Amy Interview In The Montreal Gazette.

Scody · 07-17-2004, 09:21 AM

I think it's a really nice article/interview, it talks about alot and it's not the same old stuff. Also there are some great quotes!

Quote:

Amy Lee lets loose: Evanescence's singer tees off, on the occasion of Tuesday's Montreal show, on everything from her band's label, music politics with her boyfriend and hateful Howard Stern

JORDAN ZIVITZ
The Gazette

When Evanescence played the Bell Centre in December, there weren't many dark clouds over the band's dark rock. Its debut, Fallen, was high on the charts - as it's been from its March 2003 release to today - and the group had pulled together after the potentially crippling departure of founding member Ben Moody a month before. But to hear singer Amy Lee tell it, that first Montreal concert could have been the last time we saw the band's name on a local marquee.

"There were still complications for months after Ben's departure with the legalities of everything - whether we would be legally allowed to continue under the same name," Lee, 22, told The Gazette last week. "A lot of things were held up internally that I wasn't allowed to talk about, and I was worried, because it was very important to me to be able to stand up and say, 'No. One person leaving in the middle of a tour and trying to hurt us isn't going to make us lose the entire band.' "

The name stayed, the group's now stable, and when Lee says, "I love our band more than ever," it's easy to believe her. She isn't prone to fits of self-promotion, and is more candid than her management and label would probably like. If Evanescence were about to disappear into the night, one suspects Lee would at least sound less cheery about the future.

The future has belonged to Evanescence from the moment its hybrid of power-chord riffing, Gothic ambience and Lee's skybound voice reached the airwaves. Sure, Fallen has the production values and towering choruses required to lodge itself into the top 40 for months, now going on years. But it's also a rarity on the charts - an album infused with genuine darkness, from a band that, at least originally, was cloaked in mystery.

With four singles extracted and the touring cycle about to slow down, Fallen is presumably near the end of its course. Lee certainly sounds ready to move on.

"I have to say I don't play it in my house anymore just for kicks," she said with a laugh.

"I still feel like it's great music, and I still love to play it live - we all do ... but we've just about toured ourselves silly, and it's definitely time to write new music."

Despite Fallen's success, Lee says the band doesn't feel restricted by the album's angelic metal. "I definitely feel the freedom to explore. I wouldn't have it any other way." And one would expect millions of sales would buy all the freedom Lee wants.

"You'd think so, but I've been really, really unhappy with the label (Wind-up) as of late. I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say, but basically, I'm hurt by the lack of respect I feel from our label. I feel like we've been treated unfairly, for all the good things we've done for them."

If Lee can't go into detail about Evanescence's struggles with Wind-up, she can - and does - when it comes to Wind-up's handling of Broken, the ubiquitous ballad by label-mate Seether. Lee duets with boyfriend and Seether frontman Shaun Morgan on the track - recorded for the soundtrack of The Punisher and added to a new edition of Seether's Disclaimer album - but as she tells it, Broken wasn't supposed to be a big-budget airtime hog.

"We had this cool idea for it to be this really stripped-down (arrangement for) two acoustic guitars and a cello, and the two of us singing," Lee said of the new version of the song that originally closed Disclaimer. "We didn't even think it was going to make it onto any album - we just thought it would be cool to do it and release it on the Internet or as a B-side.

"We told the label this was what we wanted to do, and it seemed like every day (plans) got bigger, and it blew up into this huge, epic, dramatic, cheesy duet - which I still love, I have to admit. I really like the way we did it. But it turned into this commercial (monster), and the label - in my opinion - blew it way out of proportion to the point where it's not good for Seether. It's become a big strain on his band. And it's tough for me to be Shaun's girlfriend and to be kind of in the way (of his group)."

Lee's feelings about Broken could have taken up this entire article. Her honesty isn't all that surprising, coming from a star brave enough to wipe her stardom away in the video for Everybody's Fool, the latest single from Fallen. The clip is both an effective statement on impossible ideals of beauty (scenes in which the haggard singer rages in a dingy apartment are contrasted with fake commercials in which she's made up to the nines), and a great satire on picture-perfect videos (as in Avril Lavigne's Don't Tell Me, Lee smashes a mirror - only Lee starts bleeding profusely).

"(In the video) I look - well, horrible! I was like, 'Dude, make me look bad. Please. I want to look ugly. I want to wear orange pants.'

