Amy Lee in Music Week Interview

Amy Lee spoke with Music Week about the music industry and Synthesis. Read what she said:

In the new issue of Music Week, we speak to Amy Lee about the return of multi-million selling rock phenomenon Evanescence and their highly-anticipated new album, Synthesis. Only their fourth studio release in 14 years, the record sees Evanescence – completed by bassist Tim McCord, drummer Will Hunt and guitarists Troy McLawhorn and Jen Majura – present new material alongside re-recordings of some of their most defining songs, all with orchestral accompaniment.

Lee told Music Week that while Synthesis explores the group’s latent orchestral potential with long-term collaborator David Campbell, it was also a chance to show how far their musical skills have developed.

“There’s a lot of musical skill that I personally didn’t have,” said Lee. “When we were writing Bring Me To Life I was 19! So just the musical ability that I had when I was 19 as a writer, as a singer, as an everything, I can do all that stuff better now because we’ve had all this time and experience. In addition, living inside those songs live for all these years, it just forever gives you ideas.”

Lee also opened up about the prospect of following the blockbusting success of her past, with Evanescence’s 2003 debut selling 1,324,026 copies to date in the UK according to Official Charts Company data.

“Fallen happened in the way that it happened,” Lee told Music Week. “You can’t even talk about record sales any more, it doesn’t mean anything but we kind of got set in a way that I was okay. We made some money and I always have poured that money into the next project. I have this ability to use that resource and the fanbase that we got from all those people who heard our music in the first place and cared about it enough to stick around. I can use that, I don’t have to start [a project] by going, ‘Help! I need to do a Kickstarter! I need to find a label!”

Amy Lee

Interview featuring Amy Lee on Sonic Seducer

Watch the brand new interview of Amy Lee discussing the upcoming ‘Synthesis’ Album that is due for release on November 10th!

Amy Lee

Amy Lee Talks About Lindsey Stirling’s Appearance On ‘Synthesis’

The fourth in a series of webisodes featuring footage from the making of Evanescence’s next album, “Synthesis”, can be seen below. In the latest episode of “Inside Synthesis”, we explore the making of “Hi-Lo”, one of the two new tracks on the album, featuring a guest performance by famed violinist Lindsey Stirling. “Synthesis” is due on November 10. The effort features full orchestration in a completely synthetic world of beats and sounds, with help from arranger and composer David Campbell.

“Synthesis” contains two new Evanescence songs in addition to fan favorites re-recorded with a live orchestra and electronica. The “Synthesis Live” tour launched on October 14 on the West Coast. Like the album, “Synthesis Live” features a reimagining of some of Evanescence’s best-loved songs with the spotlight on full orchestra, electronics combined with the band and frontwoman Amy Lee’s virtuoso piano and voice.

“This is a total passion project for me. There are so many layers in our music, underneath the huge drums and guitars,” explained Lee. “I’ve always wanted to shine a light on some of the gorgeous David Campbell arrangements and programming elements in our songs, and that idea snowballed into completely re-doing them with full orchestra, not just strings, elaborate programming and experimentation.

Evanescence

Amy Lee on drama and going back with Synthesis

For those among us who were watching Kerrang! religiously in 2003, there likely isn’t a more memorable image than that of Evanescence’s Amy Lee scaling a giant building in a flimsy nightie while screaming save me from the nothing I’ve become into the night. “Bring Me to Life”, with its huge chorus, guitars, and rock-rap went quickly platinum, brought Evanescence to global relevance, and ensured that they wouldn’t ever be forgotten. Even if that’s the only song of theirs you know, the opening piano is probably more than enough to get you amped up enough to start screaming (badly) along.

Evanescence followed 2003’s Fallen, their most commercially successful album, with The Open Door in 2006. After a hiatus and another change in line-up, the band returned in 2011 with Evanescence before going back on hiatus. Now, in 2017, the band are very much back – and while their continued legacy is thanks in part to their huge, dramatic sound and that one, timeless banger, it’s more than anything thanks to their one remaining original member: Amy Lee. In a scene and genre full to the brim with men, Amy Lee, with her outrageously impressive voice and dramatic gothic decadence, was instantly iconic.

