Godsmack’s Shannon Larkin on Next Album: ‘More High Energy Rock,’ Less ‘Metal Chunk’

Godsmack have a pretty full tour schedule through mid-November, but according to drummer Shannon Larkin, the band is starting to think about their next album. The musician laid out a loose timeline for working on their next disc with 3rd String Morning Show host Kaytie on Springfield (Ill.) station 97.7 WQLZ and he also offered a few ideas on the direction.

As for the new album, Larkin revealed that while they do have a full tour schedule, talk has started concerning their next disc and they're prepared to make use of their jam room backstage at shows to get down any fresh ideas. The drummer went on to state that the group plans on taking some time off in November, December and likely part of January before getting back to work on their next disc. "The plan is, February, and we'll do it in Florida, where Tony [Rombola] and I live and we have a studio down there," says Larkin. "We'll start there, start writing the new record, get a batch of songs and then go up to Boston, where our headquarters is, and we have a recording studio up there that we can do our new record in. So everything is planned."

As for what fans can expect, Larkin singled out "1000hp" and "Something Different" off their most recent album as a jumping off point to where the band might go. "We'd like to continue in that path, just more high energy rock and roll rather than the metal chunk which has been a part of our sound for so long, but we don't wanna be one of those bands that just keeps making the same record over and over again. We try different things."

He added, "I think on 1000hp, we kind of landed on something that was a little more punk rock-y, a little more Ramones-y, if you will, and AC/DC-ish, you know what I mean? And that's probably the direction we're pushing for. As long as it's high energy, we wanna experiment with some different sounds on the next record, as far as guitar tones go. We're just gonna try and keep it to where it's still tough sounding and aggressive and high energy. But it'll probably be a more big rock sound."

But before the band's attention turns fully to a new album, there's still the matter of a wealth of fall touring. Look for the band returning to the stage this Saturday at the Shindig Festival in Baltimore and continuing with shows through mid-November. See where they'll be playing this fall here. And listen to more of Larkin's interview with WQLZ, including discussion of Ugly Kid Joe's return, in the player provided above.

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