Evanescence Announce Fall 2021 US Arena Tour With Halestorm
General On-Sale this Friday, 5/14, at 10am Local Time
Listen to The Bitter Truth HERE
Evanescence is returning to the concert stage with Halestorm in the US this fall. The tour will kick off Friday, November 5th, in Portland, OR, and take the bands to arenas across the country before wrapping up in the Northeast right before the holidays.
General on-sale begins Friday, May 14th at 10am local time. Limited VIP packages will be available for purchase that include premium seating, access to attend Evanescence’s Soundcheck followed by a moderated Q&A with the band, exclusive merchandise items, and more. A May 12th presale exclusively open to top Spotify listeners of both Evanescence and Halestorm will precede the general on-sale.
2021 Tour Dates:
Fri, Nov 5 – Portland, OR – Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Sun, Nov 7 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Tues, Nov 9 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center at San Jose
Fri, Nov 12 – Las Vegas, NV – The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – The Chelsea
Sat, Nov 13 – San Diego, CA – San Diego State University – Viejas Arena
Mon, Nov 15 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Federal Theatre
Sat, Nov 20 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena
Thu, Dec 2 – Duluth, GA – Infinite Energy Arena
Sun, Dec 5 – Saint Louis, MO – Saint Louis University – Chaifetz Arena
Sat, Dec 11 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Sun, Dec 12 – Cincinnati, OH – Heritage Bank Center
Tue, Dec 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – University of Pittsburgh – Petersen Events Center
Out Now: Evanescence’s New LP, ‘The Bitter Truth’ - Evanescence
Purchase or stream the album HERE now Watch ‘Evanescence: Embracing the Bitter Truth’ at The Coda Collection HERE now on Amazon Prime
‘The Bitter Truth,’ Evanescence’s first album of original music in a decade, is out now on BMG. A return to the band’s heavy roots, ‘The Bitter Truth’ is a reflection of both the personal tragedies in the band members’ own lives (the unexpected passing of frontwoman Amy Lee’s brother, the sudden loss of a child by bassist Tim McCord) and the collective tragedies of the planet amidst racial inequality, COVID, and economic upheaval. But, despite the darkness and bitterness of life, the album’s resounding message is one of light: Pushing through is better than giving up.
Purchase or stream ‘The Bitter Truth’ HERE
Forced to write and record the majority of the album apart from one another throughout 2020, with an unprecedented work flow and no creative limits, the band naturally returned to the fiery, epic sound for which they are known. Lyrically, the heaviness of the world bred raw honesty, and brought to life themes both old and new. A process of healing in itself, for Lee, writing and singing about topics such as inner demons, grief, the “I’m okay” facade society forces on those struggling with their mental health, rebellion in the face of injustice and misogyny, and the freedom that comes with ending toxic relationships ultimately culminated in a sense of resilience.
Amy Lee said of ‘The Bitter Truth:’
I want people to come away from this album feeling hope and empowerment and strength. Something that inspires me a lot in life is people who have overcome great obstacles – survivors. I hope we can pass on the idea that even when things are impossibly painful life is worth living. Leaning into those darkest, most challenging moments, facing them and finding we’re not alone in them, makes us real. Makes us strong enough to take them on. And it brings us together, if we let it, in a deeper appreciation of the light… and the truth. Thanks for the memories. Now let’s go make some new ones.
The quarantine-creation of the album is also chronicled in a new documentary, ‘Evanescence: Embracing The Bitter Truth,’ directed by Adam Jones and out today via The Coda Collection, the music-centric streaming channel on Amazon Prime Video. Capturing the album’s genesis from the band’s last (planned) live show in December 2019 and its literal destruction by fire to the mostly-remote mixing and completion processes, the documentary is necessary viewing for fans and anyone looking to understand the art behind the art of the pandemic era.
To watch the documentary and to sign up for a free 7-day Coda Collection trial, visit www.codacollection.co.
PRAISE FOR EVANESCENCE AND ‘THE BITTER TRUTH:’
“One of rock’s definitive voices” – Rolling Stone
“Ferocious and hymnal” – The New York Times
“Evanescence returns with a mission” – Billboard
“Evanescence are stronger and louder than ever” – SPIN
“Feels like now” – GRAMMY.com
“Amy Lee is one of the most influential women in rock music” – Consequence of Sound
“One of the most potent voices in music” – Entertainment Weekly
“I needed to face the abyss head on”: Evanescence’s Bitter Truth laid bare
Think you know everything about Evanescence’s first album of new material in a decade? Think again. Amy Lee opens up like never before on the healing journey of The Bitter Truth…
When it was finally finished, Amy Lee slipped outside of her house by herself. It was late; everyone inside was already fast asleep. She ventured out into the garden and climbed into the sanctuary of her son’s tree house – away from the world, away from all distraction. After months and months of gruelling writing and soul-searching, there was nothing more to change. Nothing more to be tweaked. Nothing left for Amy to do but lay on top of a sleeping bag, get her headphones – good headphones – and press play. As she looked up at the surrounding night sky and branches, she listened to The Bitter Truth, Evanescence’s first all-new studio album in a decade.
“It was a perfect feeling,” reflects Amy today of that moment. “It was just satisfaction, true satisfaction.”
She is recalling this experience from her parents’ home in Arkansas, where Amy and her son are visiting at the time of K!’s call. That she sounds in such high spirits is not only down to her being liberated from the pressure cooker of album deadlines, but also the fact that they’re snowed in. Like, really, really snowed in. And that means one thing. “We’re doing a lot of sledding,” she laughs.
