Interview with Lzzy Hale from Halestorm

It is not every day you get to interview one of your biggest inspirations in music. Today, I got to do just that. I interviewed Lzzy from Halestorm. The interview lasted over 30 minutes and it was 30 of the best minutes of my life. Without further ado, here is my interview with Lzzy Hale.

How is the tour going so far?

It's been fantastic so far. This past tour we've been doing shows with Eric Church and in between we've been doing headlining dates. It's kind of the, no pun intended, calm before the storm because we are about to release a record.

How did the tour come about?

They sought us out, actually. His band mates are all hard rock and metal fans. His guitar player had our records and he said to Eric, "Hey, you need to check these guys out." Eric, being the adventurous guy he is, had his people call our people and he said "Hey, do you wanna do a tour?" and thankfully we have very adventurous booking agents. We'll play with anybody! I like the idea of blurring the lines a little bit because, from what we've seen, from us playing in front of his crowd, there have been a lot of his fans coming to our headlining shows because of our friendship now. I feel like there is no real existence of genre. It's been really cool.

I know you've collaborated with Eric on "That's Damn Rock N Roll."

Yes. That song is actually on his record. The female part of that is actually his back up singer, Joanna Cotton. He called me after the tour was already put in place. He said that the CMT's had asked him to play his single, but he didn't want to do that. He wanted to do That's Damn Rock N Roll but only if I would do it with him. I was like "Sure!" It was so cool. So I go to the CMT's and it was my first real country experience. I'm backstage and I'm like "OK, that guy looks like he is somebody. Who is that? Oh, that's Kenny Chesney." I'm sharing a dressing room with Kasey Musgraves and several other people. It was so strange. I'm leather clad and the country girls are getting their legs rubbed down with makeup because that's a thing.

That is seriously a thing?

Yeah. Have you ever looked at a country star and thought they had great legs? They have special make-up for legs. It's kinda like what we do to our faces. It was very interesting. But anyway, it was a cool experience to be playing for an audience who had no clue who I was. After the CMT's we actually wrote three songs together and it was really awesome. It was neat. It's also a neat community. I've lived in Nashville for a year and a half and the community there is so accepting of all things music. If you play an instrument, it's like "Hey, come over to my house and let's write a song! If something happens, great. If not, oh well. Let's do it!" They are all very supportive.

I'm going to transition into the new album. How is it coming along?

It's done! It's actually being mastered this week. We are going to be releasing a single very soon. And then we are pushing this record out into the world. We actually recorded it in Nashville. It's funny how all this stuff came together. We didn't plan on everything being so incestuous. but we ended up using Eric's producer. He is also Cage The Elephant, Little Big Town, and a lot of strange band's music guy. He is a mad scientist. We used to call him Batman because he would be there standing with us and then all of a sudden he would disappear and then he would come back with a cool idea like "Hey!" And we would be like "Where did Batman go?" His name is Jay Joyce and he is very cool. We did this album so differently than the last two records. It was very grassroots. We did every track live into tape. It was the first time we recorded the entire song all at the same time: in a circle, recorded it in a church. Jay Joyce bought this old church and turned it into a studio. It's so beautiful and we are in the congregation room in a circle playing through the songs. The nerve-wracking thing about doing it live into tape is if one of us royal screws up all of us have to do the entire song over again. It was a lot of fun. The last two records we recorded very differently. We did them more assembly line. My brother would go into the studio and record all of the drums first to like a scratch track vocal guitar. Then we would do all of the guitars the next day. All the bass for the next two days and then I would start singing. So we were never actually playing the whole song front to back recording it all at the same time. It was so refreshing to listen back to these songs and try to capture that we were all in the same wave together and we all peaked together. It's kinda how it used to be because everyone keeps telling me that's how they did it in the 70s when people actually had to be good.

Before technology.

Exactly! It's interesting because Jay Joyce and his engineer, Jason, ended up keeping us to that standard. We went into the studio with this precedent and Jay was the one person who had the balls to do it with us. I would be doing vocals and it would be beginning to end. It wasn't "Hey we are going to go in and punch this." or "Hey, we're going to go in and tune this." You have to actually hit that note. Like really? we can't just use a little bit of tuning. NOPE! You actually have to do it.

