In a recent conversation with Decker from Razor 94.7/104.7 (WZOR), charismatic Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale hinted at the possibility of debuting new music during the band’s forthcoming tour starting in July. When asked if fans might get a taste of fresh tracks, she teased (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “I’m going to say probably, but I will warn you, we’re a little sneaky about that. So, we’re not necessarily gonna be, like, ‘Hey, here’s a new song.’ But there are some things that we’re really excited about.”
Lzzy also shared insights into the band’s creative process as they work on the follow-up to their 2022 album Back From The Dead. She described their studio sessions with producer Dave Cobb as unconventional and sporadic: “We’ve been in the studio with producer Dave Cobb for some time now, and it’s been different this time. It’s been very sporadic. It isn’t like we mapped out, like, eight weeks of time and we’re gonna get a record done. We started going to him — first, it was three days to test him out and we wrote a song together from scratch. And everyone was, like, ‘Wait. What is this?’ And then we went back — we went out on tour, we came back, had another session with him for about two weeks, and then we had another one for three weeks. It keeps getting a little more. And so we have one more session fully booked for August after this tour to kind of finish up everything. But it’s really exciting.”
Detailing the band’s dynamics with Cobb, Lzzy said: “The process has been very like A.D.D., which I really love because all of us are a little touched by it [laughs], if anybody has noticed over the years. But it was a great challenge because this is Dave Cobb. He’s worked with Rival Sons and Airbourne, but that’s like the rock world that he’s in. He’s made most of his name from Brandi Carlile and Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell, whom I love, all three of those artists, so much.”
According to Hale, initially, their team was skeptical about working with Cobb due to his busy schedule and different musical background. However, their persistence paid off when Cobb expressed his long-standing interest in collaborating with Halestorm: “We were saying, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be cool to do a record with Dave Cobb? Because that would be something that nobody would really expect from us. And I bet you he would come up with some crazy ideas. Don’t know the guy, but let’s figure it out.’ And everybody on our team was, like, ‘No, no, he’s too busy. That’s not you. He’s got this stuff going. He’s got, like, nine Grammys with Chris Stapleton. That’s not your scene.’ And so we kept pushing back. We’re, like, ‘No, no, no. Just ask him. Just ask him. We can handle rejection, but just ask him.’ And so finally, our A&R guy at our label is, like, ‘Fine, I’ll reach out. Whatever. Just stop bugging me.’ And so he reached out, and then he called me, like, the next day. He’s, like, ‘Hey, I heard back from Dave Cobb. And guess what? Not only does he absolutely know who you are, but he’s been wanting to make a record with you for, like, seven years. And he has a plan already of how he wants to do it.’ And we’re, like, ‘What? This is sick.’”
The recording sessions have been spontaneous and organic, as Lzzy explained. ” So anyway, we went to go test the waters, and we went into the studio. And look, I write every day. When I die, there’s gonna be so much that everyone has to sift through, just gibberish songs, all that. So I always have, like, a bank with me, like, ‘Here’s riffs, here’s songs, here’s subject titles, here’s poetry.’ And he was, like, ‘No, no, no. We’re not gonna do anything that you already have. Nothing.’ I’m, like, ‘Uh. What?’ And he’s, like, ‘No, we’re just gonna start.’ Everyone’s sitting in a circle and we’re, like, gonna kumbaya. So everyone got an instrument, like, ‘All right. So what are we feeling today?’ I’m, like, ‘Is this a therapy session?’ And we ended up — it’s crazy, ’cause then we’ll like grab on to something ’cause of that pressure of, like, ‘Well, I was thinking about this as this is happening.’ ‘Cool. Let’s go there.’ And so he has this amazing instincts that are very, like, you can’t see it when you’re in it. And then, as soon as we start like putting stuff together, we kind of zoom out and, like, ‘Oh, wait a minute. This is so wild and awesome and exactly what we do.’ So it’s very strange. But we’re all very free.”
It seems we can anticipate a heavier, more intense direction in Halestorm‘s new music, as Lzzy emphasized the creative freedom they are enjoying: “And we’re really excited because we’re not going country or anything like that, or Americana. This is such a new — it’s got so much teeth, and it’s so different than what we just did with Back From The Dead, but in this almost weightier, heavier way. And the lyrics are — I’m tackling subjects I’ve never tackled before because I’m having the freedom to do so. So I’m very excited.”