Yeah, that's true. I think that's on the 25th. Next Tuesday.

Tell me a little bit about the new record.

It's got all new songs on it. I'm just kidding ya. We worked a couple of years writing songs and we picked through the best stuff. Sully wrote words to the ones that he was getting hits off of and then we went and recorded them. That was in L.A. at his studio.

What makes Godsmack IV different from your past releases?

One thing that was different is the band wrote more of the music so that was one difference.

It was more of a group effort this time.

Yeah, musically. Not lyrically really. Sully still wrote all of his own lyrics. Lyrically, I think Sully was probably in a different place on this record because he went through some changes and went through a bunch of stuff over the past couple of years. It came out in a lot of his lyrics so lyrically it reflects his time over the past couple of years. Musically, it has a lot more of the band's input.

I was reading where he said he had some really serious personal problems. Hopefully that all worked out for him.

Yeah, everyone really goes in and out of problems right? It's a part of life.

Believe me, I think we can all relate to a lot of that shit for sure. It is nice when people talk about their problems, especially with musicians and celebrities, it puts them more in a human light sometimes.

Sure, I agree.

What three songs off the new album do you feel really represents where the band is at right now?

Oh, boy. The first song "Speak", that was actually the band who wrote the music to that one so that would be a decent representation of the group effort being there. The way the music sounds a little bit different and it's still Sully singing. There's some stuff on here that's a lot different. There's a song called "Hollow" where it's actually acoustic. We've done acoustic pieces before but we actually had a mandolin hanging around and we ended up writing along with the guitar on the mandolin so that song is definitely a departure for Godsmack. Let's see, "Shine Down" is a little more of a rock song. Overall the record I would say is a little less heavy as far as how Godsmack had a lot of those stop and go riffs. There's still some of them on there but it's a little less than what we've had in the past.

You guys are showing us a mellow side. I think that's cool though. It's cool when bands aren't afraid to experiment a little.

Yeah, we put out an acoustic record so we've already done this. I mean not this but we've done some different things along the way so nothing is a huge surprise. If we put an acoustic song on a Godsmack record I don't think anyone's surprised anymore. But like I said, I think that just the different writing, it was more input as far as the writing so there are some different sounding songs on there. There's actually a blues song, the last song on the record called "One Rainy Day". It sounds more like something from Robin Trower or something from the '70s. It's a brand new song but it has that old bluesy kind of feel to it. It's kind of heavy and dark at the same time.

I remember the first time I saw Godsmack, you guys were still playing clubs. You guys were seriously heavy at that time. It's cool to see the changes you guys have gone through.

Yeah, we still got that in us. We still like the heavy stuff but it's nice to show that you grow as musicians.

I'm glad I had that opportunity to watch you guys grow like that.

Cool.

That is absolutely awesome. The record is called Godsmack IV. Why did you decide on that as the title?

I don't know. There's something about the number four. Sully is always saying four. He says it like that like four. Everything's four. If a girl's not that pretty, she's a four he says. Four has always just been a number that he's always used and said in a funny way. When our fourth record came up, that was the first thing that came to his mind. He's like "oh, Godsmack four". I don't really know. You definitely have to ask Sully to get the real scoop. It was just his idea.

I hope that four is in a positive way.

It's just a title. The music will speak for itself.

I understand you guys did a video for "Speak". Tell me a little about the video.

Yeah, we did it out in Vegas and it was pretty simple. There really wasn't a whole lot of concept to it. It was just going to show a bunch of cool hot rods and motorcycles doing tricks and a bunch of girls. Just us jamming on a stage. Pretty basic but it had a good energy to it and Sully actually had the idea for it naturally. He's always thinking up videos but he just wanted something simple and fun and that would just represent the energy of the song. I think it came out great.

Sully produced the album himself. Is this the first time he's ever done something like that?

No, he's done every album. He's produced so that's nothing new.

You guys wrote 40 songs for the album and you basically downsized it to 11. How difficult was that to pick out 11 songs out of 40?

It's pretty simple. Whatever songs Sully writes lyrics to makes it to the Godsmack record. It's basically which ones he wants to write to lyrically.

He doesn't have a hard time making a decision on that.

No, like I said it's his call really because none of us write lyrics. We can write 100 songs but if there's no Sully singing, there's no song.

That acoustic EP that you guys did was called The Other Side. Why did you guys decide to do an acoustic EP?

We were in Japan and we had a really long flight home. We had thought about this ahead of time but instead of taking that whole flight, it started out as a joke that we'd stop in Hawaii just for a break. Then Sully had heard about a studio out there and he's always had the idea to do acoustic versions of our songs and do what we did. It ended up just kind of like that. Just happening. We were going to be in Hawaii and there was a studio there so we figured we'd stay there longer. That's pretty much it.

You guys tour a whole lot and you've been on Ozzfest. What kind of touring plans do you guys have for the summer?

In June we're going to go to Canada and up to Alaska. In July I think we're going to Japan and I don't know where else. I know we're going to Japan but they may throw somewhere else in there. Then we're going to get set up for our American tour in probably I think August or September. I don't know yet if it's confirmed but I've heard we might be doing it with Rob Zombie. It's not confirmed really but I think it's just about there now. It's what they've been talking about. It'll be a fall tour regardless at the end of August or September.

Going on tour with Rob Zombie would fucking kick ass. That guy is so awesome and I love his movies.

Yeah, he's cool.

He definitely knows how to make good horror flicks.

Yeah, that's for sure.

You guys are going to be on the Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Yeah, that's coming right up. We're going to L.A. tomorrow and we're going to rehearse for a couple of days. Then we got a bunch of TV spots like that to do like five or six things we have to do. I'll be there for two weeks then I come home.

Then you rest up a bit and then hit the road.

Yeah, go off to Canada and see how they're doing.

You guys started out in clubs and now you're doing arenas. Did you guys ever dream that you'd get that far?

Yeah, we dreamed of it. We just didn't think it would happen. So yeah, I dreamed of it. You don't know. It's such a tough business. It just happened in stages. You do clubs and the next thing you know, you're doing decent clubs. The next thing you know, you're doing theaters and it's just a slow build but I'm very happy with our success.

Sully is a Wiccan. I was always wondering. People have such a weird idea of what that is and I guess some of your stuff has been banned from Wal-Mart. What do you think of people's perception about that?

I don't know. He's the only one that's into it. I don't really know. Some people think we all are. We never talk about it. I've never talked about it once with him in the 10 years I've been in the band. I don't pay attention really to it. He doesn't talk about it either. There's not much to say really except he's Wiccan and I'm not.

It's strange. He never talks about it but yet people make such a big fucking deal out of it.

Yeah, it's probably because he mentioned it early on in our career and it seemed like people were interested so they asked questions.

I think it was Wal-Mart who said they wouldn't sell any Godsmack CDs because he's Wiccan and I was like who fucking gives a shit. Sell people the damn CDs. So what do you guys have planned after the summer and fall?

We'll probably take the holidays off, maybe do a New Year's gig, and then continue to write. We'll probably tour I'm hoping most of 2007 also. Usually we can go for a year and a half or so on a record so I don't see why we couldn't get it into 2007.

Any other thoughts or comments?