Halestorm: “It’s all there. The good and the not-so-good. This album is us baring it all.”

Pennsylvania rockers Halestorm are about to release their new studio album, Everest, this week. The record arrives following a series of major live appearances, including shows with Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. These performances mark a new chapter in the band’s career, highlighting their progression from club stages to large-scale arenas. Everest captures the band’s evolving sound and documents the steady momentum they’ve built over nearly two decades in the rock music scene.

According to the band, Everest was created without strict adherence to past formulas, allowing for a broader range of expression. The songwriting process focused on real-time experiences, with lyrical content reflecting both personal challenges and collective milestones. The album takes its name from one of its central tracks, which the band says became a narrative anchor for the record as a whole. Everest offers a chronological reflection of Halestorm’s growth, both musically and personally, since their formation.

In our latest Cover Story, V13 sat down with Arejay and Josh from the band to talk about the album, their journey as a band and, of course, some unforgettable gigs supporting metal royalty Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.

Before we talk about the new album, Everest, let’s talk about your monumental gigs with Iron Maiden and Back to the Beginning with Black Sabbath. How does it feel to be sharing stages with metal icons?

Josh Smith: “When the offer came for Iron Maiden, your first feelings are just total excitement. ‘You sure they got the right number, right?’ Then there’s not the fear of the unknown, but you don’t know how it’s going to be touring with a big band who does their thing, and you’re just the little opener. They have opened their world up to us and have been the most accommodating people, from the crew to everyone. Your dream is coming true.

You get to play with one of the biggest bands of all time. They’re cool, and the whole scene is cool. It has truly been a treat on so many levels, and we feel lucky to have had the opportunity to do that.

As for playing with Sabbath… that’s just crazy. My wife and kids flew over for both of those shows. It’s a big deal.”

Let’s talk Everest. This is a huge sixth album. At what point in your career did you feel like Halestorm had levelled up into this stadium tier level band?

Arejay Hale: “We knew. There’s the ego. It’s funny seeing it from the inside out and then others seeing it from the outside in. It’s amazing how those are two completely different realities.

It’s been so gradual. Our trajectory has been slow and steady. One little victory at a time. We’ve been slowly moving towards that, but you’re right, now and then you have to look around, and you would think, “Holy shit, we’re playing an arena. I didn’t expect that.”

Josh: “Building up to it, all the talk on our side is the prep for the show, the production, the logistical side. Then making a set, building the show. You’re just consumed in it, and then you’re there, and it’s crazy. When we watch it on YouTube, the final footage hits again. ‘Wow. Holy shit.’ I don’t know, though… it is never like, ‘Wow, we finally made it.’

It’s never been about that for us. We always want more. We always want to challenge ourselves. If we get to keep doing this and if it continues to build, then we’re so thankful for it.”

“You get to play with one of the biggest bands of all time. They’re cool, and the whole scene is cool. It has truly been a treat on so many levels, and we feel lucky to have had the opportunity to do that.”

I understand there’s a bit of a narrative running through Everest. A story of your journey as a band. Was this something that you intended for, or was it something that came naturally when writing the record?

Arejay: “The writing process of this record was much more about us chasing what gets us excited and not having the end goal in sight. With a lot of our records, we had to write a record that fit a preexisting sound that we had, so we’re anchored in that, and then we had to shape the creative process to fit that mould. On this record, we were fortunate enough to be at a level where we could take the rules and throw ’em out the window.

When the song Everest came to be, that was when we realised this is the narrative of our life… the story of our journey as a band because, again, it’s just been slow and steady. We have a love for the climb. We’re not thinking about taking a selfie at the summit. We’re thinking about the process and the gear and the huffing one foot in front of the other.

I think that happened during the creative process when we thought, ‘Wow, this is turning into our memoir of our journey, at least up to this point.’”

V13 Cover Story #102 – Halestorm

Josh: “All of the lyrics are our talks and our thoughts in real time. It was how we were feeling and everything we’ve been going through. It’s all there. The good and the not-so-good. This album is us baring it all. It really is.”

Arejay: “Showing that we’re humans that have real human problems, and we’re gonna express them in our art.”

The first single that came out was quite captivating. I was expecting something bombastic, really loud, really Halestorm, but it was more ballad-like. Now you’ve released the video for ‘Darkness Always Wins’, which is quite an intense video. It’s quite visually captivating as well. How did you and the director come up with the actual story and the narrative behind that video?

Arejay: “We had a bunch of different treatments that we had presented for the video…”

Josh: “I think it was in conjunction with the album artwork. That was a big motivator to go that route. To make it this fantasy where Lzzy and my sister finally got to get their frustrations out that way. It was really fun. The idea of making a theatrical video where we get to have this incredible background and landscape, and sword fighting that fits the music.”

Lzzy’s guitar is part of the Scale exhibition in London, which is incredible. How did you feel to see your bandmate, your colleague, your sister have this as part of such a cultural space?

Arejay: “For her, she’s always been Gibson a hundred per cent. Nothing else. So to see her finally being able to work with the guitar company of her dreams and make a custom guitar for herself is amazing, and they did such a great job on it. It’s such a kick ass guitar.”

Josh: “It’s so much more than a guitar, right? It embodies Lzzy and Halestorm, and these two crazy kids started this band when they were kids. The guitar is such a neat story, and Lzzy is such a wonderful, inspiring person. The guitar is a piece of that story. She’s been such a great role model for other young girls coming up and thinking, ‘Hey, I can do it.’ You can do it too. Pick up a guitar. Rock out. It’s amazing to see that.”

“It was how we were feeling and everything we’ve been going through. It’s all there. The good and the not-so-good. This album is us baring it all”

Halestorm have inspired a lot of fans. Lzzy has inspired lots of young ladies to be who they want to be. Are there any stories that you’ve heard that have particularly resonated with you?

Arejay: “It happens all the time. Dads or moms come up to us and tell us how we inspired their daughter to pick up a guitar. The cool thing is how a lot of parents have come up to me and said, ‘You inspired my daughter or son to pick up a pair of drumsticks, too.’ It’s cool to see that. It doesn’t matter who you are or whether you’re a boy or a girl; you can be inspired by anyone to pursue your dreams.”

Halestorm ‘Everest’ album artwork