Godsmack Fights Back With Awake

October 30 -- Most bands that score a triple-platinum album — as Boston hard rock outfit Godsmack did with its self-titled 1998 debut — would consider recording their next effort in a comfortable, amenities-laden, service-oriented studio. And most of the members of Godsmack were hopeful that they'd make their new album, Awake, due out on Oct. 31, in the cushy confines of Longview Farms studios, where the band recorded its track for the Any Given Sunday soundtrack. But that wasn't what frontman Sully Erna had in mind when he "threw a curveball" and took the group to River's Edge Productions in Haverhill, Mass., a "dive" located in a once-abandoned warehouse above a boxing gym.

"I felt [Longview] was gonna take the edge off what I wanted to accomplish on this record," says Erna, who boxes and used to train at the gym under the studio. "I felt that we would be too comfortable; I didn't want to be surrounded by luxury. We had to stay close to the streets — I had to, at least. I couldn't get too far away from what got us there in the first place."

In fact, Erna says he felt fancier environs might only exacerbate any pressure the group faced in following up the Godsmack album. "I definitely found myself over-analyzing stuff," he notes. "The first time you put out a record, if it does well, it's just a surprise to everyone — to us, to the public. There's expectations now; we do have 3 million people that bought our record. So are the new songs good enough? Did I write the right lyrics? When I found myself doing that, I'd say, 'No, no — I'm not doing that to myself. I write what I want to write.'"

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The studio location presented other challenges as well — the sonic kind. Godsmack does play loud, but Erna says the sounds of the boxers below had a tendency to seep through the floor.

"There were days we couldn't do a little, quiet egg-shaker track because the speed-bag guys were going at it below us," he recalls. "We put ourselves through way more torture than we should've, but I think we needed that. I felt like I needed to slum around in order to remember why I have these emotions that I write about."