No pressure.

[Laughs] I know I said this how I wanted to do it, but... But really it was really cool and I am so proud of it. I don't know what the rest of the world is going to think but either way, we are freaking stoked.

I'm excited. I try to keep professionalism whenever I do this but it is hard sometime because I am a fan, but I feel like you get better stories when you love the bands you talk to.

It's totally real. I get it. I got to meet and perform with my all-time favorite person in the world. He is the guy that got me into guitar. I grew up on a lot of 70s and 80s Rock because of my parents, so I kind of skipped a generation, or more so reverted back, so to speak. Tom Keifer from Cinderella has always been "the dude" since I was like 11 and I just got to perform and I was like "I gotta be cool. I'm a professional, but inside my 14 year old self was like AHH!! and I was freaking out. So I know how that is.

Oh yeah. But, back to the recording process, you've touched on how it's different than previous albums, but whenever you recorded the last two albums and the cover albums, what did you want to be different on this album?

The bottom line was that we wanted to bridge the gap between what people see in our live shows and what they hear on the record because the way we've done our past two records with Atlantic has been based on perfection and we would go in and do everything until we get it perfect. We would go in and gloss it up and add fucking weird stuff to it, not saying we didn't add weird things to this record, but it was based on perfection, whereas our live show is based on imperfection. That's Rock N Roll. We go out on stage and we have a great time and no matter what happens, because ultimately, there is someone who screws up, and there is always going to be someone saying "Haha! That was you!" and there are times when the guys will come over and start screwing with my stuff and start throwing out my picks and I'm like "God-damnit, guys!" So we wanted to capture more of that on the record. Not necessarily making a live record but kinda like what I touched on before. That's the reason we did all the basic tracks live to tape - we actually played everything front to back. All the vocals were based on performance, not on perfection because, no matter what, it's not going to be live because it's not in front of an audience. It's not going to be the same, so it's not going to be a live record but we wanted to make sure there was some kind of moment. Some moments that you could not have created. They just had to happen. There are a couple of songs on the record where you won't hear it until you listen to it like three times, but there is something where Arejay is yelling, or someone is yelling at someone and we are yelling at each other in one of the tracks we ended up keeping and you can hear it through the mic. I think they are yelling at me like "Sing it, Lzzy!" or something. I can't quite understand it. But the guys are goofing off and it's such a neat feeling in the song because it adds some type of personality to it, regardless of it being like "Oh, this is the chorus, this is the verse." Everything isn't shiny.

Y'all have been playing new songs live. How has the response been to those? I know you're not technically on a headlining tour, but how has the response been?

On our headlining shows, everyone is stoked and trying to figure out what I'm saying through Youtube videos, which is so funny. There are these two super fans in Germany and they have been trying to take the Youtube video and put it into some program so they can slow it down so they can hear what I'm saying. And it's not even close and I'm not going to give it away yet. They were like "can you just give us one hint?" Well, you got the first line right. Then they were like, REALLY? But the rest of it is wrong?" Yep. There's been a lot of speculation of what is on the record, or what isn't on the record. Like "is she singing the right lyrics? Is she singing all of the song? There was actually one girl last night, we are kind of hinting at two songs. Tonight, I am going to be starting the set a cappela, and singing a piece of something we put on the record and then we start in with a new song called "I Like It Heavy" because it's kinda old school, and has this 70s groove to it and it's a little easier to digest than me just coming out screaming everyone's heads off and then easing into it. But, it was weird. Last night for the first time, there was this girl in the front row that was singing to my a cappela part. Somebody must have gotten it on Youtube and she was singing along to it and she was pretty good and I was like "Oh my God, that's awesome!" But yeah, it's strange because the people at the Eric Church shows, some of them are aware and, depending on the region, some of them don't know who we are. So, it's kinda hard to gauge. But it's about when we get to the third song, we're like "Yeah! We got 'em!" and some are like "What is this?" for a little bit.

I get that. Switching gears again, for personal reasons, I want to ask about the cover albums because my radio show is called Crimson Covers with Kinsey. So every week, I always do a Halestorm cover, except for the week I did bad cover songs, I didn't play a Halestorm song. But it was like the Brady Bunch doing American Pie and then Big & Rich doing the Beastie Boys song "Fight For Your Right To Party."

