HALESTORM's LZZY HALE Talks Early Musical Inspirations (Video)

HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale and guitarist Joe Hottinger were recently interviewed by "The 13th Floor". You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about her early musical inspirations, particularly when it comes to her singing technique, Lzzy said: "I was born in '83, so I grew up in the '90s as a teenager, but I was always kind of obsessed with '80s and '70s hard rock and metal, so a lot of my dad's music. So it was ALICE COOPER and JUDAS PRIEST and DIO and BLACK SABBATH and all of that stuff — much to my little friends' chagrin, who, at the time, were listening to BACKSTREET BOYS and TLC and all of that stuff. They were, like, 'Why are you listening to this? We don't like it.'

"When I first started getting into music, it was a lot of my dad's music, so it was a lot of male-based rock," she said. "And then my mom was, like, 'Well, if you're gonna be into rock music, you should listen to all this stuff too.' So she, one Christmas, got me CDs — it was 'The Road Home' from HEART, a greatest-hits [compilation] by Pat Benatar, Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, all of that. [She was like], 'Here. Listen to all this.' And so it was kind of interesting being… I guess then around that time, I was about 15 years old, really digging into the female vocals. I'm, like, 'Wow! I didn't know that girls could do that.' All of a sudden, the gap was not as far. I'm, like, 'Oh, wait! I can totally do that.' So it's really neat."

Lzzy added: "It's interesting, 'cause when you're a kid, you get into rock music not because of any type of gender — you know that you love it, and you don't understand why. I don't even really call it a decision, like, 'I decided to be in a rock band.' It's, like, for some reason, I had to be here and had to do this type of music. And so by having that example, it sparked something in me. It wasn't so impossible. Like when I heard Ann Wilson sing, or when I heard Pat Benatar sing, I'm, like, 'Oh, wait! That's a female voice. And I'm already a female. So the hard part's over.' [Laughs]"

HALESTORM has announced a month-long North American tour, kicking off April 12 at Ladson, South Carolina's 98 Rockfest and running through Columbus, Ohio's Sonic Temple, with dates across the continent, including a stop at Mexico City's Domination Festival in early May. PALAYE ROYALE and BEASTO BLANCO will open for HALESTORM on the run of dates.

HALESTORM's latest album, "Vicious", was released last July via Atlantic. The disc was recorded at Nashville, Tennesse's Rock Falcon recording studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz.

HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable".

In 2012, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)". According to the Grammy web site, Lzzy became the first woman to earn a Grammy in the category.