Godsmack

Godsmack is an American metal band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin.

In February 1995, Sully Erna decided to start a new band as the lead singer after playing the drums for more than 23 years, including more than two years in the now-defunct band Strip Mind. His new band, The Scam, formed with Erna on vocals, Robbie Merrill on bass, local guitarist and friend Lee Richards on guitar, and Tommy Stewart on drums. The Scam quickly changed its name to Godsmack, after recording one demo.The newly formed band started playing small bars in their hometown of Boston. Locally popular songs such as "Keep Away" and "Whatever" soon brought them to the top of the hit charts in the Boston/New England area.

The band's name, according to Erna statement in a 1999 interview, "I was making fun of somebody who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day I had one myself and somebody said, It looks like God smacked your face for making fun. The name stuck and they went by Godsmack from then on. We were aware of the Alice in Chains song but didn't really think much about it." In 1996, Tony Rombola and Joe D'Arco joined Godsmack as the guitarist and drummer, after Richards left upon learning he had a six-year-old child and Stewart left due to personal differences. In the same year, the band entered the studio for the first time, recording its first CD titled All Wound Up. The CD was recorded in just three days for $2,600.

In mid-1998, Universal/Republic Records signed the band to their label. Joe D'Arco was dismissed from the band. He was replaced by former drummer Tommy Stewart, who returned after expressing a desire to be in the band again. The band's first studio recording All Wound Up was re-mastered, and the finished self-titled debut CD album Godsmack was released to the public six weeks later. This led to the band's first headlining tour, "The Godsmack Tour" with Jim Rose Circus as the opening act.

The album sold well despite being initially pulled from the shelves in some stores due to concerns over some of its lyrical content. The band and its record label later added a Parental Advisory sticker to the album, and some stores ordered amended copies of the album. Erna commented in Rolling Stone magazine stating, "Our record has been in the marketplace for more than a year now without a parental advisory sticker and this is the one and only complaint ... Stickers and lyrics are by nature subjective ... We have decided to put a sticker on the record". This controversy did not appear to adversely affect album sales but, according to Erna, helped, "It's almost taunting kids to go out and get the record to see what we're saying on it". The album also had four successful singles which were "Whatever", "Keep Away", "Voodoo" and "Bad Religion".

In 2000, Godsmack returned to the studio after the multi-platinum success of Godsmack to start recording Awake. The album was released on October 31, 2000.
Two of the songs on the album were used in United States Navy commercials ("Sick of Life" and "Awake") as background music. Erna stated, "Someone in the military is a fan, and they asked if they could use the music, and we accepted". However, Erna insisted in an interview that Godsmack does not support any war.

In 2002, Erna was asked to write and perform a song for the soundtrack to The Scorpion King. The motion picture was the third in the Mummy saga, and was a spin-off prequel of the Mummy series. The song Godsmack wrote and performed was titled "I Stand Alone" and the song became the number 1 single at Rock Radio and the most played Active Rock song in 2002 for 14 weeks straight. It was also used in the game Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.

In February, Sully said in an interview that Godsmack would take a break during 2013. "We are going to take some time away now because we just ran for two years" he said in an interview with Loudwire.

On September 9, 2016, Erna has confirmed that the band has officially left Universal/Republic, and signed a deal with BMG.


Current members
Sully Erna – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica (1995–present)
Robbie Merrill – bass, backing vocals (1995–present)
Tony Rombola – lead guitar, backing vocals (1996–present)
Shannon Larkin – drums, percussion (2002–present)
Former members
Lee Richards – lead guitar, backing vocals (1995–1996)
Tommy Stewart – drums, percussion (1995–1996, 1998–2002)
Joe D'Arco – drums, percussion (1996–1998)


Studio albums
Godsmack (1998)
Awake (2000)
Faceless (2003)
IV (2006)
The Oracle (2010)
1000hp (2014)