The Steeple

Album: Back From The Dead (2022)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Halestorm vocalist Lzzy Hale's religious beliefs center on her salvation lying in her own hands. On the Back From The Dead track "My Redemption," she sings:

    Don't need saving to save myself
    Don't need forgiveness to bless my guilt
    Lost my faith and found belief
    In my redemption, I'm my own redemption


    Here, Hale likens a rock concert to a religious experience in a church service. She explained in a track by track video: "The Steeple is written really to recreate that sanctuary, that communion, that community, that celebration you feel every time you go to a live show. I'm just trying to pick the physical feeling of that cloud being lifted as soon as your favorite song starts. As soon as you walk into that arena, as soon as you get right up into the front row and you're watching your favorite band, you can just let everything else in the world go."
  • Halestorm released "The Steeple" as the second single from Back From The Dead on February 4, 2022. The album evolved from songwriting exercises into a matter of survival for the band once the pandemic struck. "We started writing this album about three months BC. (Before COVID)," said Lzzy Hale. "Once we went into lockdown and were unable to perform and tour, I fell into a dark place and something of an identity crisis. This album is the story of me carving myself out of that abyss. It is a journey of navigating mental health, debauchery, survival, redemption, rediscovery, and still maintaining faith in humanity."
  • As well as a celebration of the live concert, "The Steeple" is also a song of survival. "It's about how we use the music, the arts or whatever it is you've got to do to get back to that place, that happy place," said Lzzy Hale.
  • Lzzy Hale wrote "The Steeple" with Scott Stevens (Shinedown, Daughtry, New Years Day). Stevens co-produced the track with Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Mastodon, Alice in Chains).

    Stevens has worked with Hale since Halestorm's 2012 The Strange Case Of... album. For "The Steeple," the songwriter recalled to Billboard, Hale told him she wanted a song for the moment when she has her audience in the palm of her hands: He responded, "Oh, you want a church of rock and roll anthem.'"
  • "The Steeple" became Halestorm's sixth #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart when it climbed to the summit of the June 4, 2022-dated survey. The band's previous five chart-toppers were "Freak Like Me," "Apocalyptic," "Amen," "Uncomfortable," and "Back From The Dead."
  • It stopped raining in my head today
    I finally feel like myself again


    There are moments where Lzzy Hale watches a friend play at a local rock show, and she physically feels that rain cloud being lifted. "Which is why there's that first line, 'It stopped raining in my head today,'" she told Billboard. "I'm back, and I'm here with all of my people."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.

Dwight Twilley

Dwight TwilleySongwriter Interviews

Since his debut single "I'm On Fire" in 1975, Dwight has been providing Spinal-Tap moments and misadventure.

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions Answered

Why Does Everybody Hate Nu-Metal? Your Metal Questions AnsweredSong Writing

10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces

Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe ShaverSongwriter Interviews

The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."