk to
and Sully Earna from Gotsmax in thestudio. Heybody here here present, raising
my hand. Teacher. Were psychedthat you could come hang out with us.

(00:23):
We knew you'd been in town.How many days, like four or
five days? You've been in townalready? Right, Oh, I just
got here yesterday. I thought youguys were rehearsing there. We rehearsed at
we have our headquarters back in northof Boston, so we did most of
the rehearsing there, and then thecrew flew in Monday. They flew in
Monday, they loaded in Tuesday.They had a whole tech day Tuesday,

(00:47):
Wednesday, the band came in.Yeah, and we did our sound check
and did some tweaking and then youknow, today's rock and roll. How
deep are you because the this touris different than your other tours. This
feels almost passion project for you,like to for the fans and stuff.
Because you're you're not doing it isnot a normal Godsmack show. I think
people are going too far say anacoustic based on what I've read. This

(01:08):
is not an acoustic show. Thisis different. Yeah, it's different.
The reason why we're calling it aVibes Tours because we wanted not only to
just get back on the road anddo more shows, so our break wasn't
because you know, here's the deal. We toured all last year, right,
and we hit pretty hard, likethe big stages, big show,
pyrotechnics, blah blah blah, andit kind of beats on your body after

(01:30):
a while. Right, we've kindof we've labeled Godsmack as like more of
a full contact sport than a concert, right, at least that's what I
addressing. Smell like it's like Bengay Ace bandages before we go on like
that. But you know, it'snice to give you a body a break.
And we ended at the end ofOctober, so normally we wouldn't ramp

(01:51):
back up again to like April orMay. But that's like a long time
to keep the crew off the roadfor us not to be playing so rather
than going out and starting on thebig stage is too early, and those
shows don't really start up till summertime. We thought this would be a good
opportunity to revisit something we did backin OH four, which was strictly an
acoustic time. Yeah, but likeblend it all and create, like,

(02:13):
you know, we'll do acoustic songsbecause we do have some of those,
but we're also going to do fullyelectric songs. We're going to do some
really vibey, nostalgic covers. Wemight dive into some old Zeppelin and plain
pink Floyd and make up, youknow, just create anything that's like a
cool vibe, yeah, and reallytake people on a musical journey, right
because your shows you always play,you know, people come for a certain

(02:35):
experience of godsmack with the music andhearing all the hits and you don't get
to get into some of those songs. Yeah, and tell you how much
stories about some of the songs andwhat they meant to us when we wrote
them, things like that, butyou know, just really bring them into
like an experience like it used tobe back in the day when Floyd and
people like that took you on thisjourney. Right. So this is like
kind of a jam band night withyou know, some storytelling in there,

(02:57):
because you when you did the Ofour tour. Was that kind of a
storytelling too, like you would,Yeah, a Q and a microphone some
some of that stuff. I don'tknow if we're going to do the Q
and A thing because people people getweird. Yeah, you get like one
or two and then the rest ofYeah, trains off the rails, right
yeah. Uh, well, dude, we're excited. I know the show
is. I think there were liketwenty tickets left left this morning. It's

(03:19):
been a huge demand show. Iknow the next couple of dates are are
done. Like what a great experienceto do and an these smaller shows for
you guys. That's cool. It'sa cool venue too. I just went
and checked it out last night andit's it's cool. It's intimate, it's
warm. We kind of came upwith a really cool vibe for the stage
and it's going to be very witchy. Yeah, it's gonna be witchy.

(03:39):
It's weird, but it's kind ofa big intimate place, right. Yeah.
All these rooms that we're going todo are kind of like that.
They're in the two three thousand rangeand uh, and it's just you know,
it's intimate enough to keep it warmand intimate, but it's it's big
enough to be able to still puton a little bit of a production.
To you, guys, have neverany show you put on, you've never
disaplined, regardless of what the setlistlooks like. So it's I know,

(03:59):
it's gonna deliver tonight over at thehard Rock. Yeah, yeah, I
mean it's just a different twist.It's a different angle on God's smack.
You know, a lot of peopleare just used to seeing us on the
big stage. Come up, hitthat button. I'm gonna do that a
lot now amount of time. Sodo you prefer doing those intimate shows like

(04:29):
you're doing tonight at the hard Rockor do you prefer like you sell out
arenas and you guys do huge outdoormusic festivals, So do you prefer like
the intimate stuff or the bigger stages? You know, it's I can't really
answer that because it's it's two differentanimals, Okay, you know what I
mean. One of it, likeone of them is a big energy and

(04:50):
like I said, it's kind oflike preparing for a fight, you know,
like it's a whole different mentality preparingfor one of those shows. Yeah,
and then this is more of avibe. This is more of the
seductive side. This is more oflike the vibey or kind of like so
I put myself in more of ameditative state, you know. I want
to, like we focus on themusicianship and putting on good, you know,

(05:14):
performances. For me, I wantto really concentrate on a good vocal
performance and things like that, wherethe other shows are more about the energy
and the production and the entertainment valueof it. Right you're put on the
gas, You're not going to breathe. I'm gonna suffocate you with rock.
And then this is like, no, we're going on a trip. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, this is youknow, and these are the kind
of shows I also enjoy. LikeI love going to see you know,

(05:34):
a Peter Frampton concert or Kansas oryou know whoever, like a lot of
that stuff that we grew up with. Man, I feel like we've lost
some of the art of just musicianshipover the years because technology has really taken
you know, a lot of badlevel musicians and turn them into something that

