June 16, 2015
Interview with Lzzy Hale from Halestorm
Lzzy Hale is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and front-woman of the hard rock band Halestorm. She has been with the band since its inception in 1997. Lzzy has been performing, composing and singing since the age of five along with her younger brother Arejay who co-founded the rocker quartet. In 2013, Halestorm received a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance and Lzzy Hale became the first female nominee to win in this category.
Lzzy Hale has appeared alongside Shinedown, Black Stone Cherry, Seether, and Eric Church. To learn more about Lzzy Hale, watch our exclusive interview!
Marshall artist and Halestorm’s front-woman, Lzzy Hale, shares how she got into music, talks about the importance of music education, offers advice on how to get started and gives us her gift-giving picks!
What was your first instrument? Was it guitar?
First instrument was actually piano. I started the piano when I was five and actually when we started Halestorm, I was 13 and still primarily playing keyboards. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I decided to take up guitar.
How did you develop your ear for music because that’s such an important part of guitar playing in contrast to your playing piano?
That’s a good point. Developing my ear for guitar came very much from my vocals actually. I have always considered myself a vocalist first because for whatever reason I have understood that much more deeply than any of my other instruments. I remember the last guitar lesson that I was ever in, my teacher had me jack with him just to learn and how to jam. He said “you approach it like a singer, you don’t approach it like a guitar player” and at the time I thought “oh, that’s not good! Was that a diss?” Over the years I have learned that’s been how I’ve understood pitch and memory. Its muscle memory in whatever you’re doing, vocally and or through your fingers.
Can you speak to the importance of music education and the impact it has on young musicians whether they are going into the industry or not?
Music education is paramount. All of us were kids who started in school and what do we get exposed to? We get exposed to our friends wearing different colored pants and you want to do that and you get pushed and pulled into sports – this is where you’re finding yourself. And most of us, as musicians, found ourselves in the music room. There’s always somebody in your classroom whether it’s a teacher or student who can play really well and you say, “I want to do that.”
You’re speaking to a group of 10 year old musicians. What are 5 things you suggest they pick up from a music store?
Five things that I would encourage a 10 year old would be the fundamentals so picks, either a Casio keyboard (nothing fancy) or a small electric guitar (not just an acoustic, but an electric), get a tab book that looks cool or an artist you enjoy, a small amp that you can grab and play in your room that makes noise, that maybe makes your parents mad a little bit. There’s something about cranking up an amp that makes you want to learn and play.
You’ve partnered with Marshall. Why is that partnership important to you and why did you choose Marshall?
I feel like I selected Marshall as a partner before I even met anybody or before I even had Marshall. There was something about the relationship to rock and roll and how it made me feel. I feel like Marshall amps weren’t a gear decision for me, it was more of an emotional decision where it made me feel amazing and it made me feel powerful and like a rock star whenever that name was behind me. Mainly because all of my idols – that was their thing, they played on Gibson and Marshall. So for the longest time, I felt so bad for so many other people because I would try out amps and they’d want to give them to me for free, but I’d always think “It’s not a Marshall, though.”
Lzzy Hale’s Gift Picks:
DSL15C 15W All-Tube 1×12 Guitar Combo Amp Black
Slash – Guitar Anthology Guitar Tab Songbook