Loathe as we are to ever have to interrupt some well-earned rock star tobogganing, the imminent arrival of Evanescence’s excellent fourth album – and let the record show that Amy considers The Bitter Truth, not 2017’s record of orchestral re-workings Synthesis, their fourth album – trumps all other concerns.
You might think you know everything about it by now. Recorded during the pandemic, and drip-released throughout, no other Evanescence album has been preceded by so many singles. Last year, Amy opened up about the power and poignancy of some of these tracks – how, for example, the testimony of Chanel Miller, the survivor of a 2015 sexual assault by her fellow Stanford University student Brock Turner, influenced her to write Use My Voice. But make no mistake: in sound and theme, the singles so far are just the tip of the iceberg.
“When something isn’t quite our best, I know, and I can’t let that be good enough”
Hear Amy Lee discuss how Evanescence pushed themselves on The Bitter Truth with the help of producer Nick Raskulinecz
Amy conceived of The Bitter Truth as a journey. It begins with the compelling abstract noises of two-part opener Artifact/The Turn – the former the product of her “by myself in my hotel room on tour”, the latter a collaboration with Scott Kirkland of the Crystal Method. “I see the beginning of the album as starting from a Ground Zero place after a tragedy, and then, when the guitars come in, for me, that’s getting back up,” she explains.
Which brings us neatly to Broken Pieces Shine: a stunning track that sees Evanescence – completed by guitarists Jen Majura and Troy McLawhorn, bassist Tim McCord and drummer Will Hunt – in world-beating form. It is also, arguably, the greatest song ever conceived during a spot of grocery shopping.
“We were in Canada on a writing camp trip out in the woods in 2019,” recalls Amy, before noting how the hunter-gatherer duties in the band were split. “The men went to go get music stuff that we forgot, like a snare stand and whatever else, and the women went to the grocery store (laughs). On the way back, we were just showing each other ideas in the car on our phones, little pre-recorded demos and stuff. Jen had this really cool idea that turned into that chugging verse music. I just started rewinding it and singing on it over and over.”
It may have started out life as a fun way to pass time in the car, but it has come to mean much, much more to its creator.
“I see Broken Pieces Shine as an anthem for us and our fans,” says Amy. “From the beginning, I visualised us onstage in that ‘together moment’. It’s about letting yourself fall apart, letting those flaws become the things that we not only accept about ourselves, but also embrace. To be your true self rather than holding it in is truly freeing. We have things about us that we may see as flaws, but just change your perspective a little bit – our flaws can be our superpowers. That’s what makes us different. That’s what makes us unique.”
It’s a song about the pain and beauty of survival, the wisdom bred from suffering, the grace that can be found in the acceptance of what is. In so many ways, Amy Lee has learned these lessons the hard way…
“Thanks!” enthuses Amy Lee. “I don’t fit into metal categories for nothin’!” This is her response when Kerrang! observes that, on some of the lyrics on The Bitter Truth, Amy sounds like someone you really wouldn’t want to piss off. She had given us fair warning about this, of course – last year hinting that we would once again get a glimpse of the “catty vibe” that defined Evanescence’s classic single Call Me When You’re Sober. It’s just that on some of these new tracks, Amy comes across as someone who will, if you push her too far, not only stick the knife in and twist the blade, but also break it off at the handle. And then make you eat the handle. The aptly-named Take Cover, for example, sees her threaten to become ‘the bitch you make me out to be’ over rumbling blasts of bass and twisted riffs. It’s hard to tell what she’s out for in the song… is it justice or revenge?
“Caaaaaaaaan’t it be both?” she laughs, elongating the can’t so much it almost morphs into a creaking sound.
It’s one of many songs on The Bitter Truth in which Amy toys with both the illusion of fame and the people who have tried to gaslight her during her career. Recent single Yeah Right lit this particular fuse – it not only stunned with its deft move into Goldfrappian electro territory, but also its acid-tongued sarcasm. ‘Yeah, I’m a rock star,’ sings Amy over bubbling synth notes. ‘I’m a queen resurrected just as messed up as before.’ This is something dialled up to 11 on the ominous throb of Better Without You – a song that sees Amy deliver the lines: ‘’Cause this is my world, little girl you’d be lost on your own… I’ll do you a favour if you sign on the dotted line.’
“It starts out totally raw; just the real life thing”
Amy Lee on writing The Bitter Truth's moving opener Artifact/The Turn – and how producer Nick Raskulinecz convinced her to keep it raw
It’s hard to read this and not think of the misogyny and double standards Amy Lee has spoken about encountering while traversing the alpha male-riddled rock world, both onstage and off. Be it recalling how she was told Bring Me To Life had to feature a male co-singer against her wishes, or revealing to K! last year how she felt the pressure to “look my best, be a certain weight and be beautiful”, she’s had no shortage of battles.
Amy explains that she’s spent a good deal of time sifting through her past of late. She’s even gone so far to allocate some time to going through old audio and video that she had stashed away in her attic for years. Terrified they would be lost, she’s been converting old cassettes to digital.
“It’s just making me zoom out and see my life as a whole,” she explains. “It’s been really, really fascinating, and jogged my memory about a lot of things. So that actually influenced me in some of this writing and seeing things from a new perspective, but also seeing them how they were.”
So where does this leave a song like Better Without You?
“The song is really hard…” she begins. “I can’t lie in the music. And over time, that’s become truer and truer. I’m peeling away more of the layers of imagery and really being specific at times just saying what I really need to get off my chest. Some of what I’m saying are things that I’m not comfortable breaking down and explaining, because I don’t want to bring up old drama. Better Without You is a difficult song to describe and go into detail about. And so is Yeah Right, actually.”