"There were a lot of things in the video that got cut out. There was a great pill-popping scene ... but now it looks like I'm just drinking out of a little liquor bottle in the bathroom. ... I was happy the blood stayed in, but (music-video stations) just seem to play it safe way too much. MTV is so censored nowadays; it's impossible to play anything (controversial) unless you're a rapper, and I will say that with complete confidence. They can put out whatever they want. But if you're in a rock band, you can't even have fire in your video anymore. Unless you're Audioslave."

Lee has been no stranger to music-video perfection herself - she looked like a museum piece in the clip for My Immortal - but her acting in Everybody's Fool has a ring of truth to it. Like her character in the video, Lee doesn't have much love for the widely embraced model of human perfection.

"Howard Stern totally slammed me, saying I need to lose 50 pounds. I weigh 135 max, maybe 130. If I lost 50, I'd be 80 pounds! I would be dead. Hearing that infuriates me, not just for myself but for all the chicks that he's made feel bad about themselves. ... I don't look like everybody else, but I've always liked that about myself."

From her music to her outspokenness to her self-image, Lee stands out from much of the company Evanescence keeps on the bestseller racks. Her band's success has made her a celebrity, but, she said, "I don't want to ever be a quote-unquote rock star. I want to just be me."

Evanescence performs Tuesday at Parc Jean Drapeau, with opening acts Three Days Grace, Seether, the Trews, Breaking Benjamin and Simon Wilcox. Doors open at 1 p.m.; the first act performs at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $39.50. Call (514) 790-1245.

http://www.canada.com/montreal/montr...51f9bbf&page=1

Here's the first pic.
Here's the 2nd pic.

Sadness · 07-17-2004, 09:35 AM

Quote:

I weigh 135 max, maybe 130. If I lost 50, I'd be 80 pounds

what??
How many is it in german *hehe*
I mean in kg??

She doesnt need to lose weight

, she is perfect

RobertUK · 07-17-2004, 09:41 AM

wow great interview. very interesting and different from other ones that have been posted here. Thanks

Lowercountry · 07-17-2004, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sadness

what??
How many is it in german *hehe*
I mean in kg??

Around 59 to 60 kgs I think.

Lessa · 07-17-2004, 09:46 AM

Quote:

"(In the video) I look - well, horrible! I was like, 'Dude, make me look bad. Please. I want to look ugly. I want to wear orange pants.'

that made me laugh so hard! im not gonna forget that for a while!

Quote:

(as in Avril Lavigne's Don't Tell Me, Lee smashes a mirror - only Lee starts bleeding profusely).

just the way they wrote that made me laugh as well.

Thanks for the article!

Sas · 07-17-2004, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sadness

what??
How many is it in german *hehe*
I mean in kg??

one european pound is half a kilo but i can't imagine amy weighs around 75 kg...

Lowercountry · 07-17-2004, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anywhere

one european pound is half a kilo but i can't imagine amy weighs around 75 kg...

I thought it was 2.2 American lbs per kilo?

Cfw828 · 07-17-2004, 09:55 AM

Quote:

"You'd think so, but I've been really, really unhappy with the label (Wind-up) as of late. I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say, but basically, I'm hurt by the lack of respect I feel from our label. I feel like we've been treated unfairly, for all the good things we've done for them."

I think a lot of it has to do with artist freedom. Remember the Underworld project?

Yeah, me neither because it never happened.

I'm sure that's not the only thing that they're not liking about Wind-up right now.

But I'd have to say that this sort of thing is kind of normal.

I don't think that they'd just leave Wind-up over whatever's happened.

But, who knows. Eventually, they might move to another label.

And whoever signs them gets immediate $ in the bank.

Sadness · 07-17-2004, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Around 59 to 60 kgs I think.

Thanx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anywhere

i cant imagine amy weighs around 75 kg...

Me too.. hmm.. maybe her scales is broken

Sas · 07-17-2004, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lowercountry

I thought it was 2.2 American lbs per kilo?

that does make more sense, hehe
i'll stick with that

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07-17-2004, 09:41 AM	Amy Interview In The Montreal Gazette. Post #3
RobertUK Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Essex/London Age: 27 Posts: 118 Points: 934.46 Bank: 0.00 Total Points: 934.46 Donate	wow great interview. very interesting and different from other ones that have been posted here. Thanks

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Amy Interview In The Montreal Gazette.

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Amy Interview In The Montreal Gazette.