Central Pennsylvania-based hard-rockers Halestorm released their
self-titled debut earlier this year, but the band has been kicking
around for about a decade. Singer-guitarist Lzzy Hale formed the group
with her brother, drummer Arejaye Hale, when they were teenagers. Since
then, they’ve toured relentlessly and spent most of this year
supporting Shinedown and Staind. Lzzy Hale recently discussed the
band’s current tour with Papa Roach and what it’s like being on the
cover of Revolver magazine’s “Hottest Chicks in Metal” issue.
How does it feel to be named one of the “hottest chicks in
metal”?
Oh, it’s crazy. For some odd reason, there’s so many amazing chicks
that are featured in that issue, and for some odd reason, they wanted
me on the cover. I’m more of a belter than a screamer. It’s cool. It’s
awesome. We get a lot of people coming to the show with the magazine,
and it’s pretty sweet. Mostly the biggest response is from my
bandmates. They’ll look for it at Borders. The other day, my guitarist
found it and was yelling across the store. I was like, “Shut the hell
up.”
Seems like there are lots of hot chicks in metal right now.
What’s the deal with that?
I don’t know. All of a sudden, we discovered how to take care of
ourselves. It’s like being accepted into this exclusive club of chick
rockers. Every generation has their select few that break through the
mold.
Do you worry that people pay too much attention to your
looks?
Well, we always say, “Where looks start, hopefully music finishes.”
This is part of rock ‘n’ roll, which is a sexually charged genre. I
absolutely don’t mind that people come to the show to see the hot
chick. It got them to the show, and hopefully there’s some substance
they see too.
Did you grow up idolizing women rockers?
I grew up with [Cinderalla singer] Tom Keifer on my wall. I’ve
always been 10 years behind. My dad is into any band with a color in
its name: Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd. My mom gave me
Heart, Janis Joplin and Pat Benatar. When I was in my teenybopper
years, I discovered ’80s metal. When all my friends were listing to
Backstreet Boys, I was listening to Cinderella, Van Halen, Alice Cooper
and Dio.
I’m not sure people know how long the band’s been around. Talk
about the early days.
My brother is the drummer, and he and I started it when I was 13 and
he was 10. Thank God we have a rock ‘n’ roll family. My family is
pretty much Partridge Family-meets-Spinal Tap. They were very, very
supportive. At first, they thought it would be a weekend thing. When my
brother and I got tunnel vision and said this is really what we want to
do, my mom and dad told us to go for it now and they’d be behind it the
whole way. If they had said no, we wouldn’t be doing this right now. We
played anywhere and everywhere they would let us play as young kids. We
played a family restaurant for free ice cream, and we even played a
funeral once.
Did you write new songs for your full-length debut or revisit old
ones?
It was both. Writing is something we’ve done from an early age. When
we were getting ready to write for the album, we culled together all
the songs we had. During the whole process, we wrote new ones. One of
the oldest songs on the record is “It’s Not You,” which is our current
single. We spent 19 months whittling down songs.
I like the way a song like “It’s Not You” isn’t gender specific.
It’s just a good, nasty break-up song.
Completely. We added the cowbell this time so that sealed the
deal.
And ballads like “Bet U Wish U Had Me Back” and “Familiar Taste
of Poison” still have an edge.
One thing I had fun with — and it’s something I never really
tapped into before — was walking the line. I wanted to make sure
there were some things that, as my bass player so eloquently put it,
would make you feel funny. I had been a fan of Alice Cooper, who was
the king of walking the line. After you get into that mentality, it
kind of flows out and all the sexual innuendos come pouring out into
the songs, especially with “Bet U Wish U Had Me Back.” It was fun to
do, and I wanted to make sure it was done in a way that’s kind of
tongue-in-cheek. Yeah, it’s a kick in the teeth but always said with a
smile. It is fun to make someone tweak a little bit.
Your bio says you bring a “hypnotic intensity” to the band. Have
you ever hypnotized anyone?
Who writes these things? One of the things I have gotten into
recently is something that was born out of what I did when I was 13 to
combat a little bit of stage fright. It wasn’t that I was afraid of
doing what I was doing, but I was intimidated by people looking at me.
I thought, “Look at Pat Benatar. Look at Dio. They can just look at
someone and stare them down.” I would pick out one person and have a
staring match. They would look away and then I’d move on to someone
else. It became more or less effortless. Right now, I have an intimate
relationship with the people I’m playing with onstage, and people come
up afterwards and say, “Thanks for looking at me when you were
playing.” It’s less of an intimidation thing and more of an inclusion
thing.
Well, it is hard to win a staring match with a hot chick.
It sounds like you speak from experience.
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2009.