Oh, God bless them. Now, I have to hear this. Jesus. They did that song?!

Yes! I wanted to ask why you picked the song you did to cover. I played "Out Ta Get Me" and forgot to censor it.

OOOps. [Laughs] Hopefully, no one was listening when that happened. We actually do those covers very selfishly. For two reasons: number one, if we like the song and we've never played it or even if it's a different genre, we're like "Let's try this" but for the second reason besides just loving the song, it's a simple and safe way to try some new stuff, new genres, or take a different approach to a song that we've never tried before in our own original songs. For example, our first cover album we did "Bad Romance" and "Slave to the Grind" which were two songs that the tempos and the type of attitude in each song we had never really delved into before. So, technically if we hadn't done, after we did Slave to the Grind, we decided we needed a song with this tempo because we had never done that before and it was so crazy and the attitude made me feel like a dude singing it. It's kinda hard to see yourself from the outside, so we are always kinda trying to take the out door in sometimes, eww, that sounded horrible. [Laughs] Sorry, I live with a bunch of boys so everything I say is like a sexual innuendo. But anyway, we try to reach outside of what we think is cool and go with it. Technically, we wouldn't have "Love Bites" if it weren't for covering those songs. We wanted to try and write a song kinda of like those. With the last one, we did Gold Dust Woman.

I play that on my show every week. It's my favorite.

That's funny because it got such a huge response. I have a problem with not doing anything less than 110% so by showing out, we have a song on our new record called "New Modern Love" that was inspired by that type of groove and idea. It's different when you have to cover and breakdown somebody else's song that you love and build it up as your own. You learn so much as a song writer and it's different when you have to sing it rather than just listening to it and being inspired. When you sing it and perform it, you're like "Wow, this feels good. We need to have a song that feels like this." If that makes any sense. So we do those covers selfishly for that reason.

I noticed that Out Ta Get Me is not a very popular GNR song because on my show I always do other people that have covered the song and no one else has covered that.

That song in particular, I always envisioned like, Pat Benetar would have done that song. Axl isn't really doing those crazy acrobatics in that song that he usually does [Imitates Axl Rose]. It's just a down and dirty punk rock song. It's always overlooked because it's not really flashy but man, it's fun to play live too.

I know you said selfish reasons, but I also wanted to ask why you covered that cheesy Heart song. [Laughs]

I know it's cheesy. I never actually listened to the radio version. It was very Pop radio at the time they put that out. The first Heart CD that I ever got from my mother was On The Road Home. It was this live CD of theirs and they do that song very much like what we did on the record, but it was slower paced with piano and guitar and more soulful. Back-story: the reason we did that song was because I struck a deal with the guys. I would always cover that song in karaoke. But the first time I covered it, or maybe the second, way before we were signed to anything, we would go to bars, sometimes when we were underage, and the guys would get free beers because I was singing it well. People would be like "That girl can sing! You guys get a round of beers!" So they would make me sing that song because it was only ever if I did that song. So they would make me do that song all the time. Our first time in Nashville, we broke down and we ended up going to a karaoke bar and they made me sing it again and they got free drinks because of that. I was like "I'm getting you fuckers free drinks." And so they were like, "Lzzy! We are doing a cover CD. You have to do this!" I was like "No! I am NOT doing that song!" They were like, "We'll make you a deal: you do it on here and we won't ask you to sing it in karaoke again." So, sweet. They have yet to ask me, but I feel like it's going to happen.

It totally will, eventually. I meant to ask this question earlier, so it is sort of out of place, but how has the band evolved over the last few years. I remember the first time I heard "I Get Off" on Octane. I was like "Ooohhh I like this."

