CHOM 97.7 Interview: Amy Lee and Lzzy Hale announce upcoming Evanescence + Halestorm concert in Montreal (23/4/2024)
Randy Renaud caught up with Amy Lee and Lzzy Hale who announced they will be coming to Bell Centre on October 25.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI-tKOOT6wg&ab_channel=CHOM977Randy Renaud: You were both here in Montreal last year. Amy, you came with Muse, I think that was in March, and Lzzy, you were here in August of last yearā¦
Lzzy: Yes.
R: But I don't think you've ever been to Montreal together, despite doing co-headlining tour, or over the years, right?
L: I donāt think so, this is first time, you're getting it with it.
R: All right, so let's get straight to the big news. Go ahead, who wants to break it to us?
L: I'm pregnant.
Amy: Hahaha!
R: There we go!
L: Iām kidding.
R: All right so you heard it here first.
A: So we're not coming!
L: So we're not coming (laughing)
A: We will be there, we are coming in the flesh on tour together in October to your town, get ready.
R: Fantastic. Plus, Bell [Centre in Montreal, Quebec] is going to be the location. Now I know, Amy, that the very first time you came - you probably don't remember this but it was back in 2011 - Pretty Reckless were also part of that bill.
A: Oh God, I thought you were saying I was pretty reckless. (laughing)
R: Well I can't speak to that, they could have been the case.
A: So funny. Yes I remember that, that was so fun.
R: Now you and Taylor have both gone through a period of grief lately - have you connected with her over the past couple of years with regards to that?
A: Yeah, all three of us are friends. Yes, we have. I know sheās good.
L: I just saw her in La last week and she seems really happy, like just satisfied with where she's at, which is good.
R: And I think, Lzzy, the first time you came through town with Halestorm, I think it was 2013, which was for heavy Montreal - which is the year of your Grammy win as well. But I I could be wrong.
L: I believe so, there might have been something before that but you know, time is very blurry and elastic in my brain. But we love Montreal, I love all of the people there. There's always something that happens with you guys - like either somebody gets their ass grabbed, or the wrong joke at the wrong timeā¦ I feel like those wonderful moments happen. So we're looking forward to coming back and seeing you guys again. And teaming up with Amy - this is just going to be a special show no matter what, we already know that.
A: Yeah.
R: The the story of you two working together goes back a dozen years now, you've told the story many times of Amy going knocking on Lzzy's tour bus door... Did you, when you first approached her about singing together, did you anticipate that there would be this harmony of voices? You know, David Crosby and Graham Nash often tell the story about the first time they sang together and how they had no idea their voices were going to blend in that way, and suddenly there were these otherworldly harmonies. Did you anticipate that or were you as surprised?
A: I know! I mean I thought she was a beautiful singer and I'd been watching the show side stage and thinking:
āI want a piece of that!ā
L: (laughing)
R: It's one thing to both have great voices, it's another thing to be able to blend them as well as you have.
A: True, that is truly special.
L: It's very rare and I think there's one thing about knowing each other can sing, but then realizing there's this beautiful dance that happens with the right people, and the blending of voices and the idea, because we obviously have different voices and different approaches, but it was just magical. And then, fast forward, I'll tell a small story here - fast forward to when we ended up recording
āBreak Inā with Nick Raskulinecz here in Nashville, we did all of that live, you know, I think it was the maybe the third or sixth take or whatever that we did - we ended up filming it, but before we ended up recording it, Amy shows up to the studio and you were making your tea and then we came out and we kind of said:
āWell, maybe we should go over it before we go in and record it!ā And so we just sat there literally acappella, no reference, no music, and just sang through the whole thing, and then I forget what happened, you got up to go do something again, and I just turned to the producer. I'm like,
āDo you know how hard that would be to do with any other singer on Earth?ā I've sung with a lot of people and Amy is so incredibly rare and special in the way that she effortlessly approaches this. But also just there is a natural magic, that is, you are very well-learned as well but there is a natural thing that you can't just recreate with a good singer, you know? So it was a really beautiful, I feel like I've had a couple moments like that with you, that when we met and when we started singing for the first time. For me, I keep realizing how incredible you are, and it's wonderful.
A: I regard you in the exact amount of esteem. And it's interesting too - we've had the pleasure of being able to have conversations about technique and about singing and that's a rare conversation to be able to have with anybody. I'm not friends with a lot of other people that do the exact same thing. (lauging)
L: ā¦ that are NERDS. (laughing)
A: Yeah. But also, you know about life, and our experiences, I think that as far as when you connect vocally, I think there's something deeper there. I think that it comes from like a mutual trust and understanding and respect and just sort of soul match.
R: Yeah, common souls. Exactly. But Amy, this may seem like a strange question: Did your formative years singing in choirs make this an easier process to do? Because you are used to having to blend your voice with other voices?
