The 2013 edition of Revolver‘s annual Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock calendar — featuring Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless on its cover and exclusive pinups of 12 of the loveliest ladies in music — is available online. The calendar also packs plenty of hard-rock and heavy-metal trivia, including landmark album release dates, historic concerts, musician birthdays, and much more! Get yours now.

When we interviewed New Years Day frontwoman Ash Costello for the new Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock issue (She’s also featured in the forthcoming 2013 Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock calendar, by the way), we talked about a host of topics, from the band’s upcoming release, her life as a high schooler and her recent vocal cameos with Otherwise and Craig Mabbitt’s project, the Dead Rabbits.

Unfortunately, due to space constraints, we couldn’t include most of the interview. But that’s what the Internet is for! Read what she has to say below!

REVOLVER: Tell us about the new album you guys are working on. What does it sound like? What sort of the lyrical themes are you hitting this time?

ASH COSTELLO: We are recording it with the incredible Erik Ron, who is responsible for the music of a lot of my favorite bands. It’s starting to sound a lot more grownup. It’s matured but hasn’t lost all the dark and fun devil’s carnival elements that make us who we are. Its a lot heavier than anything we have ever done.

Lately I’m feeling more vengeful and aggressive than I have in my entire life, and the lyrics are reflecting that. I’ve been through a lot the past two years, and songwriting is my therapy for it, songwriting is my revenge. It’s the most honest — lyrically — that I’ve ever been. Listeners are truly going to see my vulnerable side and hear all of my secrets.

When do you hope to have it out?

We expect it out late this year or early next year.

Since last year, you’ve sung on songs by Otherwise and Craig Mabbitt’s project, the Dead Rabbits. How did those cameos come about, and what can you tell us about how they turned out?

Otherwise are our label-mates, and we heard they needed girl vocals for their track “Heaven.” It was my chance to show a prettier, softer side to my voice. I jumped at the chance, and we recorded at NRG studios, which was a rad experience for me. I was in the vocal room where Gavin Rossdale was earlier in the day. His handwriting was still on the monitor buttons. I’m such a studio geek, I love being around it.

I met Craig Mabbit back when we were touring with Warped Tour. He was always such a cool guy, always seemed very supportive and encouraging to me. Turns out, his project Dead Rabbitts was recording a few doors down from where we are recording our record. The track I sang on isn’t named yet. Seriously, I am so stoked for his new project. I don’t really like a lot of new bands very often, but I fell in love with Dead Rabbitts as soon as I heard it. The track I sang on is incredibly sexy, so I had to have him leave the room!

Since this is also our “back to school” issue, some school-related questions: How would you describe your school experience?

I hated school. I was not what you would have considered “cool” or “sexy.” I was a total dork. I was an Orange County ska kid. Guys did not want to date me. Guys wanted to be in bands with me, NOT kiss me. I barely even had my first kiss by the time I graduated. I stood out from everyone else at my school. I always had to stand out. I wore creepers, ripped tights, bondage pants and lots of spikes. I had Betty Page bangs. I mean, when I was in high school, this was NOT normal. Although, I was voted most creative and most likely to be a rock star.

What kind of student were you? A nerd, a troublemaker or somewhere in between?

I was such a trouble maker! I was always skipping school, but I had straight A’s. I had a problem with authority, so I was always mouthing off. But all my teachers still loved me. They would say, “Aw, Ashley, you’re so creative, but here’s your detention slip.”

What’s the worst trouble you got into while in school?

Well, actually, I used to draw comics of me killing the girls I didn’t like or who were mean to me in school. One of the girls featured in the comic stole my sketchbook and turned it into the principal, who the told my parents that I need counseling. I guess not much has changed.

Did you ever skip school due to hard rock or metal?

All the time! School was always second to music for me. I never spent time doing homework. I’d be printing and handing out fliers for my band at clubs when I should have been studying.

Did you ever have any run-ins with bullies?

I never got into any serious trouble. I was teased, but I handled it well. I was called a “witch” pretty often. I wore all black and usually had some sort of witchcraft book on me I always stood up for people being picked on, though.

Did music help you get through school? If so, how?

Music saved my life and is the only reason I survived being so different in school. I always knew I was different than everyone else, and music helped me identify with something. It made me feel like I belonged to something. That’s all I want to do now with my band’s music — help make people who are like me feel like they belong.

REVOLVER How did New Years Day form?
ASH COSTELLO New Years Day formed out of bad breakups. It was like this twist in fate in mine and my band members’ lives. We have all been friends since before we formed this band and, for some reason, all of us were going through a breakup with our boyfriends and girlfriends at the time. We were all crashing at our guitar player’s house, drowning our sorrows in junk food, wine, and TV when we all sat up and wrote a song called “Ready Aim Misfire.” The song was so good, we wrote another and another, and finally decided to just start a band with each other–which rocks ’cause it’s just an extra fun additive to us hanging out anyway.

How would you describe your music?
This is always a tough question to answer, but I’d say if My Chemical Romance and Paramore had a baby from hell on Halloween and made Rob Zombie the Godfather and Elvira the Godmother, then that would sound like us. We are upbeat rock but it’s still very dark sounding. It’s dark rock yet it’s catchy and fun. I learned that from the greats: I’m very inspired by Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson. I always say it sounds like you just rode the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland that ended in a rock concert.

