Halestorm singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale says that a number of music industry figures urged her to abandon her band and start a pop solo career in her teens.
During a Women Of Metal roundtable hosted by Spotify and also featuring Courtney LaPlante of Spiritbox and Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil, Hale reveals that, as early as her band’s club days, she was being encouraged to ditch her bandmates and start anew by herself.
“I fought very hard to not have a solo career, despite everyone wanting me to,” the frontwoman says. “I remember being 16 in the clubs and all these men were like, ‘Lose your brother [drummer Arejay Hale], lose the band, lose your buddies – you should be in pop. Why are you into metal? Why are you into hard rock?’ Because this music spoke to us!”
Elsewhere in the interview, Scabbia – who joined Lacuna Coil in 1997 – looks back on the perception of female metal vocalists at the start of her career.
“When I started with the band, it was the end of the 90s, so there were not so many metal bands with a female in the lineup,” she remembers. “And I remember that, many times, I was going onstage and there was always that guy that would be like, ‘Hey, naked! Show us what you got!’ And it was always interesting to see the change along the set: that I could convince that person at least to shut up and witness that I was able to do my job.”
Halestorm released their latest album, Back From The Dead, in 2022 and are working on a follow-up. In an interview with Metal Hammer in January, Lzzy revealed that the band recorded with renowned country producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell).
However, his role doesn’t seem to be tempering the band’s heaviness, as Lzzy compared one track to Motörhead: “One time, I was jamming on my baritone guitar, just walking around the house, and Dave swoops in and goes, ‘We need something like that! Run to the studio, right now!’ And the track has made it onto the record – it sounds very Motörhead.”
She described another song on the record as “crazy, crazy fast”. “The next morning, we showed it to Dave, and he said, ‘We have to put this on the album!’”
Halestorm are touring North America from April to May and will play in Europe from May to July. They have another run of North American shows set for July and August. See all dates and details via their website.
