‘Wake the Fuck Up’ America: Godsmack Set to Launch Headlining Tour of Major Venues

FROM: KRISTINE ASHTON/MAGGIE WANG/MITCH SCHNEIDER

‘WAKE THE FUCK UP’ AMERICA:

GODSMACK SET TO LAUNCH
HEADLINING TOUR OF
MAJOR VENUES

GODSMACK–currently riding the success of the band’s platinum-certified AWAKE (Republic/Universal)–are set to launch the most important tour in their career: a major headlining trek of 5,000-8,000 seat venues that frontman SULLY ERNA promises will be an intense musical and theatrical experience. Fittingly dubbed by SULLY as “Wake The Fuck Up,” the tour–kicking off February 26 in Durham, NH–will further galvanize fans of ultra-heavy music. GODSMACK have hand-picked fellow Boston-area band Staind–good friends with whom they’ve toured before–as well as Cold and Systematic to appear on the tour. “To have two Boston-based bands on one bill is something we’re proud of,” notes SULLY. “We’re really excited to show the rest of the country the talent that’s coming out of New England.” This news comes as AWAKE‘s title track has soared up Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock Tracks” chart, where it’s now positioned at #1.GODSMACK–vocalist SULLY, guitarist TONY ROMBOLA, bassist ROBBIE MERRILL and drummer TOMMY STEWART–will soon shoot a video for AWAKE‘s forthcoming second single, the mighty “Greed,” while SULLY is putting the finishing touches on an as-yet-untitled home video for their fans. Due out in March, it captures GODSMACK on the road in ferociously fine form.

While no stranger to large audiences, GODSMACK–who’ve played Ozzfest’s main stage twice and were invited to support the legendary Black Sabbath overseas–recently found themselves playing to a slightly different audience as special guests on last year’s Anger Management Tour with Limp Bizkit. “It was great–we had an absolute blast doing that tour,” explains SULLY. “We were able to touch the 13, 14, 15 and 16 year-old kids who watch MTV, the ones we might not have reached in the past. I think it was really productive for Godsmack to be on that tour.”

GODSMACK have also reached another level of success recently as combined worldwide sales of AWAKE and the band’s triple-platinum self-titled debut–which spawned the four hits “Whatever,” “Keep Away,” “Voodoo” and “Bad Religion”–have surpassed the five million mark. “I haven’t had a whole lot of time to analyze things,” admits SULLY. “I’ve personally been so swamped from designing the stage, programming the lights and designing all the video footage, the pyro and everything that’s going into it. I really haven’t had time to breathe. I’m trying to not think too far ahead or rest on our achievements. I’m just trying to make this the greatest show it can be so we can deliver the best performance possible.”

GODSMACK have been consistently touring since 1998 with only a brief break to record AWAKE, released October 31 in 2000. In an interview with the New York publication Island Ear, drummer TOMMY STEWART said: “On ‘Awake,’ I think we’ve been able to capture the essence of Godsmack and put it in a bottle for the record. It’s a strong album that represents how we are in front of a crowd. It’s loud, long, fat and wide. Re-creating it [onstage] is not a problem because we think along those lines in the first place…We try to write for the stage. We’re all fans of energetic live acts.”

Energy is what keeps GODSMACK and SULLY thriving. “I’ve just been on fire with ideas and the amount of work we’ve been able to take on,” he says. “I’ve been able to double and triple my load and do it pretty much stress-free, when before I didn’t even have half as much to do and I was stressing out by trying to get everything done,” SULLY continues. “I don’t know what’s going on inside me, I’m really excited about putting together a show that we’ve really wanted to do. There’s still room to grow; we’re not blowing our creative loads on this one. At this stage, this is gonna be one of the best rock shows of 2001 for the size of venues that we’re playing–I don’t think many other bands are doing this right now.”

Here are the up-to-the-minute GODSMACK tour dates, with more to be announced in the coming weeks:

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