Sully Erna performs live on the mainstage of Rockstar Uproar Fest 2012 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. copyright 2012/Scott Vollweiler/ Broken Records Magazine and Photography
Sully Erna is best known as the lead singer of Godsmack, but more importantly, is currently on an amazing solo run since the release of Avalon in 2010. Most recently, Sully has made an extremely collectible box set available to his fans.
Now, this is no ordinary box set. As Sully states, “this is a huge box set and for the money, it’s packed. There are tons of gifts in there, everything from the CD, to the live show, a t-shirt, backstage passes, and my autobiography; it’s just a ton of stuff. And five out of the 5,000 boxes are going to have Golden Tickets in there, which will give people the chance to spend the day with me in New York, Vegas, Boston, or LA. Like, in Vegas we could go to a Cirque du Soleil show and dinner, things like that. I’m going to try to give them an authentic experience in every city that we go to.” So not only do you get all that merchandise, but you have a chance to spend a day with Sully Erna himself.
Sully Erna (courtesy of the artist)
As for the live DVD, Sully chose The Wilbur Theatre because “I wanted to film it in my hometown, in such a historical theatre, that we enjoyed going to anyways, great staff there, central located, just a really cool, fun theatre and the perfect size for this kind of vibe.”
“That kind of vibe” is something that Sully has been saying a lot lately. When asked what that meant exactly, Sully explained, “The whole vibe of Avalon is just about people experiencing the gift of music, sit back in your seat, enjoying your glass of wine, closing your eyes and really letting the music take you through visual journeys. It works like a healing agent as well.”
Where did that all come from, you may be wondering. Sully stated “It wasn’t really until I started playing with Godsmack, and started writing my own lyrics and got fan mail from the people explaining their experiences they went through and how music has gotten them through such a bad time. People are listening man, I wasn’t even listening at that time, and I was just rocking out and venting my own personal experiences and using it as therapy to heal myself. Then I realized that there were other people that were paying attention and it was affecting them as well in different ways. That’s when I started to realize how powerful music is and how it is a universal healer for all of us.”
When asked if he needs his own solo career, Sully laughed and answered “yes, very much.” He went on to explain, “If you’re eating chocolate ice cream all the time, eventually you want vanilla. For me, I need both for balance, it’s just the way it is. I have this ceiling in my head, and Avalon allows me to explore different colors and textures than Godsmack does. As much as I love Godsmack and the guys in Godsmack I also like to just to go off on my own and write, create and paint a different picture.”
In regards to what’s next for Sully, he plans on recording some more solo music, but not necessarily a full record. Either way, you will have new Sully music in 2013, but no new Godsmack, due to their taking a break. He wants to do more of a story teller kind of tour where he can do everything from Godsmack, to Avalon, to just playing cover songs, all while explaining everything along the way.