A: You know what's funny? This is not quite answering it yet, but I was like, on the internet the other night trying to fall asleep, and I just - I forget what happened that started it for me, like I heard a song that I hadn't heard in forever and I literally started googling choirs I could join in Nashville. I miss it!
L: Letās do it! Itās such a great idea.
A: It's such a beautiful thing to be a part of a bigger voice where it's not about
āit's your time to shine, go soloā but the instrument that is created by multiple voices is so special, and to be able to be a part of something bigger than yourself in general is something that's always really attracted me. I mean, being in a band is that, but, yeah. (To Lzzy:) Did you sing in choir?
L: I did in middle school.
A: Okay.
L: I was in Alto, nobody gave me the lead. (laughter)
A: Same! Well I had a choice because I was like, ugh, all the sopranos are, you know, the snobs that want to sing the lead, and I can do the harder thing and actually listen to myself do the non main part.
L: They were really annoying. (laughter) Yeah, I enjoyed that.
A: Yeah. But I love blending my voice and I actually really love singing harmonies and background vocals and alternate parts for people, it's one of my favorite parts in our music and I never get to do that, because people are always asking me to sing because I'm a voice that people know. And that's cool, I love that, but I really do love opportunities to do.
L: I remember that happened with you the first time that we went on tour together, when you wanted to come up and sing
āBreak Inā. I remember saying like,
āWell, you can take a full verse if you want to, it's [okay], you knowā - and you're like:
āNo, I really want to do the harmony!āA:
āNo, please!ā Yeah (laughter)
R: Amy, you made a great analogy once, where you compared the venue that you're performing in as being like a church, the audience is your congregation, which I thought was so beautiful because it's inclusive. They are part of the experience
A: They absolutely are part of the experience. There's something really special that can happen during a live performance. It's not the same in an empty room.
L: It's not and there's a misconception in hard rock and metal or heavier music or whatever you want to call what we do, that everyone's just pissed off and we want to like rage and all that. It's like, it's not that. We are a sanctuary for the weirdos that are just like us. And you're giving them a voice and then you're giving them that opportunity to be shoulder-to-shoulder against people that are just like them and make new friends.
A: And be proud of it! You're so proud to be a part of it. Just to see that it's something bigger than yourself and that there's so many more of that out there.
R: Again the date is coming up on October 25th at Bell, a rare occasion for us here in Montreal, as we get both Amy Lee and Lzzy Hale on stage together. Before we let you go, Amy, I do want to ask you though: As Fallen has turned 20, the anniversary edition came out recently. It has re-entered the Billboard charts, it is now one of the bestselling albums of the 21st century. Congratulations! It is a bit shocking though to think that that album is as old as you were when you recorded it (laughing).
A: Correct.
R: So when you look back upon it, I mean, are you looking back at it almost like a mother looking at their child?
A: That's a good way to put it. It's hard to explain, like I really wanted the anniversary edition whatever to be something special. I have resisted the pressure to re-release our albums through our time. I don't like doing that, I don't like trying to sell our fans something that's not actual new content. It makes me feel like a peddler. But I know that they wanted something, there had to be something done to commemorate the milestone. So we actually spent months like going back and forth, me digging through. I had to watchā¦
I HAD TO (laughing) watch old tapes from the camcorder, literally, that I was carrying around on our first tour, and listen through all these old cassettes that I found were corroding, I'm glad I went through it because I digitized themā¦ (laughing)
L: Thatās smart.
A: Likeā¦ you know!
R: I've got a box of those and I've never digitized them. I'm sure theyāre all [like that]ā¦
A: Well, do it now, donāt wait any longer! Anyway - like just to find something, because so much of it's already out in the world. Find old demos, find old voice notes where I was writing lyrics, like whatever. And then also just to really really really listen to the body of work and remaster it and pay attention to that and think about every element and what you can hear. It really made it, it really was like a little bit of a time machine. And there was so many different feelings and memories that I had forgotten, some of them on purpose, you know. (laughter)
L: Whoops! That one was under the rug!
A: Right. So, it was such a journey, and it IS such a journey. I think the thing that I really focus on the most now is everything that's happened since is absolutely a part of that and back then. So it has a life that is so much more powerful than it was when it first came out, because of all of the life and time and stories and people that have been a part of it - as a listener, as a human being, playing it liveā¦ you know, just so many memories. It's more than a time capsule, It's something that's grown into something I love more over time.
R: Very nice. One of the things that especially made me happy about it re-entering the charts is one of the charts that it re-entered was the Vinyl chart. As a great lover of vinyl records that made me especially happy.
A: Well and it looks really cool! Also, we spent forever on the artwork. I was like,
how do we make this the coolest thing ever?L: Itās so beautiful.
R: Iām gonna let you go, I want to thank you both for taking the time. I'm really really excited to have you both here in Montreal at the same time. I know you've each been here many many times over the years, but to have you both on the same stage here in Montreal, it's going to be extra special!
A: Great. We can't wait to see it!
L: Yeah, can't wait to see it. Thank you for taking the time!
