TOMMY LEE Wants To Stay Out Of MÖTLEY CRÜE-GODSMACK Beef

December 23, 2009

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee has commented on GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna's recent revelation that this past summer's Crüe Fest 2 turned out to be "the most dramatic tour" GODSMACK has ever been on, with the kind of "rock-star garbage" on the part of the tour's headliners that Erna and his bandmates had "never seen [before] in [their] career."

Erna told the Artisan News Service that taking part in this year's Crüe Fest 2 was a good move for his band and their fans, and at the same time was the worst tour they've ever done.

Erna and the rest of GODSMACK joined with headliners MÖTLEY CRÜE plus support acts THEORY OF A DEADMAN, DROWNING POOL and CHARM CITY DEVILS for this year's travelling rock festival, which kicked off on July 19 in Camden, New Jersey.

"I don't know too much about that," Lee told the Artisan News Service. "Sully and I are good friends. I think he just had some issues with the way he was treated by somebody else in the organization. But I'm gonna stay right out of that. [chuckles]"

Video footage of Tommy Lee talking about GODSMACK and Crüe Fest 2 can be viewed below.

When asked what is was like for GODSMACK off stage on the Crüe Fest 2 tour, Erna told the Artisan News Service, "I will tell you, it's been the most dramatic tour we've ever been on. I mean, talk about just craziness, man. Sometimes egos run high, man, and there's definitely been some rock-star garbage on this tour that just have never seen in our career. Every band — from BLACK SABBATH to AEROSMITH, RUSH, METALLICA... you name it... They've always... I don't think there was ever a threat, you know what I mean?! Like who's gonna dwarf METALLICA anyways? But there's always just been this mutual kind of like, 'We wanna put on a great show, so bring your bells and whistles, bring your show, so between you guys and us, we can make these people get a bang for their buck.' And that's really what entertainment has always been about. And so, I've never been in a position before where we felt we had to really protect this thing; it's kind of like a dog with a bone — you put us up against a wall and we're gonna come out swinging."

When asked whether MÖTLEY CRÜE might have been acting out of ego competition between Crüe Fest 2 bands or living up to previous travelling tours like Ozzfest, Erna replied, "I don't know who needs to live up to whose reputations and I don't know why some people consider music as a competition, but I will tell you that I have never been in a situation where I felt like I was out for blood, and honestly, this was the first time that I felt like, 'You know what?! If there's gonna be some people that are gonna treat other people a certain way, then I'm gonna go out there every night and fucking crush you on stage — make sure that we make you look old and fat, and go home with a nice big fat paycheck. You can sit in your world and I'll sit in mine, and [I'll] see you at the top again, I guess, somewhere...' I don't know. All I care about, really, is playing music and enjoying myself on the road. I'm not here to compete. Everybody has their fans, everybody has their own music, and it's supposed to be more like a brotherhood, but... I don't know. It's been a good time for us out here, but in other situations, there's definitely been some uncomfortable moments."

Watch video footage of Sully Erna talking about Crüe Fest 2 at this location.

The 32-city trek had its final performance on September 5 at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien Lake, New York.

GODSMACK recently released a new single called "Whiskey Hangover" in conjunction with its appearance on Crüe Fest 2.

The next GODSMACK album will be the band's first collection of all-new material since 2006's "IV".

In late 2007, the band released a greatest hits collection called "Good Times, Bad Times - Ten Years of Godsmack" and announced that it was going on hiatus. Erna worked on his solo album during this period, while the other three members of the group started a side project called ANOTHER ANIMAL.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).