Halestorm channel their inner Pink Floyd

Halestorm guitarist Joe Hottinger says he took inspiration from David Gilmour on their track Dear Daughter.

The song appears on the band’s third album Into The Wild Life which was released earlier this month – and Hottinger said he deliberately wanted to inject a little Pink Floyd into the music.

He tells Music Radar: “I got my ’57 Hardtail Custom Shop Reissue Strat out and tried to channel Gilmour without ripping him. I played a few licks and producer Jay Joyce said, ’Seriously, you’re going to play the Gilmour licks of all Gilmour licks?’

“Jay kicked my ass on guitar solos. He had me questioning my sanity. I’m not a shredder. I kinda know the blues scale and I build from there and have some fun places to go. But Jay would say, ‘Why are you playing like a shitty blues player here?’ He really made me work.”

Frontwoman Lzzy Hale says they wanted to highlight their various influences on the record but admits she’s a “sucker for cheesy love ballads” and says: “I have a whole arsenal of them that we’ve never put out.”

Hottinger adds: “We have a whole Rod Stewart-style album that we could put out one day: ‘Lzzy Loves You.’”

Halestorm, who made chart history last month when they became the first female-fronted band to have no.1 singles from consecutive albums, are currently on tour across North America. They’ll return to mainland Europe for a run of shows in August.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.