By Mike Robbins (originally posted to Flickr as Godsmack) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
When Sully Erna set out to write his first solo album, he did so to answer a calling. Erna wasn't concerned about radio airplay and smash hits and eschewed all pop conventions, pyros and theatrics to try and get at the meat of his art and to experiment with the concept that music, as a series of vibrations, resonates within the body to create emotion. The tattooed frontman of the heavy metal band Godsmack, who just last year lambasted Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx in a scrappy number called "Cryin' Like a Bitch," ventured way out on a limb with his debut record, Avalon, reaching far beyond his customary pissed off-ness to access something much deeper in himself. All Erna could hope was that fans would follow him down the rabbit hole.
Avalon, which was released in September 2010, landed at #24 on the Billboard 200 and has earned phenomenal reviews. Some critics have called the album a "masterpiece." With its Middle Eastern flavor, Native American tribal rhythms, and pagan chanting, Avalon is a gutsy move on Erna’s part and showcases his versatility as an artist. Where he is aggressive with Godsmack, he makes himself vulnerable alone with music that reaches a much wider demographic at the risk of alienating heavy metal fans, who are a notoriously possessive lot.
Erna took seven years to write Avalon. He began while out on the road with his band, messing around on the guitar in the dressing room to kill time, or on piano when he was home, and started to collect the earthy, eclectic compositions that would eventually make up the album. He assembled an impressive ensemble around him to help bring his vision to life, all of whom are multi-instrumentalists and world-class musicians. They include longtime friend Lisa Guyer, who added her haunting vocals to the song "Hollow" on Godsmack's fourth album, guitarist Tim Theriault, keyboardist/flutist Chris Decato, and acoustic guitarist/bassist Chris Lester, all of whom hail from New England and have influences ranging from Liszt to Led Zeppelin and everything in between. Adding international flavor to the band's sound are Niall Gregory, a percussionist from Drogheda, Ireland, and Irina Chirkova, a classically trained cellist from Bulgaria. With Erna rounding out the cast on vocals, piano, acoustic guitar, bongos and percussion, Avalon became a full-blown collaborative effort, a melting pot of different sounds. The biggest challenge, says Erna, was putting all the pieces together into a cohesive whole.
Much like Pink Floyd’s conceptual works Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, Avalon is best experienced in its entirety, from start to finish. And that's exactly how Erna presents it on his current solo tour, which touched down here last weekend. Playing an intimate, century-old venue, this was no Godsmack unplugged show. It was a very lush and cerebral experience. The show exuded an exotic ambience—from the candles burning onstage, to the wash of violet blue lighting, to Guyer's finger cymbals and the bindi sparking in her forehead. The evocative, hypnotic music wended its way through the crowd like an intoxicating incense. There was no head banging, no fist pumping or devil horns. Erna, unwilling to break the spell he cast over the audience, refrained from small talk. In fact, he never spoke a word at all, moving seamlessly from song to song for the length of the performance until the show's conclusion, when he uttered his first words of the night—a simple "thank you"—and left the stage.
With the addition of drummer/percussionist David Stefanelli to the live show, the evening was a smorgasbord of sound that featured dueling drummers, two guitarists, two lead vocalists, a cellist and keyboardist. Every note was real and nothing was computerized. The music, which was spiritual, though not religious, was a feast for the ears and charmed even the most hardcore Godsmack fans, decked out in their blackest finery and pentagram chokers.
What struck me about the Avalon show was the stillness that permeated and ultimately united this small gathering. The music defied expectation and lured each of us out of our comfort zone as we journeyed together through the ethereal musical landscape of Erna's interior world, and in the doing, stumbled upon our own. It was a delicious night of authentic, intellectual music that was capped with an encore of Erna playing a solo acoustic version of the Godsmack favorite "Serenity," which was followed by the full band playing Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain."
Just before he invited the crowd to its feet, Erna thanked the audience for coming out and reminded us that music is a gift that transcends language. "I hope you will think about music just a little bit differently after tonight," he said. "Don't mistake how powerful [it] can be. You can go anywhere in the world and communicate with people next to you through music." To underscore his point, he concluded the evening by leading fans in a group singalong of The Beatles' "Hey Jude." Na, na na, na na na na never felt so liberating.
Sully Erna is gearing up for a theatrical production of Avalon, with the likes of Pink Floyd's The Wall inspiring what he hopes will be a sweeping, cinematic experience.
VH1's Palladia is currently running the documentary The Journey to Avalon, about the making of the album, which debuted on the channel in May.
If you get the chance, check out Sully Erna on tour this summer, both solo and with Godsmack as part of the Mayhem Festival. For concert dates, visit his website at www.sullyerna.com for tour dates.
