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Billboard Hot 100 hits and Coachella sets were never part of BigXthaPlug’s plans for himself. Growing up in Dallas, the 26-year-old with the deep, bellowing voice had gridiron dreams of playing in the NFL — and even at his Billboard photo shoot, he throws a football around and speaks of his success in the game’s terms.
BigX compares his industry journey to that of former quarterback Cam Newton, who starred at a junior college before becoming a Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn University and, eventually, an NFL MVP. “I basically just pulled a Cam Newton,” he states. “Instead of going through all the steps, I just went crazy at that [junior college] and could’ve damn near went to the league.”
Raymond Alva
This digital cover story is part of Billboard’s Genre Now package, highlighting the artists pushing their musical genres forward — and even creating their own new ones.
To rap fans, BigX’s story — his path from drug dealer to artist — isn’t foreign. “Pops” — the 6-foot-7 man with a massive frame just like BigX’s, who’s with his son in Los Angeles today — “had a trap house, and in the middle of that spot was a round wooden table and a mic,” BigX recalls of his first time in front of a microphone. “[Pops] was like, ‘Y’all n—s can’t rap. My son got more than y’all got.’ I was scoring on ’em, and I guess it was sounding good. He was like, ‘You good. You need to rap for real.’ ”
Four years ago, BigX signed with UnitedMasters, which he still calls the “best thing I could’ve did.” He credits his first manager — an uncle who essentially ran off after BigX paid him $20,000 upfront — for steering him toward maintaining his independence with the distributor.
BigX has stood out among hip-hop’s melodic-leaning mainstream with his soulful production and booming chopped-and-screwed flows that have drawn comparisons to The Notorious B.I.G. — and the past 12 months have been particularly crucial in his ascent. He earned his first Hot 100 entry in December 2023 when the groovy “Mmhmm” reached No. 63. In October, he opened up about his insecurities, pain and triumphs on his second album, Take Care, which reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200.
“I feel like for the past decade it’s been a lot of mumble rap. People not talking about nothing,” he says. “I’m talking about something. A lot of the older people who love music, that’s what they grew up on — actual substance. Here’s this young dude that sound old, but he on these young-old beats. I literally mixed everything up so everybody could love it.”
BigXthaPlug photographed December 4, 2024 at Electric Pony Studios in Los Angeles.
Raymond Alva
Raymond Alva
BigX’s in-house producer, Tony Coles, adds, “He has this sort of Martin Luther King Jr. element to him where it’s [a] preacher almost and his voice is very powerful, and you got the badass production behind it.”
Next up, BigX — who Shaboozey tapped for a feature on his 2024 album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going — will connect with his Texas roots for a country mixtape slated to arrive in 2025 and feature a star-studded guest lineup including Jelly Roll, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Post Malone. “Post Malone, Luke Combs, all those guys,” BigX says. “They claim I’m their favorite rapper.”
This story appears in the Jan. 11, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Jackie Farry, a music industry veteran who served as tour manager for Elliot Smith and the Lemonheads in the 1990s and who was Frances Bean Cobain’s first nanny, died on Sunday (Jan. 12) of complications from lung disease. Farry’s death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by longtime friend manager/producer Janet Billig Rich.
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Farry’s career began in the 1980s when she served as a receptionist at Homestead Records, a beloved New York indie label whose roster included such beloved acts as Antietam, Babe the Blue Ox, The Meatmen, Tsunami, Volcano Suns and others. She moved on to gigs at Atlantic Records (1988-1989), Epic Records (1991-1992), where she worked in radio promotion, often with hard rock and metal bands.
She pivoted to working with Nirvana during the band’s heyday, serving as nanny to singer Kurt Cobain and wife Courtney Love’s daughter, Frances Bean, until Cobain’s death in 1994. After working with a number of metal bands early in her career, she also hosted the short-lived MTV series Superock, which launched in 1995 as a replacement for the former video music channel’s beloved Headbangers Ball series.
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Later in the decade, Farry was a tour manager for a number of indie rock acts, including Stereolab, the Lemonheads, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Quasi and others.
According to THR, Farry was born Jacquelyn Beth Farry in New York and raised in the controversial Synanon community, which was initially established as drug rehab program before growing into a cult in which leaders allegedly controlled members using confrontational “attack therapy.”
“Jackie carried with her an incredible trove of memories and songs from those formative years,” Billig told THR. “Jackie’s love for music was matched only by her sharp wit, humor, and magnetic personality. She was a beacon for friends and strangers alike, drawing people in with her infectious energy. Jackie Farry’s legacy is one of love, laughter and an indomitable spirit. She will be deeply missed — her unforgettable stories, her humor and her impact on those who knew her will live on forever.”