Amy Lee still remembers the peculiar colour of the sky over Cape Canaveral on January 28, 1986. She was just five years old at the time. Somewhere in the world a picture still exists of her holding an icicle on that bracingly cold day; it was a big deal to young Amy, as she wasn’t used to seeing snow where she was from.
Her family had travelled that day to see Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe board NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger and blast off into outer space. They waited and waited for the countdown, yet there was no sign of lift-off. Tired of waiting, eventually the Lee family took a break to get some food.
“When we came back, the sky was black,” says Amy, recalling the aftermath of the Challenger explosion that cost the lives of all astronauts onboard and which went down in history as the darkest day in the American space programme. “It had just happened and everybody was standing there looking up at the sky with their mouth open. My dad asked what happened and some guy was like, ‘It just blew up.’”
This was not Amy’s only encounter with death in her adolescence.
“As a young kid I had quite a few impactful moments,” she says. “Obviously, that one wasn’t anywhere near as impactful as losing my sister [when Amy was just a child]. But I was faced with trying to understand our mortality at a younger age than a lot of kids around me. It always made me feel a little bit different, just to have to understand and be aware that I could die; that that happens, and there’s no fair set amount of time that you are entitled to. I’ll never forget what the sky looked like that day.”
The vocalist famously known for singing My Immortal has, then, from a young age, been acutely aware of the spectre of mortality. Last year, she told K! about the devastating loss of her younger brother Robby – who had battled severe epilepsy – in January 2018. His presence can be intuited on The Bitter Truth’s most astounding track Far From Heaven – a gorgeous piano ballad complete with swelling strings from composer (and Synthesis collaborator) David Campbell. Surprisingly, this, the emotional epicentre of the album almost didn’t make the record. When The Bitter Truth was originally finished, it was ballad deficient. And that was fine.
“We were all just going, ‘Hey, you know what? Every album is different – we don’t have to have that [type of] song every time,’” recalls Amy of their thought process.
Not only was she exhausted, time was also fast running out for any new songs to even make the deadline.
“I was really struggling,” she says. “I wasn’t feeling full of aggression, and all the strength and power – and there’s so much of that on this album – I just didn’t have any left when we got to that point.”
Only it turns out that she did. All Amy had to do was sit down at the piano.
“Far From Heaven just came out,” she says. “It just needed to come out of me. That was the last thing on the album. It completed the puzzle.”
Far From Heaven not only showcases the maturation of Evanescence’s sound, but in particular the power and nuance of Amy’s songwriting. Upon first listen it seems to address her late brother Robby, her voice freighted with emotion as she delivers piercing lines like, ‘What I wouldn’t give to be with you for one more night.’ And it is, she confirms, about him indirectly. Far From Heaven details a state of mourning that distorts both time and memory; the crosscurrents of grief that register not only as a permanent scar on the heart but also as a tremor in the soul.
“It’s about questioning my faith,” explains Amy. “And it’s not like it’s the first time, but it’s just very raw, real and in the hardest way I ever have. Having to really look at it and wonder, ‘Is anybody out there?’ That’s a real question I’ve been asking over the past couple years, through everything, and I don’t have the answers. I never have had the answers. That’s the whole thing that makes belief belief. We just can believe, we don’t know. But it’s not just about that. That’s part of the reason it was so hard to write, I spent two or three weeks just stuck in this funk, like in this depression, trying to get it off my chest because it’s not the way that I feel all the time. But it is a feeling that I have that comes up in me regularly: wondering where the people are that I’ve lost, and thinking about time in a more fluid way.”
There are no easy answers here.
“I do believe love exists beyond life, part of that is connected, I think, to holding on to [lost loved ones] inside ourselves,” she continues. “It’s more than a memory. It was real, it really happened – what existed still exists. I’m talking about it, so it does. It is really deeply hard to talk about, not because it’s so painful for me, but because it’s very difficult to put into words. I just needed to face the abyss head on. That was one thing that was missing from the album. Honestly, part of me, in this time, has been facing the grief and darkness. And with all the hope, and joy and empowerment that I truly do feel – and so much of the album comes from that place – I just can’t gloss over and not also admit the other side… I talk about my siblings, because those are the obviously to the closest to me, but there’s been a lot of loss in my life, I’ve been through it plenty of times. I’m reminded every time with grief that there’s a choice you have to make for yourself between life and death; between getting up or not. You have to talk about the struggle of that.”
It strikes K! that a song like this could be the kind an artist makes and either feels an enormous sense of catharsis, or one they write and never want to hear or play it again…
“While writing it, I felt so low,” Amy admits. “I was just living in it without an out. When it was finished, I really loved it; it’s beautiful. Even when a song is openly dark and about pain, it can bring me joy. Sometimes you just need to say that hard thing you’ve been locking down inside, get it out, process it, and then move on to the next song.”
This past Christmas, Amy played the album for her family. Her dad is, she says, “a music guy”. He was once in a band himself before he made the choice to pursue a family life, and explored a career in radio. He’s 10 years retired, but even now Amy says she’ll hear him doing voice work on TV for insurance companies (“You’d never know it’s him, but to me it’s like, ‘Dad!’”).
“He does a lot of studying on artists and songwriting,” she says. “He’s that guy. So after every song we sit, break it down and talk about it.”
What did he make of Far From Heaven?
“That song,” says Amy, softly, “that song made him cry.”
“You’re afraid to get your heart broken again when you get hurt”
Amy Lee on how Part Of Me details her move from grief to re-embracing the magic of life
Were the album to end on this note, it would make for a very different record. As stands, The Bitter Truth ends on a note not of doubt, but of hope with Blind Belief.
