Amy Lee Loves to Sing Her Own Songs at Karaoke

Amy Lee became sublime the moment she stepped barefoot out of a window, to precariously scale a tall building as the wind howled. The “Bring Me to Life” video all leads to her, a figure somehow both Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas and goth Ophelia in a nightgown, slipping from the ledge because a man has thrown open a window. Holding on by her fingertips, she hangs there, as he steps out in baggy jeans and not one but two thick chain and padlock necklaces, and delivers the most iconic rock-rap since Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix told us he’d reached his last resort in 2000.

Evanescence is the band everyone in their 20s and 30s remembers for their 2003 debut album, Fallen—the cover was a close-up shot of Lee’s face in electric blue and black. It reached number one in the UK album charts and has sold millions of copies worldwide. Since all their songs are essentially the Swedish songwriter Max Martin pop bangers with disgusting nu-metal riffs, they appealed to every punk kid with access to MTV. While they might have only kept the rock following—I still listen to Evanescence and love doing the previously mentioned man rap at karaoke—after nu-metal and emo fell out of fashion, their later albums have been just as haunting.

Ahead of their double headline show in London recently (which featured Lee wearing a cape of feathers and playing a grand piano), I drank as much of the free coffee as I could, waiting for her at her label’s office and then got jittery when she floated in wearing a huge dress, wearing the same electric blue and black as the Fallen cover.

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Upcoming ‘Synthesis’ Album Is ‘A Beautiful Project’

Amy Lee spoke to Graspop.be about the band’s forthcoming album, “Synthesis”, which will reimagine some of the band’s past catalog with full orchestration and electronic backing.

“It’s different in a way that it’s still coming from the roots of what EVANESCENCE was conceived to be,” Amy explained. “It’s really a beautiful project. A lot of our old songs are getting a whole new life in a way where we’re getting to experience the focus being this beautiful, full orchestra. It’s also a lot of electronic, cool elements — parts that have always been part of our music. It hasn’t been full orchestra before — it’s just been mainly strings — but just taking it to very beautiful, classical and epic and groovy place. Oh, it feels so good. There’s some new stuff on it too, but it’s mostly old stuff [reimagined].”

Lee also talked in more detail about the making of “Synthesis”, explaining: “As far as the conception, basically, you work in demo land first and just create the arrangements of songs. I went through all the master sessions of, say, ‘Bring Me To Life’, and [I would] pull out all the stuff and listen to it and then chop it up and decide, ‘Oh, maybe this part needs to be longer. Maybe this part at the beginning will be just strings and piano.’ Just figure out what you’re gonna do and build a map. And working with David Campbell, who has done all the string arrangements for EVANESCENCE for all three albums now doing full orchestra, just going back and forth with him and our producer Will and then each other, just throwing ideas in a Dropbox and basically just playing tennis back and forth for months. We finally recorded the orchestra right before this tour. It sounds just gorgeous. I can’t wait to finish the thing.”

In support of “Synthesis”, EVANESCENCE will embark on a special tour this fall which will see the band performing with a “full orchestra.”

EVANESCENCE debuted a previously unheard song called “Take Cover” during its North American tour last fall.

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Amy Lee Remembers Chris Cornell

Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee has offered a touching and deeply personal tribute to Chris Cornell. Along with calling Cornell’s voice “deeply soulful,” Lee described how Soundgarden “changed what metal was to me.”

Chris Cornell was a talent at the highest level of rock. If you didn’t realize it simply through his music, the flood of tributes alone proves how adored he was amongst his fellow musicians. When it comes to 21st century rock titans, there aren’t many superstars on the level of Amy Lee, who took a moment to write a heartfelt memoriam for Cornell.

Cornell’s influence on Amy runs deeper than one would assume. In fact, when Evanescence was recording their monstrously successful Fallen album, Amy Lee would tap into Soundgarden for inspiration. Lee wrote on Facebook:

Chris Cornell was one of my favorite vocalists of all time. ‪When we were recording Fallen, I would sit in the car in the studio parking lot every morning before going in and warm up my voice to‬ ‘Fell on Black Days.’ I loved how deeply soulful he was- it was such a beautiful and unique combination between his bluesy soulful wailing and the dark, heavy music. It was so much cooler than just screaming, which would have been the more obvious match to the music. That’s what made it special. They changed what metal was to me. Expanded the boundaries…
There have been way too many tragic, early deaths in the music industry lately. Why are we so lost? Cornell moved and inspired so many people. SO many…
For now my thoughts are here: No one is immortal. Everyone feels the pain. No one has a perfect life. We have to remember our fragility- that of the people we love, look up to, even our enemies. You never know what people are really going through on the inside, so we must take extreme care. And love the best we can, while there’s still time.

“I’m only faking when I get it right…” Oh, how I’ve always related to that line. Knowing you felt that way made me stronger.

Farewell to another hero. Thank you for sharing your heart, your search light soul with us.

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Evanescence announce new album ‘Synthesis’

Evanescence has a number of classic songs in their discography that we could listen to over and over again, but their new album Synthesis will allow us to listen to these classic songs in a whole new way—with full orchestration.

Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee revealed the news of this new album through a video posted on Facebook, along with explaining how there will also be two new songs on this album.

“This album is about orchestra and electronica. We’re taking our music, stripping out the big distorted guitars, stripping out the rock drums and replacing it with full orchestration and a completely synthetic world of beats and sounds,” explains Lee.

While this album will feature songs from Evanescence’s previous albums, Lee explains that these won’t be remixes meaning that we’ll get to hear our favorite songs in an entirely new way. She also explains why they titled the album, Synthesis.

“It is the synthesis, the combination, the contrast, the synergy between the organic and the synthetic, also the past and present.”

As if we couldn’t get any more excited, Lee also revealed the news that Evanescence will be touring with a complete orchestra coming this fall to support the release of the album. [Source]

Amy Lee Discusses Her Single, “Speak To Me”

Musician Amy Lee, from the band “Evanescence,” has a brand new single titled “Speak To Me.” The song is featured in the upcoming film “Voice from the Stone,” in which Emilia Clarke and Marton Csokas star in. She worked closely with the film’s director, Eric Howell, and composer Michael Wandmacher when she developed the song and music video which are a great parallel and backstory to the film. Tune in when Amy Lee discusses the reasons that inspired her to work on this project, her vision for the song and her experience working with the filmmakers. Interview at 692 Broadway in NYC for BUILD Series.

Amy Promises You’ll Like The New And Very Different Evanescence Album

Amy Lee has lent her powerhouse vocals to quite a few projects over the past year or so. She released a family album, put out some solo music and recently recorded “Speak to Me” for the new movie “Voice From the Stone,” starring “Game of Thrones” actress Emilia Clarke.

You can now add a new Evanescence project to that growing list. According to the frontwoman, it’s going to sound like nothing you’ve heard before. Expected out later this year, the album will be the group’s first since 2011’s self-titled studio effort.

“It’s not just a straightforward next Evanescence album, but it’s something else. So manage and prepare yourself for what you’re waiting for to be something different,” the songstress told The Huffington Post during Build Series.

Lee says she always wants her sound to evolve. This new album will represent forward momentum for the band, which formed in 1995 and has gone through several iterations, with Lee remaining the steady force on piano and vocals.

“I had this crazy harebrained idea, like, two years ago and finally I have all the people around me that are like, ‘Let’s make that happen,’” she said.

Lee has been on the road with the band over the past few months and in their down time, they’ve carved out time to write and record new music. When pressed about what to expect, Lee remained tight-lipped, only saying, “It’s not quite the right time to tell you exactly what it is.”

Inspiration for new songs can come at any time for Lee, who says she uses the voice note function on her phone to record melodies and lyrics.

Speak To Me (Official Music Video)

Amy Lee has posted the Official Music Video for “Speak To Me” on her youtube channel check it out below!

“Speak To Me”, the end title theme song off the upcoming movie, Voice From The Stone. Buy “Speak To Me” on iTunes now! http://smarturl.it/SpeakToMeIT

Written by Amy Lee & Michael Wandmacher (who also composed the film score).

Orchestrated by Susie Benchasil Seiter.

AMY LEE – “Speak To Me”

Amy Lee’s new single, “Speak To Me”, the end title theme song off the upcoming movie, Voice From The Stone. Buy “Speak To Me” on iTunes now! http://smarturl.it/SpeakToMeIT

Amy Lee interview with BUILD Series

Amy Lee will be doing another interview with BUILD Series on Monday, March 20! Sign up for free tickets and come see me! http://build.aol.com/

Amy Lee in Studio with Evanescence working on New LP

Evanescence’s Amy Lee has unveiled her new song “Speak to Me,” the end credits theme from the upcoming thriller Voice From the Stone.
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“There are many reasons why I felt inspired to work on this project,” Lee said in a statement. “Voice From the Stone tells the haunting story of Verena, a nurse who is asked to aid a young boy who has fallen silent after the sudden passing of his mother; Verena is brought in to help him speak again. As a new mother myself, the film resonated very deeply with me. ”

The film stars Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke in the role of Verena, with Lee’s ghostly ballad capturing the tone of the supernatural saga.

“I had the opportunity to work closely with Eric Howell, who directed the film, and Michael Wandmacher, who composed the score,” Lee continued. “I was very moved by the movie, and after having my first conversation with Eric and Michael, I felt a surge of inspiration and immediately began writing. It is a rare phenomenon to really share a creative vision so completely, and that made for a very powerful experience, and an end result that I am very proud of.”

Howell also directed the “Speak to Me” music video, which will arrive next week. “We conceived the video as a parallel and backstory to the film, which explores the strong bond of love between Malvina and her son, and the belief that love is stronger than death,” Lee said of the Sicily-shot video. In April 2016, Lee shared behind-the-scenes footage of the “Speak to Me” recording session.

In addition to “Speak to Me” and her recent solo work, Lee is back in the studio with Evanescence working on the band’s new LP, due out this fall. [Source]