Amy Lee has been busy in the last few years with solo work including film scores and a children’s album. But now, Evanescence, with new guitarist Jen Majura, are well and truly back. This November they’ll release Synthesis, a reworking and re-recording of some of their biggest hits (yes, including “Bring Me To Life”) with a full orchestra and electronics. It also includes brand new songs, and is the precursor to more new music and a full tour from the band. We spoke to Amy Lee, eternal alt icon, about Synthesis, why it was the right time to revisit their old work, and being a very famous woman in music since she was just 21.

The new album sounds and feels very Björk-esque, that mix of electronic with strings. Not identical, it’s your own thing, but similar. [Source]

Amy Lee • Evanescence

Interview with Cut Out and Keep

As Evanescene return from a massive world tour, we sit down with singer, songwriter and front-woman Amy to find out how the band got started.

“I’ve always loved music, since before I can remember” explains Amy, who’s haunting vocals has been leading rock band Evanescence for the past twelve years. “My dad was a DJ and radio station program director as well as a musician, so there has always been a lot of music in my life. The moment that I decided that I wanted to make music for a living came when I was about 9, after seeing the movie “Amadeus.” Mozart’s music really inspired me and I wanted to be a composer. And yeah, I have always been creative, I feel best when I’m making something. Anything!”

“I have always been creative, I feel best when I’m making something. Anything!”

The band formed in Little Rock, Arkansas when Amy met former lead guitarist Ben Moody at youth camp. “It’s not a big town, and especially when you’re under age there is not much to do there, so we made our own fun. The bands and music I was most inspired by didn’t usually come through town, so I was listening to it in my room, in my car, and on my headphones at school. Mostly, we made our own music and spent all our free time creating. You can start a band anywhere but I think small towns breed a lot of good music because there are less distractions, so you have to be creative.”

“I think small towns breed a lot of good music because there are less distractions, so you have to be creative.”

Naming Tori Amos, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Michael Jackson, Portishead, Radiohead, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Bjork, Mozart, Beethoven, Pink Floyd, Danny Elfman, and so many more among her influences, we were curious about her song-writing process. “I dig deep for whatever is going on inside me. When we’re writing a song, lyrics usually start out as stream of consciousness – just random words and syllables as I work on the melodies, and I often find meaningful thoughts that give me a starting point for what the song is about. Musically, I like to just sit at the piano and play until I find something. Also, a lot of the time, I’ll sit in my studio and play with beats and sounds and then build the music on top of that.”

Amy became the American chairperson for Out of the Shadows, the international epilepsy awareness foundation in 2006. “I want to help bring Epilepsy to light. It affects 50 million people worldwide and it’s still very misunderstood. People who have seizures shouldn’t feel like they have to keep it a secret or be afraid of people looking at them differently because they don’t understand. I’ve worked a little with the Epilepsy Foundation to get information out there especially to young people, and that is the goal of the Out of the Shadows campaign.”

Amy Lee

Get to know Amy Lee!

Want to know more about Evanescence’s leading lady Amy Lee? Amy sat down to answer some of your questions and tell you more about her music. Read on to see what she has to say then check out the tour dates HERE to see when you can see Amy Lee in a town near you. Also, make sure to follow Amy on Twitter HERE.

1. Who do you consider to be your greatest musical influences? Michael Jackson, Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, Mozart, Beethoven, Danny Elfman, Smashing Pumpkins, Depeche Mode, Janis Joplin, Alanis Morrisette, Radiohead, Garbage, Soundgarden, Massive Attack, Nirvana, Neil Young, Portishead, Tori Amos. I could keep going but I’ll stop 😉

2. Why did you pick piano and how did you get started playing? I saw the movie Amadeus when I was 8 or 9 years old and was completely enthralled. I knew I wanted desperately to make music, for a living, for life, for sure. I begged for piano lessons and took pride in being able to play more and more advanced pieces. It’s funny, at first I was kind of frustrated and hard on myself because it wasn’t sounding like it did in the movie- I wasn’t a crazy genius who could just pick a whole song out by ear after hearing it only once and I don’t have perfect pitch like Mozart- WTF! It actually takes WORK?? Haha. So I worked. It was worth it.