“I believe it’s in us as a human race to survive this time,” she says. “Absolutely, I believe we will get through this. But, of course, I don’t know for sure. Ending the album with Blind Belief was deliberate, particularly the line ‘love over all’, because that’s impossibly hard to say, especially when we’ve seen the evil that’s crept out of the dark corners in broad daylight in the last few years. Not that we’ve never seen that before, but it’s just been so in our face, especially as Americans. Even so, I believe we do need love over all. It should be simple, but it is complicated. The album is a journey through grief, among other things. The ending is reaching that seemingly impossible point of acceptance. Forgiveness, honour, remembrance and love over all. And when I come to the end of all those feelings – including the rage, the grief, all of that all mixed up – I feel released. I feel like I want to step into the future.”
About the future, then. It’s taken a year of hard work to end a decade of waiting for Evanescence fans. Not to get greedy, but when will it be acceptable to ask Amy about another album after this one?
“Ten years!” she says. “Just kidding. I mean, I already feel like I need to do something creative again.”
For now it’s time for the world to experience what Amy Lee did that night she pressed play on The Bitter Truth in her son’s tree house.
“We left nothing behind on this one, so I hope people like it,” she says. “And if they don’t? No regrets from me. I’ll tell you this: I put my whole self into it.”
Evanescence’s The Bitter Truth is released on March 26 via Sony Music.
Listen to Amy Lee’s fierce declaration of independence on Evanescence’s new single, Better Without You
Hear Better Without You, the latest single to be lifted from the new Evanescence album, The Bitter Truth
Evanescence have released another single from their forthcoming The Bitter Truth album, and this time, Amy Lee isn’t holding back as she shuts down those who’ve sought to hold her down in the past.
Better Without You is the fifth single to be released from what will be the first album of all-new Evanescence material since 2011’s self-titled album, following on from Wasted On You, The Game Is Over, Yeah Right and Use My Voice.
Lyrics such as “I’ll do you a favour and save you if you sign on the line / Don’t worry your pretty little head about the future its all fine” find Lee fiercely asserting her independence.
Taking part in a Reddit AMA late in 2019, Lee said of the new album: I can't wait for you to hear it. It's dark and heavy. Its also got moments of weird and sparse. Little bit of everything. Definitely some [2006 album] The Open Door vibes but not the same.”
“It’s a rock record,” the singer told Kerrang! last year. “We wanted to showcase the strength, fun and power of the band. There’s no holding back. It’s heavy sonically, and it feels good to go heavy. Really good.”
Due for release on March 26 via Sony, The Bitter Truth is described by the label as “an epic, band-driven collection inspired by struggle, loss and overcoming within the (often bitter) realities of the 21st century.”
Evanescence’s Amy Lee: “I have total hope… but it’s important to be ready to fight when it’s time”
In the next instalment of our 2020 round-up series, Amy Lee looks back with “pride” at finishing the new Evanescence album, as well as how she used her voice to empower others when they needed it most.
It was supposed to be the year that Evanescence fans had been dreaming of. After nine long years of waiting, the multi-platinum group were officially working on their highly-anticipated fourth studio album. A huge arena tour with Within Temptation beckoned. Everything was primed. And then… Well, you know the rest. What’s interesting, however, is that 2020 nonetheless turned out to be one of the most prolific years in this band’s existence: not only did they manage to circumnavigate all of the obstacles rustled up by COVID to write and record their album The Bitter Truth, they also released a slew of new singles. Back in September, Amy Lee opened up about the inspiration behind some of their new material, from the loss of her brother Robby to her decision to using her platform more to pro-actively call out social injustices – even if it meant alienating some fans in the process. Three months later, the album is finally done. Here, Kerrang! checks in with Amy to get a debrief on the highs and lows of a year like no other…
It’s not been that long since you last spoke to K!, but a lot has changed – Joe Biden has been elected and you finally finished Evanescence’s new album! On a personal and professional level, how are you going to look back on 2020?
“Oh, man, mostly with a lot of pride. Last time we talked, I was coming towards the end of making the album but I wasn’t there yet; I was feeling a lot of pressure. I’m really, really, really proud of what we did with our time this year. It’s been for hard everybody mentally feeling the weight of the world and, to some degree, our mortality. Some days just getting out of bed in the morning has been difficult, so the fact that we made an album, and we made a great album, means I’m always going to look back on this year and feel a big sense of pride.”
From the outside looking in, and given all the obstacles to prevent you making the album, it does seem you kicked quarantine’s arse…
“That is exactly what I feel like! Like, ‘Oh my god, we did it!’ I’m in one last final push now because we finished the music and the album is mastered, and I can’t explain to you what an incredible difference that made on my heart because I’m a perfectionist, I’m a ‘detail person’. There are so many little tiny details in our music and in our art – I can’t let anything go. Every time I listen to something that’s unfinished, which I’ve been doing aaaaaall year, I’ve only been thinking about what’s wrong with it; I hear all the little things that still need to change, whether it’s, ‘That keyboard is too loud!’ or, ‘That one line is not good enough!’ My mood, my heart, has totally changed now I can listen back to the entire album and not hear anything that sounds like a mistake, or something I still have to fix. I can just enjoy it for the first time really – I can’t tell you how good that feels. I’ve just been listening to it on repeat.”
A couple of months ago you told us that we hadn’t heard half of where the Evanescence album goes sonically. Since then you’ve released the curveball of Yeah Right – is that the biggest surprise on the album?
