HALESTORM Frontwoman Says NICK RASKULINECZ Was First Producer That Was Fan Of Band Before They Started Working Together

Kylie Olsson of uDiscover Music conducted an interview with HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale and drummer Arejay Hale at this year's Ramblin' Man Fair, which was held June 30 - July 1 at Mote Park in Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom. You can now watch the chat below.

Asked why they have previous said that their upcoming record, "Vicious", was "the most HALESTORM-sounding album" to date, Arejay said: "I think a lot of that had to do with the producer that we worked with, Nick Raskulinecz, who, not only are we a big fan of his work, but he also is a massive fan of us and our live show. And so when we're in the studio, we're in a different environment and we're naturally a little bit more tame than we are on stage. So he was a great coach to kind of crack the whip and be, like, 'No! Play that like you play it live. Bring the energy.'"

Added Lzzy: "He had a lot of tricks up his sleeve to get us in that kind of excited state. Every single day, he would be as close as you are to us, whether it was us playing guitar or [Arejay] drumming, he would be in the drum room with him just being that kind of fifth member, almost just like cheerleader. And he's the first producer that we've really worked with that has seen us more than once and that was a fan of HALESTORM before we even started working together. So he would mention all these things, like, 'Oh, no, no, no. You think that rocks, but I've seen you guys do it more live, so I know you can sing higher and I know you can be crazier. We just have to up everything times ten.'"

She continued: "One thing that he did with us, too, is we're in a day and age where there is so much technology and Pro Tools, so in all honesty, we could have done this the easy way and just, like, 'Okay, sing the chorus once and we'll just fly it over each section,' or whatever. And he never did that with any us. For most of all of these performanes, everything was done as a performance front to back. It was kind of like this, 'Oh, duh!' moment, because he said, 'Well, look, when you're live, you're gonna be singing and playing the second chorus different than you are on the first, 'cause you're already in the song. And when you get to the end, it's gonna be even crazier, 'cause you're gonna wanna bring it home.' So he really had that in mind as we were going along."

"Vicious" will be released on July 27 via Atlantic. The second single from the disc, "Black Vultures", can be streamed below.

Recorded last year at Nashville, Tennesse's Rock Falcon recording studio with Raskulinecz, "Vicious" is available for pre-order at all DSPs and streaming services.

Deluxe album packages are available for pre-order exclusively at the band's official webstore, including the new album on standard vinyl, plus a limited-edition opaque purple colored double vinyl with enhanced cover art and bonus tracks, limited to 1500 units worldwide. Also exclusively available at the webstore are a limited edition t-shirt, dog tag necklace, autographed poster, and a free album cover magnet with physical album purchase while supplies last.

Raskulinecz is an acclaimed producer who has previously worked with RUSH, KORN, ALICE IN CHAINS and DEFTONES, in addition to having produced HALESTORM's third covers EP, "ReAniMate 3.0: The CoVeRs eP", which came out in January 2017.