Evanescence is featured on Metal Hammer bumper end of year issue, which includes three great gifts: a best of 2017 album, 2018 calendar and wrapping paper! ORDER THE METAL HAMMER END OF YEAR SPECIAL HERE Also features a Big Review of 2017, featuring all the stories that mattered and brand new interviews with the bands that defined your year.
Amy Lee of Evanescence has sold over 20 million albums worldwide, sells out arenas throughout the world, and has had radio hit after hit in multiple countries, and for some reason decided to sit down with Jay and Jacob to chat about it all. In Episode 15, the fellas dig deep with Amy about all things music including working on her new album “Synthesis” (which debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 20 charts) with David Campbell (Beck’s dad). Post-show, she also sent along her own quick hits with descriptions of why she likes the tunes she picked. And Jay & Jacob included their own Best of 2017 playlists.
Amy Lee spoke to the 105.7 The Point about the two new songs that are included on the band’s latest album, “Synthesis”. The set is a reimagining of some of EVANESCENCE’s best-loved tracks is the band’s first full-length effort since its 2011 self-titled release.
“[The song] ‘Hi-Lo‘ we’ve had in the bank for a long time,” Amy said (see video below). “I wasn’t quite finished [writing it before], but it’s just a song that never fit anywhere that I’ve been holding on to and waiting to find its right home for 10 years. So it’s this weird thing that I feel very close to already that I’ve had to listen to with my family and my friends to now finish it out and have the orchestra on it. That’s what it needed — it needed that beautiful, luscious emotion that [longtime collaborator, orchestra arranger and composer] David Campbell put on there. But I wrote that song with our producer on this album, the guy that did all the programming, Will [Hunt, not to be confused with EVANESCENCE’s drummer, also named Will Hunt]. It was our first collaboration together 10 years ago. And the other one, ‘Imperfection’, is brand new. We just wrote it this year. And it was very collaborative between Will, again, and also David Campbell, the arranger. He’s done all the string arranging for EVANESCENCE for all of our albums, but this one… We went in [and said], ‘Let’s go in and go really deep and rip [the songs] apart and elevate ’em to another place together and make something new.’ So for all of it, and the new [song] included, he was a real part of what laid the foundation of what was gonna happen. So it gave the music and the writing and everything a chance to grow in some different directions.”
“Hi-Lo” includes a guest performance by famed violinist Lindsey Stirling.
In support of “Synthesis”, Evanescence — Lee, bassist Tim McCord, drummer Will Hunt, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Troy McLawhorn and guitarist/background vocalist Jen Majura — is currently in the midst of its extensive “Synthesis Live” headlining tour of North America. “Synthesis Live” features Lee and the band performing with a live 28-piece orchestra and electronic programming.
Lee told Forbes about the fan response to the “Synthesis Live” tour: “I think our fans like it a lot. It’s a way to experience this music, for them and for us, in a different way. We’ve been playing the straight-up original versions of our songs for many years now. So to have an opportunity to go to a different venue for most of these shows, go to a concert hall, sit down and listen to it, it’s a lot more like going to a show, like going to a movie, than going to a rock concert where you’re gonna jump up and down and make noise. There are parts that are very intimate before it goes big and epic and 28 orchestral musicians are going off. So it’s a very personal experience. The reaction I’ve seen has been really good, but it’s definitely different. It feels still weird to us on stage, we’re getting completely used to it. It’s definitely not a rock and roll show, but I think it’s really special and I’m absolutely positive I’m gonna remember these performances and this very special experience for the rest of my life.”
On 11-30-17 at the Chicago Theater in Chicago, Illinois Evanescence played a Synthesis version of “Weight Of The World” which is not featured on their new album. You can watch it below:
Amy Lee spoke to Billboard about her beginnings in the music industry, saying that “it was sometimes difficult to distinguish the difference between just being treated like a young idiot — you know, ‘You’re just a kid, everybody knows better than you’ — and being treated that way because I was female. I learned as I got more experienced, and a lot of it was because I’m a female,” she said. “People naturally see us as the softer sex that’s going to step aside and let the men do the real work, so there’ve been plenty of times when I’ve had to look at that, recognize it, and go, ‘No, this is what’s going to happen, because I’m positive that I’m right, and it’s my art and you’re not going to change it.'”
