Atlantic recording artist and Grammy Award winner Halestorm will release their fourth studio album, Vicious, on July 27th. 

All four members of the band - vocalist / guitarist Lizzy Hale, drummer Arejay, bassist Josh Storm, and guitarist Joe Storm - were in New York City yesterday (May 31st). During their time in NYC, the group was interviewed by Lauren Moraski of The Huffington Post as part of The Build Series. The complete Q&A session can be seen below; a couple of excerpts have been transcribed as follows:

On whether they entered the studio with all the songs written:

Lzzy: "No, not at all. That's usually the way that we do it — we'll have all the songs kind of ready, everybody approves them, and then we go in the studio for a month and we bang it out. And then we release it, and we're, like, 'Is it good? I don't know.' And this time, no. We didn't really know what direction we wanted to take ourselves in."

Joe: "We tried to do that way. What was it? Summer of 2016, that winter and fall, we wrote a bunch of songs and they were okay. They were really good — they would have done well on radio, and it would have been a good record — but it wasn't good enough. And we know, just as a band and as a genre, we've gotta figure out how to push us a little bit and do something a little different and a little more edgy. So we kind of went into the studio last January with Nick (Raskulinecz, producer), and we were, like, 'We don't know what to do, man. We wrote all this stuff, and we know it's fine, but we wanna be better than that.' And he was, like, 'All right. Cool. Let's just start with the five of us in a room, plug in and let's start playing. Show me what you've got.'"

On the new single, "Uncomfortable":

Lzzy: "Lyrically, this is about being unapologetically yourself. It's something that we've kind of stood for and that I've talked with fans about a lot. Online, I have an amazing relationship with these people that are silly enough to follow us and follow me. In this day and age especially, you can't make everybody happy — you just can't — and I know that has been a personal struggle for me throughout my life. And so this song is just basically saying that's okay if you can't make everybody happy. Make yourself happy, be you, and be proud that just by being yourself, you're gonna make a lot of people uncomfortable."

Recorded earlier this year at Nashville, Tennessee's Rock Falcon recording studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains, Rush), Vicious is available for pre-order now at all DSPs and streaming services. All pre-orders are joined by an instant download of “Uncomfortable”.

Deluxe album packages are available for pre-order exclusively at the band’s official webstore, including the new album on standard vinyl, plus a limited edition opaque purple double vinyl with enhanced cover art and bonus tracks, limited to 1,500 units worldwide. Also exclusively available at the webstore are a limited edition t-shirt, dog tag necklace, autographed poster, and a free album cover magnet with physical album purchase while supplies last.

Vicious tracklisting:

"Black Vultures"
"Skulls"
"Uncomfortable"
"Buzz"
"Do Not Disturb"
"Conflicted"
"Killing Ourselves To Live"
"Heart Of Novocaine"
"Painkiller"
"White Dress"
"Vicious"
"The Silence"

"Uncomfortable" video:

Halestorm spend July and August on the second leg of their milestone US tour showcasing all female-led hard rock bands. Other US highlights include a one-night-only event on August 9th supporting Joan Jett & The Blackhearts as well as a free concert on Las Vegas, NV’s Fremont Street (August 25th). As for UK dates, the band will perform at Ramblin' Man Fair on July 1st, before returning in September for a string of headline shows.

Find Halestorm's live itinerary here.