“I think there’s definitely more where that came from. When making a complete album, especially after all this time, I always want to just put out a statement, like, ‘This is where we’re at, this is who we are’ – it has to be a whole spectrum of emotions and reflections that make up who you are, who the band is. So far, I feel like each song that we put out is a very different colour of the spectrum and there are more colours yet to come, for sure. Yeah Right has been a long time coming; I started that song a decade ago. It was mostly there, it had been at the top of the pile for a really, really long time – we’ve always had a cool pile of extra scraps and pieces of unfinished songs. That’s just one that kept on not plugging in, and then something happened this year when we got together and started playing and pulling songs together in pre-production – I was like, ‘I finally know how we can make it work!’ It’s one of those songs that we’re going to have to figure out how to do live because I don’t want to be glued to the moog the whole time. It might be a good time to whip out the keytar!”
You also collaborated with Bring Me The Horizon this year. What was that experience like for you?
“I loved diving into collaborations headfirst this year. It gives me an outlet to just not be bound by anything. The Bring Me The Horizon thing came at an unexpectedly perfect moment. We had sort of talked about, ‘Maybe one day we can do something’, and when their song came through it was during a really busy time for me, I was like, ‘I don’t have time for this – this is the worst time ever and everybody’s waiting on me!’ But then I heard it and I just couldn’t deny it. It was just really, really good for me to take one step out from being thick in in my own woods and take something from start to finish and work with somebody that I’ve never worked with before. Oli [Sykes, frontman] and I just went back and forth encouraging each other and saying, like, ‘Hey, let’s do this! Maybe change this line to this!’ – that kind of stuff. I’d work on an idea, lay it down, send it over and see what he said in the morning! Bring Me The Horizon were incredible to work with. I would love to spend some time playing some shows together or something because I really, really like their music – I love their new album. I’m really grateful that that one came out for me.”
If we’re talking 2020, who’s been your inspiration this year?
“Oh man, I gotta be honest, I don’t have a good answer for that, because I have just had my head so far my own music’s ass – all I have been doing is just really deeply like focused on our stuff. Beyond that, I’m with [my son] Jack and we’re just listening to SpongeBob songs.”
You’ve said that the biggest lesson you learn this year was to not take anything for granted. But what did you discover that you’d been taking for granted?
“Well, touring for one, and obviously everybody who’s in music is saying that right now. But that’s not just lip service. There are times for all of us where we’ve been on tour and just wanted to go home. You get in a habit where it’s fun and you look forward to it but then, sooner than later, it’s like, ‘Okay, I’m tired! I miss home.’ We were really looking forward to the tour we were about to go on when everything shut down, we had a bunch of new production. At first, even though that was a big disappointment, it was like, ‘Well, you know what, I was feeling sad to leave Jack – I can look at the bright side and spend some time at home.’ When that couple of weeks turned into months turned into the rest of the year and beyond, we all really just started to realise how lucky we are, and how amazing and special touring is, especially the part where you’re onstage – playing a show and feeling that instant gratification and living reciprocal joy and satisfaction that comes from a live show just fills your soul. And I miss it; I really, really miss it.”
So can we expect the first Evanescence live show with fans again to be an epic four-hour set…
“There’s gonna be tears, there’s gonna be a lot of drinking, it’ll be like, ‘Amy’s voice is thrashed after the first show!’”
Did you use quarantine to learn any new skills?
“I actually did. Now that the mastering is done and I’m not in here putting my music skills to work, I opened back up an old book of Beethoven sonatas that’s been underneath my piano for years, and started working on learning a new piece. I’m not totally nailing it, trust me. But my ear is really good, that’s why I did as well as I did learning classical piano – if I could just hear it, then I can get there a lot easier because I’m a really bad sight reader. So that makes me feel like I’m working my brain and improving myself because it’s really hard – I have to think about like four things at once!”
Other than missing playing live shows, was there anything else you wish you could have done more of this year?
“I’m with my husband and my son but I really miss my siblings and my parents. I really have taken just how much I love my family from all of this. What we can learn is to not take that for granted again and to see how precious our time is. This moment right now, this December, is not forever. And I know it’ll be different soon but rushing will be bad. We’re in a very bad place medically in our country. It’s bad everywhere. It’s just whether or not people are willing to admit it. And that’s the scariest part, is that we can’t all be together and unified in this moment and be like, ‘Let’s stand up and fight it!’ It’s like, ‘No, let’s fight each other!’ It’s the worst, it’s just wrong. It’s so wrong that we’ve been taken advantage of while we’re vulnerable by our leaders.”
On that note, 2020 was a big year for you in terms of using your voice more politically, even if it meant you losing some fans. How did that pan out for you?
“I felt like it’s been just totally very, very positive. And it wasn’t like me going on Facebook or Twitter and just stating my opinions to save the world, everybody’s doing that. If you really want to make change, you have to make an impact and listen to people and inspire people and have private conversations with people that disagree with you. I think it starts from a level like that. With Use My Voice in general, writing a song like that, that’s what we do. That’s what people are going to listen to. Those are the words that have a chance of shining a light and breaking through and showing somebody something they didn’t think of, or a perspective that they didn’t see. Or maybe just empower them to feel strong enough to use the voice that they have that that was the biggest mission with that one. I believe in the good of people. I really do. And it’s not that the evil doesn’t exist, we are sooooo seeing it…”
Do you feel hopeful about the future?
“I do, I feel very hopeful. We just haven’t had a chance to celebrate yet. Our parade has been completely rained on by our president. It’s really unfair. And it’s hard to go, ‘Wooooo!’ It’s like, ‘Oh God, now what’s going to happen?’ I absolutely have hope, I believe in the good of people, I believe there are more people that want freedom and justice for all people.”
