This one is monumental. Halestorm are not only bonafide rock stars. They are a grounded, fiercely bonded group with hearts as big as their sound. Perched above the Gibson Garage in the exclusive, rock ‘n’ roll soaked Gibson Suite, we catch up with Arejay Hale and Josh Smith on the eve of their colossal London Stadium show supporting Iron Maiden.
MetalTalk had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with the duo to discuss their upcoming album Everest (dropping 8 August 2025), Halestorm’s stratospheric rise as musicians and role models, and the family ties that drive their momentum.
As ever, I drop in my quick icebreaker, checking what the lads had for their dinner last night. “Me and my girl had a burger in Soho,” Arejay smiles. “She’s gluten-free and vegetarian, so we found a place with a veggie burger and a gluten-free bun.”
For Josh Smith, it was a little bruschetta to start and then salmon. “I don’t eat land meat,” he says, “so I usually go for fish. My family just arrived in town, my wife and kiddos, so hopefully, they’re starting to shed the jet lag, and they’ll be there [at Iron Maiden] tomorrow night. We planned a whole Smith family vacation in England for a couple of weeks. Which is just in time to hop right back on tour again.”
Earlier in the week, Halestorm hit the stage in Dublin as direct support for Iron Maiden, a powerhouse billing by any measure. MetalTalk was front and centre, soaking in every decibel and chronicling the storm they unleashed.
Among the chaos, the band played four new tracks from their upcoming album Everest, and I’m itching to dive into the set, the fresh material, and how the crowd took it all in.
Josh has previously spoken about enjoying and drawing inspiration from the melodic finesse of Paul McCartney and the fluid dynamism of jazz greats. But standing on stage, knowing Steve Harris, who has commanded the bass for Iron Maiden for over five decades, is about to follow you is another level entirely.
It is a moment where admiration meets accountability. You are not just playing bass anymore. You are playing before one of the great bass titans.
“Legend,” Josh quips. “It’s been fantastic. They’ve been completely open to us. Funny enough, Steve’s tech right now is someone we knew from the road, probably 15 years ago or something. It has been doors open, come in and ask me anything.
“It’s really cool, just to see his approach and how he plays. It’s something I wanna adopt. It’s almost like he’s tapping them, not like pulling them, and he’s not anchored in any way. He is the heart of the band. He is the heart of Iron Maiden.
“His tone, it’s a P-Bass with a maple fretboard and it just cuts. That’s what I go for, too. It’s really been a treat to watch him do his thing.”
I shift the conversation toward the four new tracks Halestorm have been road-testing. In Dublin, they opened with the soaring Fallen Star and closed with the anthemic title track Everest, a bold framing of their latest era.
Naturally, I’m curious how it has felt to bring these fresh songs to life on stage. “Those are fun to play,” Arejay says. “We got asked in an interview a while back; ‘You guys are playing your new songs, and your album’s not even out yet. Aren’t you afraid of ruining the surprise, spoiling the songs? They are being leaked by you guys playing them!’
“But we don’t care. We just want to play. They’re fun to play.”
For Josh, the new songs have translated easily as well. “I think each song is very digestible,” he says. “It still takes you for a ride. People are reacting to them very quickly. So it’s really been fun, and who knows how many Iron Maiden fans know us?”
I probe further and question if they seem well received by the Maiden faithful. Josh happily reports that they do. “Maybe they know our hit songs, but maybe they don’t. We’ve had headline shows as well and given the fans the treat of hearing stuff for the first time before it’s out. That’s what I want in a band.”
Arejay continues the sentiment. “Which I’m grateful for because, you know, there’s the old adage that the band with a career of hits goes up to the mic, ‘We’re gonna play a new song’ and the audience is like, ‘cool, we’re gonna go to the bar!’
“But our fans have been really stoked to hear new stuff. They’re asking us to play new songs. Which is just great!”
It’s clear Halestom are standing tall behind this new material. There is a conviction in how they have introduced it to huge crowds, and you can sense the pride pulsing through the setlists.
I steer the conversation toward another of the new tracks: Darkness Always Wins. The newly released video cuts deep, speaking to me on a personal level. Lzzy appears fierce and defiant, wielding a sword like a battle-hardened guardian of her own narrative.