One compromise that Lee had to make along the way was including a rap verse in EVANESCENCE’s original 2003 breakout hit “Bring Me To Life”. The song was recently re-recorded in a more stripped-down format — without the rapping — on the “Synthesis” album. Lee explained to News.com.au: “God bless the rap, it’s part of what got us on the radio, I guess. At least according to all the rules of radio that I don’t agree with or understand. The rap wasn’t part of our original idea or sound, it was a compromise in many ways. So to be able to go back to the original vision for the song was great.”
Lee added that she had made her peace with the original version of the song, saying: “That’s a struggle you always fight as an artist. If we only had the one hit, if no one ever heard from us again, then nobody would understand who we were. We’ve made it past that point, so the rap doesn’t make me angry anymore. I’m so glad to put a new version out there without the rap, though.” The rap on the original version of “Bring Me To Life” was performed by singer Paul McCoy of the band 12 STONES.
“Synthesis” was released on November 10. The disc sees many of EVANESCENCE’s songs reworked in new ways, incorporating orchestral and electronic elements into the original compositions. The “Synthesis Live” tour launched in October and like the album, it features a full orchestra and electronics. [Source]
Logic might have suggested when Evanescence leader Amy Lee had her first child, a son named Jack, three years ago, that motherhood would have meant she would step back from music to some degree.
After all, raising an infant is a major, time-consuming effort in itself, and being a parent is bound to shift priorities away from one’s vocation and toward family life.
For Lee, becoming a mother has had the opposite effect, triggering a new level of musical inspiration and paving the way for the unique new Evanescence album, Synthesis, and an ambitious tour to support the album.
“I always did want to be a mother,” Lee said during a mid-October phone interview. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced. It opened my heart up in a way I didn’t expect. So as much of my attention, as much of my focus as [parenting] takes up, it really inspired me. I feel more feelings. I think differently. There’s a new perspective to everything in life since Jack. And I wasn’t prepared for that. You can’t prepare for that. So it actually made me want to come back to work. I was recording when I was pregnant. I released Aftermath after Jack was born.”
Aftermath served as the soundtrack album to the Mark Jackson movie, War Story. Lee was brought in to contribute to the score and soundtrack of the film by her friend, Dave Eggar, who had been recruited for the project by Jackson. [Source]
Evanescence’s just released fourth album Synthesis — out via BMG in the United States and Sony in Europe/Australia — has debuted as the #1 Rock Album in the United States —the #4 best-selling album overall–and at #8 on the Top 200 album charts. In its debut week, Synthesis reached #1 on the iTunes Rock and Alternative charts in over 40 countries worldwide. [Official Website]
Get your copy of Evanescence’s new release here!
Amy Lee recently talked to amazon.de about the meaning behind Evanescence’s song “Imperfection” from their brand new Synthesis album. Which has sold over 34,000 units in the week ending on November 16th. Synthesis is a combination of organic and synthesized sounds featuring the lyrical talents of Lee and her band Evanescence. The new album also features the talent of Lindsay Sterling in the song “Hi-Lo”. You can read the rest of the interview here!
Evanescence’s “Synthesis” sold 34,000 equivalent album units in the week ending November 16, according to Nielsen Music, to land at position No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. Of that sum, 30,000 were in traditional album sales. The set is a reimagining of some of Evanescence’s best-loved songs — as well as a couple of new ones. “Synthesis” is Evanescence’s first album since its 2011 self-titled release, which debuted at No. 1. The new album is the group’s fourth top 10 effort, following “Evanescence”, “The Open Door” (No. 1 in 2006) and “Fallen” (No. 3, 2003).
In support of “Synthesis”, Evanescence — lead singer-songwriter and pianist Amy Lee, bassist Tim McCord, drummer Will Hunt, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Troy McLawhorn and guitarist/background vocalist Jen Majura — is currently in the midst of its extensive “Synthesis Live” headlining tour of North America. “Synthesis Live” features Lee and the band embedded with a live 28-piece orchestra and electronic programming, delivering a transcendent experience.
