Godsmack’s new album ‘Lighting Up the Sky’ is almost upon us and it may be their final studio record. We caught up with Sully to find out all about it and ponder the journey and the meaning of life…
Mark: Thank you so much for talking to the Rockpit today Sully. How are you?
Sully: I’m doing good, how are you?
Mark: I’m doing good and all the better for listening to ‘Lighting Up the Sky’ all this week. It’s a fantastic album, as release date approaches what’s it like anticipating the release of a new record, does the feeling change over the years or do you get those same feelings?
Sully: I don’t now, when you do this as long as we’ve done it, it’s exciting in different ways. But we all are very aware of how much work goes into creating it and how much work goes into setting it up and promoting it. So I learn to just kind of slow down and take one day at a time because it can get very overwhelming if you’re trying to do everything. Sometimes I feel like it’s all about quality rather than quantity.
Mark: Are you someone who listens to critics or even reads reviews?
Sully: No. I don’t think I’ve ever once read a Godsmack review. I might have in the beginning but I just remember that it could swing my mood or my thought one way or the other. I’m not here for that, you know. I’m just here to take these energies, these ideas. these melodies that pass through me and just channel them and get them out into the world. They’re coming to me for a reason. I don’t sit there and read sheet music it’s a kind of universal language and miracle that jus passes through you and my job is just to get that out and document it. For me it’s not about wo wants to step on it or praise it I just hope that what we’ve accomplished over the years is being able to deliver something great to the people who have embraced it and created the soundtrack to their own life. And made those memories, or healed through it or had fun with it. That’s what’s important to me.
Mark: That’s what matters to us all, making that connection and the emotional response we have to music. I read somewhere that you said that “The Universe wrote this record” is that how it always happens for you?
Sully: I don’t know because when I was younger I didn’t understand that – I was just writing songs, you know. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that I’m not capable of writing something really great sometimes, and I’m not saying that all our stuff is great, but when those moments happen, those bolts of lightning like with ‘I Stand Alone’, or ‘Voodoo’ or ‘Bullet Proof’ or whatever those moments were when people lit up and thought this was the greatest song they ever heard, or it changed their life in certain ways. It’s then I feel guilty taking the credit for all that you know. I like to think of it as more that we can’t all be musicians, just like we can’t all be heart surgeons or mathematical geniuses – we’re just all born with something and we have to figure out what that is. And luckily for me I knew at a very young age what I wanted to do with my life and I was going to be a musician. So I just feel like that was what I was supposed to do in this life – get music out there.
Mark: You’ve certainly made a lot of people very happy over the years.
Sully: Well that’s good, thank you! Then we’ve done our job. Because at the end of it all when this all ends and people say what would you like to leave as your legacy, that’s what I would hope for. We just hope that we were able to entertain people because that’s what I love to do and that we were able to make people happy through music and help heal them or whatever they needed the music for. Because it really is a gift and people express it differently for different reasons.
Mark: They certainly do. You describe the album as “High energy, high voltage hard Rock” but I personally think it’s a lot more than that you also said that “It’s the most important album of our career” what did you mean by that?
Sully: Ahh, well… I don’t remember saying that but if that is out there I would assume I was talking about how important this record is to be the best that it can be, because if this truly is our last full body of work then it’s nice to go out on top. And I just want to make sure that we deliver something that is quality. Something that you could put all the songs in a hat and pick any one of them and they could possibly do really well as a single. So my whole focus was just to make this record as big and melodic and powerful as it could be, even when it came to a ballad. I want it to be emotional, I want it to be important, you know, and the only way I know how to do that is to write about real experiences that I’ve had that have affected me on an emotional level whether it was good or bad.
Mark: There are some wonderful lighter moments on there – I love ‘Truth’ there’s such power and emotion in that song.
Sully: Thank you.
Mark: I never trust what I read on the internet…
Sully: (laughs)
Mark: Reading a few interviews, and as you already alluded to earlier, you mentioned that this could be your last body of work, If you are going to go out with this it’s a wonderful way to go, there’s some really wonderful songs here that are bound to make it into the live set that people are going to be enjoying for years. When did you know that this might be the final Godsmack studio album?
