HALESTORM DEBUTS TOP 40 OF ALBUM CHART

Halestorm’s debut album came in at Number 40 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and working with Howard Benson, continues to pay dividens.

Halestorm’s Atlantic debut has debuted at Number 40 on the Billboard album chart, and it debuted at Number 4 on the Hard Rock Albums chart. The band is spearheaded by brother and sister combo, drummer Arejay and singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale.

The band has been around and touring on major tours for three years, and they’ve been making their debut for even longer. So what was the hold up?

“(Laughs) Um, overachieve much? We really just wanted to get this one right. It’s our first big push on a major label. This is extremely important to us. We really wanted to get this done correctly, not overlooking any minor detail. I think that a big part of it was that we narrowed it down from many, many, many songs. I think the exact number was four hundred and twenty eight, and then we wrote new songs in California and ended up with just numerous lists of fifteen songs each to go on the album. So, it took a little while. It was well worth it though. It was very well worth it. We’re very proud of our record.”

She worked with the legendary Howard Benson and we asked Lzzy what he brought to the table.

“One thing that was amazing with Howard was, for me personally, was how he did vocals. I hit notes I never thought I could hit. He has a whole system that he does. He has a vocal booth that he likes to call the siloh, which is a very dark room. No windows, and you can only hear him in the headphones. So you’re not in a fishbowl and it’s not like everyone’s watching you do your thing. I don’t know what happened in that room, but I was able to do things that I never thought I could do. He really brought out the best in me.”

So does she feel pressure to replicate those hard to reach vocal parts live?

“Absolutely. Every single night without fail. Yes. I’m reminded of that every day. Yeah, absolutel. It’s a challenge though because now after going through this record and doing all these things and hitting these notes that I never thought I could hit, I really want to do that every night so I think it helps me look at myself and say; ‘OK, rock star lifestyle completely out the window. No drinking, no partying. Go to sleep by 8:00…sometimes (laughs). Making sure you’re doing enough for your instrument and keeping your stamina up to do this.’ I’m really looking at it more like a career choice, now, like, ‘Dude, I really want to do this.’ And everytime you get a great show and you do these things live and you get the reaction that you really want, that makes you want to do it again. So, I no problem behaving myself.”

Benson’s credits include Daughtry, My Chemical Romance and Flyleaf among others. They’ll be touring off and on with Shinedown, and other artists they’ll share the bill with include Veer Union and Burn Halo.