What a crazy notion…
“I know! I feel like there are more people that believe that than people who only want to have their way and are like, ‘I only care about me.’ It’s been really hard to see so much of that, but I don’t believe that’s the majority. Now we’re just in a moment of, ‘How much can these people in power get away with?’ And I am very concerned about that and what that’s going to mean for the future. I’m a parent, and when you start to see the whole system be burned down, it’s very scary for what could happen next. We’ve just been through so much. It’s hard not to be angry when people who should be helping don’t have compassion or a backbone. So I have hope, yes, of course, I have total hope. We’re totally going to get through this. But I think it’s important also to keep our guard up and be ready to fight when it’s time.”
Yeah right was a song I started 10 years ago with our good friend Will B. Hunt (the other one! Synthesis/DTM etc). After our self titled album went in a different direction and this song was set aside, I made a promise to myself that I wasn’t going to give up on it. I knew it was worth fighting for. Perspectives shifted, lyrics got a new twist, the stars aligned and it finally clicked into place for us as a band on this record. I couldn’t have imagined it like this back then, and I’m so glad we waited for it to become what it is now. I’m so proud! Thank you Will, thank you to my ferocious band for bringing the fire and to Nick Raskulinecz for pushing us to a whole new level.
Happy release day!
Also, happy pre-order day! We finally have our release date I can hardly believe it. March 26! Swipe for The Bitter Truth full track list (yes, it’s official). We can’t wait for you to hear all of these!
Love,
Amy
Evanescence bring their history to life on spectacular, super-intimate livestream
Evanescence shine in close confines during their brilliant studio livestream
Normally, a year in which Evanescence were forced to delay the release of their latest album would be the stuff of nightmares for fans. This is after all a band who, over two decades into their career, still only have three original studio albums to their name. Contrary to expectation, however, 2020 has actually proven to be one of their most prolific years yet. Not only has the pandemic seen them release a string of new singles (more in one year than any other in their existence, in fact), we’ve also had a slew of filmed-from-home video content, revealing interviews and, the latest in this rush of activity, this past weekend’s livestream gig.
Before a note is even played it’s revelatory in nature. To begin, Amy Lee races through fan questions for half an hour and covers everything from her recent Bring Me The Horizon collaboration to an upcoming cassette release that’s “not the album, but is to do with it”. At times the conversation is deeply moving, such as Amy talking about the loss of her brother; at others it’s hilarious as she disappears from view and we hear her rummaging through her home to dig out a keyboard to show the presets for Swimming Home. There is one key message above all else tonight: “The album’s done!” Amy beams. The Bitter Truth, due on March 26, 2021, is finally on its way. But first? A chance to hear how some of it sounds live.
Recorded at Nashville’s Rock Falcon studio, we are first greeted with the sight of the band – albeit with guitarist Jen Majura and bassist Tim McCord joining remotely from Germany and California respectively – opening with their new album’s brilliant lead single Wasted On You. While recent livestreams seem to be becoming ever more bold in the production stakes, this is clear reminder that none of these trimmings are needed. There’s no pyro. No blinding lights. Just the band flanked by low-wattage bulbs, flickering candles and amps in the space where they’ve been recording their latest album. There’s an intimacy here you just don’t get with exploding CO2 canons.
Amy Lee’s in spectacular voice throughout but no more so than the second song, The Game Is Over. Indeed, it’s only when seeing her perform it up close that you realise the sheer level of exertion required to belt it out. There’s a strong chance mere mortals would die if they tried to tackle this one at karaoke. Put another way: Amy more than earns her tea break straight afterwards.
From there the set temporarily zigs and zags between highlights from Evanescence’s back catalogue. There’s the wonderful surprise of The Open Door classic The Only One (“An oldie that just feels right for now,” explains Amy) being dusted off. It’s followed by their self-titled album’s Sick (“The lyrics have never meant as much to me as they do right now,” says Amy) and Goooooooing Uuuuuuuuunder, which is given some extra crunch courtesy of Jen Majura.
Elsewhere, rousing recent single Use My Voice is given an emotional introductory speech, while Amy uses Bring Me To Life to draw attention to the felt-absence of the crowd. “This isn’t going to be quite the same without you guys all singing back to me,” she says beforehand. While it’s true that nothing can replace the ecstatic power of band/audience interaction, there is something to compensate for it. Quite frankly, the sight of The Bitter Truth producer Nick Raskulinecz air drumming and miming the whole way through their 2003 anthem is worth the price of admission alone. We see you, Nick. We see you.
As the set comes into its home strait, Amy declares her intention to “shift gears” and moves over to an acoustic piano. First comes a gorgeous solo rendition of Lost In Paradise – one of the finest songs in their canon. What’s truly impressive isn’t just the notes Amy hits, but rather the way she inhabits the feeling of the words. Through its elegant, slowburn passages, she delivers the lyrics as if she’s coming up with the words on the spot, rather than merely reciting them. It’s a stunning, vulnerable performance that sets up the poignant closing cover of Portishead’s Glory Box.
Given that this is but a nine-song set, there are obviously some big tracks missing, not least their compelling new single Yeah Right which sees Evanescence surprisingly tapping into the same kind of electro-glam stomp Goldfrapp practiced circa 2003. In truth, though, it wouldn’t have fit. This brilliantly conceived set isn’t concerned with ticking every box, it’s about capturing a particular mood. Evanescence present a collection of songs that speak to the particular pressures, agonies and hopes of the here are now. And it’s spectacular.
Evanescence Announces New Song "Yeah Right" and "The Bitter Truth" Pre-order!
