Who says headliners can't get star-struck?

Certainly not Shannon Larkin, the drummer for alt-rock foursome Godsmack, who return to Winnipeg for a Concert Hall gig this weekend.

When we caught up with Larkin last week, the Chicago native was as giddy as a schoolboy, thanks mostly to a certain punk-rock legend he was due to share a bill with later that day.

"I'm standing in a field in Boise, Idaho, in front of this ginormous stage, and I'm watching them unload the gear for Social Distortion," Larkin gushed. "It's a real milestone in my life to be able to share a stage with Mike Ness of Social D."

Larkin, who joined Godsmack five years ago, knows a thing or two about milestones. Earlier this month, Godsmack played its first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota -- a perfect fit for the avowed Harley-Davidson buff.

"Yeah, I'm a Harley rider myself, so I've always wanted to go to Sturgis, anyway," says Larkin, who also found time for a 10-hour cruise through the Badlands and Black Hills before arriving at Mount Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony. "This way, I got to kill two birds with one stone."

And speaking of -- er -- killing birds, Larkin also got to share the Sturgis stage with another childhood hero -- Motor City Madman (and renowned hunting advocate) Ted Nugent. He says he actually found himself apologizing to the Nuge for Godsmack's more prominent placement on the festival lineup.

"I told him we know in reality we should be going on before the mighty Ted Nugent, not the other way around," recalled Larkin. "He was like, 'Thanks for saying that.' "

And of course, no discussion of Godsmack-related milestones would be complete without a mention of the band's pending 10th anniversary. Initially, the band members had plans to mark the occasion with a boxed set of their first four albums, plus the EP The Other Side and a DVD of one of their acoustic shows. But Larkin says those plans have been amended somewhat.

"We're scrapping the boxed set idea in favour of a best-of (album)," he explained. "We realized that at this point, a boxed set would almost be a vanity thing ... it wouldn't really benefit our fans at all. So instead we're going to do a best-of, add a new song or two, but definitely include a DVD of our acoustic show in Las Vegas."

And after that? Well, since the band has basically been touring non-stop for 10 years, Larkin says frontman Sully Erna plans to take some much-deserved time off in 2008. But he also says fans needn't worry about Erna going AWOL again, as he did during the initial stages of the 2006 release IV.

"He got writer's block, basically, and got depressed ... he wasn't in a very good spot," said Larkin of Erna's hiatus, which allowed the rest of the band -- Larkin, guitarist Tommy Rombola, and bassist Robbie Merrill -- to have more creative input than they'd had before. "But he's great now."

As for Larkin, he hopes to be able to focus more of his attention on Another Animal, his side project with Rombola, Merrill and former Ugly Kid Joe axeman Lee Richards. Though the release date for the band's debut keeps getting pushed back -- "We don't want to be competing with ourselves," Larkin explains -- the first single is already getting airplay in advance of any official release.

Who knows -- maybe in another 10 years Larkin will have two bands celebrating anniversaries.

"All I know is I'd definitely like to still be making records -- longevity is king," he laughed. "I'm looking at Social Distortion taking the stage for their sound check right now. They got together in, what, 1979, and they're still together. If we can pull that trick, I'd be happy with that."