Biography: Godsmack
Sully - Vocals, Percussion, Guitars
Tony - Lead Guitar, Back up vocals
Robbie - Bass
Tommy - Drums
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 money they borrowed from a
friend. Expecting maybe to make back the costs of 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 company
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 a
few 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
dished 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 that 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."
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