Godsmack

GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna recently spoke to The Phoenix about the upcoming release of his memoir, "The Paths We Choose", due on February 7 via Bartleby Press.

"I didn't want to write an autobiography as much as a snapshot of my life, about growing up on the streets of Lawrence [Massachusetts], the troubles you get into," he said. "It was really more, hopefully, a self-help kind of book."

Erna was given the key to the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts on January 16. A "teary-eyed" Erna, who spent his formative years in the town, was presented with the key by Councilman Nunzio DiMarca, who said, "(Even) when he was washing dishes at my brother's restaurant, he's always been a very polished young man." Erna said in his speech that the town "molded me into the man I have become."

Sully recalled an incident that took place when he was 17. "We went to a house party in South Lawrence, and as the night unfolded I got into fistfight with a kid upstairs. He pulled a knife on me. They broke us up. Jimmy and Freddy got the car. I went downstairs and the kid had followed me down. He had a pretty big knife, and I pulled a shotgun — it was Freddy's sister's boyfriend's — out of the trunk. I put it up to his face and pumped it, and this showdown began. I won't tell you the rest." It's the story that starts the book.

"We led a wild life and did a lot of crazy stuff," he continued. "There was a lot of times it was easy to make wrong decisions, but I have this passionate, creative side to me. I think in the book there's a lot of lessons learned."