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Post by princeofpersia on Aug 16, 2018 22:49:18 GMT -5
Evanescence singer Amy Lee talks motherhood, ‘Synthesis’
By Alan Sculley, Correspondent
Posted Aug 16, 2018 at 2:01 AM
Evanescence with front woman Amy Lee performs with a full orchestra at the Xfinity Center, July 18, 2018, in Mansfield, Mass.. [Photo by Robert E. Klein/Invision/AP]
Interview ahead of Tampa show
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 recent phone interview. “And it’s something I honestly, 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 it (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. And then I went into making a kids’ record.”
“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.
“War Story” fulfilled a long-time ambition for Lee to compose for film. It was the first of several projects she undertook after putting Evanescence on hiatus in late 2012, following the touring cycle to promote its third album, a 2011 self-titled release.
She might have gotten into film composing earlier if Evanescence hadn’t come along first.
“I was in school studying composition and my main plan was to really study music for real and become a composer, to be like a David Campbell, to make music for film,” Lee said “That’s what I always wanted to do. And then the band (Evanescence) got signed and took off and I ended up doing that full time, which has been a wonderful (thing). I feel like I’m coming to a point in my career where I’m actually getting to live out both dreams. And it’s just fantastic. I feel like I’m able to be more dynamic and always be learning. That’s what thrills me is always being challenged to do more.”
Evanescence ended up doing much more than just getting a record deal. Formed by singer/pianist Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995, the group saw life change radically when their 2003 album “Fallen,” took off behind the hit songs “Bring Me to Life” and “My Immortal.” The album eventually sold 17 million copies and won Grammy Awards in 2004 for Best Hard Rock Performance (for “Bring Me to Life”) and Best New Artist.
There have been bumps in the road for Evanescence since, including the departure of Moody in 2003 and further personnel changes that saw Lee bring on three new musicians -- bassist Tim McCord, drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn – before the touring cycle behind the popular 2006 album, “The Open Door,” was complete. (The current lineup also includes guitarist Jen Majura.)
That lineup made the most recent Evanescence studio album, a 2011 self-titled album, but not without some difficulties. Along the way, the band changed producers and took a break from recording to help regain its creative stride.
After wrapping up touring behind the “Evanescence” album, the band went on an open-ended hiatus, which prompted speculation over whether Evanescence would remain a band.
It turns out, though, that the time away from Evanescence gave Lee a chance to not only start her family with husband Josh Hartzler, but stretch her wings artistically and eventually confirm to herself that Evanescence is a vital foundation in her musical life.
Of course, there was the soundtrack work for Lee, not only on “War Stories,” but also the short film “Indigo Grey: The Passage” as well as the song “Speak To Me,” which served as the end title theme to the film “Voice from the Stone.”
Lee also saw a casual family project grow into a childrens’ album, “Dream Too Much,” which was released via Amazon in 2015. The project gave Lee the opportunity to sing with her father, a musician and long-time radio deejay.
“It’s beautiful to hear my dad sing like that in that quality,” Lee said. “Like I’ll never lose that. We’ll have that forever, and I realize how precious that is.”
Along with those projects Lee rediscovered her passion for Evanescence. (“I naturally come back to Evanescence because it really is who I am. It really is deep within me,” Lee said.) The group returned to the public eye with a few shows in 2015, followed by a U.S. tour in 2016.
In addition to the roadwork, Lee hatched the “Synthesis” album project. Working closely with noted orchestrator/arranger Campbell, Lee and the other members of Evanescence have re-imagined a dozen songs from the band’s back catalog (plus two new songs), creating new, more prominent string arrangements, replacing the drums with programmed rhythms and dialing back the big guitars that have been part of the goth/classical-tinged hard rock of Evanescence’s studio albums.
The idea for “Synthesis” grew out of a realization Lee said she has long had about Evanescence’s music.
“The orchestral element, the classical influence and the almost hip-hop, sometimes like programming trip-hop/electronic beats, those are two elements of our music that are really part of a sound that has always been there,” she said, noting that her original demos for Evanescence, which often feature piano and drum loops, frequently have had even more of that EDM flavor. “Then we pile on the guitars and everything else, and a lot of that stuff ends up becoming background, not so much in the foreground. By the time we get to the end of every album, there’s usually a point where I wish I had a mix just for myself that was just like the strings, the programming and the vocals, just to hear, there’s all these cool parts going on that I hear, but I know everyone (else) can’t hear (on the final album). So I think that’s where the idea (for “Synthesis”) stemmed from.”
The tour to support “Synthesis” is as ambitious as the album itself, as Evanescence will be joined on stage by a local orchestra in each city on the tour. Lee said one thing she loves about performing in the “Synthesis” format is this new instrumental/sonic setting for the songs brings out different emotional elements in the songs and allows her to bring a more nuanced approach to her vocals.
“It enables me to really sing more like I sing in the studio. Typically I’m fighting the big distortion of the guitars and the big drums,” she said. “There’s still plenty of sound for me to stand up against, but it’s different. It feels different, for sure. And it does enable me to sing differently. I’m using a different microphone that’s a lot more sensitive and it’s really fun to sing in a much more dynamic way live.”
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