Evanescence’s first album of original music in a decade, ‘The Bitter Truth,’ will be released on March 26th, 2021 (BMG), and pre-orders are now live HERE.
Starting now, fans can pre-order a digital version, CD, vinyl and a limited edition deluxe fan box set featuring a bonus CD, journal, poster and special cassette of exclusive audio from the making of The Bitter Truth.
Every pre-order will automatically come with downloads of already-released songs “Wasted On You”, “The Game Is Over”, and “Use My Voice” as well as “Yeah Right,” the band’s latest song to be released, out today. Listen to “Yeah Right” HERE.
Heavy and playful, the song’s industrial groove combined with Amy Lee’s biting lyrics reveals a self-cynical view of the band’s experience thus far in the music industry.
She’s speaking out like never before — and burning through a new Evanescence album, pandemic or no pandemic
Amy Lee misses Brooklyn. She lived there for 12 years with her husband (and later their son, born in 2015), before they left their apartment for Nashville a year ago.
“The perfect year,” she says with an eye roll over Zoom. Lee had hoped to be closer to her family in Arkansas and friends in Nashville when she moved, only to find herself stuck at home with the rest of the world. “We haven’t gotten [to see people] as much as we would have liked to because of Covid, but now we are here, and we will be set up for a better next year,” she adds optimistically.
That’s not the only plan she’s had to readjust: Earlier this year, her alt-metal band, Evanescence, returned to the studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz, writing and recording songs for what will be their first album of new material since 2011’s Evanescence. While the pandemic slowed them down, the group has forged onward, working remotely at first and later, after getting negative Covid tests, at a Nashville studio. In April, they released the sobering power ballad “Wasted on You” as the lead single from their very much in-progress LP, The Bitter Truth, which is due to be released in early 2021.
“I’m not going to rush,” says Lee, 38. “I’m just trying to live in the moment, feeding my soul with the music.”
When the band began making a concerted effort to work on new material last year, their one rule was that there would be no rules. They began with a wealth of material and inspiration, along with a couple decade-old songs that finally feel ripe for release. Since August, when her U.S.-based bandmates took tour buses to join her in Nashville (guitarist Jen Majura has remained in Germany), they’ve been powering through the rest of the album.
“The energy was just amped,” Lee says. “We were in there on fire. Now, the guys are back at their homes, and I am wading through the aftermath of all the music, piecing it together and finalizing the record.” In some ways, she says, lockdown has been a blessing: “The upside of this time is that I’ve had to buckle down and focus. Even on the days that I don’t want to, I come out here and I go, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s finish the album.’ ”
The near-decade leading up to The Bitter Truth has been both eye-opening and invigorating for Lee. After the release of Evanescence, the group went on hiatus to deal with a legal dispute with their former label. Lee took some time to work on solo projects, including a children’s album. When the band got back in the studio, it was to reimagine their past hits with orchestral arrangements for the 2017 LP Synthesis.
Those changes, among others, mean that The Bitter Truth will be their first album with the current lineup of Evanescence. The band has changed significantly since Lee formed Evanescence as a duo with guitarist Ben Moody in 1995, the year after they met at a Christian youth camp in Little Rock at age 13. Lee, whose father worked in the radio business, had grown up loving Motown before seeing the film Amadeus and falling for classical music. “I wanted to be like Mozart,” she says. “I begged for piano lessons. I got to take piano lessons. Then grunge hit.”
Soon, she was deep into the radio rock of the day, like teens across America, listening to Nirvana, Soundgarden, Tori Amos, and Beck. At the same time, she was writing poetry and thinking about the connections between her favorite sounds. “It just all fell together,” she says. “The heavier the music — the more it was in the Metallica, Pantera world — the more similarities I could draw with Bach and Beethoven.”
Evanescence signed their first record deal in the late Nineties, when Lee was 19 and starting to study theory composition at Middle Tennessee State University. It took a few independent EPs and a jump to a major label for the duo to become a full band, enlisting a few friends for their first full-length album, 2003’s Fallen. The LP became one of the year’s hugest commercial success stories, going platinum seven times over and making them instant peers to Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Norah Jones, and Avril Lavigne. “Bring Me to Life,” its thrashing thunderstorm of a lead single, became an enduring goth-pop anthem, with follow-up “My Immortal” not far behind. At the 2004 Grammys, Evanescence took home the Best New Artist trophy, beating out 50 Cent and Sean Paul, and Fallen was nominated for Album of the Year (it lost to Outkast’s unstoppable Speakerboxxx/The Love Below).
Behind the scenes, though, success proved difficult for Evanescence to handle. “It was weird,” Lee says now. “I grew up in public.” She was surprised that an album so informed by real-life darkness, including the tragic death of her sister when they were both young kids, could yield Top 40 hits. “[We were] rock-band kids at the Grammys or the American Music Awards or whatever, rubbing elbows with the pop stars of the day,” she adds. “When we won, it felt like somebody was going to jump out from behind and surprise us and go, ‘Just kidding. Losers. You don’t belong here at all.’ ”
Lee spent the band’s first major tour worrying about an ailing brother, and tensions in the band boiled over with Moody’s dramatic departure halfway through a 2003 trek across Europe; he has never returned to the band. “I remember lots of times just wanting to go home,” Lee says. “I was the only female for miles, and I felt alone in my band and on the road.”
Every rock era has been defined by how few women have been able to break through to the mainstream, and Lee felt isolated even as her operatic mezzo-soprano became one of rock’s definitive voices. At one radio show, a DJ introduced the band by admitting that he had “jacked off” to the Fallen album cover, a close-up of Lee’s face. After the first song and a few minutes of simmering rage, Lee called him out. At another show, she interrupted her performance to confront a few members of the mostly male audience who were chanting “Show your tits.”