(05:55):
people think are really good musicians whenit's really just a lot of like AI
and auto tuning and you know,this band still plays our instruments, we
still sing with our vocals, andlike there's imperfections in that too, but
that's to me part of the beautyof art, right, because a painter
doesn't get it always right. Apainting is beautiful and it's classic and legendary

(06:19):
in its own way because it's justhow it came out that day. Yeah,
we were having this conversation the otherday because de Snyder came out saying,
like backing tracks during live shows andhow not fair that is not he
didn't use those words, but howit's not okay, And we had a
discussion of like, maybe it isokay. I'm there to see them rock
and perform and if that's the show, but what you're saying is, look,

(06:40):
we're going to be authentic, andif our authentic self is hey,
we messed that note up or becauseI'm off a little bit, that's so
what that's the way it is,you know, that's the stuff that I
remember back in the day, likeit gave me the goosebumps if I heard
Janis Joplin reaching for a note andshe didn't quite get there and it cracked
a little bit. But there wasso much passion in the delivery. That's
the stuff to me that would likemake my hair stand on my back.

(07:01):
I'm like, oh my god,Like it's such a good performance. Listening
to those records that we grew upwith, the Old Stones records and Arrowsmith
when you can hear those little squeaksand sounds and things in the background that
like you just live by right asa musician, Like, those are the
moments for me that I just go, ah, it's so perfect because it's
so imperfect and I don't ever wantto be that polished that It's like,

(07:25):
I want to put on a greatshow. I want to put on a
great performance. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sing out a
key all night. But but youknow, moments happen, and that to
me is part of the beauty ofthe ride. And like to give people
that one experience that maybe that nextshow isn't going to give them. You
know, you get to be thereand witness that. Yeah, I never
want your audience to think you weresinging along with a track that won't I've

(07:46):
never not in my life. Yeah, have you ever done a click track
or anything. There was a coupleof times where we were trying to lock
video to the music so the videosequences would hit with the exact stabs of
the music. But even that,you know, and of course the crew
is like, yes, we're gonnajust lock everything time code, boom boom

(08:07):
boom, lights, video pile,everything's perfectly on cue. It lasted like
two shows and we're like, allthat new gear we just bought, throw
it in the garbage. We're gonnatake all those computers and smash them now
because I hate being on a leash. I hated being on a click track.
So that didn't last man, andwe ended up and thank god our
cru has been with us for awhile. So we have these guys that

(08:28):
they're just so great at what theydo that they're like, okay, fine,
we'll go in old school again,and like you have to manually push
the button. When we say thebomb goes off here, or a flame
puff's out there, or the videohits here, you're pushing that button just
like we're striking our guitar and hittinga drum on our hands. Yeah,
that's how it is. So andthey're proud of that too. You know

(08:48):
that we have one of the lastcrews that actually get out there and do
things manually aren't locked to like acomputer in timecode. So he's joining us
from godsmack there at the hard Rocktonight? You still throw cards? Are
you still? Did you play lastnight? No? I was exhausted.
I didn't get I didn't get outof rehearsals to one am. Dang.
Yeah, and I flew in fromla I had to get up at five
thirty in the morning, so myday was like, what do you are

(09:11):
you on Central Time? Yeah?So three thirty am your time until one
am. Here's my day yesterday.So how when the last time you played
cards? I just played maybe abouta month ago in Florida when me and
a couple of my buddies had alittle vac we went down to the hard
Rock and h for a lot ofIs that a call ahead? Do you

(09:31):
have somebody call ahead or do youjust show up? No? I have
some people there that they know.You know. I've been around there a
lot. I have a condo inMiami, so like, I frequent there
when I can, and I knowenough people at the Caine know that you
know, they know who we arewhen we walk in. Did you see
that video just the other day?I forget where it was, and they
were playing and she she held ona six seven and the got got a

(09:54):
straight right out, and everybody elsehad pairs, and then there was another
king allins. Yeah, just cleanedout everyone. Yeah, to hold on
that would have been insane. Didshe flop the straight yeah? Oh so
she had it from the beginning.She like nobody knew it was better.
It was sick. I watched mybuddy of mine flop quad deuces and he

(10:16):
just cleaned out about six people inthe World Series of Poker on a satellite
game. Actually it was a cathe got knocked out of the World to
end, he played a cash game. It was a five to ten table.
Eh yeah, And as I walkedby, he's kind of a cheap,
cheap, he's cheap, you know, he doesn't want to give up
a lot of money. So Ialways nudge him to go play the five

(10:37):
ten game because he always wants toplay one too. I'm like, the
player is crap, Like, it'scrappy. Players at have won two table,
you're not going to win and they'realways going to suck out on you
because they don't know when to foldtheir guards. Yeah, so I got
him to play this five to tenand I walk by at one point I
look over and all his money's inthe middle. There's three or four other
people with all their money in themiddle. There's this huge pot of money
in the middle. And he's sittingthere with his card still and I look

(11:00):
at him and I'm like, yougood, you know. I kind of
mouthed it to him. He's likehe just nods his head, and you
know, because the board was justshowing crap like a king and you know,
a couple of two's and a tenand it was just like junk.
But what's the big Sydney. I'mtrying to think, does he have like
trip kings? Like what's going on? And then he flopped over quads and