I’m eager to hear more about the concept behind it. Arejay begins with a chuckle, “My wife, Emily, is the ‘evil sorceress’ [laughter]. It’s kind of funny! It’s like sister-in-laws finally fighting it out. I haven’t even been married that long, and they are already going at it. [More laughter].
“It was great for me. It was awesome to see Emily work because she’s an incredible stunt actress and an incredible actress. I’ve never seen her actually working and acting on set. It was just cool to see her doing her thing.
“Lzzy caught on really well, too. They did a really good job coaching Lzzy through the sword fight. Her stunt coordinator team was amazing. We were able to make that entire cinematic video in one day. We had a great director, too.”
Everest feels like Halestorm’s heaviest work to date. “I suppose as a rock band, that’s always our intention,” Josh says. “That’s kind of just what we do.”
Arejay gives insight into the way they all pull together. “Joe is so good at coming up with heavy riffs,” he says, “and they’re fun to play off and vice versa. He does a really good job of writing a heavy riff to a drum part, a bass licker or a song that’s already been written. So that just kind of happened.
“It’s funny because I find this album to be probably our most diverse because the first two, I see a lot of the singles are gonna be more kind of mid-tempo, more melodic. But you’re right, the album does have a different kind of heavy.”
Josh chimes in at the same time as Arejay agrees in the “different kind of heavy”.
I continued to delve further into the creation of the album to see if it was a long, drawn-out journey or something that came together quickly once the band were in the studio. I’m curious how the pace of the process shaped the final sound and energy of the record.
Josh let me know it’s realistically a combination of both. “I think if it was condensed, it probably would have taken two to two and a half months,” he said. “But we would just pop in anytime we were off tour for a week and a half or two and when Dave [Cobb, Grammy-winning producer] was available.
“Darkness Always Wins was written the last week of April 2023, so we wrapped it a while ago. It was long in a sense, but that track was just one week. I think the next time we went back was probably in the fall, August or September 2023. We went back again early ’24 and then summer ’24, probably three times across 2024.
“So it felt long, but it never felt overdone. Every day was fun. It was such a creative purge. Every day, we just come down and get excited about an idea, a lyric, a melody, a guitar part, or a drum part, and then just chase it down the rabbit hole. Whatever got us excited, it was lightning in a bottle, whatever we could do to catch magic and just keep and stay excited.”
Before moving the conversation along, I wanted to touch on one final point about the creative process. Whether they still follow the same format of all coming together as a band to write and create collectively.
They both answered emphatically: “Yes, definitely.”
“This record more than others,” Arejay says. “It was a great experience. It’s probably the closest we’ve been to the way we used to write in our parents’ basement. Just the four of us in a room. This was just the four of us and Dave in a room writing from the ground up.
“It might speak to its diversity doing it in such short bursts. Because first of all, I think we work well under pressure. When we’re only here for two weeks, we gotta crank some songs out! But also, we’ve had tours in between, so every time we go to Savannah, we’d be excited, excited about something brand new and let’s try this and let’s try that, and it was very freeing.”
Halestorm’s shows keep growing in scale. 2025 in London alone sees them storm a 60,000-seat football stadium and a 20,000-capacity arena. This is a meteoric rise from the 1,300 capacity at the O2 ABC Glasgow in 2014.
With that momentum in mind, I turn to Arejay. I had read about his early drumming days and how his dad used to build custom gear to amplify his flair behind the kit. So, with a big grin, I tailor my next question just for him. Will we ever see a rotating drum kit or flames shooting from his sticks?
“Yeah, we did that,” Arejay laughs. “I highly doubt if we built the same contraption today. It would probably not meet regulations. In order to do things properly on tour, where it’s consistent, it works every day, and it’s easy to set up and pack up, well, that requires money.
“When the funds are at the point where we can comfortably… I feel like if you’re gonna invest in a Tommy Lee style roller coaster drum riser, it’s kind of like buying a yacht. Don’t buy it unless you can afford 10. I guess at some point when we can afford it, we probably could do it.”
