{"id":28855,"date":"2015-11-23T07:30:51","date_gmt":"2015-11-22T20:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=28855"},"modified":"2018-07-24T13:34:53","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T03:34:53","slug":"joe-hottinger-of-halestorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2015\/11\/joe-hottinger-of-halestorm\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Hottinger of Halestorm"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cReally we just play a rock and roll show, there\u2019s no tracks or trickery, we don\u2019t even use a click track, we just kind of plug in play and what you see is what you get. We like it, we get to ride the wave of the audience\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: Pennsylvania-natives Halestorm have left an indelible impression on the hard rock landscape since the release of their 2009 debut self-titled album. Bringing life to a genre engulfed in testosterone and clich\u00e9, the band immediately established itself as an outfit ready to trade tired tropes for a wholly individual sound. 2012 follow up The Strange Case Of\u2026, features the single \u2018Love Bites (So Do I)\u2019 for which they earned their first Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock\/Metal Performance.<\/p>\n

Debuting at #1 on both US and UK Rock charts in April this year, Halestorm\u2019s most recent offering, Into The Wild Life (out now through Warner Music Australia) stands as another enormous leap forward for the band. Driven by soaring riffs and the singular presence of lead vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale, the album was met with broad critical acclaim; touted as an unrepentant triumph the world over. Don\u2019t miss your chance to take in Halestorm: a visceral and unabashedly fun experience.<\/p>\n

While he was at home, Joe from Halestorm called in for a chat about the band\u2019s upcoming tour of Australia, how things have grown for the band, cover songs and much, much more\u2026<\/p>\n

To start Joe, I have to say that I\u2019ve had the absolute pleasure of chatting to both Hale\u2019s before, but now with you, all I need is Josh for a full set\u2026 so thanks for your time today.<\/strong>
\n*laughs* There you go, collect \u2018em all!<\/p>\n

First things, first\u2026 how pumped are you to finally be heading to Australia to play some shows for us?<\/strong>
\nOh man, I can\u2019t wait, I\u2019ve never been there, none of us have ever been down there so we love travel and adventure and this will be a new one for us. We\u2019re starting to get to the point where there aren\u2019t many new ones for us *laughs* around the world you know.<\/p>\n

So you picked the one that\u2019s probably the furthest away from anything to come and see last\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah, I\u2019ve only ever heard great things from all of my friends that have toured down under there and it\u2019s just supposed to be such a beautiful place, and I\u2019m excited.<\/p>\n

Besides the shows, what are you most looking forward to do down here?<\/strong>
\nWell I\u2019ve heard that the rock crowds are awesome and they\u2019re one of a kind, and the women are beautiful and the beaches are the best in the world, so you know, there\u2019s a lot to look forward to if you ask me *laughs*<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been lobbying and your name has always been thrown around at Soundwave time with people you\u2019d be on the line-up, so you must be pretty pumped there is a buzz around the band here?<\/strong>
\nYeah how cool is that huh? Man, you know, just the fact that anyone cares somewhere else in the world or anywhere still blows my mind. We\u2019ve been doing this a long time and I mean it\u2019s just so cool to watch this thing grow you know, it\u2019s just such a neat feeling and to think all the way down in Australia they know who we are and people buy records and come to see us play, it\u2019s mind blowing.<\/p>\n

You guys are known for your live show, so tell us, what can fans expect at a typical Halestorm show?<\/strong>
\nReally we just play a rock and roll show, there\u2019s no tracks or trickery, we don\u2019t even use a click track, we just kind of plug in play and what you see is what you get. We like it, we get to ride the wave of the audience, the energy of the crowd is there, it\u2019s just like when a crowd gives you a tonne of energy we respond to it, the songs get a little faster *laughs* or if it\u2019s a dead crowd it might just be a little slower, I don\u2019t know, it makes it more fun to me than to just go up there and have no one and nothing to rely on but yourself. It\u2019s a rock and roll show, and the difference is you get one of the best rock singers in the world and one of the best rock drummers to watch the whole time, so that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, I\u2019ve watched some streams from Arejay\u2019s perspective and it just looks like mayhem\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* It is, and playing along with him is mayhem too, it\u2019s pretty funny, you never really know what you\u2019re gonna get at one of our shows or what plans he\u2019s got.<\/p>\n

