HALESTORM's JOSH SMITH: 'We're Working On New Music'

In a new interview with The Sound Lab conducted at this weekend's Download festival in the United Kingdom, HALESTORM bassist Josh Smith was asked if work has started on the band's next studio album. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yes, it has. When we were just home, we spent a week with someone who I'm not sure I'm at liberty to say. So I'm just gonna keep it hush for now. I try my best not to speak out of turn, which means I usually don't speak a lot. But yes, we're working on new music."

He continued: "There's been a lot of rehearsing and preparing for [the current European shows], but it's fun to sort of couple [that with writing] when you are in this mindset, because then you are thinking about what would be effective in front of a crowd. Yeah, it's been really productive, and some ideas have just popped out, which is exciting. They're cool, which means we've still got it. [Laughs]"

Speaking about the HALESTORM songwriting process, Josh said: "It happens every which way. This last time we were all involved. But it started with this little melody line that Lzzy [Hale, guitar/vocals] had. That was it. It was just this idea that could potentially be a melody line and an idea for a chorus, maybe. So we went with it, and it popped out really quick.

"But, yeah, truly, [it happens] any and every which way," he repeated. "I could be playing something on the piano or Lzzy or Joe [Hottinger, guitar] plays a riff and [we go], 'Oh, that's cool.' It's just, like, anything goes. We just try to spend a lot of time together so we can sort of bottle that spontaneous magic."

Last month, HALESTORM teamed up with country singer Ashley McBryde for a reimagined version of the band's song "Terrible Things", which was originally featured on the Lzzy-fronted outfit's 2022 studio album "Back From The Dead".

This past December, HALESTORM released a deluxe edition of "Back From The Dead". "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" includes seven previously unreleased B-sides, including "Mine", a 1980s-inspired rocker. "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" is available digitally, on CD, and cassette tape, marking the first time that the album has been offered in those physical formats.

Lzzy and her brother Arejay (drums) formed HALESTORM in 1998 while in middle school. Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by Smith in 2004.

In December 2018, HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable". Six years earlier, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)".