By David L. Wilson If it is uncompromised hard rock that you are after than you need search no further than GODSMACK. For the last year and a half the Boston foursome have ridden a wave of popularity that rivals that of any of these "Boy-bands" currently infesting the airwaves. The difference that GODSMACK brings to the equation is the absolute guarantee that there will be nothing safe or sugary, in fact it is quite the opposite. Truth be told, it is no simple task to displace the drivel that is most often heard on rock radio these days. The fact that GODSMACK has had four respectably sized hits from their debut album is just short of miraculous but it does give hope, hope that heavy rock, hard rock, heavy metal, whatever you want to call it will return as the dominate force on the music scene. As if touring for nearly two years and making sporadic contributions to movie soundtracks and other compilations wasn't enough to keep these Beantowners busy they did manage to write and record a new record, provisionally titled, "AWAKE." "AWAKE" will be more of the same for the growing throngs of GODSMACK fans worldwide and looks to serve as the final wake up call to all that matter in this crazy bit of music, Rock is back and it is meaner than ever. Amidst the mayhem that is the Ozz-Fest GODSMACK's Tommy Stewart broke from his pre set routine to field a few questions for BALL BUSTER. DAVID: It is a slightly different situation being a part of this Ozz-Fest tour than it would be if you were headlining your own gigs, how is the whole touring festival situation treating you? TOMMY: Yeah, well, it is only different in the sense that there are twenty bands playing and the people in the audience are not all there to see us but it is still a great thing to be a part of. DAVID: This is the second time that you have done Ozz-fest so I have to presume that it agrees with you? TOMMY: Yeah, we played last year as well and we had a good time. DAVID: When you played last year the first record was peaking but what is surprising is that a year later the same album is still moving a lot of copies, what is it now, the fourth single? TOMMY: Yeah. We are very happy with that record but we have a new record coming out October 31st. We didn't really want to rush it and have all of the competition of the summer traffic. We took our time with it but didn't get too lax and because it was summer again and they (Sharon Osbourne) wanted us back we thought the Ozz-Fest was perfect for what we had going on. We will put out this new record in late October and still be touring it next year, maybe again with Ozz-Fest. DAVID: Have you picked a title for the new record? TOMMY: It will be called, "AWAKE." DAVID: So, this will actually be the third record for the band? TOMMY: No, it is the second record. The Universal release of the last record was the same record that we released independently in New England. It is basically the same album just re-mastered and different artwork. DAVID: Was it a bit different recording this album as compared to the first one where you had just joined the band before it was recorded? TOMMY: Well, I was there in the beginning and during the time that I had left they ended up recording the rest of the album but no, we handled the recording of this record in pretty much the same way as last time. We did it at a local studio in Massachusetts, just like the first one. That one was recorded in a little hole in the wall in Boston so it was kept very organic and very local and this one still has the same kind of vibe to it. DAVID: Are you kind of like a walking god in the Boston music scene now? TOMMY: (Laughing) I think that Sully and those guys are because they are from there but, yeah, the band is pretty popular in that area. DAVID: You got to do a track on the new BLACK SABBATH tribute record, was it the track that you originally wanted to do or was it a situation where bands were basically assigned numbers to cover? TOMMY: We were actually trying to figure out which one we wanted to do more between "Electric Funeral" and "Sweet Leaf" and we decided on "Sweet Leaf" and it turned out awesome. DAVID: Were you a big SABBATH fan previous to this? TOMMY: Oh yeah, we all are, without question. We all grew up on SABBATH. DAVID: Again, this is purported to be the last of the Ozzy tours and we have already seen the last of the SABBATH tours, is there a certain sense of melancholy to this tour for you? TOMMY: I don't know. It is hard to believe that Ozzy won't ever play again because he just keeps getting better with age but he has said it a lot before, I don't know. It would definitely be a loss if there were no more Ozzy Osbourne or BLACK SABBATH ever again. Who knows, maybe we will see them both again. DAVID: Since you did the business last time I would suspect that promoters are going to try and put you in some bigger halls this time out? TOMMY: When we go out for a full blown tour for this next record we will be doing anywhere form 3 to 7,000 seaters, somewhere in that range. DAVID: Does the size of the room matter to you from a performance standpoint? TOMMY: Yeah, and we get that question a lot but it depends on the energy of a particular building. Some big places have no energy at all and some small places have tons of energy so it all depends on what kind of crowd we have. DAVID: Are you going to be showcasing some new songs from the new record tonight? TOMMY: We are actually playing two new songs off of this record tonight. DAVID: Since the music from the first record has been around for three or four years have they kind of grown a little tiring to play every night when you know that you have a whole batch of fresh ones ready to play? TOMMY: Some of the songs are about five years old, when we first started the band so yeah, some of the material does go back a ways but yeah, maybe a little bit but when you get in front of a crowd that loves the band and you get the energy off of them I don't even think about that aspect of it. DAVID: Have there been any other bands on Ozz-Fest that you have made it a point to see every night? TOMMY: Yeah, PANTERA I have seen almost every night and Ozzy and STATIC-X. INCUBUS I like a lot and METHODS OF MAYHEM is on in about an hour so I want to make sure I check them out. I want to go and see DEADLIGHTS too and I haven't seen my boys in REVEILLE yet but I will. DAVID: As far as things beyond this new record, is there more soundtrack work and other side projects going on with any of you? TOMMY: We did the "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2" soundtrack and the "SCREAM 3" soundtrack and then one on "ANY GIVEN SUNDAY" but that is about it for right now. DAVID: Are those tracks nice diversions from what is the regular workload or are they a pain to do because it breaks the band's concentration? TOMMY: I don't know. The song that was on the "SCREAM 3" soundtrack was the same one that was on the first record so I think that it just depends on what it is and whether or not we are actually going to be able to put a new song together for a soundtrack. Like the song for the "MI2" soundtrack was a song that was actually on the original independent release of the first record but it didn't make it to the Universal release so we revamped it and put it on there. DAVID: Alright man, I know you have some guests here (Vern Traynor, Minnie Me from the Austin Powers movie was hanging with a few other local Celebes in the GODSMACK rec area) so I will let you get back to entertaining, thanks for the time and the great music! TOMMY: My pleasure. Copyright 2000, BallBuster, The Official Int'l Underground Hard Music Report