KEY POINTS:
Storm Large - the tall, stroppy chick with the big voice from Rockstar Supernova - reckons she's old and crotchety.
She is a little on the mature side, in music industry terms anyway, since she turns 38 on June 25. Or, as she puts it, "nearly 40".
But
curled up on the couch in her suite at Auckland's Quay West hotel, wearing velvety pants that resemble trackies, a plain old sweater, bare feet, and only a hint of makeup, she still looks pretty good.
She's nothing like the sexpot Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee took a shine to during the show. But wait until you see her on stage, which you can do tonight at the Kings Arms.
Along with her band, the Balls, Storm is in New Zealand for an Auckland gig and another in Christchurch on Sunday.
On Rockstar she says her age was a blessing - "I thanked God I was 37 years old because I don't think I could've handled it in my early 20s."
Back then she was a drug addict. She says music helped her get clean - "I know that sounds strange because it's usually the other way around."
The Portland-based singer/songwriter might seem like a late bloomer but she's been doing music fulltime for more than 15 years. Storm and the Balls have been together for five years. She says they started as a "drunken punk rock cabaret joke".
Eventually they started writing originals, as well as covering punk and metal songs in a lounge music style and doing mash-ups of heavy metal songs with 70s songs, like Iron Butterfly with Abba.
However, it was Rockstar that raised her profile dramatically, and as a result she was inspired to record the album Ladylike (which will be released in two parts, the second coming out later this year).
She still doesn't know who entered her into the competition - all she knows is it was a fan. But once selected she decided to give it a go.
"I was curious to know what the band Supernova was going to sound like. I really wanted to win because I love Tommy Lee and I knew Jason Newsted from Metallica of course."
It wasn't to be. She made the top five and was eliminated on the second to last episode. But the show honed her professionalism and gave her more drive.
"I was under the impression that even though I'd been independent and making a decent living, I would never make it until I was [signed by a record label]. But now I've realised I don't really need that."
Storm is not scared to flaunt her sexuality. And her new single, also called Ladylike, is dirty. Not only does she pant and coo suggestive lines but she uses the F-word 24 times.
"I do have a potty mouth," she smiles. "It comes from being raised with my two big brothers and my dad, who was a Marine, a football coach, and a teacher," she smiles.
"So we had quite colourful language in my house growing up. But I was always very independent, burly, and physical growing up."
She was 1.8m tall - that's six foot - by the time she was 14. She was also lippy and strong-willed and says she was always told to be more like a lady.
"I was strong and I was always put down for being that way. And in this world where we're all supposed to be into equality and what-not, I was like, 'I can get up and move the furniture myself, thank you very much'. So that song is asking, 'What the [expletive] is ladylike?' and it swears a lot because it's me ranting because I'm over it," she laughs.
Where does the sexy Storm stop and the musical Storm take over? Well, the sex doesn't stop.
"When you get up on stage, whoever you are as a person innately becomes bigger, and I'm a sexual person, not in the cheesecake, hot, bustier, flouncy way, but in the sloppy, brawling, rocker way," she says. "The sex and the music is all part of my expression and it's all intertwined."
Performance
Who: Storm Large and the Balls
What: Rockstar Supernova star comes to town
Where & when: Kings Arms, tonight.
New album: Ladylike (Side One), out soon and available at the show.
