American hard rockers to pay a visit to the Ironworks on Saturday 7th March 2015
With two albums under their belt and a third rumoured to be released early next year Halestorm will blow those winter blues away when they play in the Ironworks on March 7th next year. After scoring two top 10 singles (“I Get Off” and “It’s Not You”) from their self-titled debut and touring steadily for two years with acts as diverse as Shinedown, Stone Sour, Disturbed, Megadeth, Papa Roach and Godsmack.
Pennsylvania quartet Halestorm released their second full-length album “The Strange Case of….” in April 2013. Fronted by lead singer Lzzy Hale with brother Arejay Hale on drums the band have more than paid their dues to get where they are now. They started the group more than a decade ago when Lzzy was 13 and Arejay was just 10 and from the very beginning they were determined to make a proper go of it.
Despite that, like many bands, the early days were tough and the fledgling band had to suffer such ignominies like losing a talent show to a tap-dancing cowgirl and playing in US restaurant chain Friendly’s for free ice cream, they piled the stage with homemade explosives that sometimes went off right in front of their faces and they even played at a funeral.
Relentless touring began to pay dividends and ‘Love Bites (So Do I)’ from their latest album won them an award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 2013 Grammy Awards with the album itself peaking at number 15 in the US album charts. Their anthemic rock tunes went down well with a fairly diverse audience, angsty enough to attract younger audiences but not too angsty that it turns any older fans off.
Lzzy Hale pours her heart and soul into her work and tracks such as ‘You Call Me a Bitch Like it’s a Bad Thing’ and ‘Freak Like Me’ turn epithets into proud slogans, while ‘Daughters of Darkness’ is an admission that women, like men, have their dark side. “Even with the sweetest woman in the world, you click a switch somewhere, and she’s a little bit crazy or she has her secrets,” Hale says, “And a lot of times you see these girls let all that stuff out at our concerts, which is really gratifying.”
On top of their two albums Halestorm have released two covers EPs, ‘Reanimate’ and ‘Reanimate 2’. In addition to the inclusion of aggressive fist-pounding covers by Skid Row, Guns N’ Roses and Judas Priest they pull off a soulful version of Temple of the Dog’s ‘Hunger Strike’ and further demonstrated their sonic scope with tracks by The Beatles and Lady Gaga, listen out for one or two of these during their set at the Ironworks.
Expect to hear some new tunes too, as the band have been busy in the studio working on their next album release, due out Spring 2015. More album details will be revealed shortly but meanwhile, fans can get a taste via some special in-studio clips;
During the announcement of the UK tour Lzzy Hale enthused, “We are so stoked to get back to our European Freaks in March! Thank you for all the love over the ‘net…but now we want to see your faces!”
Joining them as special guests are uncompromising Texans, NOTHING MORE. The band unleashed their self-titled major label debut this past June via Eleven Seven Music and quickly turned heads in the US with their single “This Is The Time (Ballast)” sitting #1 on the US active rock charts for 3 weeks as well as impressing crowds with their high energy live performance in the UK earlier this month while supporting The Pretty Reckless.
Vocalist Jonny Hawkins states, ”We just wrapped up an amazing tour of the UK and are itching to get back, so we are stoked to return to the UK and Europe with the amazing Halestorm. We first met Lzzy and Joe a few months back at one of our shows in Nashville. We felt an instant connection with them and had a feeling we’d find a way to join them on the road at some point. Here we come!”
Set to get the party started are Detroit party monsters, WILSON. With critically acclaimed debut, ‘Full Blast Fuckery’ on the racks, the five lads are excited to finally bring their brand of Detroit mayhem to these shores. WILSON’s frontman Chad Nicefield adds, “We are humbly honoured to be a part of Halestorm’s European tour. You can fully expect WILSON to bring the heat! This is our first time delivering our freshly baked Fuckery goods across the pond and we cannot wait to bring it worldwide!”
I just wish I could be there for their Oslo gig when they play ‘Viking Pussies Fuck Off’…
Full UK Tour Dates:
Mon 2nd March – NORWICH UEA
Tue 3rd March – NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Thu 5th March – LEEDS O2 Academy
Fri 6th March – GLASGOW Barrowlands
Sat 7th March – INVERNESS Ironworks
Mon 9th March – WOLVERHAMPTON Civic Hall
Tue 10th March – LONDON The Roundhouse
Thu 12th March – SOUTHAMPTON O2 Guildhall
Fri 13th March – CARDIFF University Great Hall
Sat 14th March – MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
Pre-sale tickets will be available from 10am, Tuesday 2nd December. General sale begins at 10am, Friday 5th December, with tickets priced between £15 – £17.50 (plus booking fees). They’re available from the venues direct, all good box offices, and online from www.livenation.co.uk and www.ticketmaster.co.uk .