Other side of that, and three albums in now, but a first time coming to a country, how do you put a set list together when it really is a live introduction to your catalogue?<\/strong>
\nOh geez\u2026 I hadn\u2019t thought about that yet\u2026 what will we do with the set list? We always had this thing when nobody knew who we were and we weren\u2019t on any radio stations in The U.S. we just had the same idea, we toured with Eric Church here in The U.S. he\u2019s a big country star here and big arenas and stuff, he\u2019s huge and we were playing to country crowds and we play rock and roll, there\u2019s zero country in our music. So we took the stage and we didn\u2019t hold back, we were 100% ourselves but we always have this idea of \u2018Hey! Get to know Halestorm\u2019 and we start out acapella with Lzzy, kind of give them no judgement there, all you have is a pretty girl with an awesome guitar singing her ass off on stage right now. For all they knew we were gonna bust into some banjo stuff and it was gonna be a country song and then we go right into \u2018Love Bites\u2019 one of our heaviest songs and kind of blew their cowboy hats off, but you know, we always try to introduce ourselves and put your best foot forward. Who knows what the set list will be like, we\u2019ll figure that out when we get down there. It\u2019ll be fun and it\u2019ll be different every night just depending on how we do it, make it before the show and roll with it.<\/p>\n

I was hooked on the band when I heard that cowbell from \u2018It\u2019s Not You\u2019 back in 2009 on a trip to The States, what are some of your best memories of when you release your debut album and essentially introduce yourself to the world?<\/strong>
\nOh man I remember hearing our song on the radio for the first time, that\u2019s a trip, we were driving through Minneapolis Minnesota and they were one of the first stations there to ever play \u2018I Get Off\u2019 and it came on and we\u2019d heard our stuff on the local radio shows in our hometown which is always awesome how supportive people are but to hear your band and your music on like the national level for the first time ever is pretty trippy, it\u2019s out there. It\u2019s just really cool and exciting, and that whole 2009 \u2013 2010 touring that we did were some of my best memories, our first time in a lot of cities in the U.S., our first time going overseas ever, it was a lot of dreams coming true and it\u2019s been happening ever since that first record came out, just been lucky enough to do what we love for a living with our best friends.<\/p>\n

With \u2018Into The Wild Life\u2019 out now for a little while, how is the cycle for you so far?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s been really amazing, we\u2019ve got a lot of great support, and it\u2019s a different record to our last two obviously, a little bit of a different sound and a different approach to making it, we had a whole new team, new producer, new engineers, new mixing and it\u2019s been really great. To me it\u2019s like it\u2019s who we are, what we\u2019re into and I think people have kind of embraced it which is really cool *laughs* to say the least, I don\u2019t know, to just be accepted for what we do and how we do it and how we play and all that.<\/p>\n