Aww! Thank you! We live life kinda fast. Mentally, I don't think we've evolved at all. We are perpetually 14 inside. We are very immature. Even last night, sorry guys I'm going to embarrass you, but there was this huge fart in the freaking bunk hall and everyone just busted out laughing and I thought everyone was asleep and all of a sudden I was like "Ahh!" Like, Jesus, guys!" We still have the same fire that we did when we were teenagers and coming onto the scene. Truth be told, I've been in this band for 17 years with my little brother. None of that has changed. The view hasn't changed. The goal hasn't changed. The maturity hasn't changed. I think musically, because we are just out here all the time, I gauge how many years have gone by our fans bringing their kids. All of a sudden, the kid that was this tall is now this tall [shows height difference with her hands] and I think "Oh my God, it's been four years!" I think because we travel a lot and meet so many different people, there is always something to write about because of that. There is always music to be heard. And no matter what genre, we do a lot of this stuff. We're listening to Country all the time now on this tour and a lot of stuff seeps in. We keep chasing after what gets us excited and that leads you down the rabbit hole. I think we have definitely evolved musically and for the better. I think we have a very wide view of what our future could and could not be. It's kind of freeing right now. I am feeling the same type of freedom right now that I did as a teenager. You go through a phase. I was writing about mythical people and stupid stuff that no one could ever relate to and then you get signed to a label. And even though our label and management have been incredibly supportive but, just by having that type of responsibility as a writer to think "Oh, this has to be good for radio. Is the label going to approve this record? Will it even make it past management? Are they going to like it? Is everyone going to be digging this song? Are the guys going to be ok with me actually saying this in a song?" You go through a phase where you aren't thinking "Do I love this song?" Some of that stuff starts seeping in and it becomes less about you and more about everybody else. I feel like we are finally over that hump. Especially from making this last record. We were just like "Fuck it. Let's do what we want." So we did. We did everything we wanted to do. Right now, I would say with the upcoming record, we didn't stray from who we are. It's just a lot more of who we are. So, I warned you. [Laughs]

Anything else you want to add?

Just a big "Thank You" to you, obviously, not just for talking to me, but actually listening to our music and enabling us to do what we love every single day. It's crazy to think about. It really is. I was talking to my mom about this the other day and I was like "Mom, do you remember when we were in grocery stores or restaurants and I used to remember saying to my little brother, we would leave picks or little things that said our name, in the napkin holders just in case somebody would check out our band. And now, more times than not, people know who we are and it's just so weird to think about. It's strange and very humbling. And the whole reason for that is it takes a village, man. A lot of people talk and we are spiraling outward and I get to say I do this for a living now and that's thanks to everybody.

[We bantered about college football and the phrase "Roll Tide." Then, she did a stinger for our station which leads into the next bit of content]

I was writing this song with Eric [Church] and it's funny because when you listen to the song that we wrote, it didn't make it on the record because it was a little too country, but it was awesome. It was like this stomp song. I still think we should put it on an EP or something, but you can tell what lines are mine and what lines are his because I remember asking him something like "What's jump and rally? Like what is that?" It was me being schooled in the language.

[I talked to her about Will Hoge, and my journalistic dreams and she was extremely understanding. We talked about freelancing and traveling for our lines of work and Hanson.]

The only pictures my dad has in office are a picture of me with Hanson and of you and him. Hanson is my favorite band.

Oh my gosh! That is so funny! I can honestly say that, by them coming out at that point in time, in '97, that is when we started our band. Because we saw them, my brother and I were like "We can totally do that" and that's when we started playing in our living room and in talent shows and we were like, "MOM! They're doing it!"

That is the best thing I have ever heard. They are my all time favorite and I want to interview them so bad.

Yeah, them and their 20 something kids!

Yes! They have 11 between the three of them. But now we are just rambling. Thank you so much for allowing me to do this.

Of course, darling!

Tyler Hayes Interview

Photo by Katie Arendall

Tyler Hayes is an up and coming country singer/songwriter hailing from Mobile, Alabama. He plays different venues all over South Alabama and will soon move to Nashville to pursue music full time. Aside from all of this, he is also my cousin. During our family Christmas, I sat down with him to ask some questions about his music and everything it entails. Without further ado, here is my interview with Tyler Hayes.

1. - How did you first get into music?

My dad has always been in music. He's done it ever since he was a boy, since he was about 14 years old. I got involved when I was about eight years old when I got my first guitar. I kinda got out of it for a little while. I started playing baseball and then I got back into it. [My dad] He never stopped, but it's just always something I've been exposed to. Whenever I was about 18 years old, I decided I would pick it back up. I started really enjoying it, working at it, and that's kinda where it sprouted from was just my dad's passion for music. My mom, she's passionate about music too. My dad is old school country and my mom likes southern rock and she loves pretty much all kinds of music and that gives me a huge, wide, variety. I went through a phase my four years of high school into the beginning of my freshman year of college where I was nothing but rock. I wouldn't even listen to country music. No Country. It was all rock and heavy metal. I got invited to a country concert and I did not want to go. I did not want to be there, but I guess it was just a phase. I still love rock music and that is kinda how I like play my country music, with a rock side to it.