3. What’s your latest art or fashion project? I guess my latest art project is my new stage outfit that I designed for this tour. It’s a skirt made of flags, representing all of the countries we’ve been so honored to play in the last year on tour. I was flying home from Europe a few months ago and thinking about how every night on stage in other countries, it’s so emotional when we bring out the country’s flag. It means so much to them and to us, that we’ve made it so far. So I thought, what if I could have ALL of the countries represented at once, and show them how much we appreciate and love them all on this last part of the tour? It’s my way of showing my gratitude.

4. What are your must haves from home when you are out on the road? Vicks Vapo-Rub, GLITTER, one perfect pair of all-purpose boots, throat coat tea bags, my lucky Michael Jackson T-shirt, and Beth Wilson!

5. What song do you wish you had written? Without You’ by Pete Ham and Tom Evans. Not only is it one of my favorite songs (especially the Mariah Carey version!), it’s been covered by 180 artists and has touched an infinite number of people. Such soul.

Evanescence

Evanescence Interview The Gauntlet

With the instant success of the band’s debut album, Fallen, Evanescence has become one of this generations biggest rock sensations. The band later went on to release the multi-platinum The Open Door. After extensive touring on the album, front woman Amy Lee arranged and recorded the Danny Elfman song “Sally’s Song” for the “Nightmare Revisited” soundtrack. The Gauntlet recently caught up with Amy Lee to discuss the album, music, and her thoughts.

The Gauntlet: What’s new with you?

Amy Lee: Everything is good. I have been in New York for four days now since all the ‘Nightmare’ stuff in LA.

The Gauntlet: When you say ‘nightmare’ are you referring to the week in LA was a nightmare or you were here just promoting the Nightmare Revisited album?

Amy: [laughs] No, it was for the soundtrack.

The Gauntlet: So it all went well?

Amy: It was awesome. I think last week might have been the best week of my life if not one of the best of my life. There was a lot of stuff surrounding it. Leno went well but there were a lot of other things. I got to meet Danny Elfman and he is my hero. He was super gracious and awesome to me and invited me over to his house which was incredible. I also did the performance at the El Capitan which was a night in honor of Danny [Elfman]. As part of that, I got to play the song he had written many years ago. It was so awesome to see those worlds collide a little bit because of the movie and Danny Elfman having such an impact on my life. To do that homage and to not do it horribly was really, really great. Oh, and I went to Disneyland.

The Gauntlet: Was that your first time at Disneyland?

Amy: Yeah. I grew up in South Florida and went to Disney World as a kid but haven’t been back in ages. I did Leno and the El Capitan and we had a day open in there. I had my husband and close friends with me; Will Hunt [not that Will Hunt from Evanescence] who produced “Sally’s Song” and his wife. We had some time to kill and said “Let’s go to Disneyland!”

The Gauntlet: I feel so jaded being from Southern California. On an average year, I go to Disneyland 15 times but there have been some years we’ve been over 50.

Amy: Where have I been!

The Gauntlet: I have two kids so it’s not just for me.

Amy: That is so cool. That is more times than I go to the park down the street. I love Space Mountain. We had such a good time…actually we went twice. We were leaving, on our way to the airport in the car thinking about how it was the best week ever. I was thinking my only regret was not doing all the rides at Disneyland as we rode Space Mountain 3 times. I said ‘What if we just go back to Disneyland right now?’ We didn’t really have anything going on the next day. Everyone was thinking about it saying it was crazy and we’d have to change flights. I called my manager and asked if it was possible to change the flights. He just laughed but made it happen. It was the coolest thing that has ever worked out perfectly. We were so lucky. We got to see the fireworks this time. It was so incredible. We spent the entire day on the rides. We had a blast. We went on Space Mountain three more times and rode all the kiddy rides.