(11:20):
everybody else was pushing on, youknow, gut shots. What's your most
memorable hand like when you want to, I tell you what it is,
because I got a tattooed on myback. I do, I do.
I'm gonna show you real quick.Oay, describe it. If you aren't,
just don't talk about my love handles. I got no room to talk.
Oh damn, yeah, what isthat? It's? Uh? Four

(11:41):
races? Yeah dude? Yeah,did you tell your fans that ye did
you guys hear that out there?Yeah? And Tulsaville? Where are we
anyways? Yeah? Yeah, sure, Yeah, you're in the right city.
We're in Indy. Yeah, bethe wrong stayed to be in for
the show tonight. Yeah. It'sfour aces going up in flames with no

(12:03):
justice on the bottom. And whathappened was I was at the Blagio in
a massive cash game and I hadpocket aces and the flop comes, Acey's
Queen with two spades. Okay,so remember that Asay's Queen two spades,
So the Ace of Spades and theQueen of Spades is on the board.

(12:24):
But I flop quad aces, soI'm like, I'm done right, so
I check it. Of course thisguy bets. The turn comes it's the
tennis spades. So I'm praying thisguy's got spades because I want him to
have a flush because I'm still sittingon quad aces, which beats a flush.
And of course I check it.He bets, I re raise him,
he goes all in. I snapcallum, and he flips over pocket

(12:46):
kings in one of his hand.One of his cards is the King of
Spades, So now I'm going Okay, so he's got because the board had
the ace and the Queen of Spades. He has the King of Spades,
and now the tennis spades came onthe turn and I go the only hand,
the only card and that deck hehas one out, which is the
Jack of spades, and there's atleast thirty cards left in that deck right

(13:09):
now, So one card can beatme if that Jack of Spades hits my
quad. Ace is a done becausehe has a royal for what are you
in with it? Like? Howmuch? Is probably seventy five hundred dollars.
There was some other betting that happenedin between, and he was in
for about another four or five sothis is probably you know, fourteen thirteen,

(13:30):
fourteen grand in the yah. Yeah, and I swear to you and
remember this. And he's feeling confident. Oh no, he's you are He
went pale. Okay, he's bummedbecause all he has is pocket kings at
this point with a flush draw,but no spade can help him except the
Jack of spades. Right, it'sonly one hight because a flush doesn't beat

(13:52):
four of a kind, but aroyal flush beats everybody. Yeah, his
odds aren't good. Yeah, it'sterrible. He has his pocket king king
at this point with a flush draw, but no spade can help them except
the Jack of spades. Right,it's only one out because a flush doesn't
beat four of a kind, buta royal flush beats everybody. Yeah,

(14:13):
his odds aren't good. Yeah,it's terrible. And I'm like, he
has one out, one out,it's one in thirty. Let's say this,
thirty cards left in the deck.Out of those thirty cards, first
of all, you have to burna card and then you turn a card,
right, So what's the chances thatthey're gonna burn a card and turn
over the Jack of spades? Andwhen I tell you the deal of burns

(14:33):
a card and flips over, itwas like in slow motion. I watched
the Jack of Spades hit the river. He boom, it just like hit
and it did the slow motion bounceon the table and I just watched them
push the entire pot to this guyand I stood up poker. There was
a magazine called Poker Stars or PokerClub was there, and they did a

(14:56):
write up on it that a royalflush and a quad ace is what the
odds of those two hands being inthe same hand at the same time were
and it was in the one twomillions that those two hands could exist.
Yeah. Right, By the way, quad A says, you have to
have four races, and there's onlyfour races in a deck in not if

(15:18):
you'd have a royal flush, youhave to have the ace of that suit,
because a royal flush is ten JackQueen king ace in the same suit,
so you have to share that sameace, right, So the chances
of those two hands being the samehand as almost impossible. Yeah, And
then it happened one out of timeat the World Series, not with me,
but another person got beat with quadaces to a Royal flush, and

(15:39):
so I went right to the tattooparlor broke because it took all my money.
Yeah, so I had to stopat the ATM machine and then I
laid on a table for about eightand a half hours and they did that
tattoo in my back, right,just philosophically revisiting that whole event, right,
And that's what I was, justlike you know it, because when
I stood up and the pot wenthis way, I just that's the first

(16:00):
thing I said. I go,there is no justice in poker at all,
and I went and I had nojustice with four races going in flames,
tattooing man s Ern is joining us. We got to take a break.
We're gonna come back and talk tohim a little bit more. They
got that show tonight over at thehard Rock. We'll be right back.
More of The Big Mad Morning Showis next. Ninety seven five KD tell

(16:21):
says morning show, The Big MadMorning Show tell says Rock Station ninety seven
KMOD. Good morning, it's agood afternoon, good night. I can't

(16:41):
go. You're not crazy. It'sthe Big Man Morner Show taking over your
lunch hour. It's force a habitby Garley. Ern has joined us from
godsmack. Thanks man for you don'thave to do this. You guys are
at this point in your career.You don't have to do anything. You
don't have to thank me, andI'll tell you why. Okay, we
never forget who made the band.Radio and touring is what broke the span,

(17:03):
not MTV and award shows and blahblah blah. So we always stay
loyal to those two things, radioand touring. Well, you're well,
thanks for sticking with us for twentyfive minutes. Cool, that's important.
To us, Yeah, that's cool. What do you gotta get be so
vibes tour tonight hard Rock Hotel andCasana. Can get your tickets at hard
Rock a seatatolsa dot com. Iseen on the Facebook. You guys did