Sully: It just kinda happened in the middle of the process. We just started realizing where we are in our career and trying to acknowledge and honor and be content when we know we’ve arrived: how much more are we looking for and what are we doing if we keep grinding and keep making records? What is it that we were searching for at that point? Because music is always something that we’ve enjoyed doing in our lives but we also realise it’s not everything we want to do in our lives. And so as we started talking about that and realizing, you know the amount of Top 10 singles that we have, the amount of number one songs that we have, at what point do you start honoring the catalogue and creating a Greatest Hits show for the fans? You know because when you go see your favourite bands do you really want to see their new album or do you want to see ‘Train Kept A Rollin” or ‘Dream On’ or ‘Walk This Way’ right? SO I like to think that within our fanbase those people also want to hear their favourite songs and we’re sitting on 26 Top 10 singles right now – and we can’t play them all in a night, and now we’re going to add three, four or five from this record… 30 Top 10 singles? 15 songs a night back to back never playing the same single twice. It was just time. We all realized that… it’s time.
Mark: So with that realization did that place extra pressure on you?
Sully: No it actually made it really easy. We had the luxury of time because of Covid and the whole shut down and everything – we didn’t need to hurry, we weren’t on a timeline. we just needed to meet up when we had a good idea and we’d work it out. And if it was great we recorded it and we moved on and said “see you when I see you”. And then we’d come back with the next cool idea and work on that one. And we’d all go home to our friends and families and sometimes it was months till we’d see each other again. And that really allowed us to collect the best of the best songs for this record and that’s why I feel we have such a strong album. Every song on this record is really strong.
Mark: Absolutely and think if you are going to go out with this one then the title track that ends the album is a wonderful way to close.
Sully: Exactly. Now that idea came a little bit later (laughs). You know the song came earlier and when we were thinking of the best way to end this thing with a finale and have this thing end where the first record begins. You know, the whole cycle of life coming full circle – what better way to feel complete and accomplished. To take the fans back to the first record so maybe they’ll revisit the catalogue again. I just thought that was a really cool and special moment.
Mark: A wonderful way of bringing it all together as you say. I really enjoyed your book a few years ago – The Path We Choose, which took us up to the formation of Godsmack. Does the final studio record mean that the next installment will come?
Sully: No.
Mark: (laughs)
Sully: Well not right now because I don’t know how that movie ends, I’m still living in it (laughs) But we just finished a feature documentary about the book that filmmakers have been working on for the last five years so there will be that feature documentary on my life story.
Mark: Like all great albums it’s hard to pick a favourite on the new record but one that grabbed me from the off is ‘Red White and Blue’ I love those lyrics ad it’s hopefully on that you’ll be playing when you go out.
Sully: Oh yeah, it’s a classic Godsmack grungy song, one of the songs that I think old-school fans will really like.
Mark: There’s plenty more great lyrics ‘Growing Old’ is another that really resonated with me, a wonderful song about change and something that we all go through, but very peaceful and accepting. What were you looking to get across with that one?
Sully: (laughs) Well I’ve explained this before, but to give you a longer form of the answer with the record in general because it is set up to tell the story of one man’s journey through his life: the ups and downs, finding love, losing love, being reinspired again, getting your feet on the ground. And when those moments happen and you come out of the hole you come to realise the things that are important in life and the things you should be paying attention to, and for me one of them is my band, right? And to be able to honor them in a song and to be able to say thank you for allowing and trusting me to lead, and being patient with me when I couldn’t be patient, and they dealt with the arrogant phases and the ego. All these things that we were just inexperienced at. And kind of being that rock for me. But as I got to ‘Growing Old’ that was just a reflection on all the years of missing my daughter, and now having all this time with her and seeing her develop into womanhood and finding love in her life. It was just a realization and a message to her to say to her “Listen you’re an amazing person and go be the best you can be for that person in your life, but just remember I’m here right now and I’ve lived my life for you but I won’t be here forever.” So maybe as she goes off into the world and starts to experience her own things she won’t forget about her old man along the way. I won’t be here forever you know.
