Time: 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: $60

Godsmack
http://www.godsmack.com
http://www.twitter.com/godsmack_music
http://www.myspace.com/godsmack

In February of 1995, after being behind the drums for more than 23 years, Sully Erna decided to start a new band. It was only a matter of time before he realized he needed to take charge and step out from behind the kit to front the band himself.

One year and a couple of member changes later Godsmack was born. Sully Erna, Robbie Merrill and Tony Rombola hit the studio and recorded their first CD titled All Wound Up. They did this over one weekend for a measly twenty six-hundred dollars.

Over the next two years, the band played throughout the Boston scene with drummer Joe Darco and began earning a strong reputation of being a great live band. The noise they were making in the New England area created a snowball effect like no other.

Godsmack began drawing in bigger and bigger audiences to their live shows. Their CD began circulating through the streets of Boston and eventually landed in the hands of a DJ for WAAF, a Boston radio station. WAAF put "Keep Away" into heavy rotation and it quickly soared to the #1 spot at the station. Newbury Comics, a New England record store chain, agreed to sell the CD on consignment and the grind continued.

Shortly after the success of "Keep Away" Godsmack went back into the studio and recorded a single titled "Whatever", which became the new local favorite on WAAF. It took off in the blink of an eye and the race was on.

As a result of the single doing so well, Godsmack's CD began selling hundreds of copies per week, and soon escalated to more than one thousand copies per week, becoming the second best selling CD in that chain of stores. Godsmack's live shows began selling out throughout New England, which in return created more requests for their music on the local radio stations and more CD sales. On and on it went until the summer of 1998 when Republic/Universal stepped up and signed the band to their label.

Joe Darco was soon replaced by Tommy Stewart, All Wound Up was re-mastered and the artwork was changed. The finished self-titled debut CD Godsmack hit the shelves six weeks later.

Godsmack hit the road on their first headlining tour, The Voodoo Tour. The bands strong live performances, coupled with high record sales and growing number of fans, landed them time slots on Ozzfest 1999 and 2000, a European tour with Black Sabbath and an appearance at Woodstock 1999.

In 2000, Godsmack released their second CD, Awake. This album's title track dominated rock radio and broke chart records throughout 2000 and 2001. The CD's instrumental track "Vampires" earned the band its first Grammy nomination.

Godsmack toured Awake selling out arenas and outdoor venues nationwide. They gave their fans their moneys worth with a gothic stage, video and pyro; lots of pyro!

In 2002, Sully was asked to A&R the soundtrack for the motion picture The Scorpion King, the third installment in the Mummy saga. The song Godsmack wrote and performed lived up to its title: "I Stand Alone" became the #1 single at Rock Radio and the most played Active Rock song in 2002 for 14 weeks straight.

After spending over four years on the road the band decided to take a break before heading back into the studio. It was during this break that Shannon Larkin, a friend of Sully's for 15 years, formerly of Wrathchild America, AMEN and Ugly Kid Joe, was asked to replace Tommy Stewart.

The new line up headed to Miami to write and record the bands third CD. Faceless was released in April of 2003 and became the #1 selling record in America of that week. Faceless also brought another tour that ran 23 months strong inlcuding two more Grammy nominations for "I Stand Alone" and an 11 month international arena tour with the kings of metal, Metallica!!

In March of 2004, Godsmack released their first acoustic EP, The Other Side which included new versions of previous hits like "Keep Away", "Re-Align" and a haunting new version of the Navy's recruit song, "Awake"!

This also spawned a side tour of its own. Godsmack filled in breaks from the big stage with Metallica with intimate storytelling acoustic shows giving their fans the explanation behind the title, The Other Side.

With rich velvet curtains, stone gargoyles and strings of Christmas lights illuminating theaters around the country, fans had a whole new experience of the true talents of this unique foursome. Stripped down to nothing, Godsmack continued to deliver one of the best acoustic performances of our time.

Godsmack ended 2004, and two CD cycles, with a nostalgic New Year's Eve performance at the Hard Rock Café, in Orlando, Fl. During this amazing three hour performance, Godsmack rolled through just about every song in their catalog as well as a few well known cover songs.

The band released Godsmack IV on April 25, 2006. Their next album, The Oracle, hit the streets on May 4, 2010.

Their upcoming album Live & Inspired will hit stores on May 15, 2012.

Seether http://www.seether.com

On their sixth full-length album Isolate and Medicate, multi-platinum alternative rock trio Seether – Shaun Morgan [vocals, guitar], Dale Stewart [bass, backing vocals], and John Humphrey [drums] – strip their trademark melodic thrash to its core and deliver the most poignant, passionate, and powerful record of their illustrious career. With rigorous minimalism and maturity, chief songwriter Shaun Morgan – long one of rock’s most unheralded melodists, has become a composer of deep emotion and clear-eyed vulnerability. The band too has developed into one of rock’s most fearsome units, playing with precision, grit and authority, yet still light on their feet. After 15+ years of hardscrabble success, it’s evident that Seether felt like survival was not enough. They had something to prove with this new album – somewhere farther to go.

