Interview with Halestorm by Kristin Tully

HALESTORM
Interview with Lzzy Hale (Guitar/Vocals) Josh Smith (Bass) Arejay Hale (Drums) Joe Hottinger (Guitar)
Interview and Photos By Kristin Tully

You just put out a covers EP, tell me a little about that.

Lzzy: It’s called ReAnimate, as in reanimation. The actual definition…

Arejay: To take something and make it your own…that’s kinda what we did with it at least.

Joe: Not that these songs were dead but…

Lzzy: It’s kind of one of those things that we did because we love all these songs and there’s nothing like performing and rehashing one of your favorite songs and being able to really just get into it and experience it and make it your own. It’s something that we wanted to do and do quickly just so we’d have something else to give to you guys because we’ve been touring on this record for like two years now! Yesterday was the two year marker…

Arejay: Two years and one day!

Lzzy: So it was just to give everyone something else in between records.

Arejay: It was a lot of fun because we got to take a lot of songs that influenced us growing up and make it our own and a couple of songs- one in particular- that wasn’t a rock song and turned it into a rock song and that was pretty cool! “Bad Romance”, that’s the one!

How were you guys able to take a pop song and put a HALESTORM spin on it?

Lzzy: You kind of have to think about it like, if we didn’t have the dancers, the costumes, and the synthesizers, how would we perform this with two guitars, bass, drums, and vocals as a band. So really it started there and we just jammed on it.

Arejay: It was cool! Because it’s a great song and it’s like, ‘what if a band put out this song as a rock song instead of a pop song?’ so that’s how we approached it.

Lzzy: It’s funny because I ended up listening to more Lady Gaga after that because I’m like ‘you know, this is actually a really good song when you take away all the fuzz!’

Doing a cover EP is a tough go! How did you narrow it down to the six songs that made the cut?

Lzzy: We nearly killed each other! No, we actually ended up deciding on a few songs that not only were our influence, but have their own story. THE BEATLES one in particular, “She’s So Heavy” I wanted to do mainly because, first of all we’re all fans of THE BEATLES – that’s one thing we all agree on – and that was also one of the first songs we jammed on as a band and had a very cool experience between the four of us. So it had special meaning to us. The HEART cover that we did – “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You – used to be my go-to karaoke song! (We love two things; we love karaoke and we love bowling, cheesy stuff!) So it was one of those songs, where it was like ‘ok I know that one so let’s do that’ so we layed that down. Obviously, the GUNS N ROSES “Out To Get Me”, who doesn’t grow up listening to GUNS N ROSES of any generation?! It’s just such an influence! The SKID ROW cover, it’s funny, it’s literally like falling down stairs if you’re playing it! You can’t stop moving or you’ll loose it! You’ll fall off the tracks! So we just wanted to see if we could do it! And of course TEMPLE OF THE DOG just a freaking great track, but a little obscure. We were debating between PEARL JAM and SOUNDGARDEN, ’cause they’re two of my favorite vocalists, so it’s just like ‘do em both!’ It hasn’t really been covered before so it was a good one.

Doing a cover EP as a newer band, you’re going to get judged, how do you go about making sure it’s something new and not just HALESTORM playing a song that’s already been recorded?

Lzzy: I think a lot of it is just you do it well and hopefully it’ll make you feel something after you listen back to it. Passion is something undeniable, no matter what genre you’re playing! If you’re enjoying yourself and you’re feeling those words, and they mean something special to you I think everybody can relate to that. I think that was part of the reason that we chose so carefully with these songs. We didn’t want to put out something just because well, ‘oh that was a hit!’

Josh: Let’s do five LED ZEPPELIN songs!

Lzzy: Maybe we’ll do that! Actually, I think we should cover our own album!

Arejay: YEAH! Put our own spin, on our own songs! We were actually going to title our first album “Greatest Hits” but it would confuse people…

Lzzy: ‘Cause they’re greater than the greatest hits!

