Widely acknowledged as one of the most vital and iconic bands in modern hard rock, Halestorm made a spectacular debut with their 2009 self-titled LP. This was followed by 2012’s The Strange Case Of… – which featured the Grammy® Award-winning single, Love Bites (So Do I) – and 2015’s Into The Wild Life. One of the hardest working bands in rock or any other musical genre, Halestorm has spent much of its lifetime on the road, performing thousands of live shows since their inception. The band has also made their mark on the Australian live circuit, with tours in December 2015 and January 2017. The band are set to release their fourth album titled “Vicious” on Friday July 27th so we spoke to bassist Josh Smith about the new songs and more.
Melisa: So the new album ‘Vicious’ will be out on the 27th of July and what an album it is! The opening track “Black Vultures” really sets the tone for this album, I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. I have to say congratulations, the album absolutely kicks arse!
Josh: Thank you so much, that was really intense! We’re really anxious here, it’s the closing weeks here before it debuts and we’re really excited to see what everyone thinks about it.
Melisa: Absolutely I don’t think you’re going to have any problems with critics at all really, I really loved it! This is the fourth studio album for Halestorm, what was the motivation behind this album and the title ‘Vicious’?
Josh: The title is really the last thing that we really end up coming around to and there is a track on there called “Vicious” and that really sums it up for us. I think prior to that we really didn’t know but as it should be, we’re not doing themes or concept albums, we have an idea of what we want but it seems almost like a pattern for us now that the title rears it’s head towards the end of the process. As far as the motivation, we didn’t know what we wanted. We didn’t have great direction and I think it was more a case of we knew what we didn’t want but we knew vaguely what we wanted, we knew we wanted to double down on rock. We wanted to make our hardest album, our most Halestor album yet which I think is always the goal, is to make the most ‘you’ sounding record for that timeframe in any given time. But truly going in we changed up our approach to the album from any other album thus far, the first one we were totally green, we had no idea what we were doing. We lived in L.A. for two years and was, ‘OK this is how it kinda goes’ and then refined that process for the second album and then the third album refined it further but went a bit more experimental and also with the help of our producer Jay Joyce on that. For this one all we knew was we wanted to rock but we really didn’t want to go down the same road that we had been going down where we kind of write and get everything together, yeah they click, these are the songs, we all agree – let’s go. This time it was from the get go, lock us in a room and let’s see what we come out with at the end of the day and we did that from the beginning. So our motivation was truly just double down on rock and what’s different with our approach was we felt like we needed to get back to that grass roots of the days of us in the basement with Lizzy and Arejay where we would play everyday and jam and what came, came like we got some riffs, Joe’s got a riff, we got this and let’s go. So yeah our motivation was just to make this the hardest rock album for Halestorm to date.
Melisa: I definitely think you succeeded in that, when I played it this morning the absolute power that came out right from the start was amazing. You guys have gone all in on the rock side this time, the first single off the album is called “Uncomfortable” so why did you choose this track as the lead single?
Josh: Because we wanted to make an impact, we wanted to come out swinging and that is like a haymaker of a song! It’s everything, it’s a ton of energy, it’s an approach like a lot of the rock songs on this album that we haven’t taken before. I mean that song is truly a journey from the get go, it’s probably the fastest tempo song we’ve recorded but then we break it into half time in the chorus and then completely just let it dissolve in the bridge, only to bring it back around. It’s a journey and we thought it had all of these elements that we’ve never really thrown into one song like this so I think that was our idea there was that this was like a showcase for everyone and especially with Lizzy’s voice, the hook, the chorus. I think we got a little bit of a pushback from the label because a hook, a chorus should be something that everyone can sing together and it’s not the case with “Uncomfortable”! I mean only Lizzy and I think a handful of people in the world can sing that so I think against a lot of people’s better judgement that we went with it but we thought it was a good choice and a swing for the fences.
Melisa: Yeah it’s a great choice and the black and white video clip really suits it as well. I understand that as soon as the album comes out you guys are back on the road, you’re co-headlining a US national tour with In This Moment, any plans to bring it to Australia? I think the last time you were here was January 2017?
Josh: Right yeah, I don’t think Australia is on the books yet but I know you guys aren’t far off. Our first show on tour is on the release date of our album in Kansas City but from there on we’re out for the next two years easily so we will certianly be in Australia preferably when it’s winter here and summer for you guys [laughs].
Melisa: [laughs] Yeah you don’t want to come here when it’s cold.
Josh: OK so what’s cold for you? How cold is it?
Melisa: I guess me being in Western Australia it’s a bit warmer here than the eastern side of Australia so I guess cold is maybe 5 degrees [laughs]. That’s considered freezing for us!
