Arejay Hale, drummer and resident wild child of the hard rock group Halestorm, first realized his hunger for the drums at the ripe age of three. “My parents bought my sister a little toy drum kit for her birthday, and I would sneak in to her room to play it when she wasn't around,” he laughs. “After being caught bashing the hell out of the poor defenseless set of drums several times, my parents and sister eventually just gave it to me, and I haven't stopped since!” A few years later, Arejay and his sister Lzzy started Halestorm, he was only 10 years old. “The biggest challenge we faced growing up was giving up a normal life to commit to making music full time. We didn't have all the luxuries that other kids had. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, and any money our parents made went back into buying guitars, drums, amps, PA speakers, lights and yes...even pyro,” says Arejay.
Having recently released their second album, The Strange Case Of…, Arejay and his band mates have come a long way since their days of basement rehearsals and homemade pyrotechnics. The band has been praised by Billboard for their “chugging riffs, wailing solos, drums that kick like a boot to the gut, and never-out-of-style soft/loud dynamics that lead to massive choruses.” The album is shaping up as the group’s biggest release yet, debuting at #1 on Billboard’s “Hard Rock Albums” chart, while also making a top 15 entry onto the overall Billboard 200. It features the single “Love Bites (So Do I)” which reached #1 at Active Rock radio outlets nationwide, marking the first ever female-fronted group to top the format’s airplay ranking.
Halestorm has also made an array of national television appearances including NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The group has had their music featured on Fox’s hit series, Glee, and the band has been featured in Revolver, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, who profiled Arejay. True road warriors, Halestorm have established themselves as a major league hard rock outfit via countless North American gigs alongside such artists as Shinedown, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine, and Disturbed.
