If you’ve been a fan of hard rock music since the early days you might remember the airwaves, as well as your Walkman, being dominated by male fronted bands. Notwithstanding the obvious exceptions like The Runaways, Lita Ford, Joan Jett, or Heart, the music that spoke to you was most assuredly belted out in a male voice.

Yet, here we are on the cusp of 2019 and that voice is shifting to a decidedly female force, and if ticket sales, Grammy Awards, and radio play are any indication, this is a trend that is here to stay.

One of the most recognizable and significant leaders of this front is the tantalizing and inspiring Lzzy Hale, co-founder of hard rock royalty Halestorm.

Currently touring in support of their recent release “Vicious,” Halestorm is co-headlining with In This Moment and supported by New Years Day, making this the first fully female fronted rock tour in history.

“When I was a kid there was like Lilith Fair, but that didn’t really apply to me because I didn’t want to be Jewel, I wanted to be Joan Jett.”
Moreover, it’s not just the women on stage where you can see a difference. Lzzy sees a major shift in the audience as well.

“It’s interesting because now, not only on this tour, but we went overseas six weeks on our own tour, and it feels like it’s happening over night, but it’s (the audience) 60/40 female/male at the rock shows. It’s really neat to see because these girls remind me of where I was when I was like 17. You’re owning these heavy moments because it’s the kind of music that you love. What we are seeing, myself, Maria (lead vocalist In This Moment), and Ash (lead vocalist New Years Day), is that this genre is so incredibly genderless, because it’s the same stuff. It’s the hard rock moments. It’s the same aggressive music. But there’s like 60% girls in the audience. So it’s pretty special to be a part of the as well.”
As equally important to the Halestorm story as women’s emerging place in rock, is the beginning of the story which is rooted in a sister/brother bond, strong family support, and a county fair talent show.

“My little brother (drummer Arejay Hale) and I wrote this one song together and we entered ourselves in a talent show. So it’s the first time we are playing outside of our parents living room, summer of ’97. We get up there and there’s kind of a lot of grey hair (in the audience.) We introduce ourselves and we play like a five minute song. I’m playing on a Casio keyboard. My little brother had a drum solo in the middle of it. It was called ‘Love is Power’ because we were so epic. I was 13. He was 10. We got off the stage and we were like ‘This is crazy!’ and I literally got like the light bulb going off. Like ‘Wow! I could do this everyday. That’s what I want to do. I want to do this everyday!’ It was weird. It was like all of a sudden a light switch went on and I didn’t even know there was a light switch there. We haven’t stopped since, Little Bro and I. It’s been 21 years. Same silly idea.”

In yet another nod to the family solidarity, that initial sister/brother bond that ignited Halestorm in its infancy has never been broken.
“We are the only two siblings in our family and we’ve always kind of had this bond.”

As a self-described “very shy child” Lzzy’s brother Arejay was the polar opposite, the type that came out of the womb looking to get in front of a camera.

“Honestly from an early age, it was music, where we kind of met in the middle. We had a unique language that we could speak. It was kind of a no brainer. If one of us is going to do music then we both should do it. I still have the same contract with Little Bro. It was right after that gig (the County Fair talent show) we were at the dinner table. I remember being upset, like, “Mom! Dad! We’re gonna call the band Halestorm and we’re gonna do this! What we just did today we want to do it again and I don’t want to do anything else!’ I remember Little Bro talking with a mouthful of mashed potatoes and he says ‘I still get to play drums with you right?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah man! We’re a band. We’re not in a band without each other!’ And it’s still the same thing. Even now we’re in our 30s we’re like ‘We still get to play together…Yay!’ It’s awesome. He’s my little buddy.”

That family support didn’t stop there. The Hale family never set limitations what could be done, which is integral in Lzzy’s quest to pursue music despite shellack of female role models in the field.

“In the beginning my naiveté was actually a good thing. I grew up in a household where my parents said ‘Hey whatever you want to do. You want to be a mechanic? I can show you how to do that. You want to be a doctor? Cool. We’ll figure it out. You want to be a rodeo clown? That’s fine with us.’ I grew up thinking that, so I never really thought about the girl thing. It wasn’t even really talked about.”
Yet, even with a healthy dose of candor and unwavering parental support, at some point the reality of those old school industry standards would rear their ugly head. But, as we know, what doesn’t kill us makes us vicious right?

“There’s been like three levels of I guess ‘The Girl Factor.’ At first it’s being a girl in rock and rolland then having that be kind of a rarity or a problem or whatever. I remember in the beginning things kind of going by (me). Like when I’d be carrying in my guitars and somebody would say ‘Oh my girlfriend never does that for me.’ You end up kind of using it as a weapon after a little while. Like no one is expecting me so that’s a good thing right?”

“Then there’s this second tier where you’re actually trying to promote yourself or showcase for labels. Getting your stuff on the radio. That was the moment where you realize ‘Oh.’ These radio stations or labels that say ‘Hey we like what you do, but we have no idea what to do with you. Girls in rock aren’t really a thing and it’s kind of a novelty situation. And it’s kind of ridiculous.’ And if someone says it’s ridiculous then I’m gonna fucking do it anyway, so then you kind of use that as your weapon. Now it’s crazy to be on this other side where the majority of the people in the audience know I’m not just the girlfriend carrying in her boyfriends equipment. It’s really great to be that beacon for other people.”

Just as aspiring musicians today look to Lzzy for guidance, Lzzy did have her own heroes as well and has been lucky to tour and become friends with many of them. rock pioneer Lita Ford is of course one of those women.

“The last time we were out touring with Lita we’d hear stories about this whole generation of girls then and what it was like. And I’m kind of in between having been doing this for 15 years and Dorothy (Martin. Lead singer Dorothy) was kind of coming up on the scene. We all had like the same stories, but in a different time and a different generation of it. It’s amazing to have that camaraderie. Lita’s awesome. She knows what she wants. She’s not afraid to tell you exactly what’s on her mind. She gets into her leather pants everyday and it’s amazing. I said to her ‘I have to be cheesy and thank you, because what if you’d said ‘You know what? It’s too hard.’ You think about those things. What if those people gave up doing what they loved? Would there be a you? It’s important to keep that torch burning you know?”

Without fail Halestorm is doing just that and lighting the way for fans and future rock musicians, both female and male.

The bands current tour schedule looks almost indefinite running through the U.S until December 16 and then picking up again in the spring with stops in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan.

They’ll stop quickly in Columbus, OH for the newly minted Sonic Temple Music and Arts festival, before heading out for a full European summer tour.

Make it a point to catch them somewhere in the world this time around and make sure to pick up their newest release “Vicious”, a beast of an album that doesn’t disappoint!