Halestorm Artistfacts

1997-
Lzzy HaleVocals, guitar, keyboard1997
Arejay HaleDrums1997-
Joe HottingerGuitar2003-
Josh SmithBass2004-
Roger HaleBass1998-2004
Leo NessingerGuitar1999-2000
Brother and sister Arejay and Elizabeth "Lzzy" Hale both started learning piano at the age of five; Arejay later progressed to the drums and Lzzy to a keytar, then at 16 she started taking guitar lessons.
Halestorm was born in the summer of 1997 when Arejay and Lzzy Hale needed a band name for their debut performance. "Summer of '97, I was still in middle school, my brother and I had this brilliant idea to enter ourselves in a talent show at the county fair in Pennsylvania," Lzzy explained in an interview with Beacon Audio. "But my brother, he was around ten at the time, said it wasn't cool if we didn't have a band name. So I said 'What do you want to call the band name for the day?' We weren't planning on starting a band, why would we do that?" laughed Lzzy in hindsight.

Arejay suggested the name Halestorm, a play on their surname, and Lzzy agreed. "Long story short, we played our show, had one song written called 'Love Is Power,' ended up losing to a tap-dancing cowgirl." Lzzy recalled.
The teen siblings released an EP titled Don't Mess With the Time Man in 1999 and a second disc Breaking the Silence two years later. By the end of 2001m Halestorm's music was being played on Under the Radar, a series on WQXA 105.7.
In their early days Halestorm used to play bars and had a tip jar that would help pay for our gas. Lzzy told Kerrang! that their ballad "Rose In December" was especially profitable, "Whenever we played the song, people would come up and put money in the tip jar," she said, "we had a good $250 in there!"
In early articles about Halestorm, they were referred to as a family-based Christian rock band. Lzzy Hale told 1/2 Creeper magazine in an early interview: "We have a Christian background, and we are Christians. But I also write about other stuff going on with teenagers and just what's in my heart at the time."

By 2001 their local newspaper, The Patriot News was no longer referring to Halestorm as a Christian group.
Arejay and Lzzy's father, Roger Hale, played bass in those early days and their mother, Beth, was their manager and publicist. In 2003, guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the band and bassist Josh Smith was recruited the following year.
"Love Bites (So Do I)" became in May 2012 the first song by a female-fronted band to top the airplay charts on Active Rock.
Asked by Noisecreep what some her non-musical hobbies are, Lzzy Hale replied: "I like to sew and I am into bending metal and making industrial jewelry. I sew a lot of my own clothes and customize stuff. It's not entirely rock 'n' roll but it keeps my hands busy in another creative outlet."
Lzzy likes to observe and soak up what's around her to get inspiration for her songwriting. She said: "I have a whole box full of napkins and receipts with lyrics and one liners written on them. Also, if I'm in the moment when something happens to me, like my heart is breaking, or an argument, or a tough situation that I have to step up and prove myself, I make sure I write down everything I'm feeling, EVERYTHING while I'm still in that moment, because that is when the truth comes pouring out... And you have no control over what your writing. Which is good."
Arejay Hale married Jessie Covets, the singer and guitarist of the all-female Los Angeles-based quintet True Violent in late 2014. A last minute nuptials in Last Vegas, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor's wife, Stephanie acted as one of the witnesses.
Baking soda is one of Halestorm's go-to items when on the road. Lzzy Hale explained to Billboard:

"It's great for when we're hanging out on a long bus ride and all you can smell is feet. And you can also use it as deodorant or toothpaste. But every now and then when we fly, TSA is like, 'What the hell is this?'"
Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger both love to go fishing. The Halestorm singer told Kerrang: "I do it a lot with Joe - his grandparents had a lake in the house, so we'll spend a lot of time there when we were young. Now we carry fishing rods in a bottom of the tour bus! I especially like fishing for bass and trout."
Speaking to Australia's Keen Eye 4 Concerts in February 2019, Lzzy Hale revealed that she's never taken a driver's test. "I've gotten my permit a couple of times that I've gone out driving, but legally, I'm just never behind the wheel," she said.

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