Live From Uncharted Territory: Halestorm Return With 'Into The Wild Life'
Tuesday, 14 April 2015
Written by Simon Ramsay
Being stood up isn't great for anyone's self esteem, but when Lzzy Hale was forced to rest her voice during Halestorm’s UK tour last month, her stand in did just fine.
We were treated to an entertaining, wide-ranging chat with the band’s flamboyant drummer, and her brother, Arejay, instead. It quickly became clear that the stereotype of the endearingly eccentric tub-thumper is alive and kicking as he guided us through the band’s change-of-pace new album, ‘Into The Wild Life’.
Hey man. You must be itching to get the new album out?
We've been dying to get it out. It's been finished for several months and you want to put it out immediately. It's like showing off a new baby and then: 'By the way, you're not allowed to play with your baby for four months.’ We've got this pocket of brand new songs we're so excited to play and everyone's like: 'No, no, no, no. Patience, patience young grasshopper, your time will come.’ And we had to look into our pocket at our new songs. But we are sneaking in a few here and there. We're playing Apocalyptic, Mayhem, Amen and I Like It Heavy, and the response has been really good so far.
You've shaken things up with this new album by recording the songs in a live manner.
It was something we always strived for, but with more experience - three more years of touring, about 250 – 300 shows a year - we went in the studio more confident, especially after the success of 'Strange Case…'. So we were like: 'I think this is a good time for us to take the reins and work with a producer we can get a little more creative with.’ Rather than just doing the typical recording a record system. It feels good to hit record and play live together like a real band and I think this record has the most human element of any of our records, and probably the most organic. The way we do it best.
There must be pressure not to mess up when recording live?
It was pretty intense because you have to play the song until you all get it right, and we would do like 15 takes on one song, which we never did. It was usually section by section, and then piece it together like a puzzle. With this record it was cool to have minimal editing. If you come and see Halestorm you know we don't use any back tracks, we don't even play to a metronome live. We're feeding off each other and the audience. So when we went in to make the record a lot of times we would pull the click, just like 'go'. I think that's what gave it a lot of energy, and if you listen to the record there might be a flub here and there, but that's what gives the personality in my opinion.
That's how rock albums used to be made.
I don't think records should be so sterile, pristine and perfect. I mean, god, I have all the drum tracks from John Bonham when he recorded with Led Zeppelin and you can hear him flubbing fills here and there, you can hear his breath, you can hear him swearing and screaming while he's playing. That's what I want to hear, I don't want to hear a band that plays like a machine.
Jay Joyce produced this record as opposed to Howard Benson. Why the change?
I think we just wanted to kind of get out of our comfort zone. We were at a point in our career where we were like: 'We'd like to bring some fresh meat into the process.' Jay was such a great pick because he's not only a good mentor – it was like hardcore training in the studio with him - but he was the one producer that came out and saw our live show. And he totally got it, he was like: 'This is what you guys are, let's make a record staying true to yourself.'
He seemed like a left-field choice.
The cool thing about Jay is he doesn't normally do rock albums, he does mostly alternative and his bread and butter is country. He was so stoked to work with a rock band and gave us so many different ideas from so many different angles. He wasn't just trying to help me come up with parts for what to play, but was helping me think differently to come up with my own parts for a song. That's why it's important to have a producer, a fifth mind in there that thinks a little different.
The new record is lyrically very Halestorm, but musically a departure of sorts.
I think lyrically it gets more honest and genuine, and now we're writing about very personal things rather than trying to fit into something. But it's all over the place musically because there's all kinds of stuff going on. Even when we would play Jay would hop behind an organ or pick up a guitar and start jamming with us and throw some tasty licks in there. So there's just a lot of raw aggression and, musically and lyrically, a lot of things we've been wanting to say for a long time.
Was there a song or moment that inspired the direction of the new record?
I wouldn't say that there was one song. I think the overall album is just one complete musical piece, and that was another cool thing about Jay. He wanted to make a full listening experience from front to back, it's a full thought and a full album. 'Into The Wild Life' represents that we pushed ourselves into unchartered territory. I wanted to call it 'Swimming In A Shark Tank', but I think the theme of this record is that it's just the next challenge for Halestorm and the closest we've gotten to our own personal honesty.
Apocalyptic bridges the gap nicely between the two records.
We didn't want to throw too many curve balls out there ‘cause, if you like it or not, this record is very different than the last one. But I think that Apocalyptic was that one song that picked up where we left off.
'The Strange Case Of..' was so well received, was it tempting to repeat that formula?
When you make a record you don't think about trying to repeat a formula or 'we gotta top this album'. The best way to make a great record is just to chase what gets you excited, that's why you wanted to start making music in the first place. And if you're doing it methodically and trying to recreate something then it feels like work and you're not going to put your heart into it. We're just not the kind of band that can do that, we can't just put out a half ass record. We have to have every cell in our body all about it otherwise we can't back it up.
How did your record company react when they found out you weren't making 'The Strange Case Of Part 2'?
Honestly, if you listen to Halestorm you know it's Halestorm. So in their eyes, it probably didn't sound that crazily different. I think they saw the evolution process, saw us maturing – not as people because we're all mentally 15 – but as musicians and songwriters. I definitely feel lucky we have a team around us that trusts us, and they know that if we put our hearts and our passion into it we'll all be happy with it. (Sings) And that's fucking team work!
You still deliver classy ballads too.
Yeah, there's a couple. One called New Modern Love, which is about being unapologetic, not just about yourself, but also who you love. If you're straight, if you're gay, if you're in love with a toaster or whatever, like, true to yourself. And there's another song called The Reckoning, which is a heart wrenching moving on song after a really bad break up. It might be a little bit cheesy, a little bit overdone to write about that, but everybody goes through it and it's a big deal.
You've said you and Lzzy are opposite characters, so what's it like being in band with your big sister?
I think that's what makes it work, honestly. Even growing up we've always been polar opposites. We would go on family vacation and Lzzy would be latched onto my mom's leg, and as soon as the car stopped I would take off like 'woo'. So I was definitely the more reckless kid, and I think I bring something more crazy out of her and she kind of keeps me from getting way too out there. And it just worked really good when we started playing together. You'll see bands with siblings and then they'll end up feeling really competitive and hating each other all the time. I'm lucky that we have that mutual respect and support for each other
You became the first female-fronted band to be nominated and win the best hard rock/metal performance Grammy. It's really a golden age for women in rock ‘n' roll.
You know, I'm so excited about it. I see it more and more. Even my wife, she plays in a five piece all girl band out in LA, and just seeing the passion she has for it I'm like: 'You're an ambassador. Seriously, you need to keep doing it because you need to encourage other girls to want to pick up a pair of drumsticks or pick up a bass or a piano or whatever and play music.’ I think the more girls that do, it the more girls are encouraged and inspired to do it.
Will you be back in the UK soon?
Oh, absolutely. In fact they're talking about possibly later this year. You can't keep us away. I definitely can say I'm pretty confident that next time we come back it'll be a little bit bigger and a little bit better.
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