“In the beginning, I would word vomit all the time. It was the way I would figure out the messy puzzle in my head. [As] a teenager, I would dig deeper, summarize, then create a song out of it. Through that process, you learn a lot about yourself. You kind of conquer something. That became an addiction and a process for me to stay sane.”
Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale and brother Arejay (Halestorm’s drummer) landed the cover of the local paper after enlisting their dad to help build a rotating inverted drumkit (the family farm lent access to a tractor axel and spare parts to get the job done). They played Friendly’s restaurant for free ice cream, and bowling alley and coffee house gigs, before jumping into the bar and club circuit. Finding cohorts with the same dedication proved difficult. “Looking back, we were at this kind of base camp,” says Hale, “on our proverbial mountain, which is how we ended up naming the new record [Everest].”
Hale is still baffled it all worked out. “There’s a difference between believing you're capable of doing things and them actually happening,” she admits, adding that it’s about letting go, trusting who you are, always striving for better, and never tiring of the chase. “Whether or not you’ll ever achieve it, you’re on your way to becoming the ultimate version of you,” she says. “You learn to get excited about the unsureness, the fragility, the great unknown, that moment that you bring something out of yourself you never thought you could. It really is the climb.”
The songwriting has been about knowing herself. “I have my guys. If I'm writing on my own, my inner teenager or 100 year-old crone—who doesn't have any more fucks to give—[are] with me,” she shares. “The idea that you're still here, after everything you've survived via this business or otherwise, you start to believe there's something more and that you're meant to be here.” Let your inner child make a mess. “Even if it’s dumb, even if it's the messiest thing you've ever put together,” says Hale, “see that through, give yourself time, then come back with your critical brain.”
Crediting female rock predecessors for helping her see possibilities, Anne Wilson (Heart) was one of Hale’s first vocal inspirations. Wilson helped Hale speak her truth as a woman. “With all we have to rage about, hard rock and heavy metal [are] tailor-made for the female psyche,” says Hale. Interacting with Wilson, Lita Ford, and Joan Jett over the years, she always thanks them for their powerful examples.
Great songs are built on truth. Hale used to share what she thought people wanted to hear before realizing that rock 'n' roll is exuded. “A lot of people that do what I do fail to see that an audience doesn't come to see you. They come to see themselves reflected in you,” she says. “By letting go of things I thought I was supposed to be and embracing myself unapologetically, with all my flaws, I created deeper connection with the people that follow me.”
Recruiting producer Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlisle, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell) for their latest record, Halestorm wrote and recorded it in real time, changing the way they created their music. “The idea that you had no choice but to trust yourself and follow your gut in a lot of ways [is] the only way you can touch the magic and that core of what you're about,” says Hale. Describing the experience as both freeing and terrifying (and feeling like teenagers again), the band has since turned their house into a studio.
“No matter what you have between your legs, to survive this business, to do [your] best, you have to give your life to it,” says Hale. “You have to unfold in a way most humans wouldn't dream of in order to keep moving, keep inspired, to achieve the unachievable.”
With a GRAMMY, seven No. 1s, slots alongside Shinedown, Avenged Sevenfold, Alice Cooper, Evanescence, and recently supporting Iron Maiden, Everest is out now.
Contact rhylee@ashleywhitepr.com; Visit halestormrocks.com
