LZZY HALE

I didn't know that women go through a vocal change, which is called 'thickening'. Basically, it's like when your body gets ready for childbirth, and so it just grows in a weird way. When I figured that out, I was frustrated with it.

What people don't normally know about us is the hustle is very real, and it's sorely driven a lot by how we consider ourselves. We don't pay a whole lot of attention to any type of judgment that we might get from outside people. I think that comes from growing up onstage.

When you have a relationship with music, and it's that deeply a part of your life, it's so much more than a career choice for me. It's an extension of who I am.

One of the things that helps my vocal health immensely out on the road is stopping all my eating/drinking at least four hours before I go to bed. I actually set a timer after my last meal so I can't cheat. This is to prevent acid reflux when I lay down in my bunk at night.

I ended up starting guitar because I didn't want to just be the lead singer.

I love using lots of different pedals in the studio because you have the time to experiment with sounds. But when you're singing, fronting a rock band, and playing, you don't really want to have to think about a lot of that stuff.

I've been in the songwriting circuit as well. I've been in a couple writing camps where there are seven top writers or whatever, and they're writing songs for a young girl or a young guy that are coming up, and they're kind of nuts.

What I really realized is that by being myself, regardless of what that means, you become a better role model.

You can pick out the scariest dude on the tour and, guaranteed, he's probably a smush - I just find that so incredibly attractive.

Cinderella obviously got caught up in the hair metal scene, but they were such a blues band. And such a good live band.

It doesn't matter how you're dressed onstage or what you say in your songs: that doesn't give anybody the right to invade your personal space.

There's always an element of truth to what I write because that's why I write.

It's not like I have this philosophical answer as to why I love rock.

Over the years, it's funny: my guys will tell you and anyone that I have a problem not giving 100 percent. Because there are some nights where I probably shouldn't actually say everything or do everything I think I should do.

As musicians, we are quite literally singing for our supper. Don't get me wrong, I love touring, but the reality is that our idols from the '70s and '80s never toured this hard. They'd do a record, have one big world tour, maybe two, then break to do another record.

Not to get mushy, but I realized after talking to my parents what absolute guts they must have had to let their teenage daughter be in a rock band, play in bars, do all of that.

The good thing about most of the girls that I've met on the road is that, regardless of whether they're cute or not, man - they can bring it onstage, which is inspiring not just for young girls and young people in general but for myself because then it makes me want to step it up.

What I love about Zeppelin is that you can listen to their entire catalog and kind of see where they were at in the moment.

I've been talking a lot about how music chooses you because you can pinpoint when you had the epiphany that, 'Wow, I really want to do this.' But there's no real rhyme or reason about choosing to be in this industry. It's one of those things where there is no real guarantee; there is no real rulebook to follow.

There's a misconception that, as you have success with a band for a long time, things get easier, and that's not necessarily true. It's harder to keep connecting with that fire that got you started in the first place when you're amongst all the politics in the business, and just having a little bit of that looming pressure.

For me, this band and the music that I write and this touring thing that I do and playing in front of people, singing, and making a lot of noise on guitar - all that was more important than a lot of other things.

I remember that when people started listening to what I had to say, I had a choice to set up a veil, even if it meant being something that I'm not. Ultimately, that's not the decision I made. I owned more of everything I am, which was a little nerve-racking.

I have always been 'small town.' I was born outside of Philadelphia, so we lived on a 20-acre farm and then spent two years in a log cabin on the Appalachian Trail. We lived outside of York in Red Lion, which is an amazing town. It's perpetually 1982 in that town.

I can count on less than five fingers the things I can do well, so I'm just going to stick to those. It's crazy; it's literally all I've ever wanted to do in life is sing and play and get out there and rock.

I don't think I'll ever do a record that's just the same song over and over again because I'd like to think about it like it's an album and a snapshot of everything that makes you who you are and where you're at at that time in your life.