Farry was diagnosed with cancer in 2003, with her many friends standing by her and organizing a series of “f–k cancer” benefit shows featuring bands including the Breeders, TV on the Radio and Guided By Voices. In honor of her longtime support of pit bull rescue, donations in Farry’s honor can be made to her charity of choice, LovePaws.
As the devastating California wildfires continue to rage across the Los Angeles area, Primus singer/bassist Les Claypool took to Instagram over the weekend to reveal that the band’s guitarist, Ler LaLonde, had lost his home.
“All that is left of our good friend Larry ‘Ler’ LaLonde’s home,” Claypool wrote of the band’s longtime guitarist alongside a photo of a house reduced to ash, with just the remnants of a brick fireplace still standing. “When Mother Nature gets up on her hind legs, it can be brutal,” Claypool added. “My heart hurts for him and his family.”
The post included supportive responses from a number of fellow musicians, including former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, who wrote, “Dang. Ler did not deserve this,” with singer Carina Round adding, “Oh my. So much love to them.”
LaLonde’s wife, Shane Stirling LaLonde, posted a series of pictures and videos of the fires that ravaged the family’s home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which has been almost completely destroyed by the Palisades fire, which is still raging. “Our home is gone, and so are the homes of every one of our friends and neighbors. I am still in shock, not quite sure what just happened. The first photo is the video confirmation we received that our home was lost. Ours is the second property with the tree still with oranges in the front yard but nothing else,” she wrote alongside a video of the destruction.
“We lost everything. It doesn’t sink in easily that you have nothing…. It’s still sinking in minute by minute. I know we are safe and yes I am grateful, but I can’t even begin to be close to grace yet as I can’t even comprehend this yet,” she added. “Not just the things, but our town, our community. We all no longer have a home, a neighborhood, a school,a community. I am gutted to the core.”
LaLonde is among the thousands of Angelenos who’ve lost everything during weeklong spate of out-of-control fires that have been fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, burning more than 38,000 acres so far (roughly 60 square miles) and destroying more than 12,000 homes and buildings. In addition, 24 people are confirmed dead and nearly 200,00 have been displaced to date, according to CNN.
A number of musicians and entertainment industry folks have spoken about the loss of their homes — including Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, Jhené Aiko, Paris Hilton, songwriter Diane Warren, Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, The Hills stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag and many more — while others are stepping up to offer help.
On Monday (Jan. 13), Beyonce’s BeyGOOD foundation announced a $2.5 million donation to the L.A. Fire Relief Fund to assist families in need, while Regional Mexican stars Fuerza Regida are renting out hotel rooms for displaced families. Hilton — whose Malibu home burned down live on TV — launched an emergency fund through her 11:11 Media Impact nonprofit to support families who’ve lost homes.
In addition, MusiCares and the Recording Academy launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to support music professionals impacted by the crisis, with a combined pledge of $1 million to launch the effort. Anyone who has worked in the music industry for more than five years may qualify for immediate assistance, including up to $1,500 in financial aid and $500 in food vouchers.
For health alerts, evacuation updates and additional shelter information as the wildfire battle continues, go to L.A. County’s emergency website here. A number of organizations, listed here, are also offering help to those impacted by the wildfires, which began last Tuesday. Musicians and music industry professionals who are affected can get more details about assistance here.
Bad Bunny’s new album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, opens at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums chart (dated Jan. 18), with the largest streaming week for a Latin title in over a year.
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Also in the top 10 of the latest Top Streaming Albums chart, Lil Baby’s WHAM debuts at No. 3, while last week’s leader, SZA’s SOS, falls to No. 2.
Bad Bunny’s album was released on an off-cycle Sunday (Jan. 5), and, thus, it arrives on the chart with only five days of activity (as the chart’s tracking week runs Friday through Thursday every week). The album’s release date was announced on Dec. 25. The new Top Streaming Albums chart captures the tracking frame of Jan. 3-9.
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WHAM’s Friday, Jan. 3 release was announced by Lil Baby in late December.
The 50-position Top Streaming Albums chart ranks the most-streamed albums of the week in the U.S., as compiled by Luminate. Titles are ranked by streaming equivalent album (SEA) units, where each SEA unit equals 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. If an artist has multiple albums containing the same song, SEA units for that song are generally assigned to whichever album sells the most by traditional album sales in a given week. The new Jan. 18, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Jan. 7. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS launches at No. 1 with 113,500 SEA units earned in the week ending Jan. 9 in the U.S., according to Luminate. That sum equates to 152.16 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 17 songs – the largest streaming week for a Latin album in over a year. The last Latin set with a bigger streaming week was Bad Bunny’s previous release, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana, when it launched at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums with 239.56 million on-demand official streams for its songs (Oct. 28, 2023-dated chart).
