Daughtry and Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale recently joined forces for a cover of Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).” This isn’t just any cover, as the rendition really showcases the powerful vocals of Hale and Chris Daughtry.
While taking on a song that was originally sung by the golden-voiced Steve Perry is no easy task, Hale and Daughtry were up to the challenge. In fact, it’s a collaboration that was a long time in the making.
“I met Lizzy way back in 2008,” Daugthry told Heavy Consequence in the video above. “We were both working with [producer] Howard Benson, and I believe Lzzy was working on [Halestorm’s] first record, and we were working on our second. We were both at the studio and met at the Howard Benson barbecue, and then we met up again on tour, I believe with 3 Doors Down in 2013. We did some shows together, and I remember geeking out over Lzzy’s voice and begging her to consider working with me one day.”
“It’s awesome,” Hale said of the collaboration in the same video conversation above. “Daughtry is one of those guys, man, where we both lived similar lives, but it doesn’t matter how long time has gone by, we pick up right where we left off. It feels like we’ve been on parallel roads forever, and it’s amazing. We’ve wanted to do something together forever.”
She added, “When Chris cold called me and said, ‘Hey I’m doing this Journey tune,’ I was like, ‘That’s my go-to karaoke song! I’m in!’ It’s been a completely amazing ride with this song, because I feel like I said yes selfishly because I wanted to sing with you, Chris. And, it’s got legs, man! It took on a life of its own. So, I’m humbled to be a part of it.”
Daughtry continued, “I’m equally humbled to have you on the track with me. Like Lzzy said, we’ve threatened to work with each other a long time, and we got to dabble a little bit during the pandemic. We were doing an acoustic livestream, and we did a Halestorm song together, and we did a cover of ‘Man in the Box,’ and at the time, we were like, oh, let’s record ‘Man in the Box,’ and that kind of just went away.”
So, what led to the cover of “Separate Ways”?
“When me and the guys were talking about doing a cover, we wanted to do something classic, something from the ’80s and something that had the iconic synths,” the singer explained. “We had kicked around the idea of doing [Europe’s] ‘Final Countdown,’ and I was like, I don’t know how we’re really going to get rid of that cheese factor there. No matter what, I’m going to imagine myself in a karate montage!”
He concluded, “We put that on the backburner, and fast-forward a few months later, and we’re off tour, and I’m watching Stranger Things with my wife. ‘Separate Ways’ was chopped up in this epic scene, and the way they did it, I was like, this is the one.”
Since its release in January, the cover of “Separate Ways” has rocketed up the Mainstream Rock chart, where it currently sits in the Top 10. Recently, Hale joined Daughtry onstage to perform the song at a show in London.
Watch a clip from our interview with Lzzy Hale and Chris Daughtry above, and watch the video for their rendition of Journey’s “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” below.
Trouble viewing the interview in the player above? Watch on YouTube.
