Sully Erna on Scars Foundation + Future of Godsmack

Godsmack are still going strong on the road in support of their 2018 release When Legends Rise, and they don't have plans of stopping anytime soon. Frontman Sully Erna gave Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez the inside scoop on the band's upcoming plans, his appearance on Stitched Up Heart's new song "Lost" and the group's non-profit organization, The Scars Foundation. Read the highlights below, and listen to the full interview above.

The Scars Foundation is a nonprofit organization started by Erna and Godsmack to raise awareness for mental health issues like depression, bullying, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide. Inspired by the When Legends Rise song "Under Your Scars," Erna wanted to create a platform that would inspire people affected by mental illness to grow comfortable in their own shoes and come forward with their stories as a way to normalize feelings that people often suppress.

"A lot of these things like depression, or whatever these insecurities are, they're silent. You can't really identify them with people until you either push a button or until it's too late sometimes," the frontman says. "I decided to develop this foundation called The Scars Foundation, and what it is is basically encouraging people to show these emotional or physical scars instead of hiding them and suffering in silence, making them feel unworthy or insecure."

He continues to describe what his goals are for the organization, "We'll try to become a voice and empower these people to understand that we all have scars, we all have these imperfections that make us embarrassed or feel insecure. I think the best way we can help is try to empower these people to come forward and tell their stories, and maybe it'll get others inspired to tell their stories, and we can really help," says the singer.

Erna appeared as a guest vocalist on Stitched Up Heart's latest single, "Lost." In addition, he advocated for Stitched Up Heart being placed as the opener on Godsmack's current tour. "I'm always involved in those decisions because I need to be, I want to be able to help the younger bands like bands helped us out along the way," says Erna, who recalls, "It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when we were a young band trying to claw our way through and Sharon Osbourne and Ozzy put us on Ozzfest two years in a row."

As for Erna and Godsmack's future musically, there are no concrete plans for any new albums yet. "Thankfully this record [When Legends Rise] is responding really well, and because of that I think it's gonna keep us on the road for quite some time. I know right now our tours run up until the summer of 2020 [laughs] so we have about nine tours left before we even know if we're gonna tour more, or if we're gonna be pulling off to do another record," Erna explains.

"I'm sure the band will be writing on the road as we always do because someone's always just noodling around and tucking music away in a folder. And I'll do another solo record eventually, I'm just trying to find out what direction that's gonna go in. But for now the focus is just to continue to support this record, to continue to get deeper into the Scars Foundation and travel and use myself and the band as a vehicle to get into the ears of as many people as possible."

See Godsmack's tour dates here.

See When Legends Rise in the Best Hard Rock Albums of 2018