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS was preceded by a pair of entries from the album on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart: “EL CLúB” and “PIToRRO DE COCO.”
SZA’s SOS falls from No. 1 to No. 2 on Top Streaming Albums with 110,000 SEA units (down 12%, equaling 146.88 million on-demand official streams of its collected songs – across its standard and its SOS Deluxe: LANA editions). Meanwhile, Lil Baby’s WHAM arrives at No. 3 with 90,000 SEA units (equaling 119.77 million on-demand official streams of the 15 songs on the streaming edition of the album available during its first week).
Rounding out the rest of the top five on Top Streaming Albums, Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX dips 2-4 (down 4%) and Sabrina Carpenter’s former No. 1 Short n’ Sweet moves 3-5 (down 6%).
Beyoncé‘s BeyGOOD Foundation has pledged $2.5 million to assist families in recovery from the devastating California wildfires. In an Instagram post on Sunday night (Jan. 12), the foundation announced the pledge to the L.A. Fire Relief Fund aimed at helping impacted Los Angelenos in the midst of one of the most destructive wildfires in the state’s history.
“The fund is earmarked to aid families in the Altadena/Pasadena area who lost their homes, and to churches and community centers to address the immediate needs of those affected by the wildfires,” read the post, which encouraged followers to show their support for the impacted families by visiting the organization’s website.
The out-of-control fires that have been whipped up by near-hurricane force Santa Ana winds over the past week, scorching more than 38,000 acres so far (roughly 60 square miles) and destroying more than 12,000 homes and buildings while displacing nearly 200,000 and killing 24 to date, according to CNN. Experts expect the death toll to rise as firefighters and investigators move into burned areas. The New York Times reported that the Eaton Fire has damaged or destroyed more than 6,500 buildings in Altadena/Pasadena, with entire neighborhoods completely wiped out by the fires that are expected to spread further this week as winds pick up again in area that has gotten only a fraction of an inch of rain in the past six months.
BeyGOOD is among the many organizations that have stepped up to help with immediate needs, joining the Walt Disney Company, which pledged $15 million to relief and rebuilding efforts, along with the Warner Music and Blavatnik Foundation’s $1 million pledge. Live Nation also announced that it is planning a FireAid benefit concert at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Jan. 30 to raise funds for relief.
A number of musicians and entertainment industry figures have spoken about the loss of their homes — including Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, Jhené Aiko, Paris Hilton, songwriter Diane Warren, The Hills stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag and many more — even as others step up to offer help.
Regional Mexican stars Fuerza Regida are renting out hotel rooms for displaced families and Hilton — whose Malibu home burned down live on TV — has launched an emergency fund through her 11:11 Media Impact nonprofit to support families who’ve lost homes. In addition, MusiCares and the Recording Academy have launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to support music professionals impacted by the crisis, making a combined pledge of $1 million to launch the effort. Anyone who has worked in the music industry for more than five years may qualify for immediate assistance, including up to $1,500 in financial aid and $500 in food vouchers.
For health alerts, evacuation updates and additional shelter information as the wildfire battle continues, go to L.A. County’s emergency website here.
A number of organizations, listed here, are also offering help to those impacted by the wildfires, which began last Tuesday. Musicians and music industry professionals who are affected can get more details about assistance here.
See the BeyGOOD post below.
01/13/2025
There’s plenty of prospects to get excited about this year.
01/13/2025
Heidi Montag’s 2010 album Superficial has achieved an unexpected resurgence, surging to No. 1 on iTunes following a social media push by her husband, Spencer Pratt.
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The couple, who first found fame on the mid-2000s reality series The Hills, lost their home in the Pacific Palisades wildfire. Amid the tragedy, the pair turned to social media to share their journey and encourage fans to stream Montag’s music as a way to help them rebuild.
“Anyone that hasn’t gone to iTunes, just do it now. Let’s go to No. 1,” Pratt said last week on TikTok. “We’ll get the screenshot, she’ll be a famous pop star for when her kids are grown up. She’ll be in the history books,” Pratt said prior to Montag’s album surging to No. 1 on iTunes.
