"Parents come up to me and instead of going, ‘Oh you’re not a good role model because you talk about sex’, they say the opposite!" How Halestorm's breakthrough anthem smashed some silly taboos in rock 'n' roll

Halestorm in 2009.

Lzzy Hale wants to clear the air. Backstage in Birmingham on her band’s first headline arena tour of the UK – an achievement 15 years in the making – she’s been animatedly discussing the band’s many accomplishments. Among them: Grammy nominations and wins, massive gigs with bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Slipknot, and bringing sex positivity back to metal long before Baddiecore was a stirring in the sheets. Then Hammer puts our foot in it by asking how a band who’d later make it big with songs like Love Bites (So Do I), Do Not Disturb and I Get Off fall under the “Christian rock” banner.

Lzzy gives us a ‘Really?’ look, shrugs and clarifies: “Halestorm were never a Christian rock band. We just got marketed that way for a while.”