You guys have also released a couple of covers EP\u2019s, let\u2019s say a third is coming, so if you could pick one song to cover that the other guys may not dig, but you really, really would push for, what would it be?<\/strong>
\nHuh\u2026 I\u2019ve been making a list of songs because we\u2019re doing this \u2018Evening With\u2019 tour coming up where it\u2019s just us and we have a few hours to play whatever we want, but what would be a great one? *laughs* I heard this today, this song, and I was contemplating whether it would be cool or not and I haven\u2019t even talked about it with Lzzy about it, in fact I don\u2019t even know who did it originally, maybe you can tell me, who did that song *sings* \u201cIt\u2019s a Man\u2019s World\u201d you know what I\u2019m talking about, an old soul song. I just say this cover with Chris Stapleton doing it with this band and it was awesome, like a soul singer song, get your soul on. I don\u2019t know, it would be cool to hear Lzzy do that and would be a different coming from a woman, like alright, I\u2019d have to look at the lyrics first to see if that\u2019s even cool because I didn\u2019t actually hear all the lyrics *laughs*. That line would be cool though.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve asked Lzzy about the growth of the band, but for you personally, what do you see as the biggest change that\u2019s taken place within the band since your time together?<\/strong>
\nOh\u2026 what has been the biggest change? Not a bunch has changed with the four of us I mean personally between\u00a0 us we all still act like children and make dirty jokes and have the mentality of a fourteen year old, but what\u2019s amazing is how the business has grown. We have this tour coming up where we have this semi-truck full of our gear and production and there\u2019s gonna be like twenty crew members and a few busses and it\u2019s like \u201cgeez\u2026 what are we getting ourselves into here?\u201d I feel like maybe this monster is starting to run our lives which is kind of funny to think about with the amount of everything we\u2019ve put into this band our whole life. Yeah really it\u2019s just the business and the scale of how Halestorm is growing, it\u2019s pretty out there\u2026 it\u2019s awesome, it\u2019s what you always dream of and it\u2019s constantly dreams coming true as cheesy as that it, I\u2019ve always wanted to do a big tour like that, will be fun *laughs*.<\/p>\n

What I love about you guys, and I\u2019ve said this to Lzzy and Arejay, and now you, you guys are truly one of the nicest bands I\u2019ve had the pleasure to chat to, is this something that you guys really take note of are you are all just damn nice people? *laughs*<\/strong>
\n*laughs* I mean I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t try to be an asshole, I don\u2019t think any of us really do, nobody\u2019s an asshole, we don\u2019t keep assholes around us or in our crew. We don\u2019t surround ourselves with mean people, I don\u2019t know we don\u2019t try to be nice, maybe it\u2019s just a reflection, we have a really good time doing what we love like I said earlier with my best friends and it\u2019s fuckin\u2019 awesome. So nothing to be upset about *laughs*<\/p>\n

I always think that you\u2019re all just normal people with a really, really cool job\u2026<\/strong>
\nExactly! We have the best job in the world, I get to play guitar and I\u2019m in the middle of building a whole rack system for all my guitar peddles at home right now and it\u2019s crazy and it\u2019s frustrating and it\u2019s so much fun *laughs* it\u2019s awesome, best job in the world.<\/p>\n

Lastly, let\u2019s grab a crystal ball and look ahead to the future, so finish this sentence for me, in 2016, Halestorm will\u2026<\/strong>
\nStill be touring on \u2018Into The Wild Life\u2019 *laughs* we just heard something about more European stuff next summer and were like \u2018wow, ok\u2019\u2026 it\u2019s a year away and we\u2019re already getting booked up.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope that this trip to Australia starts it off and we see you down here more often too\u2026<\/strong>
\nOh I hope so, the ticket sales have been going really well, better than anyone expected, so we\u2019ve gotta get on one of those awesome festival things you guys do down there, heard it\u2019s just one of the greatest festival experiences in the world, so looking forward to that one.<\/p>\n

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Catch Halestorm in Australia at the following dates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

8 Dec –\u00a0170 Russell, Melbourne\u00a0– Tickets HERE<\/a>
\n9 Dec –\u00a0The Gov Hotel Hindmarsh, Adelaide\u00a0– Tickets HERE<\/a>
\n11 Dec –\u00a0Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle\u00a0– Tickets HERE<\/a>
\n12 Dec –\u00a0ANU Union, Canberra\u00a0– Tickets HERE<\/a>
\n13 Dec –\u00a0Manning Bar, Sydney\u00a0– Tickets HERE<\/a>
\n15 Dec –\u00a0The Tivoli, Brisbane\u00a0– Tickets HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Presented by Live Nation<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong>\u00a0Pennsylvania, USA<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Lzzy Hale \u2013 Vocals, Guitar, Arejay Hale \u2013 Drums, Josh Smith \u2013 Bass, Vocals, Joe Hottinger \u2013 Guitar, Vocals<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.halestormrocks.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong>\u00a0Into The Wild Life (Out Now \u2013 Warmer Music \/ Roadrunner Records Australia) \u2013 Check out our review of the album HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

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