(17:25):
a little real adding to the vibes. Here's a little hockey puck thing full
of likes, just like charcoal andgunpowder, right, and you set it
on fire, right, you putit in your little mortar, little pestle
and mortar thing, and then throwsome incense on top of it. Gives
you that vibe cauldron. Yeah,And I was like, dude, that's
badass. So along with that kindof because you said earlier it was kind

(17:48):
of like a kind of like awitchy kind of vibe or whatever. What
other kind of stuff like get arewe looking forward to tonight at the hard
Rock Well? You know, tome, if you're gonna take people on
a journey and give them an experience, I think there's a lot of senses
you need to touch, and forme, part of that is also scent.
Yeah, right, because I thinkscent and music are the only two

(18:14):
things in the world that can literallytake you right back to a time and
place when you first heard that song. Well, when you remember that smell,
it's my grandmother's house or whatever itwas growing up, and music does
that too, right, It kindof becomes the soundtrack to our lives.
It's a gift and it really isan anomaly. And why it does that
because music is just vibrations, right, and we'll talk about that tonight a

(18:36):
little bit, but it's really thewhole anomaly behind it in music being such
a universal language that you could literallysit in another country next to someone who
doesn't even speak the same language andhave your own musical experience watching that concert,
right, So it translates to usin a very special way. And

(18:56):
so part of that for me,you know, the visuals, the scent
that's in the the music that weplay, all that stuff is what takes
people, you know, through anexperience that I hope they'll remember, you
know, when they're older one day, or if they have their kids with
them and things like that, justlike we do when I remember going to
my first Aerosmith concert or whatever itwas, because those are special times when

(19:17):
you think about your childhood, hangingout with your girlfriends or whatever it was,
going with your parents to like aconcert or an experience or something like
that. You remember that and ifyou go back to that time and place,
like you go revisit that venue nowor that house you grew up in
or whatever, you'll get those feelings. You'll get that little chili kind of
feeling. Sure, right, Sothat's what we do. We try to
just create an experience, and Ithink that's part of it. Very nice

(19:41):
looking forward to it. Do youremember the first time you played you whether
it was with the band or byyourself, do you remember the first time
you played in front of an audience. I was very young. I was
in daycare center really, so we'retalking what four, five six? I
was like three three wow, yeah, all right, like me like saying
song. I even have a pictureof it someway. I don't have it

(20:02):
with me, so I can't showit to you. But that's an album.
By the way, I'm so madat my mom addressing me like this.
But I was like, I wasin these red slacks with a white
lapel collar shirt and a red vestover it, and I was in some
kind of school play. But Iwas front and center there. I was
like, of course I had tobe front and center. Yeah, yeah,

(20:22):
but I don't even know what wewere doing. We were probably,
you know, singing Christmas carols forall I know, Right, but weren't
you three when you started taking drumlessons? I was, yeah, yeah,
And question, did you ever learnto read sheet music? You know,
I did when I was drumming,because I drumming has always been my
first instrument, and so I tooklessons from I was like three and a
half until I was probably twelve orthirteen. And then what happened was I

(20:48):
discovered marijuana, and I discovered Aerosmith, and so my drummings drug decided.
Tell me, you know, youseem to have a more natural gift to
just hear a song and play itreally well rather than reading sheet music,
because I feel like you're distracted andyou're just trying to focus on the notes
you're reading rather than just hearing itand memorizing it. I was always good

(21:10):
with that, memorizing a song andjust kind of replicating it. So he
actually, in his own weird way, kind of encouraged me to just go
out in the world and just gobuy a bunch of your favorite records,
strap on headphones in your bedroom andjust learn. And so John Bonham from
Zeppelin, Neil Pert from Rash,Joey Kramer from Alsworth all became my drum
instructors because I would just go homeand rip the bong hits and then strap

(21:33):
on headphones for hours, yeah,and play to like my favorite rock records.
What was the like, do youlearn current songs just messing around?
I would just learn whatever I wasinto. No, I mean, like,
now do you still do that now? When you're messing around a lot
of time on the piano and thingslike that. So I've been studying Elton
John a lot because he's insane likethat guy. He's, first of all,

(21:56):
he's my favorite song right in thewhole world. His compositions are absolutely
beautiful. The problem is is he'sa classically trained pianist and I am not.
I'm a self taught pianist. Soeverything I play is just I figure
it out because I can hear reallywell and I just kind of learned that
way. His stuff is complicated,it's not like he you know, learning

(22:17):
dream on is much different than learninglike your song by Elton John. Yes,
it's really complicated. Do you getwhat was the last song that Selly
got frustrated with and was like,no, I'm moving on. I'm not
going to learn that song. Ican't figure it out. I never said
I'm moving on, I'm not gonnalearn it, but I will say it's
probably an Elton John song, becausethe one of the last ones I learned
actually was Your Song by Elton John, which was the first song him and

(22:38):
Bernie Tapin ever wrote together. Butagain, he's a classically trained pianist.
His chords, choices and transitions andall that stuff, they're very complicated.
It's not something that a regular pianistwas just playing, you know, chopsticks
can just kind of hear and knowwhat he's playing. So I had a

(22:59):
YouTube some stuff or go to someof the some of my friends who are
very you know, really good playersand all that, and help have them
show me what, you know,what's going on here. And and when
I learned what he's doing, I'mjust like, my god, this guy
really was a genius. He wasno one like him. No, And
like you think of the songs he'sdone, Candle in the Wind, Benny