2. - What instruments do you play? If you play more than one, do you have a favorite?

I only play the acoustic guitar and I wish I was better at it. I've gotten better over the years, definitely, but it's something that time and a lot of practice is going to help. Really, that's all I've ever done is played guitar. I've always loved to sing, even when I wasn't performing, I loved to sing all the time. So, I picked up the guitar so I would have an instrument to accompany me while I sang. It's something I did that would allow me to play in public.

3. - Do you have a favorite guitar?

YES! [answers very enthusiastically with a huge smile on his face]. It's out there in the truck right now. I just got it two days ago. It's a Gibson Hummingbird Custom and her name is Ruby. She is beautiful and she sounds beautiful. I love it. I had a Takamine and it was a little bit more in my price range whenever I got it. But, just playing this new Gibson is so much more pleasurable. It's so much easier to play. It makes the whole experience so much better.

4. - Do you have any original material?

I do. I have probably eight completed songs and probably fifteen other pieces of songs. The thing about it is I'm my worst enemy and my worst critic whenever it comes to writing music. I write something and I am the hardest person around me. I'm hardest on myself because I'm kinda a perfectionist. Maybe not in all aspects of my life, but in certain areas I'm a perfectionist and I'm really hard on myself when it comes to music. A lot of people around me really enjoy the music that I write. Whenever I do get to record an EP, there will be some of those songs that I have written already that will be on there, as well as some that intend to write in the near future.

5. - What process do you have when you write?

It always varies. My best songs I've actually written on the road. My best song I've written was when I was coming home from Louisiana. I had a line pop in my head, one line: "Time Well Wasted." When it popped in my head I was like "Wait a minute, I can work around that." In a matter of ten or fifteen minutes, I had a chorus and by the time I got home, I had the whole song. I whipped out my phone, turned the recorder on, and recorded the melody and the words that I had on there. It's kinda a process like that. Sometimes it's just a random line will pop in my head. I'll see a word on a billboard or something will inspire me to write about it. Very rarely do I say " Alright, I'm going to write a song about this" and then sit down and write a song about that. It just kinda happens for me. I do have a couple of songs that I've written that I said "Hey, I want to write a song about this topic" and then, it happened. The only time that's happened is when I had to writing partner and that helps a lot.

6. - We're going to back track here for a little bit. Last year, you won your college, The University of South Alabama's, Jag Idol, which is like American Idol. Can you elaborate on that and what you gained from it?

It was really fun. It was the first time that I really got to perform in front of a bunch of people. I had always performed in front of the family and friends and stuff like that. But, I've never been able to perform in front of people I didn't really know. It helped me to grow as a performer and it helped me to broaden my music that I knew. I did know a lot of songs already because I was getting to the point where I wanted to play different venues and wanting to do shows. I had to have a little bit of a song list. I knew a few more songs, which was an advantage in that competition. Overall, being able to perform every week and be in front of a crowd, that really help me to grow as an artist, and it really made me a better performer.

7. - How do you choose which songs you cover?

Oh, man. I don't know. Sometimes, I'll get on a kick and just really like playing a song. I'll enjoy a song that I've learned recently. Sometimes, I'll sit down and I'll just be playing a classic and be like "Hey, I'll throw that one on there!" I try to think about the listeners and what they want to hear and what turns them on as listeners. Recently, I did an Adele cover. I love Adele. She is one of my favorite artist of all time. She's got one of the greatest voices I've ever heard. I figured it would be a cool, little perspective to have, not only a guy singing it, because guys have covered it, but I'm a country, out in the woods guy, that's covering Adele, which is a whole lot different than anything else I've seen. So I figured, just try and make things different and shake things up sometimes. It's very rare that I cover a real mainstream song that's popular right then. Whenever a Luke Bryan song gets real big, I love the song, but I don't just run out and cover it because it's really big. I kinda like to play songs that are on the album that nobody has ever heard before and that'll give people the opportunity to hear it and then they're like "Well, let me see what this is all about!" and they go back and listen to it, and heck, it might become one of their favorite songs. You never know. That's kinda the process I go through.

