HALESTORM was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 55th annual Grammy Awards, which was held this past Sunday night (February 10) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. HALESTORM was nominated for the track "Love Bites (So Do I)" , from the band's 2012 album "The Strange Case Of…" The group was up against ANTHRAX, IRON MAIDEN, LAMB OF GOD, MARILYN MANSON and MEGADETH in the category.

Asked about how he feels about other artists griping about HALESTORM's victory, drummer Arejay Hale tells AOL's Noisecreep: "We're not offended by that stuff at all. We think people should be as honest as they want to be. Honestly, I thought LAMB OF GOD would've won. What's interesting is that they influenced the song we won for. We love LAMB OF GOD; in fact, all the other nominees are bands we grew up looking up to. There were such legendary artists in that category and maybe we're just the ones that got picked to would represent the new guard. But that's not our call."

He continued: "As far as people criticizing us, I learned a long time ago that you have to embrace the hater because it means that the bands get is getting bigger. Like NICKELBACK. I love them and I see people hate on them and all it says to me is that the have become massively huge, and what's wrong with that? So if people have to take the time to say something hateful or mean for whatever reason, it means the band is growing more and more and that more fans are finding out about us and that's a valuable thing. My sister [HALESTORM singer Lzzy Hale] and I have been doing this for 16 years and that's a long time. This was like a vindication, this Grammy, this was something that said to us, we did it. That's really important because this is all we know how to do. This is it. There is no backup plan."

SHADOWS FALL drummer Jason Bittner said in an online posting that HALESTORM winning a Grammy Award for "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" proves that "shit is rotten in the music business" and is more upsetting than METALLICA losing the nod in the same category to JETHRO TULL more than 20 years ago.