Laughing, Josh chimes in, “Like a giant hamster wheel.”
“We just had meetings about how we’re gonna up our production in the next big headline tour later in the year,” Arejay says. “So I’m sure that something like that is feasible in the near future. I would love to do it. It would be really fun for me, too.”
Josh joyously says, “You’re gonna see Arejay upside down!”
Arejay, laughing away, declares, “With Sharks!”
After the light-hearted question, I wanted to discuss something more serious and important. That being Lzzy and her evolution as a front person. She is evolving as an iconic rock ‘n’ roll role model for young girls and women in the rock scene particularly.
Arejay, without skipping a beat, says affectionately, “I’m so proud of her. I’ve known her my whole life. We’ve always been looking out for each other. If one of us is hitting a wall or something in our lives, the other one is there to always help pull us out. It’s been like that since day one.
“I think it’s really great to see her becoming more confident as a front person because she was always kind of a shy, timid kid, and I was the louder, more outgoing one. It’s cool to see her coming out of her shell and finding her confidence to just be herself. Which I think is the best thing you can be.”
Josh adds, “Arejay said first that it is the beauty of and having the privilege of being the four of us for so long. It’s 22 years we’ve all been together and it’s always been about lifting each other up.
“With Lzzy being that role model, it’s such a big responsibility for her to carry, so we do whatever we can to lift her up and make sure she knows how special she is.”
“We’re stoked to be a part of it,” Arejay says. “The fact we see so many fans coming up to us at meet and greets or after the show saying you inspired my daughter to pick up a guitar or pursue her dreams. It’s cool that we can see that every day and be a part of it and be the support team behind it.”
With time rattling by, there’s one last topic to broach, so I turn my attention to Download Festival. With the dust only just settling on this year’s show, fans are already looking to 2026 with excitement.
There is a massive online call for more female representation at Download. There is yet to be a headline band with a female in the lineup, and plenty of people are putting Halestorm in the frame for the coveted spot.
Josh, Arejay and I all say in unison, “It’s about time.” Arejay is particularly surprised at the lack of female representation in the big slots, while Josh acknowledges there are a lot of incredible artists that could headline, giving particular kudos to Within Temptation.
So, being the band that keeps popping up on social media and in discussions, it is time to see if they themselves feel the moment is coming for Halestorm to headline a UK festival.
Josh certainly feels ready. “I think we’d be nervous, terrified, but deserving; I think we’re ready for anything,” he says. “I think we will play with anyone. We go out there, and you’re seeing four people just do their best at creating some magic, and it’s the most fun ever. So, do we get to do it in front of Download? Absolutely!”
Finally, I check their feelings on how a headline slot would shift the narrative for the next generation as an influencing act on younger generations. Josh keeps it short and sweet, “We’re here for it! We are the lucky ones to get that honour and will accept it.”
Arejay wraps up by cementing the humbleness of both himself and the wider band. “Part of me is like, there are so many other bands that are way more deserving or have been around way longer than us that should be of that echelon of rock ‘n’ roll royalty to headline the Download stage.
“But at the same time, we’ve been doing this forever, and we don’t plan on stopping. Anytime soon. So whether it’s next year or ten years from now, we’re just gonna keep on going. And if we eventually get to the point where we can be in that position to be able to provide a headline slot for a festival of that incredible magnitude, then that’s an incredible honour for us. It would be incredibly humbling.”
And with that, our time comes to a close. I could have happily talked for hours with these two dynamic individuals. In just half an hour, I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with two incredibly talented and generous human beings.
Josh and Arejay offered a heartfelt glimpse into their band and the making of the new Halestorm album, Everest. I am beyond excited for its release, and I will be cheering Halestorm on as they chase those drum-spinning festival-headlining dreams.
Halestorm were at Gibson Garage for an exclusive fan event. Their new album, Everest, is out on 8 August 2025 via Atlantic Records. Pre-orders and pre-saves are available from Halestorm.lnk.to/Everest.
Halestorm play five UK Arena shows this November. Tickets are available from HalestormRocks.com. Special guests in the UK are Bloodywood plus Kelsey Karter & The Heroines.