Living up to its name, “Synthesis” is a combination of organic and synthesized sounds featuring Lee’s virtuosic singing and piano playing, supported by her band and a full symphony orchestra performing arrangements by longtime collaborator, orchestra arranger and composer David Campbell as well as an array of electronic music programming and effects engineered by the band, co-producer William Hunt and programmer/mixer Damian Taylor (BJÖRK, THE KILLERS, ARCADE FIRE). The album features two new EVANESCENCE songs: the first single “Imperfection” and “Hi-Lo”, the latter of which includes a guest performance by famed violinist Lindsey Stirling.
Lee told Forbes about the fan response to the “Synthesis Live” tour: “I think our fans like it a lot. It’s a way to experience this music, for them and for us, in a different way. We’ve been playing the straight-up original versions of our songs for many years now. So to have an opportunity to go to a different venue for most of these shows, go to a concert hall, sit down and listen to it, it’s a lot more like going to a show, like going to a movie, than going to a rock concert where you’re gonna jump up and down and make noise. There are parts that are very intimate before it goes big and epic and 28 orchestral musicians are going off. So it’s a very personal experience. The reaction I’ve seen has been really good, but it’s definitely different. It feels still weird to us on stage, we’re getting completely used to it. It’s definitely not a rock and roll show, but I think it’s really special and I’m absolutely positive I’m gonna remember these performances and this very special experience for the rest of my life.” [Source]
Photo credit: P.R. Brown
Just Announced – Evanescence is giving away a few exclusive Synthesis merch bundles! Enter Here: http://smarturl.it/SynthesisGiveaway
– One (1) Exclusive Signed Merch Pack from Evanescence including:
– One (1) ‘Imperfection’ Tee
– One (1) ‘Synthesis’ Journal
– One (1) ‘Synthesis’ Hoodie
– One (1) Signed ‘Synthesis’ CD
It’s the day after Halloween and Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee is in between shows during possibly the band’s most ambitious tour to date. Out in support of their new Synthesis album, a collection that finds the group reworking signature songs like “Bring Me To Life” and “My Immortal” into orchestral versions, the band is playing on a nightly basis during the limited tour with orchestras.
Lee has also her three-year-old son Jack and husband Josh Hartzler on tour with her. It’s a lot to balance, as she says, “I feel like I’m the busiest I’ve ever been.” But it’s also clear talking to her it’s one of the most gratifying times in her life.
The ease and calmness in her voice as she talks about perspective and the joy she found at being on stage but still having Josh being able to take Jack trick or treating in the arena is very clear. It’s a prosperous and creative time for Lee and Evanescence.
Even she is not sure where this orchestral period will lead for the band. But as she also tells me, “I’m absolutely positive I’m gonna remember these performances and this very special experience for the rest of my life.” [Source]
Amy Lee spoke to Forbes about the fan response to the band’s “Synthesis Live” tour, which features a reimagining of some of Evanescence’s best-loved songs with the spotlight on full orchestra, electronics combined with the band and her virtuoso piano and voice.
“I think our fans like it a lot,” she said. “It’s a way to experience this music, for them and for us, in a different way. We’ve been playing the straight-up original versions of our songs for many years now. So to have an opportunity to go to a different venue for most of these shows, go to a concert hall, sit down and listen to it, it’s a lot more like going to a show, like going to a movie, than going to a rock concert where you’re gonna jump up and down and make noise. There are parts that are very intimate before it goes big and epic and 28 orchestral musicians are going off. So it’s a very personal experience. The reaction I’ve seen has been really good, but it’s definitely different. It feels still weird to us on stage, we’re getting completely used to it. It’s definitely not a rock and roll show, but I think it’s really special and I’m absolutely positive I’m gonna remember these performances and this very special experience for the rest of my life.”
Asked if she sees herself wanting to write more orchestral works or film scores after completing the “Synthesis Live” tour, Lee said: “It’s kind of the other way, that’s what I’ve been doing. Between the last EVANESCENCE record and now I’ve been doing a lot of stuff on the side, doing the more film soundtrack score world and working more in that way just to please myself. I enjoy doing it very much. And this is me being a little less intimidated by that and ready and brave enough to kind of mess with our music. So I just wanted to because it felt good. There’s really no big plan. It’s really expensive, it’s probably not smart marketing wise. I had a creative idea and it felt good so we did it. I really like contrast. I really like extremes. So it’s cool to be able to take this this total contrast from European metal festivals we were playing this summer and then go totally full orchestra concert halls later in the year. It feels really good to me, so I’m just saying whatever comes from us next and what this means for our trajectory I don’t know that it means going deeper into this world. I think this is just a really cool moment in time.”