The Gauntlet: Did you go on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride?

Amy: You know what, we didn’t. We did everything else.

The Gauntlet: I can talk about Disneyland all day, but back to the music. Was Sally’s Song selected for you?

Amy: I selected it actually. For a while I didn’t think I’d be a part of “Nightmare Revisited.” I talked to the music supervisor and he mentioned the album. I totally freaked out and he suggested I do a song. I just totally fan’d out. I told him that the movie was huge to me and he’d never find a bigger fan. He asked what song I’d want to do and I said “Sally’s Song.” There might have been one more that I might have done, but I really wanted “Sally’s Song.” They came back and said they had these three songs available but I didn’t think they would really work for a female in general without really tripping them out. I decided not to do it as I just wanted to really do it great or not do it at all. I guess whoever was going to originally do Sally’s Song backed out or couldn’t do it and they called me. The coolest thing was there was no input or direction from anyone at Disney or the label. It was a very creative experience. I got to go home and think about it; all the things I loved about the songs and embrace and anything I could add ‘me’ to, the Amy flavor. I knew I wanted to play the harp on it so that was a cool thing for the first time. I texted Will Hunt, the producer and drummer, and we took a few days to do it. It was completely free and I think it is one of the best things I have done as it is untouched. Nobody thought about a mix and wanted some crazy mix or to make it pop or vocal it up.

The Gauntlet: Is it weird being a huge fan of Danny Elfman, who is a brilliant composer, and then having free reign to change his material around however you see fit?

Amy: I was a little conflicted and it was hard. This song was really short in the movie. I had to do something like add the chorus one more time or maybe put a bridge in there. It was something I was thinking about though. I was asking myself ‘was it wrong for me to write a part to the song?’ In the movie and the context of everything, it was a short thought of her thinking. Once I started working on it and that part came out, I loved the part a lot. I felt like I wanted this from the beginning. It was like a climax of the movie, watching her sing her part. In the movie, she is so restrained and she never sings the words all the way out. She is just meek. But for me when I would sing the song in my car on the way to high school, the teen angst came out and I just wanted to belt out my favorite part. I got to do that a little bit in the song. Where the bridge happens, that is the emotional peak. At the same time, the song is perfect how Danny Elfman wrote it. It has been with me for almost 14 years in my head. It doesn’t feel like it, but I think I was like 12 years old.

The Gauntlet: Did Danny Elfman comment on your version of the song?

Amy: Yeah. I have only heard positive feedback which is cool. I didn’t even realize when I did the song there would be a live performance. I heard later through the grapevine, who knows how reliable that is, that he liked it a lot. They said that he asked for me to be the act to perform at the El Capitan event also and that was flattering. It was really cool after I played the song. He gave me a ‘you nailed it.’ I was really nervous playing the harp parts as it was only my second time playing the harp in front of people and my hands were shaking so bad I thought I wouldn’t hit the notes. The Tonight Show was the very first time playing the hard in front of an audience and I knew that was throwing a lot of extra pressure on myself. I didn’t want to chicken out and not challenge myself. I have been working on the harp and love it. I have even been writing on it a little bit. I had the out to make it all piano, even though there is a little bit of harp on the song. I kept thinking about it more and more and didn’t want to be stuck mastering the same talents I have had. I always want to improve and play harder thing. I want to play harder parts on the piano and challenge myself. I want to learn new instruments. I am proud of myself that I went the harder route. It was a really cool thing visually and it sounds beautiful. I definitely plan on playing the harp more.

The Gauntlet: Would that be a solo project or with Evanescence?

Amy: I don’t know what is happening. I am at a point where I don’t know what is next: a solo project or a film. I am really interested in film scoring. I always have been. I have just known that I needed to ride the Evanescence thing while that was going. I loved the Open Door and that was a big thing for me. I have always had a true love for writing music for film. I have my foot in the door enough and can meet people now. I just need to find the right project for me and one that I am passionate about. It could take a while. I am hoping for that and some people who have some faith in me and to write the music for it. Other than that, I am still writing songs. I don’t know what they are going to be for though.

