A few months ago, Godsmack announced that their latest album Light Up the Sky was going to be their last new album, effectively announcing their retirement from writing new music. They’d still play shows and tour, mind you, but the cycle of write, record, do press, tour extensively on the back of a new album, was no longer for them.
Now, as they get ready to tour with Staind later this summer, frontman Sully Erna has been the one having to explain why the band chose to call it quits on new tracks and instead become a legacy band from here on out. During a recent interview with Oklahoma City radio station Rock 100.5, Erna did his best to lay it out for the listeners.
“It’s just time. We’ve been running for a while. And I think we all had a good talk while we were making this record and we realized where we’re at in our career. We’ve accomplished a lot of things — far beyond what we thought we would when we started the band. And I’ve just learned that there’s other things in life that I’d like to do with my life besides just always tour.
“But it’s not like we’re announcing a break-up or anything; we’re just basically relieving ourselves from doing any more new music because we have a strong catalog and we’re proud of it and we have a lot of Top 10s. And honestly, we can’t even play ’em all in one show, so at what point do you say you’ve arrived and start enjoying it instead of just continuing the grind and work yourself down to the bone and burn yourself out. So we’re just trying to set up the sunset years now and enjoy the rest of our career traveling and playing shows instead of always having to be in the studio.”
Erna was quick to point out that he doesn’t hate making new music at all, but rather he and the rest of the band prefer playing shows in front of their fans.
“It’s just that what we do we do and there’s a certain enjoyment that we have from writing and recording songs, but, really, the big reward is to come out and play the stuff live and work with the fans and have a big fun party. That’s what we enjoy the most. So we wanna just kind of create the greatest-hits show now and just be able to have that live on.”
You can check out the full list of shows from Godsmack’s summer tour with Staind below.
GODSMACK and STAIND 2023 tour dates:
Jul. 18 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre [Tickets]
Jul. 20 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek [Tickets]
Jul. 21 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach [Tickets]
Jul. 22 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live [Tickets]
Jul. 25 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheater [Tickets]
Jul. 26 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center [Tickets]
Jul. 28 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion [Tickets]
Jul. 29 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center [Tickets]
Jul. 30 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater [Tickets]
Aug. 02 – Scranton, PA – The Pavilion at Montage Mountain [Tickets]
Aug. 03 – Syracuse, NY – St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview [Tickets]
Aug. 05 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake [Tickets]
Aug. 06 – Buffalo, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater [Tickets]
Aug. 08 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage [Tickets]
Aug. 09 – Detroit, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre [Tickets]
Aug. 10 – Chicago, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre [Tickets]
Aug. 12 – Indianapolis, IN – Ruoff Music Center [Tickets]
Aug. 13 – Milwaukee, WI – American Family Insurance Amphitheater [Tickets]
Aug. 16 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre [Tickets]
Aug. 18 – Nampa, ID – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater [Tickets]
Aug. 20 – Ridgefield, WA – RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater [Tickets]
Aug. 24 – Irvine, CA – FivePoint Amphitheatre [Tickets]
Aug. 26 – Las Vegas, NV – Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino [Tickets]
Aug. 27 – San Diego, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre [Tickets]
Aug. 31 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater [Tickets]