The “Synthesis” album was released 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.
Source: Evanescence’s Amy Lee Says ‘Synthesis Live’ Tour Is ‘Really Special’ – Blabbermouth.net
Listen and share Evanescence’s new album, Synthesis, on @Spotify! http://hyperurl.co/ev_spotify
When Evanescence unleashed Fallen in 2003, they inspired a generation. But for Amy Lee, it was the start of a decade-long struggle to control her own destiny
Amy Lee is in a playful mood. Despite talking to press all day, the Evanescence singer and gothic rock superstar is warm and chatty, anticipating our next question with a, “C’mon, what you got, whatcha got?” and giggling. “You’re my last in a looong block of interviews,” she tells us in her throaty, sing-song voice before we begin – but to her credit, it’s clear that when it comes to talking about Evanescence, she’s so fiercely proud of her band that she relishes the chance to set a few things straight.
Over 22 years, Evanescence have continued to defy expectation. From their humble, teenage beginnings in the 90s to the overwhelming breakthrough of Bring Me To Life, the song that became ubiquitous on every music channel for its iconic depiction of Amy Lee as a kind of gothic Rapunzel, to their new record Synthesis, an orchestral retrospective of their career, there’s a lot of ground to cover. Yes, with just three studio albums in 20 years, they’ve appeared to have some long breaks, but Amy is adamant that it’s all part of a process that’s allowed the band to continue.
“People are like, ‘Oh, so you’ve been hanging out and doing nothing for five years, how come?’” she says sardonically, referencing the last hiatus following their third, self-titled album, released in 2011. “It’s never like that! We toured for a year and a half, and then, you know, I had a baby, blah, blah, blah…” she trails off, laughing.
It quickly becomes apparent that she has a tendency to inject humour and gloss over some of the more personal aspects of her life, serving as another reminder that we’re talking to someone who at one time was a bona fide megastar, thrust into the limelight at 21. When she gets serious is when talking about her music, explaining the need for her latest break: “To make something you really mean, for me, means I have to go live my life for a while, figure out who I am again and have some experiences I need to get off my chest. I need to step away and not feel like a–” she hesitates before saying the next word – “a ‘rockstar’ any more. I need to go be Amy.”
“And it’s beautiful, because as much as I’ve been ready and willing to abandon it completely, it always leads me back to Evanescence,” she says with certainty. “I’m very proud, still – more than ever, even – of our oldest music. It’s not anything I’m ashamed of.” [Source]
In the final episode of “Inside Synthesis”, peek into the process of making Amy Lee’s @SteinwayAndSons piano.
Loudwire Review: Orchestras and rock/metal music have enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship. From entire genres like symphonic metal to collaborations such as Metallica’s S&M, Dream Theater’s Score and Deep Purple’s Concerto For Group and Orchestra, utilizing an orchestra can add a whole different dimension to a band’s sound.
Unlike many of these collaborations that are live albums, Evanescence’s Synthesis is a studio record consisting of orchestral versions of earlier material along with two new tracks. While a band like Metallica working with an orchestra might raise some eyebrows, it makes perfect sense for Evanescence. Their music is dramatic and dynamic, and they’ve utilized classical elements on previous albums.
Vocalist Amy Lee says, “These songs all have a life beyond the initial studio recordings, so it was really satisfying to go back and sing them as a 35-year-old as opposed to a 20-year-old (some of them). To be able to incorporate some of those elements that have developed over years of playing them live, and to show ways I’ve grown as well was a beautiful opportunity. I had to not only make each these new versions better in some way, but also preserve the core of what made the initial performance so great. I really challenged myself.”
As to the songs they selected to give the orchestral treatment, there are some of the hits from their three albums, but many are not. One I wish they would have done is “Going Under.” It’s interesting to hear “Bring Me to Life” as a classical track without the male rap parts. “My Immortal” and “Lost in Paradise” are a couple other of their well-known songs that are included in this set.
