Evanescence
Open Door Policy
Evanescence's Amy Lee held no emotion back while producing the band's newest album, The Open Door. Zeeks discovers what inspired this musically provoking release.
The lovely Ms. Amy Lee and her band Evanescence are back in the spotlight with a new studio album, The Open Door. The dark, alt.rockers scored big with 2003’s Fallen, which sold an incredible 14 million copies worldwide.
Formed in the late ’90s in Little Rock, Arkansas, Evanescence made two extremely limited-edition EPs and an album, Origin, before signing a record deal with the private label Wind-Up. With Wind-Up’s backing, the band released Fallen and landed two singles in the top 10 music charts, “My Immortal” and “Bring Me to Life”. Evanescence also won Grammy Awards in 2003 for Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance.
The band’s journey to its latest release has included a few line-up changes including bassist Will Boyd who left this past July because he didn’t want to tour. The remaining members are guitarists Terry Balsamo and John LeCompt, drummer Rocky Gray, and, of course, Ms. Lee on vocals and piano. The first taste of The Open Door is the self-explanatory single “Call Me When You’re Sober.”
Zeeks: It's been a number of years since you released Fallen. How is Open Door different?
Amy Lee: “Dave Fortman produced it, the same producer as last (album). Terry Balsamo, my guitar player, we wrote the album together and it’s just more of everything; it’s heavier; it’s fun. (But) this album is so much more than the last album. I’m braver. I’m not a kid anymore and I feel like emotionally I’ve been through a lot. I’m not afraid to say anything anymore, and I’m more confident, from all the touring, musically and lyrically. Musically, I feel like it’s just more — it’s bigger; it’s better.”
Zeeks: Anything interesting lyrically politically or socially on this album?
AL: “I write from personal experience.”
Zeeks: Love stuff?
AL: “Love, hate, fear, anger, happiness — it’s everything really. This time I feel like I went through my whole spectrum of feelings and not just the sadness and the darkness. It’s not like it’s a happy record. It’s not. It’s cool. It’s heavy. And it rocks. It’s just more of everything. There’s ballads. There’s rock songs. There’s mid-tempo. There’s everything.”
Zeeks: When you first were writing for this album, you said the movie Van Helsing was inspiring for you.
Amy Lee: “Visually. It’s such a silly thing, but I was saying that Van Helsing was cool and it inspired me visually.”
Zeeks: What size tour will you embark on this time around?
AL: “All sizes. We’re going to start smaller. We’re going to do some cool, theatre dates first for the really hardcore fans, and then we’ll go to Europe a little bit and then come back and do a bigger tour.”
