Artist in Focus: Lzzy Hale of Halestorm

Lzzy Hale of Halestorm has gifted audiences with her sought after guitar riffs and awesome performances with her co-founded rock band Halestorm.

We spoke to Lzzy about what inspires her every day, her history with guitar, and her journey to the success in her career.

Q & A with Lzzy Hale:

EB: How did you get your start in the music industry?

LH: I started Halestorm on August 9th, 1997 with my little brother Arejay. We entered ourselves in a talent show at the Schukill County Fair in Pennsylvania. Got a third place trophy (that now keeps my Grammy company), losing to a tap dancing cowgirl. Nevertheless we named the band that day, and haven’t looked back since.

EB: Who has been your biggest inspiration in music?

LH: My biggest inspiration in music was my parents music. I grew up on 70s and 80s Rock, Hard Rock and Metal. So from 11 on I was actively absorbing what I now call My ABC&D’s Alice Cooper , Black Sabbath, Cinderella, and Dio.

EB: Which 3-5 artist’s guitar tones inspire you?

LH: Tony Lommi, Tom Keifer, Vivian Campbell and Neil Young and I love what Joe Duplantier and Christian Andreu of Gojira are doing for the genre!

EB: This career isn’t an easy one.  What inspires you to wake up every morning to write, record, and perform?

LH: My relationship with music is very much like any relationship in my life. It takes work to keep it sexy and exciting. You work so hard for those tiny mile markers on the way that make you fall in love with music all over again, its those little things that keep you going. You have to show up, you have to put in the time. For example, I sit down and write something every single day. No matter what. And we also keep the danger alive as a four piece by setting aside improv sections in our set, these sections are unrehearsed with no real exit strategy. So It forces us to work as a team on stage to make truly live moments and problem solve. Also we don’t use tracks or click on stage. Those are the things that keep us from calling it in.

EB: What is your best memory on stage?

LH: We keep making new memories. I like looking back in broad strokes. I think it’s amazing every time I hear people singing back at me, every time we play a stage we haven’t before and the high from being onstage for 6 people or 600,000 is what I live for. There was a special show in São Paulo Brazil, in 2012. This was our first time ever in Brazil and doing our own headline show. The crowd, all of them, took it upon themselves to and make signs to hold up for each song. At the last song the entire crowd threw balloons up in the air (they had been hiding them in back packs and under seats)!! It was like the audience was putting on a surprise show for us! We’ll never forget that.

EB: What’s the most abnormal thing you can’t do without on tour?

LH: The most abnormal thing I bring on tour that I can’t live without is a container of baking soda. It is my secret solution for everything. You can use it as toothpaste, deodorant, deodorant for shoes, shampoo, dry shampoo, body wash, laundry detergent, it’s an excellent beauty face mask, and if you gotta save your leather jacket pits after nights of sweat and rock…you can do that with baking soda too!

EB: What was that pivotal moment in your career when you realized you knew this is what you wanted to do?

LH: I’m a firm believer that rock chooses us. I understood the day I performed in front of complete strangers for the first time, why before I even knew what it meant to be a musician, watching musicians on stage made me jealous. I had this primal need, and this unwavering North Star. It all pointed to this. So when we played on stage at the Schukill county fair in 1997, I understood that this was what I was always meant to do.

EB: How does playing music make you feel?  How do you want people to feel when listening to your music?

LH: When I’m playing music, I feel like the best version of me. Time is just a concept, it is as long or as short a time as you need it to be. But for that time, everything makes sense. That’s the magic. I hope that I can relay my joy that I feel on stage into the lives of the people that listen to my music. I hope that they can feel my happiness, my passion, my sadness, my attitude and my strength through my music.

EB: What is one piece of advice that you would give someone trying to jumpstart their career in music?

LH: Don’t have a back up plan, dive head first into what brings you joy, and outlast em all!

EB: What’s next for Halestorm?

LH: We are booked through the year touring the world. I’m looking forward to whatever’s next!

Watch Halestorm’s String Theory

Strings

Halestorm uses Ernie Ball Paradigm Skinny Top Heavy, Medium Nickel Wound 13-56 with Wound G, Super Slinky Bass, Power Slinky Bass, Power Slinky 5 Bass, and Paradigm Medium Light Phosphor Bronze Acoustic strings to produce the sounds that have earned them three Grammy nominations, including one at the upcoming 61st Grammy Awards.