Godsmack Members Talk How Reading Negative Comments Affects Them, Send Message to Metallica’s Hetfield

“That fucker! I can’t believe he said that! Fuck him, I’m gonna ruin his life now!”, frontman Sully Erna says with a laugh.

During an appearance on Loudwire Nights, Godsmack singer/guitarist Sully Erna and drummer Shannon Larkin talked about negative comments on the band’s videos online and how they affect them.

Asked if they ever “fall into the comments rabbit hole,” Shannon replied (transcribed by UG):

“I do, I do. I get sucked into the rabbit hole, yes.”

Sully chimed in with a laugh:

“I don’t just for that reason because it creates emotion one way or the other. It’s either something where you go, ‘Yeah, man!’ and feed your ego or you just go, ‘That fucker! I can’t believe he said that! Fuck him, I’m gonna ruin his life now!’

Has it ever actually upset you?

Shannon: “Absolutely. If somebody says we suck, you know, I’m still a musician, I don’t care how much fame and gold records and all that bullshit – if somebody says I suck, it offends me.

“I try not to let it, you know, I try not to care, but I do care, and I can’t lie to myself. Do I respond? No.”

‘They’ll never know they got to me, ever!’

Shannon: “Yeah, that’s right.”

The guys were then asked about Metallica frontman James Hetfield re-entering rehab and whether they have any comments. Larkin replied:

“I’m an alcoholic, sober for three and a half years now. And just the day before yesterday, I even texted him [Shannon], ‘A shot of Jack would be nice.’

“‘Every day’ is the answer. Every day you got to check yourself if you’re an alcoholic, and James is. I know him, he has admitted, and so I feel for him right now, man, because it’s not something you choose to do.

“It’s like a disease we have, you know, whether we inflicted it on ourselves or not remains to be seen, but the truth is: every single day, you get a craving and then you get urges.

“So you get yourself into a routine and it’s hard to break, and when you break it, you usually do it when something bad has happened that made you go, ‘I need to fix myself.’

“And then usually, like, in my case and in James’ case, you take time off from this rock ‘n’ roll world, and you go into rehab, and then you go home and, you know, you find a new universe and your new self, and you try to be happy.

“But then you get thrown back on this fantasy land that we’re out here in that’s surrounded by partying – that’s what we do, and we’re the host of the party so now you’re feeling weird that you’re not partying, but whatever.

“So, I understand and I feel for James and he will get through it, he’s a strong dude.”

Sully added:

“I feel the same way. I love that guy, we spent a lot of time on the road together, and it sucks that he relapsed, but we’re glad that he recognized it early enough that he went back in.

“I mean, that’s just the whole another set of things that he has to deal with again because, you know, as Shannon went through, as James went through, as many of us went through, you go and do this rehab thing and that’s a whole lot of work, to begin with.

“So I’m sure he’s even feeling that weight of, like, ‘Oh, I blew it, I got to go through this whole thing again?’ He did the real deal, he did three months away from everybody and I’m sure he’s, like, ‘Man, I got to go through this again now.’

“But he’s a good dude, man. Unfortunately, he has a bad disease, and we all believe in him, we all love him, he’s been an inspiration and an icon, mentor to all of us over the years. We send out our best love and wishes that he gets well soon.”