David "Gus" Griesinger of BackstageAxxess.com recently conducted an interview with GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna. You can now listen to the chat below.

As previously reported, GODSMACK will take 2013 off, according to an interview Erna gave to ARTISTdirect.com. The band spent much of 2012 on the road, both with the Uproar festival tour and Mass Chaos trek, and Erna says that a break is in order. He explained, "We're going to take some time away now because we just ran for the last two years. It's time for us to take a break and get away from the markets for a little bit so we don't overplay them. We're taking 2013 off."

Erna added, "Maybe towards the end of the year or early 2014, we may start getting into the studio and writing. Now, we're going to lay low. We may pop up once in a while to do a radio festival or something."

That doesn't mean Erna won't stay busy himself. He told The Pulse Of Radio that he has a number of plans in the works for next year. "GODSMACK's gonna take a break for a while, and I'm gonna continue to work as I always do," he said. "You know, really looking forward to 2013 and building more of a solo career. I'm gonna try to start looking more into film and TV again and things like that, along with, you know, writing some new music and trying to launch some new solo music."

Erna has released a massive limited edition box set of his 2010 solo album, "Avalon". The set, limited to 5,000 copies, includes a full performance of the "Avalon" record taped at Boston's Wilbur Theatre last December, a documentary, a bloopers CD, the album itself, and collectibles such as a coffee table book, a hat, a T-shirt, guitar pick, poster, incense, Erna's biography, a commemorative backstage pass, and a more.

GODSMACK's last studio effort, "The Oracle", came out in 2010. The group issued its first concert album, "Live & Inspired", earlier this year.