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“They won’t know it’s because our house burned down, and we have no possessions and people are just trying to support us. They’ll just be like, ‘Wow! My mom was a pop superstar that was No. 1 on the charts.’”
The campaign gained traction quickly, with support from fans and fellow celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Flavor Flav, who posted a TikTok of himself dancing to Montag’s track with the caption, “Doing my part to get Heidi to No. 1.”
Later, Pratt jubilantly shared on social media amid the news his wife’s album had surpassed Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos on iTunes. “Popstar Heidi Montag No. 1 on iTunes America! Thank you everyone! Who needs a house, who needs clothes, who needs anything but this level of clout, pop, superstardom? Our sons are gonna be like, ‘My mom was No. 1 on iTunes America.’ Thank you to everyone who made this happen.”
Pratt, who recently reached over one million followers on TikTok while sharing candid updates about the destruction of their home, has now set his sights on the Billboard charts.
“So I was just informed that for Heidi to get No. 1 on Billboard, we need all do it or Superficial to be on the radio. So anybody that has a radio station, you know, a radio station on social media you can tag, please ask them for the next week to play ‘I’ll Do It’ or Superficial from Heidi’s album,” Pratt said in one of his updates.
“We need radio play, I guess not just iTunes, to get No. 1 on Billboard charts, which is the ultimate goal, cause then it’s like, that’s a wrap. Heidi is the biggest superstar in the world, you know, obviously not Taylor Swift, but it’s like Taylor Swift, Heidi Montag.”
He joked about enlisting the help of Taylor Swift’s fanbase, saying, “I need all the Swifties back up. I mean, I really do need Taylor, you know, I think I’m gonna have to, you know, get out the bat phone and put the Swiftie light in the sky. Like, we need some Taylor Swift support here.”
In one candid update on TikTok, Pratt also spoke of the gravity of his family’s tragic loss in the Los Angeles wildfires which has seen the death toll rise to 24 as of Jan. 13. “Let’s be clear. If I seem like the most unhinged, crashing out person on this whole app, I am. Let’s just get that frickin’ clear. I have lost my mind,” he said.
“I am keeping it together here, ’cause I have two kids and I wanna frickin’ have them go to college and have a frickin’ life, okay? So this is crashing out at its finest, OK?”
In an earlier video after the family witnessed their home burn down in real-time via a security camera, Pratt said on TikTok, “I have been ‘faking it till you make it’ since 2007. Guess what? Faking it till you make it, doesn’t make it. Especially when everything burns down.”
Despite their situation, Pratt remains laser-focused on turning the iTunes success into Billboard charting glory, using every platform to rally supporters. “But yes, radio play, ‘I’ll Do It’ or ‘Superficial,’ those are the two that are charting. Please, please, please, anybody that knows any radio people, or message your radio station or call your radio station. Let’s make this happen!” he told his TikTok followers.
“We’ve got one week before this Billboard chart drops.”
Halsey‘s path to chart-topping success began in the most unexpected of places: the New Jersey hardcore scene.
In a recently surfaced TikTok video, the Grammy-nominated artist, whose real name is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, reflected on her early days organizing shows for hardcore and metal bands.
“I used to promote hardcore shows in Jersey before I started making music,” Halsey in the clip during a meet-and-greet event at Ulta for her About-Face beauty line. “I did a lot of hardcore but then also some of the more commercial hardcore. The biggest show I ever booked, I was 16, was like August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada.”
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Halsey also shared that her senior yearbook quote was inspired by the hardcore band Defeater, adding, “I’ve said before that I might have quoted Hundredth, too, so who knows.”
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The singer’s roots in hardcore may seem worlds away from her current pop dominance, but certainly add context to the genre-blending ethos that has defined her career. Her 2015 debut album, Badlands, entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2, a position she has since matched with Manic in 2020 and If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power in 2021. Halsey earned her first solo Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 with the 2018 smash hit “Without Me,” while her latest album, The Great Impersonator (2024), debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts, selling 93,000 equivalent album units in its first week, including 81,000 in traditional album sales, according to Luminate.
The Great Impersonator marked her third leader on the latter following If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power (2021) and Badlands (2015). It also entered Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 2, driven by strong vinyl sales, which accounted for 26,000 of the total.
The album features tracks like “Panic Attack” and “Ego,” which debuted on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart at No. 25 and No. 30, respectively. “Ego” made notable progress on radio, peaking at No. 25 on Adult Pop Airplay and reaching No. 28 on Pop Airplay.