8. - Even though Country is your main genre, obviously, you've tried other types of music, but what other types of music have you tried?

I love rock music. Actually, my freshman year of college, I was in a rock band. We were called Heroes Highway. We were up in Hanceville, Alabama. We called ourselves Heroes Highway because I-65 in Alabama is called Heroes Highway. Since I was from the southern most part of Alabama and they were from the northern most part, it kinda made sense. It was the link between us. My drummer had this little studio and he was really good at what he did. We recorded some music. We had a really good time and I really enjoyed that. I've dabbled in rock music and I still cover rock music. My voice is better suited for country because of my accent, that I can't help. But I love rock music. One of my dreams would be to do a 12 song album: six of them be normal country songs and six of them be rock. I'm not really sure what style I would go for. Whenever I was in high school, me and my cousin, Dalton, and my sister [Karly], we really got on the Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin kick. If I could do half of an album to sound like a mixture between Breaking Benjamin/Three Days Grace/ maybe a Shinedown type thing, it would be pretty awesome. I think it would be a cool mix-up. There is such a crowd that you could draw. These days you'll see artists that play on [97.5] WABD and 95 KSJ. But, rarely do you see someone played on TK [101.5] and KSJ. It's very rare to see that. That would be an accomplishment for me.

9. - Have you ever thought about auditioning for any national singing competitions like American Idol, The Voice, etc.?

I have. I'm actually signed up to try out for The Voice on February 1st in Nashville. I've thought about it before but I'm trying to get through school and if were to do anything with it, I'd hate to, I WON'T stop school. I'm too close: I've got to get through it. I'm almost 100 percent positive that I am going to try that and see what happens.

10. - What do you want people to learn about you through your music?

Numerous things. I want them to be able to get a feeling for who I am whenever I sing my music: the music that I write, who I am as a person, where I come from. I want them to have more of a broad perspective of me and know that I'm not a one dimensional person: that I can spread out, do anything and be a little bit more of a broad artist that can have a rock song on TK101. I'd love to be that guy. I want people to feel exactly how I feel whenever I write a song. If I write a sad song, I want people to know and feel that it's a sad song. I really want to get my point across as to what I'm feeling and what I'm thinking. It's my biggest goal as a song writer.

11. Who are some of your influences and who are some of your favorites right now?

As far as life influences, obviously my parents. My father, he did his thing in country music for awhile. He's always influenced me and he's always drive me to work harder in the business. So I really admire him. I really admire a lot of the music that he's done. So, as an artist, I also look up to him, not only as a parent, somebody who has provided for me and helped me through my life, but I also look up to him as an artist. He'll take an old country song and put his own spin on it and I think it's a hundred thousand times better. I just love the way he goes about approaching music and how he can make it his own. It's hard not to be inspired by the Waylon Jennings and the Johnny Cashes, the people that just go out there and don't care. I really don't care what anybody has to think about me. If they don't like me, so be it and you can tell me to my face. It's not going to upset me. Somebody out there is going to like me. I don't care if nobody likes me. I wake up in the morning and I play music and I write the music that I like and I say what I want to say and if you don't like it, that's tough. That's the way that I was raised. So I really look up to people who put their foot down like that. Kinda like, in more recent years, Eric Church. He may not have blown up like Jason Aldean, but he's getting there. This day in age, people are really starting to respect not giving a crap what somebody thinks about you. He's really starting to catch up to the Luke Bryans and Jason Aldeans. But he's also on his own little turf because he really just does what he wants to do and believes in what he believes and doesn't let anyone falter his beliefs, he's sound in what he believes. I really enjoy that. As far as inspirations musically, I do look up to Eric Church and Jason Aldean and even Luke Bryan. I love Luke Bryan. I think he's been very versatile. Some people get mad at him because he doesn't stick to country roots, or whatever, but he's versatile. He's country as anybody else. I just think he knows what it takes. He works hard at it and it's impossible not to respect someone like that.

12. - You are playing Soul Kitchen next week with Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton. How did this opportunity come about?

