Chords for Sully Erna Talks "Hometown Life" // Exclusive Interview

[C#] It was definitely different from [F#] writing with Godsmack and [D#m] certainly different from [C#] writing
the first solo album, Avalon.
Because [D#m] Avalon was a bit more earthy and a bit more tribal, [C#] hypnotic at times, things like that.
Where this record took [D#m] on more of a cleaner production kind of feel, almost like a masculine
style Adele in that kind of adult contemporary, this hints of [F#] jazzy blue stuff in there, hints
of country flares at times, things like that.
_ It was fun and it was certainly interesting writing it, but [A#] it was a very personal _ kind of record.
[D#] Different Kind of _ Tears [Gm] _ _
[A#] _ _ _ _ [G#] _ _ _ _
_ _ [A#] _ was actually a co-write with me and [D#m] a gentleman named Zach Malloy,
who is actually a Nashville writer.
It's no wonder that it has that little country flare [F#] to it.
It's not a country song, but there's certainly a hint of country in it. _ _ _ _
[D#m] _ _ _ [F#] _ I never try to decide how to write a song.
I just write what comes to mind.
When I capture melodies or arrangements or lyrical [D#m] content, the song just develops on its own.
Then I figure out what kind of style it is.
[F#] I think music is a very universal kind of language that we all connect to in our own way.
So I don't think it [D#m] should be categorized.
With this record, I was really actually proud at the end to look and see all these different
[F#] hints of genres in there.
I think it's more [C#] of a universal album that way.
_ [D#m] _
_ _ _ _ _ I'm definitely not _ [F#] nervous about Godsmack fans [C#] critiquing this too much.
The one thing I think [D#m] I've learned over the years is they've _ _ accepted this style of music
[F#] through songs that Godsmack had in the past, like the Voodoos and the Serenities and that
kind of thing. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The [F#m] rest of the guys in Godsmack, they're [F#] out doing their own little side project right
now called Apocalyptic Blues Review, which is [G#m] a really cool kind of biker [D#m] bluesy band.
They're really good.
I actually went to see them in Laconia at Bike [F#] Week.
When we're on break, we just like to still play, but [C#] we need [F#] to give Godsmack a rest
every now and then.
[D#m] We do our solo stuff, and that's what they choose to do, and this is the stuff I choose to do. _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ _ [C#] _ A lot of the other songs [D#m] became _ _ orchestrated to the point where I [B] knew I needed strings,
cellos, [F#] violins, whatever, to kind of fill that atmosphere.
This one took on this [C#] real swanky, kind of jazzy blues thing, [D#m] _
real theatrical almost
in a sense at the beginning of it.
I knew I was going to use horns, and [C#] so I started to reach out to horn players, and
[D#m] it dawned on me like, wow, my dad's a trumpet player, and he's the one who [C#] started me in
music when I was three and a half years old.
[F#] It was just a no-brainer [G] to go and ask him, like, listen, [C#] here's our opportunity to actually
[D#m] be on a song together.
It's just an awesome memory to be able to take with us both.
We'll always have that.
_ _ [F#] He's been immortalized onto the record.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I think it's just like when an artist paints a picture.
[C#] You can sit there with blacks and grays all day [F#] and do a great portrait, but when you
start adding colors and different [C#] textures, and it pops, and things just happen, [F#] it takes different shapes.
And so for me, [C#] that's how it is when I write music.
_ _ I come [D#m] up with the foundation of it first, and then I can feel if it's sad, if it's heavy
feeling, or if it's more upbeat and funky.
[F#] Those are the kind of _
With me, _ _ instruments in general are just something that I play
with like a giant toolbox. _ _
[C#] I haven't mastered every instrument.
[F#] I can play several different instruments, but I'm not [C#] great at any of them, really.
I just use them as [F#] tools, and I can pick up a flute and figure something [C#] out to make a
part in the song with it.
I [D#m] _ _ _ _ _ _
think for people, I think they just need to keep an open mind and transpose [F#] these lyrics
and music into their own life, and hopefully it'll help them heal some things maybe, because
I think it's just [C#] about _ spending an [D#m] evening with the record, with a box of tissues, and
some Ben & Jerry's ice [C#] cream, and having a good cry, and letting it all out, and [F#] then
come see the show, and [G#m] we'll cry together and [C#] finish it off that way.
[D#] _ _ [N] _ _ _ _