Mark: A wonderful sentiment. You have Andrew back on board too who produced the first two albums, that seems to tap into that whole cycle of life theme as well, potentially bringing him back for what might be the final record. Was it good to be working with him again?
Sully: Well Andrew you know has been with us since the beginning and of course it was such a pleasure to ask him to come back for this last record. We started with him and when we knew this was going to be the last one it just made complete sense to kind of end this where it began. And to work with the people again who helped us create this success in the first place.
Mark: That’s great, and it’s sounding wonderful as well, I’m really taken by the production. You’re touring South America and the U.S. and dates are already out there, are there any plans to come Downunder?
Sully: Well I donlt know any of those answers yet I have only seen my schedule for late April into May, so I’m not saying they aren’t there, I’m just saying I haven’t seen the International schedules yet. But of course, listen if there’s a demand for the band and things are working and people love this record and we know there will be a great audience, then of course we’re coming. I just don’t know when.
Mark: It’s been too long for me, I actually last saw you twice in the same year – once when you visited us for Soundwave and once in Oklahoma at the Rocklahoma Festival. That would have been 2015. Festivals are always fun but I guess that means you will have to condense that body of work even further. How difficult is it to put together a Festival set?
Sully: (laughs) I don’t know, I don’t put them together!
Mark: (laughs)
Sully: (laughs) I just get up and sing. They just point and I get up and sing, that’s my job!
Mark: In general Rock and Roll has been through its ups and downs over the years, and what we might call Rock music as we know it has been around in a recognizable form since let’s say the end of the 50’s. What do you think is going to happen in the next 50 years?
Sully: Hey man, you know there’s a reason why there’s this saying “Rock and Roll will never die” It hasn’t this far. I don’t ever see it losing steam. I think there’s times when new music comes through and trends dominate and it takes all teh attention from all the other music. But when it’s all said and done and it fizzles out traditional Rock, Hard Rock it’s still here. There’s a reason why The Beatles and Zeppelin and all these great bands survive and get to be heard by new generations – the millennials, the Gen-Z’s and everyone else. It’s timeless, Rock music.
Mark: Absolutely and it’s great to see kids picking up on that and putting their own spin on things. And sadly that brings us to a close, it’s been great to catch up. I’ll leave you with the final question “What is the meaning of life?”
Sully: (laughs) Dd you say that was an easy question?
Mark: Yes. The easiest of the night. (laughs)
Sully: (laughing) I don’t find that one very easy. If I could sum it up in one word without everyone thinking that the big bad Rock singer of Godsmack is too sappy, I’m a hopeless romantic and I think the meaning of life is just all based on love. Because if we can love each other and love ourselves, love what we do, love where we’re at, you know, that creates happiness, it creates comfort and it creates safety. And so it doesn’t matter how successful you are if you’re unhappy. So I really believe that John Lennon may have said it the best “All we need is love” and if we have that then we’re content with whatever we do. (laughs) That has to be the fucking meaning of life! I don’t know!
Mark: I’m with you on that. I’ve been asking that question for 14 years and I’m convinced that you’ve hit the nail on the head. With Godsmack potentially not writing a new album, that creativity that you’ve always had since you knew music would be such a huge part of your life has to go somewhere. Where do you see it going?
Sully: I honestly don’t know that answer right now… I’m just trying to appreciate this last chapter of Godsmack and embrace that and honor it. I just donlt know what I’m gonna do next. I know music is in my blood, it always has been. It’s in my family, it’s been in there for generations. My Dad’s a musician, my great Uncle was a famous composer in Sicily. It will always be there I just don’t know to what capacity.
Mark: Thank you so much for your time today Suly, it’s been absolutely wonderful speaking to you. Best of luck with the album and the touring and with wherever life leads you next.
Sully: Thank you I appreciate it Mark. Bye-bye.