Some of the songs that work best in this format are lesser-known tracks like the heartfelt “Imaginary” from Fallen and The Open Door‘s “Lacrymosa,” which features a great performance from Lee that goes from reserved to all out belting. Her performance throughout is outstanding, with her powerful pipes never overshadowed by the orchestra.
The two new songs are the subdued “Hi-Lo” that features a guest appearance from violinist Lindsey Stirling and the album closer “Imperfection.” The latter has been released as a single, and its classical base has a lot of EDM and hip-hop influences.
Lee says, “’Imperfection’ is the most important song on the album for me. The song had to fit into our body of work, but at the same time, be a classic in its own right. When the lyrics started pouring out of me, I realized it was speaking to all those people we’ve been losing through depression and suicide. I sang it from the perspective of the person left behind. It’s a plea to fight for your life, and that we all need each other as humans.”
The production on the album (handled by Lee and Will Hunt) is excellent. It’s grandiose and bombastic in parts, quiet and subdued in others, and working with so many instruments when recording and mixing an album is tricky. Evanescence are currently on tour playing the album with an orchestra, and having had the chance to see them, this reviewer highly recommends checking it out. As dynamic and compelling as Synthesis is on record, it’s even more so live, especially with Lee’s charismatic performance. Read Full Review!
Evanescence are back—again. Six years since their last album, 2011’s Evanescence, and 14 since their Grammy-winning breakthrough Fallen, the Southern gothic stalwarts are set to return with their most unusual project to date: Synthesis, an album featuring orchestral arrangements of some of their best-known and most-loved songs, with Amy Lee’s unmistakable voice out front as always.
Evanescence—now comprising Lee, drummer Will Hunt, guitarist/background vocalist Jen Majura, bassist Tim McCord and lead guitarist Troy McLawhorn—have always thrived on a deliciously dissonant sound, a potion of gothic imagery, metal guitars and pop craftsmanship that produced early hits like “My Immortal” (from 2000 demo Origin) and “Bring Me to Life,” the Fallen smash that would solidify the group’s signature recipe. The relationship between organic and electronic has always been at the core of Evanescence’s music, and on the sprawling Synthesis, Lee has brought it to its most dramatic form.
“That is the basic idea of the title of everything: Synthesis,” said Lee, who joined Paste at Steinway Hall in Manhattan recently for an exclusive listen to Synthesis, out Nov. 10. “Those two seemingly opposite things married together in a very beautiful way, where it’s not about contrast, but about them actually working together.”
The record will also include two new songs, “Hi-Lo” and “Imperfection.” Lee explained that the converging of old and new also echoes the project’s vision, noting, “That’s the other point of that word ‘synthesis’—past and present. Revisiting songs like ‘My Immortal,’ but in a place of now. Also, tying the new music into it and creating this thing that all flows together into one moment, but it’s actually going back and into the future.”
Interview: For their next chapter, nu metal survivors Evanescence are orchestrating an ambitious reworking of their classics
In a world of generic warblers, the operatic swoop of Amy Lee’s vocal was the trump card behind Evanescence’s squillion-selling 2003 debut, Fallen. If this was a primal scream that spoke to the young, angsty and alienated, that’s probably because the Arkansas-born Lee was also a sensitive outsider who felt much of her audience’s pain. Fourteen years later we find Lee older, wiser, in a happier place and comfortable enough with her past to reinterpret the Evanescence catalogue with a full orchestra on their new album, Synthesis.
Synthesis revisits the old songs. Do you remember how it felt to be twenty years old and working on Fallen?
Unfortunately yes [laughs]. How would I describe myself back then? Wide-eyed, full of huge dreams, fairly insecure. But I think that’s pretty common. When we’re young we feel like we’re the only ones that kinda hate ourselves. I remember struggling with feeling like I didn’t deserve to be where I was. So definitely an emotional, hormonal moment. I still have a lot of big feelings, but it seems like the whole world is falling down around you sometimes when you’re a kid.
Didn’t being hugely successful make the problems go away?
No! Having lots of people all over the world touched by our music was a dream come true. But to have thousands, even millions, of people feel like they know you in an intimate way, it was difficult. I’m at a place in my life now where I think I’m pretty good at dealing with it. That whole thing, it’s not so scary any more. But it was scary in the beginning, for sure. [Source]
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!”