HALESTORM's LZZY HALE On Her Singing Style: 'It Sounds Like I'm Gargling Razor Blades, But I'm Not'

In a new interview with Guitar World magazine, HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale was asked how she keeps her voice in such good shape on the road. She responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "A lot of it is just… I've been doing it for such a long time. You end up really being in tune and listening to your own body. So every day you're, like, 'Okay, how do I feel? What do I need to work out today?' It used to be, in my twenties, I was doing like a regular, like, okay, I have a 20- to-a-30-minute warm-up in the exact same way. I do it the exact same time every day. And I don't really do that anymore. It's more, like, feeling it out every day. So it's, like, you wake up, it's, like, 'Oh, I've got a little phlegm here. I've gotta make sure I hydrate.' But it's a lot of dumb stuff. It's a lot of like trying to get enough sleep, which is the hardest thing.' I waterboard myself every day. It's seven to — whatever — 10 bottles of water, whatever, before we go on stage. You warm up to some degree, usually lightly and everything, but for the most part, for me now that I'm in my early forties, it's trusting yourself almost. And so for me it's the breath control and keeping up with my stamina and all of that. But nothing I do hurts. I always have to reassure people, especially my own family members that come and see the show. They're, like, 'I don't know. You did this scream thing. We're worried about you.' I'm, like, 'It's okay. It sounds like I'm gargling razor blades, but I'm not."

Lzzy continued: "I had an amazing teacher in the very beginning when I was 16 years old, Steve Whiteman from the band KIX, back in the day. I was 16 and we had a show at this place called The Tourist Inn in Hallam, Pennsylvania. It was just kind of a biker bar. And Steve Whiteman had his side project called FUNNY MONEY there. We ended up opening up for him. And we were sharing this tiny closet of a dressing room. And he was doing these kind of like vocal acrobatics in a towel to kind of muffle it up. And me being the curious teenager, I'm, like, 'What are you doing?' And he's, like, 'Oh, I'm warming up.' I was, like, 'Oh, what's that?' At the time I had no idea what I was doing. And so he's, like, 'Well, actually, they stuck me in the basement of Marty's Music Store and I actually teach vocal lessons. If you wanna come down on Tuesday, I'll show you some stuff.' So I went down that Tuesday and then I ended up continuing with him and he taught me everything he knows. And, yeah, I've just kind of kept that as my foundation for many years. He's truly amazing. And what a sweetheart of a dude. He was so incredibly patient with me. And I walked out of my lessons with him a completely different person. I had a confidence, a foundation. I've dabbled with other vocal teachers since then, but I really haven't done anything that has strayed from what he taught me. And I'm really proud of that, actually."

Hale went on to say that she also learned how to perform in front of an audience while studying with Whiteman. "I remember watching him on stage and just being, like, 'He's not nervous at all. How does he do that?'' she said. "And it's funny 'cause I remember asking him that, he was, like, 'Well, you play-pretend first.' So you have to pretend like you know what you're doing. And then you eventually know what you're doing, and it becomes old hat. And it's, like, okay."

Lzzy previously talked about her early lessons with Whiteman in a May 2019 interview with Metal Master Kingdom. Reflecting on her beginnings as a vocalist, she said: "I kind of threw myself into this — I started the band when I was 13 and my little brother was 10. I threw myself into it and basically I was trying to figure out how to sing like Tom Keifer [CINDERELLA], how to sing like Ann Wilson [HEART], how to do all of that. Then, when I was 16, we got to open up for a band called FUNNY MONEY, which is a side project of KIX's frontman Steve Whiteman. I knew who KIX was. I'm a child of the '90s, but I grew up listening to '70s and '80s rock. That's just my M.O."

She continued: "It was interesting — we opened up for him. I saw him singing before he went on. I'm like, 'What's that all about?' I asked him about it, me being a teenager, 'Why are you making those noises?' He would always sing in a towel not to annoy anybody. I asked 'What are you doing?' He said 'I'm warming up.' I'm like 'What is that?' I had no idea that people do these things. He's, like, 'Actually, I give lessons at Marty's Music Store in Harrisburg.' I'm, like, 'Wow, that's so close to where I live.' 'Do you want to come down on Tuesday?' 'Yes!' I went down there every Tuesday afternoon for about two years with him. He taught me literally everything that he knows. Not just what I had — I walked out of that situation so much more confident than I had ever been in my entire life because all you want to do is sing, but you don't really know what the tools are. You don't even know what you have."

Hale added: "What Steve showed me was that I have these different resonance areas and I have this semi-five octave situation and I don't always dwell on that because I don't want to talk about octaves. It's not about the octaves. It's what you do with them. Also, one of the biggest things he taught me was how to troubleshoot. If I have a cold, if something happens, if you're tired and on the road, the show must go on and this is how you do it without hurting yourself. I owe literally the fact that I'm able to be 110 [percent] every night is because of that guy. We still keep in touch and he's just a sweetheart guy, as are all of his boys."

HALESTORM's latest album, "Everest", came out in August via Atlantic Records. The band worked with producer Dave Cobb, after making three records with Nick Raskulinecz.

Fronted by Lzzy with drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger and bassist Josh Smith, HALESTORM's music has earned multiple platinum and gold certifications from the RIAA, and the band has earned a reputation as a powerful live music force, headlining sold-out shows and topping festival bills around the world, and sharing the stage with icons including HEAVEN & HELL, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett and JUDAS PRIEST. Additionally, Lzzy was named the first female brand ambassador for Gibson and served as host of AXS TV's "A Year In Music".