The Gauntlet: Did you pick Danny Elfman’s brain a little?

Amy: A little bit. I didn’t want to come off as a giant fan. We just talked about normal stuff though. I was going to talk about whatever he wanted to talk about. I wanted to be a peer and not a kid.

The Gauntlet: Film scoring is a lot different though. Even though it is still music, the connection to the fans is gone. You score a song and there is no tour, just move to the next one.

Amy: Exactly. It is so emotional and dramatic. With our music, you can hear that. I am always picturing visuals and putting the biggest emotions next to each other. I love the big drums and big guitars next to each other, the fear and the anger and then drop it down to a vulnerable piano solo. You feel all these different things. I think I am making no sense, but I think that is what Evanescence always was. It is my life in a way but bigger and more dramatic. To score a film would be incredible for a lot of reasons but to capture the emotions of people and showing the audience how the characters feel is what makes the movie. I think the idea of being at home and writing music is wonderful. Writing a piece of music and saying ok, you are away, see you later, you are free. To not go on a crazy tour with that whole nutty life is a dream.

The Gauntlet: Is it a dream? You just described to me writing a beautiful and emotional song and then giving it away. It is now gone and no longer yours.

Amy: But it still is mine. My name is on it and I can watch it a million times. Instead of singing it over and over and over to the point where I no longer feel those feelings because they are verbatim will be refreshing. One of the main things that bothers me on tour is I can’t say what I am feeling right then. I can’t sing about what I am going through at that moment, I am singing about what I was going through three years ago. It becomes so monotonous. To be able to have that time to make something fresh and current… It has been so long since anything I have written has come out. So what people think of me or what they think I am feeling is where I was three or four years ago and that is always the case. It takes so long from writing the song to recording the song to touring. I am always singing about the past. It is fine as I am proud of my past and love the songs we have made. At the same time, it is not who am anymore or what I am feeling.

The Gauntlet: Was “Sally’s Song” being credited to Amy Lee and not Evanescence a way for you to come out and launch a solo career?

Amy: It wasn’t that. I don’t know if I am going to do that. It is a possibility in my life that it might go that way. It is kind of natural with the way everything has gone with the band. It wasn’t to make a statement though. It was all me. It is hard to say what Evanescence is per se. It is Terry and Tim now but the other guys have changed so recently. They knew it was a gig on the road and they knew they had to get another gig when it was over. Terry is having a blast playing in a band with the bass player from Limp Bizkit. In a lot of ways, it is the same as the last time. Between Fallen and The Open Door everybody went their separate ways. Then Terry and I wrote the record, pulled the band back together and made the record and toured. It isn’t like we all live in a house together and write all the time and play video games. This song came to me and it was something I was passionate about. I did the arrangement and the instruments and it wasn’t in anyway an Evanescence collaboration. I didn’t want it to be false. I didn’t want to call it Evanescence and capitalize on that because everyone knows that name.

Evanescence

Evanescence’s Amy Lee: “It’s Not All Sad”

With Nightmare Revisited, Evanescence’s Amy Lee has released her first new material since her band’s 2006 multi-platinum hit, The Open Door. Add that to the departure of two Evanescence members and Lee’s ever-growing musical independence, and the songstress has some explaining to do.

Lee, who is busy writing new material, talks with SPIN.com about the messy split of Evanescence’s guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray, writing a solo album, scoring films, and “Sally’s Song,” her contribution to Nightmare Revisited, the new collection of covers from Tim Burton’s 1993 film, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

On the state of Evanescence:

“It’s a difficult situation, as is every dramaticsituation our band has gone through. John [LeCompt, guitar], Rocky[Gray, drums] — we outgrew each other. When they joined the band, Fallen was just completed and theywere excited to be a part of something really big. From the beginning,their musical styles were very different from Evanescence. I think to adegree they got bored or frustrated. They weren’t part of the creativeprocess and were like, ‘Why are we doing this?’ Their writing justdidn’t work for Evanescence, and I have to do what’s best for the band.I’ve had a little bit of contact with John since and it was positive.Very few bands have been able to maintain their original membersforever.”