(23:21):
and the Jets, I mean,there's just so many crocodile rocks. Saturday
Night it's like it's just so many, so many amazing songs, Daniel.
I mean it just goes on andon and on because he's in Like,
hey, he's in the I thinkI'm done face right, yelling off a
bunch of stuff. I've seen thattour twice already, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Tour, and I cried both times. No, kid, I just think

(23:44):
it's awesome that the lead singer ofGodsmack is fan boing over Elton Down.
Oh so bad. So I gotto meet him. I got to meet
him. I got to shake hishand, hang out with him in his
dressing room. It was really cooland yeah, total fanboy. When musicians
meet each other and they go backstage like in this example, do you
guys start playing instruments? Oh no, Ellen John didn't know who the hell

(24:04):
I was. I just know whohe was. No, Ellen John know
who I am? Now, comeon, he lives a whole different life.
He's from a whole different Are surehe could be a closet fan.
You never know, well, closetsomething. Yeah. So I wanted to
ask you about the documentary. Whenyou did your book, did you know

(24:25):
it was going to be a documentarylike or did did you do the book?
Because the book's been out for awhile, right O seven that can
yeah? Did Was it always like, hey, I'm going to do this,
make it into a documentary, orI don't is documentary the right world?
Or just we filmed your life?No, they did a future documentary
based on the book. But thebook, let me just say the book.
So that was just an accident.First of all, I never knew

(24:48):
how to write a book, norwas it on my agenda in my life
to want to write a book.It was just me being on tour so
much, right, I mean,our first ten years especially of touring,
was pretty hardcore, Like we werealways out, we were hardly home.
And throughout those years, you know, you start calling your family and friends,

(25:10):
you know, because you miss them, and you just reminisce about the
old days, and you're chatting aboutall these crazy stories you did when you
were kids and having some laughs.And I just started thinking, Wow,
some of these stories are so unbelievableto me. I don't know if I
would even believe it unless they happenedto me. So I started just jotting
them down as I remembered them inmy own voice, just so I could
remember one day when I'm eighty fiveyears old and I go, hey,

(25:33):
look what your crazy grandfather did.Right. And then the more I collected
the stories, the more I startedorganizing them in the order of dates.
And then eventually I looked and I'mlike, I get a manuscript going,
you know, this big. Andso my manager read it one day and
he was like, you know,this is really it's really good, like
it's entertaining. You should think aboutputting it out. And long story short,
he got me a publishing deal andwe put the book out. It

(25:56):
did really well. But you know, I noticed that the book started becoming
inspirational to like teachers. They wantedto use it in classrooms and things like
that, which was kind of weirdto me because I know there's some rough
language in it. But I thinkwhat they were seeing was the message was
perseverance, that you know that thisis about one boy's journey through life and
the challenges and obstacles that he wentthrough but always stood back up again when

(26:21):
life knocked him down and kept going. Yeah, and it was eventually able
to find his life, his success, the career, and the things that
I wanted to do because I wasso passionate about I never wanted to quit,
right, So so they wanted todo this documentary and put like the
book into a documentary form. SoI was really happy when I seen it.

(26:41):
You know, I didn't I didn'tknow how it was going to play
out, and it's my own life, so looking at myself as weird,
sure, but I was happy withit. I thought it was I thought
it was done really well, andI was I thought it was, you
know, important in inspiring. Andwe even actually debated on calling the movie
be Perseverance at one point, youknow, because I think that's really what

(27:03):
it is, is just about exactlywhat I said, you know, trying
to just reach down and find thatinner strength when life doesn't go your way
and rise above it and move throughit. When when you saw the final
cut or near the final cut,did you get was there anything you went
I No, I don't like thatcut or I don't like that piece.
I don't like how I look.How do you deal with igo in that

(27:26):
moment? And I mean that reallysoftware. I don't mean you have an
ego, but like, how doyou look at yourself on screen and go,
man, I look really stupid?Awesome, ridiculous, whatever that is.
Yeah, I mean I trusted thedirector and the editor because of their
friends of mine, and they reallyknow what they're doing, and so I
knew that they would put together agood piece. I just didn't know what
it was going to be about.Yeah, there was a couple of moments
that I was sitting there contemplating onlike, wow, do I really you

(27:48):
know, do I expose that?Because that's really the question, right,
the stuff about my dad growing up. You know, some of the scenes
with the violence and the gun andyou know, some of that stuff.
You just questioned, like am Igoing too far? Like how much of
this is supposed to be public?How much should I protect? Like shame?

(28:10):
You think, like it's kicking inlike a shame. But you know,
you me and my dad have areally good relationship now, you know,
but here he is kind of thevillain at the beginning of this movie
because he wasn't the best dad growingup. And then you gotta you know,
then he's going to relive that andwatch it, and my mom's got
to relive it by telling her story, and so you know, but I
left it up to them at firstand just said listen. You know,

(28:32):
if you have a story to tell, then tell it, because that's what
this is about. And if we'regoing to if we're going to tell our
story, and we have to allowourselves to be vulnerable enough and humble ourselves
to expose that kind of information,even when it's to the extent of embarrassment.

