Amy Lee has opened up about the early days of Evanescence and the conflicts the band faced with their record label.
During an interview on 93X Radio (via Ultimate Guitar), Lee revealed that she was resistant to the idea of having male vocals in their music, as well as to making ‘Bring Me to Life’ the lead single from 2003’s Fallen.
Lee began: “I was really, really against having any male vocal in our music. That was really hard. And it was an idea that came from the label – it suddenly all became about ‘Bring Me to Life.'”
“They decided that was the song. I actually didn’t think that should be the first one [the lead single from ]. I wanted it to be ‘Going Under.'”
She continued: “They came up with this idea about having something in there that would be familiar to listeners in order to get us on the radio. I didn’t really understand what that meant.”
“I was really inspired by artists that were unique, like, what’s great about all the artists – Nirvana and Soundgarden and Björk – was that there was nothing else really like them.
“And that, to me, was the key ingredient and something that I believed – and still believe – that we have. And, in my head, the more you try and make it familiar, the more you’re taking away from our true power,” she concluded.
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In another recent interview with Alternative Press, Lee spoke on how their record label was also adamant on pitching Evanescence as a “female Linkin Park”.
“The original fight was that the label wanted us to hold auditions and bring somebody into the band full-time to sing on most of the songs and make it a thing – try to be the ‘female Linkin Park.'” she said.
“And I was, like, ‘I’ll think about it,’ for, like, an hour, and then we called them back, and I was, like, ‘We can’t do that. It’s not gonna happen. I’d rather start over. It’s just not who we are. And I don’t want that.’”
For more on this topic, head over to the Classic Rock Observer.
Check out Amy Lee discussing Evanescence on 93X Radio:
