GODSMACK Hopes To Embark On Special 20th-Anniversary Tour In 2019

iRock Radio conducted an interview with GODSMACK guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin at this year’s Rock On The Range festival, which took place last month in Columbus, Ohio. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about GODSMACK‘s initial plans to celebrate the 20th-anniversary of the release of the band’s debut album in 2018, Shannon said: “That was an initial thought; Sully [Erna, GODSMACK frontman] had said it a couple of times in the press or whatever. But then when we started working on the new album, we realized that… we thought that we really need to focus on this. And if we put a new record out and play all of the first record, then we wouldn’t really be pushing this new record, which we feel is like a new sound for the band, a rebirth. We’re all over 50 now, and we don’t wanna be a bunch of old dudes trying to pretend like we’re young and angry anymore. So with that said, we hope maybe next year, after we get done with the cycle for ‘When Legends Rise’, to maybe do a tour. And by then it’ll be ‘Awake’‘s 20-year anniversary. So we could do maybe a tour where we play just songs from those first two records.”

Erna was asked by Kenosha, Wisconsin radio station 95 WIIL Rock about the response from fans to GODSMACK‘s new LP, “When Legends Rise”. Erna replied: “We’re getting some really positive reactions so far. It’s reacting exactly the way we hoped for it to… The record is so deep, it’s so packed with newer kind of sounds, more melodic kind of hooks, but it also has a lot of the core integrity that GODSMACK has built our fanbase off of.”

Erna told The Pulse Of Radio that the change in the band’s sound reflect changes in his personal life as well. “I’m just not that young, angry guy anymore that I was when I wrote the first two records,” he said. “And I know a lot of the fans were, like, ‘Oh my god, why won’t you come out with this PANTERA-sounding record?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m 50 years old, I have a daughter, you know; my life is in a much different place. And for me, the way I write is I write about things that affect me on an emotional level.”

GODSMACK and SHINEDOWN recently unveiled a second North American leg to their upcoming co-headlining tour, adding a string of fall dates to the two bands’ itineraries after initially hitting the road together in July. The new dates begin on September 21 in Greenville, South Carolina, ending for now on October 11 in Portland, Oregon. ASKING ALEXANDRIA will take over in the opening slot for LIKE A STORM and RED SUN RISING, who are splitting the summer concerts.

Erna told The Pulse Of Radio that both SHINEDOWN and his band intend to deliver a big show this time out. “You know, us and SHINEDOWN have worked very hard on putting out a big rock show,” he said. “Each band wants to be able to deliver a big show and big production and I’m starting to feel, if I may say boldly, that I think it could be the best rock tour of 2018. It’s just gonna be a really big package. We’re bringing a big show, and so I don’t think anyone’s gonna be disappointed, that’s for sure.”

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net