One reason for the new approach must surely be Seether’s close partnership with ace producer Brendan O’Brien (Springsteen, Pearl Jam). More like a member of the band than a hired gun, O’Brien repeatedly championed Morgan as one of music’s most gifted songwriters and vocalists and Seether as one of rock’s most extraordinary bands. His unrelenting faith in their talent and potential has been something of a North Star for Seether, helping them struggle through and outlast some very dark times.

Recognizing that he needed to limit distractions, in early 2013 Morgan went about constructing a refuge in his New Hampshire home – a space where these new songs could develop and take shape. “I actually built a room that I could write in,” he recalls. “I personally pulled out the carpet, put in wood flooring, decorated, and painted. After getting off the road, it was a process of preparation to get the environment just right. I made a place that I felt comfortable and creative in. I was able to be safe and isolated, concentrating on writing music instead of dealing with the distractions that come with daily life.”

Lyrically, Morgan has never been afraid to look his demons in the eye. The people in these songs confront the truth with simmering rage; it’s the fuel they need to make them feel alive. “The whole record is a collection of diary entries,” Morgan revealed. “It’s just where I’m at and what I’m going through. I’m writing songs about getting through whatever situations I’m in at the time. These songs deal with relationships and life situations.”

Morgan emerged with a collection of fleshed-out ideas that the musicians honed during rehearsals together in drummer John Humphrey’s native Oklahoma. By the time they assembled with O’Brien to record the album at Hollywood’s Henson Studios in January 2014, their vision had clearly come into focus.

“It felt so natural,” explains Humphrey. “When we get together, there’s an indescribable chemistry. That’s all over this album. The three of us can jam together and finish a song pretty quickly. We were really focused. These guys are my second family. We’re tight musically and otherwise.”

The band cut the entire album in sixteen days. The swift recording pace did not allow them to smother the tracks with overproduction, but rather gave the songs a chance to breathe. On working with O’Brien, bassist Dale Stewart enthused, “He’s like a fourth band member at this point. We understand each other. He likes to get in there and work quickly and he encourages us to be ourselves. We often followed our first instinct. That allowed us to capture the moment.”

The album opener, “See You At The Bottom,” quickly locks in with brutal force as Morgan’s Beatles-meets-Nirvana wail comes screaming out of the speakers. From there, the album never lets up.

Gnashing riffs underpin another infectious chorus on the virulent first single, “Words As Weapons.” Morgan’s remarkable ear for indelible melodies is truly the band’s secret weapon. It’s what makes Isolate and Medicate so damn listenable. Morgan makes unrelenting despair a fun listen.

“Same Damn Life” – a boiling rejection of suburban sprawl juxtaposed against Morgan’s surgery falsetto – is a pop metal surprise. “I always felt like there was something there,” Morgan said of the song. “It started from a riff and went into a vocal idea. I’m a big fan of The Beatles. It’s fun to do something with that pop element. Those are the songs that stick with you.”

The album’s centerpiece, “Crash,” is quite possibly the most beautiful song Seether has ever recorded. Gorgeous vocal lines and warm, fuzzed-out guitars cascading into pulsating wall-of-sound atmospherics mark an undeniable creative peak for the band. “It’s different from what we’ve done in the past and that excited all of us,” Stewart says. “It doesn’t follow the stereotypical formula. It’s pretty. It’s heavy. It’s emotional and deep.”

Another reason for the band’s fresh outlook is the strong support and enthusiasm they feel from new label partners The Bicycle Music Company/Concord Music Group. The brothers-in-arms feel was galvanized with their new team. “In one of our first meetings with the label, we played everybody five or six completed songs,” Morgan remembers. “This marked the first time anybody outside of the band and Brendan listened to it. Afterwards, everybody was really excited and happy. Seeing the level of enthusiasm was great. That felt like the moment everything came together. It was a rebirth, in a sense.”

Seether has worked tirelessly to reach this point. The hard rocking outfit originally from Pretoria, South Africa has now released eight albums in all, two of which have gone Platinum and two more that are certified Gold along with a live concert DVD that has sold over 500,000 units – for total worldwide sales in excess of 4.5 million. The consistent hit makers have quietly amassed eleven #1 singles and seventeen Top 5 multi-format hits resulting in singles sales that top seven million – a level of success few artists working today can match. Seether has averaged 120 performances a year, crisscrossing the globe, emerging into headlining mainstays and featured performers on many of the world’s biggest rock festivals.

Isolate and Medicate will undoubtedly resonate deeply with the group’s fiercely loyal fans. “I hope everybody can feel this,” concludes Humphrey. “It’s a special album for us, and we put everything we had into it.”

Morgan completes the sentiment, “I want them to walk away having enjoyed the music. I want them to get the same emotional sense and happiness we feel listening to it. It’s so important and tied to memories we’ve all had. When somebody listens, it’ll hopefully make them feel good. They will know they’re not alone. That’s the reason we do it.”