(28:52):
Otherwise it's just kind of a bullcrap story, right, It's like
people will call you out on that, and it's just so it's like,
it's the same thing with my songs. You know, It's like, if
you're going to write and you're gonnaexpose a situation or talk about the truth,
then you have to be willing tobe vulnerable, vulnerable enough to to
you know, allow the public tosee that. But I also learned that

(29:15):
the reason why I write music,the reason why music saved my life so
many times, is because you know, I found that it healed me in
moments of trauma and things that Iwent through my life. It was music
that I escaped through. It wasmusic that healed me when I was,
you know, beat up over somethingand I needed that escape, and it

(29:37):
was it became like a vehicle,you know, to not only heal me
but almost therapeutic. Right. Sothat taught me also a long time ago
that, Okay, if I Ican't just make up stories you know,
about some chick I met at themall and whatever, like, it's got
to be something that affected me onan emotional level, good or bad.
Is it a is it a SullyEarnest story or is it a God Smack
story. I think it's more aseller in a story, just because you

(30:02):
know, there's no way to tellthe seller in a story. I hate
talking to third person. I feellike Ted Nusian. I love that guy,
by the way, but it isweird when he does that. Right,
but when the nude comes into theroom, Okay, relax, No,
but you can't really tell the sellierin a story without talking about God.

(30:23):
Of course, we even tried that. At one point. They would
come to me. They're like,you know, there's just so much grit
and stuff. It was in yourlife before God Smack that led you up
to putting God's smack together, thatled you to those years that they almost
wanted to be, to be areal human interest story in a street gritty
you know, growing up in thestreets of Boston and all the crap I

(30:44):
went through, and the trouble andthe violence and the gangs and whatever,
the drugs. But how do youtell that story without intertwining the music in
it? Because music was the vehiclethat got me out of so many situations
that I could easily ended up debtorin jail. Over comes when those things
come to fruition the book, thedocumentary, and I'm not familiar with the

(31:04):
inner workings the business side of yourband. Do you tell the guys like
tough toenails or do you go,hey, guys, no, no,
no, I'm doing this book,doing this movie. Band members, Yeah,
no, no, no, that'sthose guys. Not only are they
super supportive, but they know thatI've had a crazy life and they know
what I'm You know what kind ofstory we're telling about this documentary. But

(31:26):
it's not to say that we're nevergoing to tell the god Smack story.
The reason, the only reason whythe end of this documentary starts leaning towards
the early days of birthing god Smackis because that was the pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow,right, And you can't see the rainbow
unless you walk through the storm,right, So there it is so my

(31:48):
my journey through life. A lotof it was a storm, but you
know, again through that perseverance ofalways overcoming, rising above it again,
going through it is the only wayyou can get to see the rainbow,
you know. And it's just reallyit's like, you know, it's a
son of a beget there. Sure, But I think I think fans see

(32:10):
they have this belief that, youknow, it's really hard to be in
a band. You know, moviesportrayed the lead singer as the guy who
gets all the attention and the otherbandmates don't like that. That's why it's
called the Sully Earn a story.It's not the story of Godsmack. That
story will be told one day.And the only reason why we haven't put
out that movie is because we're stillliving in it. We don't know how

(32:30):
it ends yet. Yeah, youknow you had, I know you had
something you wanted to ask him.Yeah, while I have a few things.
Have you belated birthday? By theway, thanks? Yeah, last
week? How do you celebrate?I was actually in LA with my daughter,
so we went through two weeks ofrehearsals and we were always pretty tired,
so we just wanted to have alittle bit of time before the tour

(32:51):
started, So I went out toLA with her, her boyfriend, some
of my friends and boyfriend. Yeah, well she's twenty two, she's a
woman. That doesn't matter. Yeah, he's a great dude, and I
gotta tie you. Probably the mostsolid kid she could have ever picked.
That's huge, huge sights for her. She better not screw it up.
Actually, she's a little you know, she's a firecrack of that one.

(33:14):
And I'm like, this guy's prettysolid. You better not, you know,
push him away. But he seein school or no, there,
you know, he's twenty four,she's twenty two. There, you know,
work, she's finishing our bist degree. But he works. She's working
too. So I was reading alittle bit about your first solo show and

(33:34):
you did some Beatles covers? Bigfan? Yeah of course yeah. How
can you not be being a rockand roller? Yeah? How can you
not be a fan of the Beatles? I was reading a little bit about
your first solo show and you didsome Beatles covers? Big fan? Yeah
of course yeah. How can younot be being a rock and roller?

(33:57):
Yeah? How can you not bea fan of the Beatles? Great Gimmy
is not a fan. I respectthem and what they've done for music,
right, you just don't like thesongs. Ei, there's some people that
just go ape as crazy, SoI get it right, Right, So
everybody's got that one band. Theseguys always put their album on my iTunes.

(34:17):
I don't want to know if it'sfree. No, I still don't
like your songs. Sorry, II you know, I'm sure Bono is
a righteous dude and whatever, butI am not a Youtuwoe fan. And
for that simple reason, these guyssell out stadium, so obviously they must
be great at what they do.But I just don't get it. I
don't get the music. So Iunderstand where you're coming from and that setification

(34:42):
that feels great exactly, but justknow you're wrong. I'll take it.
He doesn't know. Honestly, Mytaste buds for the Beatles didn't develop until
I was a little older anyways,So I get it. When I was
younger listening to Judas Priest and Metallicor Nine Maiden and all these bands rush
and blah blah blah, Beatles weren'ton my radar. You know. It
was light and goofy and whatever.But then again, the songs I heard

(35:06):
was like you know, she lovesyou. Yeah, And then I went
deeper into there, like Yellow Submarineand all that other stuff. You're like,
oh no, hey, this stuffis pretty pretty well written, right,
the competitive nature between them and theBeach Boys and the super You gotta
admit, nobody sounds like the Beatles. That's true, nobody. I mean,
those songs are pretty unique. Youknow, they were real geniuses.

