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Sully Erna
Born Salvatore Paul Erna in 1968 in Lawrence, Massachusetts of Sicilian heritage, Sully comes from a musical family. His own musical predilections are decidedly contemporary rock, although his father played trumpet in a jazz band that rehearsed in the home. Sully's early influences were the heavy rock and metal icons of his youth. He has played drums since before primary school and he counts Zeppelin's John Bonham and Rush's Neil Peart as inspirational. Sully also has facility on guitar, while vocals, at first fledgling and unsure, would come later. His first major band was Strip Mind, signed to Sire/Reprise records. Meanwhile, he kept his day job doing collections for an attorney. The day gig ended when Sully teamed up with the members of Godsmack in 1995. The success seemed predestined from the start. They've recorded wildly popular successful CDs including Awake, which earned them Best Instrumental Performance at the Grammy Awards, and the recent IV. Their music has progressed from dark/negative to light/hopeful, perhaps a reflection of age and the advent of children's voices in the house. At any rate, Sully's percussion has helped make Godsmack's acoustic performances and CDs credible. A believer in "giving something back", Sully Erna participated in a New Hampshire battle of the bands in 2005. The winning band, Zion, received a gratis recording session at Sully's California home studio. Additional generosity is manifested in Sully's gift to his supportive mother: a Cadillac. Blunt in a this-worldly sense and a Wiccan when addressing beyond the veil, Sully Erna has documented his experiences in his book: "The Paths We Choose."
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The
lead songwriter and vocalist for the metal band Godsmack, Sully Erna
might, at first glance, seem an unlikely artist of Toca percussion.
After all, we are talking Godsmack, a seriously heavy metal band that
has plumbed the depths with jangling guitar and low tenor vocals. However,
Erna makes full use of percussion-and drums-using