Rob caught up with Halestorm back stage at the Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton just before the bands support slot on the Theory Of A Deadman tour to talk about thier musical influences, their rise to fame and so much more.

Hello and thank you for taking time out to do this interview.

First of all can you give us a brief history of the band such as how you came together as a band and came up with the name Halestorm?
(Lzzy) Sure, Halestorm has been established for a good many years, since i was 13 years old, Are jay since he was 10, we started playing as Halestorm, right out of middle school and never really stopped, We ended up meeting Joe and Josh through mutual friends in Philadelphia, the chemistry was instantaneous, it was a hell of a night, Josh threw up, on a cops shoe! It was awesome! But that’s a whole other story! We ended up doing 250 dates by ourselves, we started playing in New York city, show casing for Atlantic Records almost by accident, the club owner had us back a few times, his friend was a lawyer, who I knew a guy from Atlantic Records, and he liked us, but we had to come back every Wednesday, for the interns opinion from Atlantic Records, and all the way up to the head of the label, it took about 7 months of just Auditioning, for Atlantic Records, we put pen to paper with Atlantic in June of 05, and went out on the road with a 5 song EP, and recently out with our first record. In bands years we should have already broken up! So suck it! The name is from our last name, it was either Halestorm or the Hale family band, and that was a dumb idea.

Who would you say your main musical influences are?
(Band) All of come from a classic rock influence background thanks to our parents, the meatyness and weightyness of that era, you can always go back and learn something new, we listen a lot though, anything good, from the 90s and to now, bit of bluegrass and country, just to dabble in every now and again.

What music are you currently digesting?
(Band) A lot of metal, Karnivool, are pretty good, Lamb of good, Slipknot, there’s a new band in the states called Aranda, there two brothers, that are great song writers, great singers, we had the privilege of touring with them, hopefully they’ll be breaking out over here soon.

You have just released your selftitled debut album in the UK, what themes and stories do you cover within the album?
(Lzzy) That’s what took the longest, we had about 428 songs to choose from, as I said we’ve been a band for a while, so when it was time to make the big record, we wanted to make sure we didn’t leave any stone unturned, but it started with having a theme or having the record be one thought, was very important to us at this point, and it also helped us narrow down the songs. But a lot of this record is focused on empowerment and strength, I really fell in love with walking the line of making someone feel uncomfortable, and wondering is that what she’s really saying, that was fun for me. It’s all from experience.

The album was released nearly a year ago in America why has there been such a huge wait in getting it released over here?
(Joe) I think, the label didn’t know what to make of us, we'll see if this fly’s, and we started taking off, maybe this will work.

(Lzzy) It’s been the story of our entire existence of our band, , the live show always comes first, even if you have the record, come out and see us, that’s the only way to get what were all about, even with label management, everybody sees what we can do, says that it’s great, but what the hell do we do with it, were always on a proving ground, in a constant state of proving yourself, not to just the label, but every night, it’s a game for us, to prove ourselves in a new country, a new culture, we do the same thing in the states, word of mouth is still a powerful tool, no matter where you live, everyone around us said give it a shot over here.

You worked with Howard Benson on the album what was he like to work with considering he has produced so many good albums in the past?
(Lzzy) It was very cool, he’s very laid back, he’s constructed a factory, he has an incredible team, he is a big name producer in the US and getting in there making our first full record, were gonna be dictated at and there’s gonna be a lot of fights, but it was like, so what do you want to-do, so we got to make the record we really wanted to make, and came out with something we was really proud of, Joe said the other that we got to be a band that was really creative, anything you wanted to use, amps, guitar sounds, , we could do, in past experience, we were hacks, self producing, organising, it was difficult to let everything go.

If you had to choose a favourite song from the album what would it be and why?
(Lzzy) it changes daily, and the song that refuses to die is the album opener, it’s not you.
Arejay) Familiar taste of poison, it’s got a cool mood to it, it’s a cool moment in our set, and it’s also one of our favourite ones to play live
Joe) I think we all can agree on that one, for the dynamic change, it’s really fun, if do get to sound check, we break into a song we don’t normally play in our 30 minute set over here, it’s fun to sink your teeth into it.

(Josh) Dirty work, its dynamic, its takes you up and down, it’s a good ride.

In American you are majorly successful with over 140’000 record sales to date, can you see the success following over to the UK for you?
(Joe) We don’t know what to expect, we started in the states like many a band, selling your CDs, were getting a similar response over here now, were headlining in the states now, playing bigger rooms, coming over here its different, you can tell by our intros, over here its quiet, people are curiously listening, over there people are going nuts!

(Josh) The most exciting thing, is that were back in the climb again, we started in the US, being the first of 3 bands in smaller venues, then we started moving up, and now were Headlining in the US, it’s exciting to see it all happening again! We're having to prove ourselves again, it’s exciting

(Lzzy) Its cool, you never know what’s gonna happen, I’m so excited to be over sees, it’s something we've dreamed of as a band!

Your current single ‘Get Off’ is fantastic and is a big radio friendly song which perfectly shows off your energetic yet catchy musical style, are you happy with the response you have had from the song so far?
(Lzzy) Yeah, but it could have gone so easily the other way with that song, We were nervous,, when we all decided to put that out as a single, it’s the first single, people are either gonna hate this or grab a hold of it an like it
Arejay) it’s so much fun to play live now, its top 10 over there now. People are singing along by the second chorus over here now, so it’s great.

Can we expect to see Halestorm come back to the UK to play some of the big summer music festivals?
(Arejay) were playing Download, and rock am ring in Germany!

What would you say your biggest highlight as a band has been so far and why?
(Lzzy) Our biggest moment is yet to come

Where would you like to see yourself this time next year?
(Lzzy) We should be coming to the end of this albums touring Cycle.

What would you rather be a Giraffe or a zebra.
(Arejay), A giraffe, although it would suck if I had a sore throat! But a Zebra is a fashion statement of the 80s, right?

(Lzzy, Josh, Joe) Well you can be skinned and turned into pants, Zebras do that thing that can confuse the lions, so were 3 Zebras and a Giraffe, there’s a sitcom in there somewhere.

Thanks for your time; do you have a message for your fans reading this?
(Band) To all our new fans to take the chance on us, buying our CD and turning up early for the gig,, thank you so much, And to our US fans, thank you for enabling us to do this over here. Follow us on twitter and on MySpace and face book.

Interview By Robert Lawrence