Josh: [laughs] I recently moved to Nashville so I think that’s on par, we get maybe a week of freezing temperature. I’ts not too bad, it’s cold but maybe we’ll stick to the Australian summer!
Melisa: So when writing a new album what are some of the things that Halestorm draw from to write an amazing album like this one?
Josh: As an artist you collect inspiration and information from everything, other live shows you see and our live shows [which] I think we collect a lot of information from that. We write these songs and you have these sort of back and forth with your team, your label and everyone involved in the album coming out but at the end of the day, we are the generals on the frontline experiencing the music with the fans. I think we draw a lot of inspiration from that be it different jams we put in, whatever we implement in the setlist, we see how it goes. Every night is a new test audience and we see what is effective and you mark it down and you go from there, jams we have had have become songs and will continue to but outside of that it’s really like we’re constantly looking for moments. Especially right now, we’re starting a new album cycle. We don’t want to do the same old tricks, we never do and that’s what we’re all kind of gathering right now is, and I think I can speak for all of us in saying that is just writing down any idea for moments in the set. But I think all of that, especially the rock band, more than any other genre is those kind of moments where you can go jam and kind of go somewhere and go on a journey with the audience. I think a lot of that is huge inspiration espcially in a new album cycle where you have been hitting it hard for two years and, ‘Well we gotta start writing’. It goes a long way, it really carries momentum into the studio.
Melisa: Halestorm is widely known as one of the hardest working bands in rock and much of the band’s life has been spent on the road. Do you think it has contributed to the success of the band and what advice would you give young bands starting out?
Josh: Play all the time, whenever, wherever. I think that goes without saying, whatever you can do as a young band to get exposure and to play and show that you are truly commited to this art and to this genre. You’re never too big to play somewhere and that kind of commitment is needed I think and to be fortunate to be with 3 other people who feel the same way. From the beginning there wasn’t a backup plan with Halestorm, when I joined I had just left college to kind of pursue this but I was working full time but Halestorm didn’t have a backup plan. Halestorm was going to be Halestorm no matter where they were playing, no matter what. If we were just going to do local York, PA, Batimore, Philadelphia circuit for the rest of our lives then we were going to make a living out of it and you have to be that dedicated and committed to this if you have any hope of making it because yes, talent is huge but making those in-roads with this genre and with the people because it is a special thing, rock. It’s a one of a kind thing that not everybody gets and not everyone is part of the club and if you want to be part of the club, you gotta commit.
Melisa: You gotta have that passion.
Josh: Yeah absolutely.
Melisa: Where does Halestorm go from here? What can we expect to see in the future?
Josh: Hopefully a better version of ourselves everytime, that’s the goal is just to continue to grow. Hopefully for Lizzy’s sake we don’t work as hard [laughs] because that poor girl, she sings her ass off every night so it’s a lot. But we want to do this for the rest of our lives, we want to make music and tour and be a rock band that stands the test of time. So that’s the plan and right now the plan is gear up for our fourth album “Vicious” and make it the best we can and show you guys something that you haven’t seen before.
Melisa: Excellent! Thank you so much for chatting with me, again the album is absolutely fantastic. It kicks some serious arse, congratulations and good luck with the release and the tour!
Josh: Thank you, I hope we see you soon!
US TOUR DATES
Jul 27 Silverstein Eye Centers Arena Kansas City, MO
Jul 28 Dubuque County Fair Dubuque, IA
Jul 29 Centennial Terrace Toledo, OH
Jul 31 UMBC Event Center Baltimore, MD
Aug 02 Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT
Aug 03 The Albany Capital Center at Times Union Albany, NY
Aug 04 Maine State Pier Portland, ME
Aug 06 Stone Pony Summer Stage Asbury Park, NJ
Aug 07 Express Live! Columbus, OH
Aug 09 Bluestem Amphitheatre Moorhead, MN
Aug 10 Stir Cove Council Bluffs, IA
Aug 11 Illinois State Fair Springfield, IL
Aug 14 Big Sky Brewing Company Amphitheater Missoula, MT
Aug 16 Star Theater at Spokane Arena Spokane, WA
Aug 17 WaMu Theater Seattle, WA
Aug 18 Cuthbert Amphitheater Eugene, OR
Aug 20 Bi-Mart Amphitheater at the Expo Central Point, OR
Aug 21 Grand Sierra Resort Reno, NV
Aug 23 The Warfield San Francisco, CA
Aug 24 Harrah’s Resort SoCal Events Center Valley Center, CA
Aug 25 Fremont Street Experience Las Vegas, NV