It took until this year for Lee to feel comfortable expressing her opinion on politics, speaking out in interviews against Donald Trump and the police killing of George Floyd. On “Use My Voice,” released as a single this summer, she makes it clear she’s no longer willing to stay quiet: “Drown every truth in an ocean of lies,” she sings. “Label me bitch because I dare to draw my own line/Burn every bridge and build a wall in my way/But I will use my voice.”
Evanescence recorded the song with backing vocalists including Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale and the Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen — two leading voices in today’s hard rock who told Lee she’s been a major influence on their careers. “That started giving me life,” Lee says. “It made me pour myself into it with a new sense of understanding and purpose and confidence that what I was saying was worth hearing.”
Evanescence Announces Livestream Event on December
Performing both new and old songs, tickets for Evanescence: A Live Session From Rock Falcon Studio are available now at www.EvanescenceLive.com.
Watch the new live video for “Use My Voice,” out today, HERE
Evanescence will be hosting their first public performance of the COVID era, a livestream concert experience dubbed Evanescence: A Live Session From Rock Falcon Studio, on Saturday, December 5th at 1pm PT, 4pm ET, 9pm UK and 10pm CET. The livestream will be available through Tuesday, December 8 at 11:59pm ET. The band, who postponed their massive 2020 international tour earlier this year, safely assembled from Nashville, Sacramento, and Germany to perform live renditions of songs from their upcoming album The Bitter Truth for the first time, as well as some fan favorites and a few can’t miss surprises.
Advance early bird tickets are only $9.99 and can be purchased at www.EvanescenceLive.com. Fans are encouraged to buy early before prices increase on December 1 to week of show pricing.
And check out a special sneak peak of the event with the band’s first live performance video of “Use My Voice,” out today, HERE.
Hosted at Rock Falcon Studio in Nashville where the band have been recording their new album, The Bitter Truth, the intimate performance gives an up-close view of Evanescence in the studio. In the live setting, Amy Lee’s powerful vocals blend seamlessly with the group’s raw, emotional arrangements, making it clear why she is “one of rock’s definitive voices” (Rolling Stone). Featuring new songs as well as universally known anthems like “Bring Me to Life,” the event delivers a powerful, timely performance that transitions effortlessly between guitar-driven bangers and piano ballads to bring the Evanescence live experience home.
She Rocks Awards to Feature Lzzy Hale, Amy Lee, Go-Go’s + More
Halestorm's Lzzy Hale will host next year's She Rocks Awards, an event celebrating women in music.
The 2021 award show is set to feature honorees such as Evanescence's Amy Lee, the Go-Go's, the Runaways' Cherie Currie, drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, comedian Margaret Cho and more.
Additional recipients at the event sponsored by guitar software company Positive Grid in conjunction with the Women's International Music Network will include composer and pianist Starr Parodi, Grammy-winning recording engineer Ann Mincieli, Sharon Hennessey (co-president and co-owner of pro audio wholesaler the Music People) and Gwen Riley (a music and media executive for modern exercise concern Peloton).
Yahoo Entertainment's Lyndsey Parker will host the Awards' pre-show countdown. Rock and soul band Magnolia Boulevard will serve as the evening's opening performers for the annual ceremony that pays tribute to women who display leadership and stand out within the music industry.
Hale, the singer and guitarist for Pennsylvania-born hard-rockers Halestorm, previously attended the She Rocks Awards as an honoree. There, she accepted the Inspire Award for her part in motiving young girls and women with music. Now, Hale will host the whole shebang.
She Rocks Awards founder Laura B. Whitmore says she started the female-focused ceremony "to bring us together and lift us all up with an evening of positive community and shared experience. This year is no different! I am so thrilled to honor these amazing role models and share their inspiring stories."
2021 will be the show's ninth consecutive year. In the past they have honored musicians such as Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge and others. Watch a video of highlights from past years' events down below.
The upcoming She Rocks Awards is scheduled to take place on Jan. 22, 2021. On that day, viewers can tune in to the ceremony live at 9PM ET at sherocksawards.com, where further info about the show is also available. More honorees and featured guests are due to be announced soon.
Amy Lee: Bring Me the Horizon Helped Me When I Was Feeling Stuck
If there's one good thing that's come out of the worldwide lockdown, it's collaborations between artists who finally had the time to work with each other. Evanescence's Amy Lee is featured on an upcoming Bring Me the Horizon song, and she told us that it helped pull her out of a moment where she felt "stuck."
In a new interview, Lee admitted she had been feeling frustrated prior to being approached with the song. She was busy in the studio often and felt she didn't have time to do any collaborations, but she couldn't resist the opportunity to be a part of the track after she heard it. It's the final number on Bring Me's upcoming album, and it's called "One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death."
"It's so good, I love it so much," Lee teased. "It just made me instantly really happy. I knew I had to just stop what I was doing and pour into it for a minute."
The process took a week for the Evanescence vocalist, and the experience was quite unique as Bring Me the Horizon are located in the U.K. She and Oli Sykes guided each other vocally over the phone as they discussed their idea for what they wanted it to sound like, and the time difference allowed for feedback to be traded fairly quickly.
"It was just a really fun escape from that little stuck moment that I was in, and it inspired me," the singer reflected. "It helped me feel, I don't know... beautiful. The song is beautiful."
"That song is always gonna have a special place in my heart because I felt like, in a moment as an artist when I was stuck, another artist came along and helped me," she concluded.
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