I've met Charlie once. I actually met him for the first time last weekend. But, I've talked to him a bunch. All of us artists talk to each other through Facebook or call each other up on the phone and chit chat, talk about what's going on. it's really kind of a little tight knit community around Mobile. Charlie is from Mobile. He's been up in Auburn and we've just talked and hung out a bit. He gave me a shout a month or so ago and he said "Hey, we're having a show. You wanna come play with us?" and I was like "Yeah. I heard Soul Kitchen's got some great sound and I'd love to play there." So, it's going to be a fun time. I'm excited about it.  

13. - What does the future hold for you, aside from what you've already mentioned?

In the future, in my perfect mind, I'll finish up school in May with my mechanical engineering degree.

[Laughs] Engineering? Engineering is your fall back?

That's the plan anyways. As soon as I am done with that, if I get a job, I have to get a job in Nashville, but as soon as I get a job, I intend to move to Nashville, have a day job, maybe part time, use my degree, so I can get up there, have a job, be able to support myself, put a roof over my head, play my music at night, and really be able to chase my dream without having to worry day in and day out where my next meal is going to come from or go up there and be a starving musician that's living out of the back of my truck. There's a lot of people that do it, and I think that's great, but there is nothing wrong with preparing myself and having that fallback plan of an engineer and just getting a job and supporting myself and allowing myself to support my career as a musician. I'm excited about getting up to Nashville to look around, and play a little bit and see what happens. Record an EP and let things go! 

Check out his Facebook by clicking here.

Don't forget to catch him at Soul Kitchen Saturday, December 28th!

(Video made by me. Perks of him being my cousin, I can hear him play anytime) :)

Tyler playing his song Set Me Free

Blink-182 Dogs Eating Dogs EP Album Review

1. When I Was Young – Tom’s voice in the opening sounds really different and I really love Mark on back-up vocals, especially in this song. “When I was young the world it was smaller. The cities were vast; the buildings were taller. I felt really strong; my parents seemed stronger. But life has a way it showers with greatness. Then takes it away those pieces that made us. Then teaches you things you'd never imagine. We all get the same the memories the burdens. The pictures we made they still form a pattern. They cautiously say does it all matter?” That is so beautiful.

2. Dogs Eating Dogs – The guitar in the opening sounds like a Panic! At The Disco song. Travis’s drums seem to be really sloppy, but not in a bad way. “I'm the last and the first in a very sad set of eyes.” That is so deep.

3. Disaster – The beginning sounds like I Miss You. The whole song reminds me of Anthem Pt. 2 and Up All Night. “White stones of hollow eyes Death comes you better hide. Never rest in town. Fall in my arms again. Full moon on a rotten night
Eighteen and a wind came by. Not a soul around, Fall in my arms again.” This made me tear up.

4. Boxing Day – There is finally a song about this holiday!!! In all seriousness, this song is really sad. It is definitely a break-up song. The chorus, “I’m empty like the day after Christmas, Swept beneath the wave of your goodbye. You left me on the day after Christmas. There’s nothing left to say, and so Goodnight. If that does not strike you as sad, I do not know what to say to you. “I will follow the trail to tomorrow with my loneliness with sorrow. All through the night, Sons and daughters, Mothers and their fathers, Cross the bridges and the waters for bruise left behind.” That part has so much emotion and I cannot really explain how it made me feel.

5. Pretty Little Girl – This is my favorite song on this E.P. When I was listening to it and I heard Yelawolf, I was like “Holy crap! It’s Yelawolf!!! That was a nice surprise. This song has some really good imagery, because it really shows how young love can be and this song brought tears to my eyes. 

Hinder Welcome To The Freakshow Album Review

When All American Nightmare Came out, I was positive that nothing could top the excellency of that album. In some ways, I was right. While this album, is great, it just does not live up to the hype and excitement that All American Nightmare, Take It To The Limit, and Extreme Behavior gave to me. I hope I can learn to appreciate this album more as times goes on, but for now it is probably my least favorite Hinder album. 

1. Save Me – The lyrics are just like “Get the eff away from me. I don’t need you anymore” It makes a great album opener.

