HALESTORM Discusses Upcoming Covers EP

Niclas Müller-Hansen of Sweden's Metalshrine recently conducted an interview with frontwoman Lzzy Hale and guitarist Joe Hottinger of Pennsylvanian rockers HALESTORM. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metalshrine: Well, I gotta ask you about the Grammy.

Lzzy: [laughs] The craziest thing ever to happen. [laughs]

Metalshrine: When you were up there and then went backstage, did you go, "Ah, I should've said that!"?

Lzzy: Oh, of course. We left out people. We didn't think we were gonna win at all. We didn't prepare anything because we just didn't think we had a shot. Not because we're not confident, it's just… Look who we're up against! IRON MAIDEN and freaking LAMB OF GOD and MEGADETH and MARILYN MANSON and ANTHRAX. We were thinking, "They're either gonna give respect to the classic guys or they're gonna give it to LAMB OF GOD because A, they got a shitload of press this year and they're freaking awesome! We were just like "We're happy to be here!" [laughs] When they called our name, it was, like, "What?"

Joe: It was complete chaos. It was great.

Lzzy: Yeah, it was chaos.

Metalshrine: A thing like this, will it help you, career-wise, in any way?

Lzzy: Definitely. It's already opened a lot of doors. Us rock people are such hypocrites, like, "We don't even pay attention to the Grammys." And we didn't even pay attention, so when we got nominated, that was a complete surprise too, but then once you're nominated, it's, like, "Wooohooo!"

Joe: It's a great press moment and we got tons of press and that's always good and that alone is worth it. I don't really know what happens in the long run because of it, but we'll always get that attached to our name, I guess, which is cool.

Lzzy: It's an honor because we've been a band for 16 years now, and it's crazy to have all that hard work be recognized. I think a lot of people now know who we are because of it too.

Joe: For some people it makes us legitimate in their eyes, for whatever reason, and for others it makes us chumps, whatever. [laughs]

Metalshrine: Does it in any way put any pressure on you? I'm thinking about your bext album and so on.

Joe: No. We didn't write this record aiming for that and I think as long as we follow what gets us excited musically, then whatever happens happen.

Lzzy: It's almost like if we start thinking about that, then that's gonna be the problem. Then we're gonna be thinking way too much in the studio and that's never good. You gotta take your brain out of it.

Metalshrine: What are your plans for the next six months or so?

Lzzy: Lots of touring.

Joe: We just finished a covers EP and we literally went to the Grammys in the middle of recording it. It's just a bunch of cool cover songs. Then we come back here to Europe in March and then the States in April and May and I don't know after that. We've got some festivals booked this summer.

Lzzy: As far as the eye can see… [laughs]

Metalshrine: What songs are on the EP?

Joe: We haven't really told anyone yet.

Metalshrine: OK. A lot of '80s metal?

Joe: There is some of that, yeah.

Metalshrine: Is it stuff you listened to growing up?

Lzzy: Yeah. I had a bit of a dated catalog in my player, thanks to my parents. That's always fun for me and then there's a few unexpected ones. A few things that I didn't think we'd pull off, but I think we did. We'll find out. It's not mixed yet.

Metalshrine: How many songs are there?

Lzzy: We recorded seven.

Joe: There will be at least six on there and one might be for another record.

Metalshrine: When is it coming out?

Lzzy: The next couple of months. Probably summer.

Metalshrine: Are you staying true to the originals or giving them the HALESTORM vibe?

Lzzy: We're definitely building each one in our own way. Sometimes that's hard, but we learned a lot as musicians by doing that. You can take the "Oh, is this a good song?" thing out of it because it's already a proven song, so you just have fun and experiment.

Joe: A lot of it we didn't really rehearse or work out before we went into the studio, so we're kinda just winging it in there and just with Lzzy singing it, it kinda gets the HALESTORM vibe anyway. It's been fun.

Lzzy: On top of that, we didn't change the lyrics and I'm singing about a girl. [laughs]

Metalshrine: Have you started thinking about your next album?

Lzzy: Yeah, we've begun writing. What for, who knows and when we'll do it, I don't know. We're gonna squeeze the life out of this record. We're on our third single and we've got a few more.

Joe: We're like collecting right now. Collecting riffs and songtitles. It's hard to finish songs when you're on the road. Some of it will work out on the next tour. I've ordered some gear to make a little portable writing station. Once the tour is over, it's just like "Bam!", you start writing your ass off, and that's when you take everything you've collected over the last few months and finish it off. There's no aim in the writing, like the third record is gonna be like "this."

Read the entire interview from Metalshrine.