GODSMACK bassist Robbie Merrill and his wife Heather welcomed their first child, Nianni Chay Merrill, on January 18. Nianni weighed in at just under 7 pounds. A photo of Robbie with his new daughter can be found at this location.

GODSMACK is currently taking the early months of 2007 off and will possibly launch a new tour around March or April. The band's frontman Sully Erna, who is set to publish his memoir, "The Paths We Choose", this month, told Launch what else is in the works for the beginning of the year. "January through March is gonna be dead time for us," he said. "We're just gonna take some time to relax with our families, maybe have a little vacation. I'm probably gonna go out to California and work, and I might try to tap into the acting thing a little bit more and maybe take some courses and that's kind of really where I'd like to go, is into the movie world a little bit. So I might go pursue that a little bit."

GODSMACK drummer Shannon Larkin, guitarist Tony Rombola and Merrill's side project, called ANOTHER ANIMAL, is tentatively scheduled to release its debut disc sometime this year.

GODSMACK previously announced plans to shoot a video for its new single, "The Enemy", possibly with veteran actor Chazz Palminteri directing. Palminteri's acting credits include "The Usual Suspects", "A Bronx Tale" and "Analyze This".