Halsey’s foray into rock and metal began long before her chart-topping success. Her 2021 album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, featured collaborations with rock icons like Dave Grohl and Lindsey Buckingham. With The Great Impersonator, Halsey continued her rock-inspired exploration, even recreating iconic looks of artists like David Bowie, Cher, and Bruce Springsteen in the lead-up to the album’s October 2024 release.
After almost 16 years spent as The Weeknd, Abel Tesfaye says he is considering retiring his famous musical moniker after his upcoming projects.
Tesfaye spoke at length about his experiences with music in recent years as part of a new cover story with Variety, which coincides with the release of his new album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, on Jan. 24. While discussing the journey that led to this new record, Tesfaye looked back to an infamous show at California’s SoFi Stadium in Sept. 2022. Just four songs in, Tesfaye’s failing voice necessitated the cancelation of the gig’s remainder.
As he explains though, a trip to his doctor resulted in nothing out of the ordinary. “And that’s when we came to the realization that it was all up here,” he told the publication while pointing at his head.
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It was the combination of factors – ranging from the myriad items on his already-packed schedule to the mental exhaustion – that has since weighed heavily on Tesfaye as he strides toward the release of Hurry Up Tomorrow. Promoted with billboards that teased an impending end, and social posts that indicated his story would conclude with this final ‘chapter’, Variety pushed Tesfaye about what his repeated references “closing this chapter” relate to. “I would say my existence as the Weeknd,” he explains.
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“It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he continues. “You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all. It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.”
“Part of me actually was thinking, ‘You lost your voice because it’s done; you said what you had to say. Don’t overstay at the party — you can end it now and live a happy life’,” he adds, looking back at his canceled 2022 show. “Put the bow on it: ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’? Now we’re here. When is the right time to leave, if not at your peak? Once you understand who I am too much, then it’s time to pivot.”
As Tesfaye asserts, though the closing of this chapter may see The Weeknd as fans know it coming to an end, it won’t be the end of music that he makes.
“I don’t think I can stop doing that,” he says. “But everything needs to feel like a challenge. And for me right now, the Weeknd, whatever that is, it’s been mastered. No one’s gonna do the Weeknd better than me, and I’m not gonna do it better than what it is right now. I think I’ve overcome every challenge as this persona, and that’s why I’m really excited about this film, because I love this challenge.
“But I just want to know what comes after,” he adds. “I want to know what tomorrow looks like.”
Tesfaye is scheduled to release his sixth studio album as The Weeknd, Hurry Up Tomorrow, on Jan. 24. On May 16, his film of the same name will be released via Lionsgate. Directed by Trey Edward Shults (Waves, It Comes At Night), the film will mark Tesfaye’s feature-starring debut, and serves as something of an extension of the forthcoming album.
The Beastie Boys may have asserted there was “No Sleep till Brooklyn”, but a recent admission from Halestorm‘s Lzzy Hale has indicated this may extend to Tool concerts in Pennsylvania, too.
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Speaking to Guitar Player magazine recently, Hale opened up about ten records that changed her life, specifically focusing on the impact of albums by artists such as Black Sabbath, Jeff Buckley, Alice Cooper, and even Hanson.
Another artist that she focused on was Tool, whose 2001 album Lateralus came about four years into the life of Halestorm, which she had co-founded with her brother Arejay. The record was a major success for the metal outfit, giving them their first of three consecutive appearances atop the Billboard 200, and resulting in the Grammy for Best Metal Performance for lead single “Schism”.
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For Hale, however, the record represents something of a humorous memory which can be traced back to Tool’s performance in Philadelphia in September 2001.
“My little bro Arejay was getting really good on the drums,” Hale told the publication. “He had learned Tool’s song ‘Schism’ from the radio, so I thought that I should get him the whole album for his birthday. We just devoured it. I ended up getting really into it myself. Listening to their music was just like watching a horror film.
“I had a shitty waitress job, and I got us tickets to see Tool at Hersheypark. I was so stoked. Then Arejay did something to piss off our parents, so they wouldn’t allow him to go. I thought, Okay, this could be an opportunity to ask somebody out on a date, which I did. I asked this guy Nate, and he said yes. I was like, Sweet! We didn’t have great seats, but it didn’t matter — the show was amazing. I was singing every word. Halfway through, I looked at my date and saw that he had fallen asleep — total deal-breaker for me. So in a weird way, Tool’s Lateralus was a life-changer. My brother still teases me about it: ‘I wouldn’t have fallen asleep.’”
Though Halestorm haven’t yet managed to score a support slot for the likes of Tool, the two bands have however performed on the same lineup from time to time, no doubt inspiring plenty of sly jokes between the Hale siblings.