What is your goal with the band?
My goal is to have the ability to play music for a living for the rest of my life. I don’t need a ton of money, cars, jewelry or a huge house and other crazy expensive things to feel like I reached my goal. I just want to know that for the rest of my life, I don’t have to wake up hating my day, everyday, because I work a terrible job that I have no passion for. That’s my selfish reason! My other reason is to touch someone’s life. When a fan writes to me saying we saved them from suicide or helped them through a bad breakup or helped them be proud of who they are or helped them chase their dreams, then I’ve really achieved something of value. Oh yeah! My last goal: revenge!

Tell us about the band’s new album, The Mechanical Heart.
I am so proud of it. It’s our second official album out, and we only have two, but it’s my favorite. So much heart went into it for me, personally. It’s the most honest lyrics I’ve ever written and the most fun I’ve had recording. It’s much darker and heavier than our first record, My Dear, and I could not be happier with it. From start to finish, it’s about a girl and a guy falling in love, and the love being so strong and powerful that it destroys them both, and in order to not feel the pain, they replace their human hearts with mechanical ones. We filmed the first music video for the album for the song “Two in the Chest, One in the Head” and I actually get to rip a guys heart out of his chest–it was so bloody!

You’re known as a “horror-movie queen”? How come? What are some of your favorite horror movies?
I think the biggest reason is because I actually get paid to scare people. Besides the band, I work as a “monster” at a horror-themed park every year. It’s a big, big event in Southern California and Im a vampire that gets to run around making people scream all night for the entire month of October! So it’s just my repuation, I guess. It wasn’t something I tried to do really. You know, I have fans that follow me on Facebook and Twitter and I’m always posting gory horror-movie stuff. The content of my songs and my lyrics, I’m sure have a lot to do with it, and the way I act and look onstage, I tend to be covered in fake blood half the time. My hair is raven black and pumpkin orange! I’m always some sort of death victim or zombie in friend’s music videos–I was just a zombie in a new Winds of Plague video. I am a huge horror-movie fan. My all time favorite is Texas Chainsaw Massacre! The fact that it’s based on a true story and is horrifying to watch because it was filmed in the ’70s and is so gritty and unprofessional you feel like youre there. Another fave is by one of my heroes, Rob Zombie, which is House of 1000 Corpses. It’s such a messed-up movie but it’s so funny and so colorful, I kind of feel like it’s like my band in that way. And my new favorite is Hobo with a Shotgun–sooo beyond ridiculously bloody and so fun to watch!

You guys were on this summer’s Warped Tour. What was the craziest thing that happened?
The craziest moment that comes to mind was in Florida. We were playing our acoustic set in one of the larger tents, and it was a cloudy day but nothing unusual. As we are hitting the bridge to one of our songs called “My Dear,” I notice a huge cloud that looks as though it’s touching the ground and very thick, like, dust rolling towards us from the distance. Twenty seconds later, the row of merch tents I’m looking down is starting to get picked up and thrown by the wind, one by one, and moving closer! Then the tent we were in started to get picked up. It was one of the heavier bigger ones so you could tell the wind was trying hard, picking it up about three feet, then slamming it down. I ran and hid with our merch girl under a semi-truck with some fans while the boys in the bands were literally dangling from the metal poles of this tent trying to keep it down! I’ve seen quite a few crazy storms and tornado warnings on Warped Tour! Never a dull moment.

Who are your biggest musical heroes and why?
My biggest heroes are the musicians that never gave up on their dreams even when people said they were too different to fit in anywhere, never took no for an answer, and kept believing in what they were doing no matter what. I look up to Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper. Rob Zombie. Freddy Mercury. All eccentric artists that found their place in this world despite being so different and dark. I also look up to Gwen Stefani and Joan Jett–the two reasons I wanted to sing in bands when I was little.

What are your favorite hard-rock and metal albums and why?
Queen, A Night at the Opera, is one of the best records of all time. It changed my life. I brought it to Third Grade show-and-tell and, of course, no one else understood it. Avenged Sevenfold, City of Evil: The first time I heard it I didn’t stop listening to it for months. Listening to it was like watching a movie full of plot twists. Rob Zombie, Past, Present and Future, because it has all the greats! Marilyn Manson, Eat Me, Drink Me, is my favorite by him, love every song on that record. Mutter by Rammstein because that record and band scare me and I love it! I love blasting the heavy guitars in my car stereo and I have a crush on Till Lindemann.

What is the sexiest hard-rock or metal song and why?
It’s a tie. “If I was Your Vampire” by Marilyn Manson and “Too Afraid to Love You” by the Black Keys–both of these songs just makes me want to shut off the lights and make out with someone immediately.

The issue also features stories on:
• Disturbed
• The Devil Wears Prada
• Staind
• Anthrax
• Black Veil Brides
• Mastodon
• Alice Cooper
• Machine Head
• Sebastian Bach
• Falling in Reverse
• and much, much more!!!

Also available online for pre-order is the 2012 edition of Revolver‘s Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock calendar, featuring Lzzy Hale on its cover and exclusive pinups of 12 of the loveliest ladies in music, including an alternate shot of Hale. Preview the calendar right here. It also packs plenty of hard-rock and metal trivia, including landmark album release dates, historic concerts, musician birthdays, and much more! Get yours now.