Chris Daughtry and Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale are two of rock’s most powerful vocalists, and they recently joined forces for an ambitious cover of Journey’s “Separate Ways”.
When Heavy Consequence recently caught up with them to discuss the duet, the pair gushed about each other’s singing abilities.
“The only thing that I’ve ever been nerdy about in life is vocals, and Chris is just as nerdy,” Hale told Heavy Consequence in the video above. “Since the first song I ever heard him sing on the radio, he’s got an incredible voice, to the point that it’s different when somebody cares about their voice.”
She continued, “I’m not saying that not everyone cares, but there is an entire — probably the majority, especially with guys in this business — the majority of vocalists are just a little bit more nonchalant. They’re like, ‘Yes. I’m born with this, so I’m just going to take it as far as I can take it. I don’t know enough about it.’ So, the fact that Chris cares so much about how he sounds and his voice, it translates into his incredible range and the tone of his voice and his resonance. There is this passion that happens when you care about your voice. You can hear that in the song.”
Daughtry concurred, telling us, “I could literally say all the same things about Lzzy. I’ve always been, like she said, I’ve always been a nerd for vocalists. No matter whether it be pop or rock or R&B or whatever, I’ve always been drawn to the vocals. I’m always just blown away when people can do different things with their voice that I can’t or things that I wish I could do or things that I think I’m doing but when I hear them do it, they’re doing it way better, so they must be doing it right and I must be doing it wrong.”
The onetime American Idol contestant also recalled the first time he heard Lzzy sing, and being blown away. “I remember [producer] Howard Benson telling me, ‘You’ve got to hear this girl,’” Daughtry said. “You hear people say stuff like that all the time, and I remember hearing [early Halestorm single] ‘I Get Off,’ and I was like, ‘Holy shit!’ And he was like, ‘No. You don’t understand. She’s that loud in the vocal booth, outside the vocal both! She cuts through the walls with her voice.’ And we got to witness that when we toured together. I didn’t realize at the time what great a guitar player she was, as well.”
Watch Chris Daughtry and Lzzy Hale geek out over each other’s vocals in the video above, and catch both acts on tour this year. Daughtry will be playing both acoustic and electric shows through early October, with tickets available here. Halestorm will be on the road with Volbeat this summer, with tickets available here.
Trouble viewing the video above? Watch on YouTube.