(35:27):
So for that, for whatever it'sworth, you know. And I guess
you could say that about you tooas well. I can't because to me,
a lot of this stuff just soundsthe same. It feels like the
same argument the Beatles. Okay,now I'm gonna pay us listen. We
got a couple more questions for you, so we're gonna come back. We'll
take a quick break, all right. So we're just gonna wrap this up
because I know that you have toget back to over there there. They

(35:50):
gave me the wave a minute ago, so I wanted to ask you some
speed questions. If I can,Sully Ernest joining us from GODSMAC just means
I have to use my brain.No, no, no, these no,
these are easy. These are easy. Like I just had my coffee.
You know, it was a latenight arsol, so I don't know
if my brain can go fast.No, these are easy. You can
ask him fast. I just mayanswer feway. I'll write him down and

(36:15):
then answer them. That's fine.East Coast or West Coast, I know
the answer to this. But yeah, it's East Coast born and raised,
you know, my whole life.Because I need help as someone who has
loved a dynasty, I need someoneto help a future dynasty or in the
making. Chiefs, all the chiefs. You just want to sub I know

(36:36):
so any because people are starting tohate the Chiefs. Now. You know
Patriots a long time time. Nobodylikes the same team winning every year.
You know, we went to herfor twenty years, So I get it.
You know that's why everyone's like JohnBrady, how do you hate?
How are you a football fan andhate Tom Brady? You're an idiot?
I agree, you're an idiot.You're an idiot. The guy broke all
kinds of records. He's the greatestquarterback. Like, just you know,
I get it. Listen, it'smy team. So I guess it's the

(37:00):
heat is on us because they wantto just poke it in your face,
but like there's nothing to really replywhen you have the greatest quarterback. So
it is what it is. Butyou know, too bad. But he's
retired and now it's other people's turnsin case he's doing good. I was
pulling for san Fran to be honestwith you, only because I didn't want
Taylor Swift to win. Okay,had nothing to do with Mahomes. I

(37:22):
mean, you got to respect firstyear in the league and you get a
super Bowl? Right. Do youthink Belichick's done done coaching or do you
think got another team. I don'tthink he's done done. I think he
loves the sport too much for himto quit. I just think, you
know, once again, their timehas come, just like Brady that you
know they did, they did whatthey had to do together, and you
know it's time to move on.It will be weird for us, though,

(37:45):
because you've got to remember two decades, like a whole generation that we've
known, you know, a quarterbackand a coach, combo like that,
and to see them both go awayand then watch the Patriots now, it's
just different. Really, it feelslike a different team. Yeah, right,
it is. It's different. Well, and then there's all these stories
coming out of the locker room andhow uh the zap he would have.

(38:06):
They would go watch films like awayfrom the other quarterbacks. They didn't get
along. Like there's some crazy storiescoming out of the locker room. Yeah,
I'm sure that story will all comeout one day. They'll be the
Belichick Brady story. Sure, forsure it'll happen. It's just a matter
of time. Speaking of that,Red Sox are Patriots. I don't know.
Is the Red Sox even good thisyear? Yeah? Drums or guitar,

(38:32):
drums? Always everything's percussion everything,even when I write my guitar riffs,
all my piano riffs, my vocallines, everything's percussive. I've been
a drummer of my whole life.It's always going to be drums. It
is the for that is the forest. Foundation of all music is It's the
most primitive thing you can play.Somebody at some point, you know,
was slapping the ground and created arhythm. Best advice you ever got for

(38:57):
the band? For the band?Yeah, what do you mean, like
to keep going with all the band? Yeah? For your band, I'll
give you the best. How aboutlet's just go with the best advice I've
ever gotten, because it's the sameadvice that I give to people that ask
me about, you know, howdo we make it music, or like,
what do I do with my kidfor this so blah blah blah.
For that is, be prepared fordisappointment because disappointment will happen over and over

(39:23):
and over again. And although somelisteners right now maybe going, oh,
it's kind of dark, well itis a little bit. But the reason
is because let me, let mejust say it this way, I'm a
parent, so I get it right. Nobody wants to see your kid lose,
fail, be bummed out, bein pain, Like none of us

(39:45):
want that, right because we're parentsand we're like wolves would a bone,
we protect them. But the problemis is that if everybody gets the trophy,
not such a good idea, right, because you don't train them and
teach them what it feels like tolose, and without the feeling of loss
and disappointment, you never really getthe reward of winning. Right. So

(40:07):
I always tell people be prepared fordisappointment because it's going to happen over and
over again, and you've got toteach your kids that you got to tell
them that you may not get thatjob interview, you may not pass that
test, you may not be askedto the prom you may not go well
on that date. Right. Butit's the people once again that know that
when things don't go their way inlife, because life will not go your

(40:28):
way at times. I promise youthat it's not perfect you. It will
fail you from time to time.It's in those moments that defines us as
people. When you know how toreach down inside yourself and find that inner
strength and rise above it again andmove through those uncomfortable moments, that's when
the magic happens. I think that'swhat's so great about I stand alone and
being able to watch it is thatyou people don't just think you know,

(40:52):
Godsmack became Godsmack only through a way, the trials and tribulation, only through
the pressure, only through the loss, only through the disappointment, only after
the constant knows and the failures arebelief that there was you were a failure,
not you, but royal you,that you aren't gonna make it,
and here you are. It wasa failure. I failed multiple times.
I got knocked down by everything youcan imagine I got knocked down by drugs.

