EVANESCENCE Singer On Touring, Lineup Changes And Marriage

AOL Music recently conducted an interview with EVANESCENCE frontwoman Amy Lee. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

AOL Music: EVANESCENCE have been on the road for a year now and are headlining a fall tour. That's a pretty rigorous schedule. Are you tired?

Amy: Well, I've done it better this time. When we toured "Fallen", I was absolutely exhausted. We didn't take hardly any time off between tours. Touring for a year means a bunch of tours with a couple days or a couple weeks off in between. We did the same thing this time, except instead of taking a day off before going on another tour, we took two weeks here and there. I've actually had three weeks off just now, so I feel pretty ready to go. And I've have enough time to really think about the set list and all the cool things I want to do that we haven't done in a long time. I just really want to make it the best tour because I know it's the last one, and I want to go out with a bang.

AOL Music: The band also underwent another round of lineup changes, with the exit of guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray, and the addition of guitarist Troy McLawhorn and drummer Will Hunt. How has not only this change, but the other lineup alterations in EVANESCENCE, affected you?

Amy: People, when they talk about [the lineup changes], make it like this thing that happened over the course of, I don't know, a few months or a year or something. But it's been over the course of five years. But everything is really good right now. We did change a few members this year, and of course it affects me. It's a big deal — it's not something you ever want to do. It would be so much easier if we could all just get along, and everything would work perfectly and everybody would not grow and everyone would stay the same person forever. But that's just not how it works. That's why you go through so many relationships in your life. We're all happier and we're functional now with Will and Troy. They love playing with us and I absolutely love playing with them. It's definitely a good thing.

AOL Music: Have you already started writing new material for the follow-up to "The Open Door"?

Amy: There's always stuff kind of in my head or coming out. I've written a few things but I don't really know what its place is. I don't want to make a plan, and I don't want to give myself a date or worry about anything. I just want to write music and then figure out what to do. I really want to branch out and continue to move forward. I am writing but I'm not sure what to do with it yet.

AOL Music: What does your husband bring to your life that maybe you didn't have before or couldn't have on your own?

Amy: This could take a while. I'll just give you a short answer. He's actually a counselor — like a psychologist. It's sort of cool 'cause it's a field that I was actually always into. I've definitely learned a lot from him besides that the other stuff — like what he has to offer as far as mental health and rationalizing, not rationalizing, analyzing what's going on around me and why people act the way they do. I think the most interesting thing is that people hurt you. When people are being mean or cruel, and you're like, "Why would you do this?" it's really just projecting their own pain in a different way. It makes it easier to turn your anger or hatred at whatever into pity and love for other people ... if that makes any sense. I don't know if it even sounds like I'm talking about my husband right now, but he's a really cool person with a lot to offer.

AOL Music: I understand the band's new single, "Good Enough", was written about your husband. Was this before the two of you were together?

Amy: Well, we met when I was, like, eighteen years old, but we didn't keep in touch very well, and he always just made an effort to find my number from a friend or whatever. When I first met him, I totally had a huge crush on him, but I was in another relationship, and I didn't address it and tried to push it down. But it's funny because it's just like nature -- it's just meant to be.Years later, I got out of a hard relationship with a difficult breakup and was so not ready for another relationship He called me like the next week or the next month and was like, "Hey, we should hang out. I'm in town." We had been living across the country from each other. So I met him at this party, knowing that it was dangerous, and I wrote the song two weeks later. I waited until it was done then I played it for him. I knew I would be really nervous — way more nervous than playing in front a huge crowd. He loved it.

Read the entire interview at AOL Music.

Watch Amy Lee performing the EVANESCENCE song "Good Enough" as part of the "AOL Music Sessions":