Simon Rushworth
Rising rock stars Halestorm, fronted by the fabulous Lzzy Hale, have made a massive impact this summer on the back of their superb self-titled debut.
The US band went down a storm at Download earlier this summer – a performance which earned them a slot opening up for Disturbed, Papa Roach and Buckcherry on December’s Taste Of Chaos tour.
rushonrock‘s Andy Spoors caught up with Lzzy and her brother Arejay to bring us yet another exclusive interview.
rushonrock: So how dis it feel to be playing at Download?
Halestorm: It’s crazy! We couldn’t sleep the night before we were so excited. We’ve heard all about it in the US, we spent countless nights surfing YouTube for hours, watching bands playing Download and watching the crowds. You people are nuts out here!
rushonrock: What did you think of AC/Dc at Donington?
HS: You gotta see them, because who knows how long they’re gonna be touring – especially over the past year with Dio passing away and all the great musicians who are now no longer with us. Heaven forbid we lose AC/DC! It’s now become this bucket list, where we have to see all these bands. But it’s cool. We were honoured to be at Download and be almost inducted into an exclusive club. You see all these bands around and we’re like ‘Hi we’re the new guys’.
rushonrock: There were so many guitar heroes playing the weekend – were you trying to check any of them out?
HS: We caught Slash a week earlier in Germany and he was crazy. Miles Kennedy is an amazing singer and he can wail man! At Download we checked out Rage Against The Machine and Lamb of God and our buddies We Are The Fallen were playing somewhere too.
rushonrock: You said your almost the new kids on the block, how would you describe yourselves to anyone who hasn’t heard you before?
HS: We’re pulling a lot of surprises because, as a new band, we still can. We kind of call it a kick in the teeth and a kiss on the face. We like to give and take. We’re gonna give back the energy we take. We already did a tour in England back in April. We did a couple of cities like Leeds, London, Wolverhampton and then we played a massive festival like Download where a lot of people might not have seen us. 2010 has been our handshake to England so we are excited to see what kind of reaction will come out of it.
rushonrock: Have you had any feedback from the gigs you did across here?
HS: Yeah and its been incredible, the press has been great and we actually ran out of CDs to sell at the concerts. We’re glad we are back in December and can’t wait to get that tour underway! We went all round Europe and I believe the UK was the craziest crowd, it was very cool. The energy you get from a crowd pumps you up and it amps you up so much you have just throw it back at them. You end up playing horribly when you get so high off the reaction!
rushonrock: It’s been a whirlwind year for you across here but what else have you got going on in 2010?
HS: We went back to the States and did a small headlining run and then we’ve been touring with Stone Sour and playing the same stage as Hellyeah and Airbourne in the summer. But we are trying to get back across to the UK for some of our own shows. We don’t have any dates yet but we are keeping our fingers and toes crossed!