(41:15):
I got knocked down by relationships.I got my heart broke and I
lost family members, I lost friends. I made bad decisions. I wasn't
a good person at times. Iwasn't loyal or truthful at times. Like
there was a lot of things thatyou know, Karma is a bitch man.
It's like it will come back andbite you in the butt really quick,

(41:35):
so you know, and it doescatch up to you eventually, you
know. But again it's it's thosethose moments that define us as people.
Are you going to learn from it? Grow, rise above it, get
beyond it, work harder, learnabout that work ethic. You know,
I don't. I can't. I'msorry, man, But everybody doesn't get
the trophy. You lost your secondplace? Yeah, they one, deal

(41:57):
with it. Go make yourself better, come back, get the victory next
year, and then you're gonna bepsyched and you're going to have that empowerment,
that euphoria of winning and knowing whatit feels like to like succeed.
That is what keeps you driving inlife because you're always going to hunt for
that drug. You're always going tohunt for that drug of like achievement and
success and to win, and sowhen you don't, you have to be

(42:21):
able to know how to get throughit. Yeah, you can't none of
this. Let me tell you aquick story, you guys, I was
I'm a big fan of Shark Tank, right, Oh yeah, I am.
I gonna tell you. I ama big fan of Shark Tank.
So I'm watching it one day andthis young entrepreneur comes on stage. He's
a black kid about seventeen years old, super smart, good looking dude,

(42:42):
has this great idea, pitches itto the sharks, blows everyone away,
and they're like, wow, can'tbelieve you're seventeen years old. Like,
you're so smart, you are goingto kill it in life. But your
investment a little premature, not investableyet, right, So come back and
see us again in a few years. Go out there, get more business
done, ramp this thing up,and come back and see us. Like

(43:04):
this dude stood there and when Itell you, broke down like that,
quivering lip head goes down, thetears, couting, big lipstarts puffing up.
Look, I'm going there. Itis right there. Dad and mom
just didn't prepare you for the thing. You're smart, You're gonna yeah,
every day, nothing's gonna start.Yeah. No, one's gonna tell you
no, yeah, exactly. Youknow what they should have been saying,

(43:28):
or someone in his support team shouldhave been saying, Hey, this may
or may not go your way,right, but if it doesn't, don't
worry about it. We have agreat idea, we have other avenues.
We'll go and we'll work harder andwe'll find it right. We'll find an
investor or, we'll find a wayto make it successful without them. But
go do your best and if youget it, great. If you don't,
we'll figure it out another angle.No, instead, they probably you

(43:49):
know, who knows what was said, but I do know that it was
at that moment where I go there. It is just everyone expects to win,
and when you don't, you justcollapse. That's what you're gonna do.
You going to be defeated. Nowyou're going to be on the rug,
crawling around and looking for like playingthe victim and like asking for sympathy
and all. No, that's nothow it works, you know. And
by the way, there's also aflip side to this, because once you

(44:12):
become successful because of the hard workand getting through the failures and working harder
and achieving it. Then you havewisdom. You have experience of failure.
So when you're raising your kids andyou're helping your friends give them advice,
you know exactly what to tell themto get them through the tough moments.
Yeah, I'm okay with people throwinghissy fits when they don't get their way.

(44:35):
To me, it's the repair andyou know you got to get back
up. I'd rather you show meyou're passionate and show me that, yes,
I really wanted this, and here'smy adrenalinstm. Passion will create perseverance,
and perseverance is what will help youwin. Eventually, you'll get your
moment. I promise everybody out there. Even if disappointment is hitting you hard
and you're struggling and you don't feellike you're going to get ahead and life
just doesn't go in your way,it'll happen. You stick with it,

(45:00):
stick with it, you stick withit. One day you wake up,
things start taking a turn and allof a sudden, they start swinging in
your direction, and it will happen. It's a lot of timing and it's
a lot of luck, but sometimesit just takes time for it to get
there, So you just have tokeep working hard and your moment will happen.
What you do with it when ithappens is up to you, right.

(45:20):
You can neither capitalize on it andgo with it and run with it,
or you can just you know,think it's a fluke and not take
it so seriously and it'll fade out. But I believe that everybody will get
their shot. It's just about whenit's going to happen and how long you're
willing to stick with it. Well, I can't wait for everybody to see
you tonight over on the hard rockshowing all that hard work off that.
Let's go play some music. Yeah, listen, it's been great talking you

(45:42):
always enjoy chatting with you. Youalways leave us little tidbits the stuff we
always talk about off there. Youdid today. I'm not going to give
it away because I'm going to keepthat for myself. But that just always
great time chatting with you. Thanksman, Thanks always a good time.
You appreciate good luck with this tour. We can't I know this is the
start of a new chapter for youguys. I can't let too many people
are say this is the end it'snot the end, right, Yeah,

(46:02):
so I'm excited to see what thisnew chapter looks like for Godsmack. So
thanks for taking the time with us. Thanks all right, guys, guys,
have a great day.