Now have you guys started writing for your sophomore album?

Lzzy: I’ve been up since ten this morning until right now. And we have a deadline now, the original plan was we were going to wait till 2012 to release another record. Not the plan anymore! We’re releasing it this year! Pressure! Crunch time! The good thing is we’ve made a lot of friends all around the country and so I’ve been writing with a lot of amazing people and people we’ve connected with and we’ve been writing every single day, every spare moment. No sleep! No rest for the weary! And we’re hoping to release it in September.

Arejay: We’ve already got two brand new ones fully written and recorded, and we’re doing them on this tour as guinea pigs and they’ve been getting good reactions. So it’s exciting to kind of see some light at the end of the tunnel!

The first album broke the ice for you guys, do you think with this second release you have more creative freedom?

Lzzy: It’s just a different animal, you know?! ‘Cause when you make your first record you don’t know who’s going to gravitate towards it or if anyone’s going to even like it! So you’re like ‘…well, let’s see!!!’ whereas here we’ve gotten to know our fans so well we feel like we’re kind of writing for them. And from a personal standpoint, you’ve all given me a lot to write about, or at least the permission to be myself. And it’s a wonderful feeling to stand up on stage and be surrounded by people who are saying ‘You know Liz, you’re alright! We give you permission to talk about whatever you want to talk about because it’s a part of us too!’ So it’s cool! I feel like it’s definitely gonna freaking rock! We’ve got some uptempo…

Arejay: It’s pretty heavy!

Lzzy: Yeah! The aggressive stuff is more aggressive, the lyrics are interesting…it’s more specifically us! Let’s say between us being the band and the fans being our extended family, it’s kind of like this overwhelming feeling of we’re all in this together. It’s not just for whoever is gonna listen anymore because we know who is going to like us. It’s like we’ve all become this weird, screwed up, dysfunctional family together and we’re going to put this out together. It’s as much about them, as it is about us!

So how has the Avalanche Tour been?

Joe: It’s been amazing! It’s awesome! It’s great hanging out with all the bands because we’ve known them all for so long. Especially now that we’re six weeks in we’re all used to each other again and it’s great to see everyone and hang out. We’re just having a blast!

Arejay: It’s definitely a gem of a tour when everybody gets along and really likes and respects each other. It’s a rare thing to find a bunch of bands with no egos, where everyone just loves and mutually respects each other. We’ve been really fortunate to have a lot of tours like that.

Any crazy road stories thus far?

Joe: We’ve had some good parties.

Lzzy: Our sound guy woke up in a Wal-Mart parking lot! He passed out! That wasn’t a big party though – the first party that we had in Nashville, our sound guy woke up with bloody mary in his shoes, and I couldn’t find my pants. It’s a strange feeling when you wake up in your underwear and you’re like ‘where did my pants go? And when did my pants come off?’

Joe: I woke up naked in my bunk! I was like ‘who undressed me last night?’ I’ve asked around and was like ‘did you guys undress me?’ turns out, I think it was me that undressed me. Unless Josh raped me again!

Josh: It was a pants party! What are you talking about! You invited me to the pants party!

Lzzy: You invited me to the pants party and it turned into the ‘no pants party’!

The two-year marker! I’m sure you’ve had some momentous experiences along the way.

Arejay: Every day! We’re still here! We’ve been really blessed by the overwhelming amount of support from the fans! Our fans are the craziest fans on the planet, hands down!

Josh: Bieber fans got nothing on our fans!

Lzzy: They make us look normal, which is scary! It’s so humbling to see how passionate people can get about a show and about a rock band. And the reasons it’s humbling because it’s our band! We’re a freaking bunch of dorks from Pennsylvania and you have these amazing kids that are driving six hours to come and see a thirty-five minute set! It’s amazing! So we have so much respect and from what we’ve seen rock and roll is not dead, the live show is not dead! It’s very, very much alive and it’s great to be a part of it!