Exclusive: Halestorm's Lzzy Hale on working with WWE, favorite teams & more
Grammy-Award winning band Halestorm released its fourth full-length album, Vicious, last year. Called a "muscular, adventurous, and especially relevant rock record" by Rolling Stone, Vicious earned the band its second Grammy nomination, a Best Hard Rock Performance nod for the song "Uncomfortable," the band's fourth #1 at rock radio. In addition, Halestorm was also named 2018 Rock Artist Of The Year by Loudwire.
Halestorm -- which includes singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale, drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger and bassist Josh Smith -- has earned a reputation as a powerful live music force, headlining sold-out shows and topping festival bills around the world, including this year's Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival in Columbus, Ohio. Currently, Halestorm is preparing for a co-headlining summer tour alongside Alice Cooper, which kicks off at the PPL Center on July 17th in Allentown, Pennsylvania. On the heels of that tour announcement came the announcement of Lzzy Hale joining Epiphone's Signature Artist family with the launch of the Ltd. Ed. Lzzy Hale Signature Explorer Outfit guitar.
Lzzy Hale is no stranger to the sports world, not only performing the national anthem at sporting events, but also playing as part of some major WWE live events. I had the pleasure of doing Q&A with Ms. Hale -- who can be visited online at www.halestormrocks.com -- about WWE and more.
I know you've sung the national anthem at least a few times, including at a Syracuse Crunch game last year. Is it as hard to sing live as it sounds?
Lzzy Hale: The national anthem is a one and a half octave song. The average person doesn’t have that span in singing range. So for most, yes, I’d say it’s difficult. I enjoy singing it, because there are so many opportunity to make moments within it. My decision I wrestle with is, do I start high and melt some faces the whole song through, or do I start low and then pop the octave? (laughs)
You have performed live at a few WWE-related events. Were those your first guitar-based sports-related live performance?
Lzzy Hale: Technically I did a college game day collaboration that ran for a few years before the WWE experience. But man, the WWE events are soooo much fun!
Were you a fan of the WWE or wrestling altogether before playing live at one of their events?
Lzzy Hale: A week before I performed Ember Moon’s theme, I finally went to my first SmackDown. Needless to say, I’m new yes, but I’m hooked!
Are there any sports teams you follow?
Lzzy Hale: I live in Nashville so I follow the Predators, and half my band family loves the [Philadelphia] Eagles, the other half loves the Green Bay Packers. So I get most of my info off of that.
Finally, Lzzy, any last words for the kids?
Lzzy Hale: Ah, one for the kids! If you wanna succeed in the music biz... Rule number one, don’t be an ass. Rule number two, be good at your craft so that when opportunities come knocking, you’ll be able to slay! Rule number three, do it for the love of music. Any other reason is futile. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me!