In a new interview Terrie Carr of WDHA-FM 105.5 FM, the rock music station licensed to Dover and Morristown, New Jersey, EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee spoke about the band’s plans for new music, less than three months after releasing the “Afterlife” single from the Netflix series “Devil May Cry”. Amy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We had just gone into the studio for the first little bit right before recording ‘Afterlife’. So it was in between the end of… We sort of finished our main tour last year, at the end of the year. So we went in between with [producer] Nick [Raskulinecz] and did a few songs, went back on the road. And then ‘Afterlife’ was happening. So we came back and did that really fast and went back on the road. It’s been just a lot, but really invigorating and really fun, and I’m just having a ‘YOLO’ [acronym that stands for ‘You Only Live Once’] moment. I have no time to waste. Let’s do this.”
She continued: “Ever since last time, we started thinking about things differently in terms of, like, you have to make a whole album, put it all out at once. The pandemic hit and we had four songs recorded and we weren’t finished making songs for our album. And so we just started putting them out, ’cause at that time it was, like, ‘Well, who knows when this is ever gonna end, if it ever does? So let’s put out our music.’ And that felt so good, to be able to have the satisfaction of the engagement and the release of songs when they’re still fresh and we’re still working on the album and it’s happening in real time that I want this year to feel like that. I wanna be just releasing things, whether it’s for our album or some kind of cool side project thing. Just doing that throughout the year and then probably full release will be early next year.”
Lee also talked about EVANESCENCE‘s touring plans for the coming months, saying: ”We’ve got a show with MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE in September. A random one-off. Super cool. And we’ve got a stadium tour with METALLICA in Australia in October. Several radio shows. Fun, just cool [events]. [We’re playing with] Poppy, who I love and am friends with as well. So, just fun things only this year. Tons of creation stuff going on — that’s the main gig — but in between really fun, worthy, little one-off shows.”
“Afterlife” was co-written by critically acclaimed producer, songwriter and musician Alex Seaver, professionally known as Mako, and Lee and co-produced by Raskulinecz and Seaver.
“Afterlife” is featured in Netflix‘s adult animated urban fantasy action television series “Devil May Cry”, which debuted at No. 4 week of release. The series, a critical darling in the adult animation genre, was recently renewed for a second season.
The video for “Afterlife” was shot in a historic (and supposedly haunted) house in Tennessee, and features some easter eggs that fans of “Devil May Cry” are sure to enjoy.
Earlier this month, EVANESCENCE and alt-rock visionary K.Flay teamed up for their first-ever collaboration on the song “Fight Like A Girl” (BMG). The track is featured as the first end title song in “Ballerina”, the film set in the world of John Wick. Both the song and the film came out on June 6.
Co-written by Lee, K.Flay, Dylan Eiland and “Ballerina” film composer Tyler Bates, who also produced the track, “Fight Like A Girl” follows the release of Halsey and Lee‘s track “Hand That Feeds”, the first original song recently revealed from the film in early May.
EVANESCENCE will kick off a run of live shows later this fall, making stops on “My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade” tour and Louder Than Life festival before joining METALLICA on their “M72” world tour.
In 2003, when the rock charts were dominated by predominantly male nü-metal and post-grunge acts, a young female-fronted band from Arkansas stood out from the crowd, offering something entirely new. They were EVANESCENCE — and with their debut album, “Fallen”, they transformed the rock landscape. Led by Lee, EVANESCENCE‘s cinematic blend of metal and symphonic, piano-driven melodies captured a generation, while “Fallen” set the band on a path to global superstardom, earning them multiple Grammys, and becoming one of the highest-selling albums of all time.
Released in the spring of 2003, “Fallen” resonated deeply with fans, selling more than 141,000 copies in its first week and peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, where it spent an astonishing 43 weeks in the Top 10. Within a month, “Fallen” was certified platinum by the RIAA, while it was a Top 10 hit in more than ten countries, reaching No. 1 in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and across Europe. Much of the album’s initial success can be attributed to its stratospheric singles, including “Bring Me to Life”, which broke the Top 10 in more than 15 countries and topped Billboard‘s Mainstream Top 40 and Alternative Airplay charts. “My Immortal” was a Top 10 hit in over ten countries, including the U.S., U.K. and Australia.
At the 2004 Grammys, EVANESCENCE received five nominations, including “Album Of The Year”, “Best Rock Album”, “Best Hard Rock Performance” for “Bring Me To Life”, and “Best New Artist”, taking home the latter two. The following year, “My Immortal” received a nod for “Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals”.
Today, “Fallen” holds steady as the sixth best-selling album of the 21st century (ranking just behind Lady Gaga‘s “The Fame” and ahead of COLDPLAY‘s “A Rush Of Blood To The Head”) and remains one of the best-selling albums of all time, with more than 17 million copies sold worldwide. In 2022, “Fallen” received a rare diamond certification from the RIAA, which recognizes 10 million units in U.S. album sales. As a testament to the album’s enduring appeal, the video for “Bring Me To Life” surpassed 1.2 billion views on YouTube, making it one of the most-watched rock videos of all-time while “My Immortal” follows close behind.
To date, EVANESCENCE has released a total of five studio albums, including the multi-platinum “The Open Door” (2004) and “Evanescence” (2011),both of which topped the Billboard 200. In 2021, the band thrilled fans with their first album of new material in a decade, “The Bitter Truth”. Now 20 years on, EVANESCENCE continues to scale new heights. Featuring a lineup of Amy Lee (vocals, keyboards),Tim McCord (guitar/bass),Will Hunt (drums),Troy McLawhorn (guitars) and Emma Anzai (bass, backing vocals),the band continues to travel the globe, staging some of the most successful shows of their career, including Allianz Parque, a soccer stadium in Sāo Paulo, Brasil, which was the biggest headline show of EVANESCENCE‘s career to date, drawing 40,000 fans. EVANESCENCE‘s most recent single, “Afterlife” from the Netflix series “Devil May Cry”, has had great success, with over 20 million streams and over 10 million views on YouTube in just the first few weeks. “Afterlife” is the fastest-moving single of the band’s career.
Photo credit: Travis Shinn
