HALESTORM's AREJAY HALE: More And More People Are Wanting To Hear That Honest Rock And Roll Sound

Rockin' 101's Paladin and Tim recently conducted an interview with HALESTORM drummer Arejay Hale and bassist Josh Smith. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

Speaking about how HALESTORM approached the making of its third album, "Into The Wild Life", Arejay said: "We made this record and it was more or less us trying to bridge the gap between our live show and recording — not to make a live album, but have us play together live on the record in the studio. It really helped capture that live energy. So I think it's the closest we've gotten to [doing that]. [It's] the most energetic record and the most honest record we've ever put out."

He continued: "Our producer [Jay Joyce] was down with giving it a shot. Our producer came out and he saw us live and he was, like, 'Man, you guys have so much more energy live than you've ever had on record. I wanna capture that.' So [we were like], 'All right, that's the guy that we're gonna try out and see if he can do it.'

"I think this record represents what we've always done and what we do as a band. We've always loved playing together. On this record, it was a lot of listening to each other and feeding off each other's energy rather than trying to make a record in the typical formula where it's all kind of pieced together. What you hear is what you get. Some of the mistakes we made on this record are some of the coolest moments; that spontaneity."

Arejay also spoke about many rock groups' tendency to rely on secret backing tracks when they play live. He said: "Me personally, I'm never gonna discredit any band for what they do. What every band does, what makes them unique, is cool. But we've always just been that kind of band that doesn't use any back tracks, doesn't even use a click track live. Pretty much what you hear is what you get. When you come to a HALESTORM show, you hear four people on stage playing together. That's a rare thing. It is so easy for every band to plug in an iPod and play along to an orchestra and sound amazing. So I think putting out that honesty and that genuine thing about yourself, that's the kind of audience you attract — straight-up rock fans that just wanna come out and listen to real music… That's kind of what we wanted to do on this record — really point out that honest rock and roll sound. 'Cause I think that more and more people are wanting to hear that. Less and less people wanna hear things that are so processed and so polished perfect. People wanna hear personality on the record. At least the people that come out to our shows, they love coming to see HALESTORM, because you're pretty much getting our personality on stage. So every night is a little bit of a train wreck, and I think I'm responsible for most of the train wreck. But that's what makes it real, you know?!"

"Into The Wild Life" was released on April 14. The CD follows up HALESTORM's Grammy-winning 2012 sophomore effort, "The Strange Case Of…"

HALESTORM recently released a music video for "Amen". The album's first single, "Apocalyptic", became the group's third straight chart-topper at rock radio.