2. Ladies Come First – “You left your goodie two shoes at home.” When I heard that, I busted out laughing. That is lyrical genius. “My mind’s in the dirt” is a very true statement when you are talking about Hinder and that is what I love about them. Just dirty rock and roll. That is very hard to beat. This song strongly reminds me of Striptease from All American Nightmare.

3. Should Have Known Better – “Just two kids, it was way too soon. Didn’t realize what we had to lose, no way to know we wouldn’t make it through.” “Keep leaving me with nothing. Someday I’ll live my life but right now I’m losing this fight. Lust ain’t the same as trusting. Can’t figure out this loving.” Teen love at its finest. You can really hear Austin’s emotions in this song.

4. Freak Show – The guitar at the beginning rules!!! “Super sweet in real life, super slutty else where, fighting for the spotlight, feeling no shame.” I am starting to think that Austin is writing about his high school days because this sounds like typical girls in high school. This would totally be a cool set opener.

5. Talk To Me – “Love takes work and work takes time.” That is gold. This song really is not my favorite.

6. Get Me Away From You – This song strongly reminds me of The Life from All American Nightmare. I like his rhetorical question “What the hell am I supposed to do?” This is signaling a chill out point in the album.

7. Is It Just Me? – The lyrics to this are really sad. “How we are just broken hearts, wasting time here in this bar, trying to hide from who we are, or is it just me? How we are just drunken fools, going broke, breaking the rules, think we need another drink, Or is it just me? Is it just me?” It is very upbeat for such a sad song and I like the questioning tone of the song.

8. I Don’t Wanna Believe – The guitar sounds like Guns N Roses! “I don’t wanna believe if I can’t believe in you. But I’m ready to fall if you are the one I’m falling to. That made me cry. It is so beautiful.

9. See You In Hell – I love the allusions to famous people in the beginning. “I smoke, I drink, I lie, I cheat, and damn I do it well. See you in hell!” That is excellent and very clever. This strongly reminded me of Hey Ho from All American Nightmare.

10. Anyone But You – “I can’t love anyone but you.” If I am ever sad, this song would make me cry. It reminds me of Everybody’s Wrong from All American Nightmare.

11. Wanna Be Rich – I love this song. It is probably my favorite on the album. Even though I do not party, this sounds like a good party song.

Daughtry, Theory Of A Deadman, And Cavo 12/4/09

So the Daughtry show was great. To be honest, the main reason I went was to see Theory of a Dead Man. At that point, I had never seen them before and it was honestly about to kill me. The first band of the night was Cavo. I had already seen Cavo a few months earlier at Bayfest and I knew what to expect. I even met their singer, Casey there. He was super nice. They opened with my song, Blame. Then they played Crash, My Little Secret, We All Fall Down, Let It Go, and Champagne. They tried to get the crowd to sing the chorus but it was not their greatest effort. After they were done with their set, they had a meet and greet. I like how they took the time to talk to their fans. Even when the show was over they were still out meeting fans and it made me smile. I was nervous to run all the way around the venue to meet them because I really did not want to miss Theory Of A Dead Man. I was one of the first people in line and they took the time to talk to me and their singer remembered me from Bayfest. I guess it is not every day when some 14 year old taps on your shoulder through a fence to take a picture. I made it back to my seat just in time. I still had five minutes before TOAD started. I could not contain my excitement. They opened with So Happy. it made me “So Happy” (sorry. I had to). Afterwards, they played Little Smirk, By The Way, No Surprise, Hate My Life, Not Meant To Be, Santa Monica, Paradise City, and Bad Girlfriend. Great set-list right there. It made my life for a little while. Then, Daughtry came out and played Every Time You Turn Around, It's Not Over, Ghost of Me, No Surprise, Breakdown, Life After You, What I Want, Open Up Your Eyes, September, Tennessee Line, In the Air Tonight, Call Your Name, Over You, Helter Skelter, Feels Like Tonight, You Don't Belong, Home, and There And Back Again. At one point, in the audience, there was a girl that started stunting. Like, college cheerleading stunting. It was the first time I had ever seen that at a concert and I really appreciated it (since I am a cheerleader). The crowd at this show was really involved. Since this show, I have seen TOAD four times. Holy cow. If there is ever an opportunity to go see them, take it. Tyler, their singer, is a comedian.