On new songs and a solo album:

“I need to show that I’m more than a one trick pony. I’m writing here at the house by myself and it’s been really good. But I’d really like to do something different next. [The new songs] are definitely different. I feel like I’m going back to my really old roots. They have more of my folky and Celtic influence than ever before. And it’s not all sad — it’s nothing I would categorize as Evanescence.”

On scoring films:

“My biggest dream from the beginning — besides Evanescence — is scoring film and writing music for film. And I’ve definitely had that in my head and have been trying to connect with the right people to get involved with the right project. I really feel like it would be great to get into a project that’s bigger than myself and be the creator and not necessarily just the performer.”

On Nightmare Revisited:

“The Nightmare Before Christmas is my number one biggest influence artistically in every way. [When I was young] I literally would sit in my bedroom and sing ‘Sally’s Song,’ or in the car driving to school. The best part about it [recording the song] was that I had no restrictions or direction or anything. I picked the producer, who’s a friend, and we just made the song however we wanted together. [We recorded the song] three months ago, in Fort Worth, TX.” [SOURCE]

Amy Lee

Count Five: Amy Lee’s Top 5 Horror Movies

Evanescence’s Amy Lee loves her some Halloween, which, if you ask us, is pretty convenient given she has a voice that could wake the dead. To that end, Lee, who just lent her pipes to a version of ‘Sally’s Song’ on the ‘Nightmare Revisted’ soundtrack, and who is currently in the throes of writing new songs of her own, sat down with Spinner to reveal her Top Five favorite horror films just in time for the holiday.

1. ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’: I have to watch this movie at Halloween, and the fact that I get to be a part of it [on the ‘Nightmare Revisited’ soundtrack], as an uber-fan, is great. I watch this movie with my family every year. When this movie came out it, inspired me creatively. I was a big art nerd.

2. ‘Halloween’: You have to watch this movie, and the original is the one to watch. I’ve been watching this movie for so long and I have so many memories of being scared. Also, with the older movies, you feel like you’re in a different time. I liked the new one a lot, too. My husband is a giant Mike Myers fan and even he liked it.

3. ‘Carrie’: This is such a great one. I just love seeing the downtrodden get revenge like that. And [Sissy Spacek’s] a great actress in this movie.

4. ‘Psycho’: And then the Hitchcock movies. ‘Psycho’ is especially scary. It still creeps me out and it’s very old. I didn’t see the new one.

5. ‘The Birds’: This is one of the first scary movies I was allowed to watch. It was really scary when I was young and it’s still scary now, in its non-gore way. It’s very subtle.

Source: Spinner.com

Amy Lee • Evanescence

Amy Lee Interview (The Gauntlet)

The Gauntlet: What’s new with you?
Amy Lee: Everything is good. I have been in New York for four days now since all the ‘Nightmare’ stuff in LA.

The Gauntlet: When you say ‘nightmare’ are you referring to the week in LA was a nightmare or you were here just promoting the Nightmare Revisited album?
Amy: [laughs] No, it was for the soundtrack.

The Gauntlet: So it all went well?
Amy: It was awesome. I think last week might have been the best week of my life if not one of the best of my life. There was a lot of stuff surrounding it. Leno went well but there were a lot of other things. I got to meet Danny Elfman and he is my hero. He was super gracious and awesome to me and invited me over to his house which was incredible. I also did the performance at the El Capitan which was a night in honor of Danny [Elfman]. As part of that, I got to play the song he had written many years ago. It was so awesome to see those worlds collide a little bit because of the movie and Danny Elfman having such an impact on my life. To do that homage and to not do it horribly was really, really great. Oh, and I went to Disneyland.