Arquivos MTV.com 2004 relacionados ao Ev!
Former Evanescence Guitarist Ben Moody Begins Work On Solo Debut MTV.com 14/12/04More than a year after leaving Evanescence, Ben Moody is getting ready to start recording his solo debut.
Moody, who co-founded Evanescence with singer Amy Lee while in high school, plans to enter the studio in January to begin work on the still-untitled album, which is slated for release next summer, according to a label spokesperson.
Moody has been writing and demoing songs in Los Angeles since the split, and he is planning on recording all the lead vocals himself — as well as playing most of the instruments — during the sessions.
Moody, who co-wrote all of Evanescence\'s Fallen, including the hits "Bring Me to Life" and "Going Under," has been largely out of the public eye since leaving the band, but he\'s been busy behind the scenes. He co-wrote Avril Lavigne\'s latest hit single, "Nobody\'s Home" (see "So Where\'s Evanescence\'s Ben Moody? Ask Avril Lavigne"), and collaborated on two songs on the new Kelly Clarkson album, "Because of You" and "Addicted" (see "Ben Moody Bringing Kelly Clarkson\'s Music To Life"). He has also produced tracks for the band Blank Theory and recorded "The End Has Come" for "The Punisher" soundtrack with Godhead singer Jason Miller and Drowning Pool frontman Jason Jones.
No information is available on what direction Moody will take with his solo debut, but following the split with Evanescence, the guitarist suggested it would be more eclectic, and harder, than his former band\'s emotional goth-rock sound.
"The things that we dealt with in our music were things that people go through that they don\'t always like to talk about," Moody said earlier this year. "To me, that\'s purging. Once you do that, you\'re supposed to come together and say, \'We got it out, and we\'re all going to be OK.\' With Amy, it was like, \'No, nothing\'s ever going to be OK.\' And I just couldn\'t live that way" (see "Evanescence: The Split").
Prior to the split, Moody said he wanted to expand Evanescence\'s scope from the dark, introspective themes that marked Fallen and move in a harder-edged rock direction, while also hanging on to some of the elements that fans loved. For her part, Lee wanted more variety.
Evanescence are expected to begin work on their Fallen follow-up early next year (see "Evanescence\'s New Sound Is Reminiscent Of ... Evanescence").
Wal-Mart Sued For Selling Evanescence CD That Contains Obscenity MTV.com 13/12/04Wal-Mart, which promotes itself as selling clean versions of albums, is being sued by a Maryland couple who purchased an LP containing an obscenity — Evanescence\'s new live CD/DVD, Anywhere But Home — in one of the retail giant\'s stores, according to The Associated Press. The suit accuses Wal-Mart of deceiving its customers by selling the LP.
The CD did not feature a "parental advisory" warning sticker; Wal-Mart does not sell albums carrying them, per the chain\'s policy. But the suit claims that Wal-Mart knew the song, Evanescence\'s cover of Korn\'s "Thoughtless," included the offending lyric because the obscenity was censored on a sample posted on the chain\'s official Web site and in its stores. A spokesperson for Wal-Mart claimed the sample was posted by another division, Walmart.com.
The complaint was filed Thursday on behalf of Trevin Skeens of Brownsville, Maryland, after he and his wife reportedly discovered the offending word while playing the CD for their 13-year-old daughter in the car on the way home from a Wal-Mart store in nearby Frederick.
"I don\'t want any other families to get this, expecting it to be clean. It needs to be removed from the shelves to prevent other children from hearing it," Skeens said of the disc, which was a birthday present for his daughter.
The suit asks that Wal-Mart either censor or remove the disc from its Maryland stores, and asks for damages of up to $74,500 for each of the thousands of people who bought the CD at Wal-Marts located in Maryland. The suit also names the band\'s label, Wind-Up Records, and distributor, BMG Entertainment.
The Skeens\' lawyer also reportedly said he plans to take the case nationwide, filing suits state-by-state, if necessary.
A Wal-Mart spokesperson told the [Hagerstown, Maryland] Herald-Mail that the company has no plans to pull the CD, but that it will look into the claims.
\'Elektra\' LP Serves Up Rare Cuts From Evanescence, Jet, Taking Back Sunday MTV.com 13/12/04In the upcoming film "Elektra," Jennifer Garner plays a super-sexy secret assassin with a penchant for martial-arts beatdowns and skin-tight leather bustiers. So it should come as no surprise that her lethal antics are backed by a soundtrack that\'s equally powerful and sexy.
Hitting shelves on January 11, just three days before the film pounces into theaters, Elektra: The Album features new-to-the-U.S. studio tracks from Evanescence, Jet and Taking Back Sunday, plus songs from the Donnas, Switchfoot and a bevy of artists from the Wind-Up Records stable, like Alter Bridge, Finger Eleven and 12 Stones.
Evanescence contribute a studio version of "Breathe No More," which was previously only available in a live version on their recent CD/DVD, Anywhere But Home. Jet\'s "Hey Kids" appeared on the recently released live DVD "Family Style," and Taking Back Sunday\'s new recording of "Your Own Disaster" was only available on the Japanese version of their Where You Want to Be album.
Garner\'s Elektra first appeared in last year\'s spandex-and-super-hero flick "Daredevil," which starred Ben Affleck. The soundtrack to that film helped launch Evanescence to superstardom, featuring two tracks from the band (including their hit, "Bring Me to Life"), and was certified gold in the U.S.
The track list for Elektra: The Album, according to Wind-Up Records: Strata - "Never There (She Stabs)" | Jet - "Hey Kids" | The Donnas - "Everyone Is Wrong" | Switchfoot - "Sooner or Later" | Finger Eleven - "Thousand Mile Wish Elektra Mix)" | Megan McCauley - "Wonder" | Taking Back Sunday - "Your Own Disaster" | Evanescence - "Breathe No More" | 12 Stones - "Photograph" | Alter Bridge - "Save Me" | The Dreaming - "Beautiful" | Submersed - "Hollow" | Hawthorne Heights - "Angels With Even Filthier Souls" | The Twenty Twos - "Five Years" | Full Blown Rose - "In the Light"
New Releases: Kelly Clarkson, Nas, Jay-Z/ Linkin Park, T.I. & More MTV.com 29/11/04Landing in stores this week is the second album from "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson.
For Breakaway, the follow-up to her 2003 debut, Thankful, Clarkson enlisted songwriting help from Avril Lavigne (who co-wrote the album\'s title track), ex-Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody and David Hodges, who also worked with Evanescence (see "Kelly Clarkson: Just Listen").
[...]parte inútil[...]Evanescence\'s New Sound Is Reminiscent Of ... Evanescence MTV.com 18/11/04Where Evanescence were once propelled solely by a pair of songwriters, the creative process has become a lot more democratic since the departure of guitarist Ben Moody. And yet Amy Lee continues to get the ball rolling the way she always has: behind closed doors.
"I write by myself initially," the band\'s singer explained. "That\'s the way I\'ve always written, just working on pure thought by myself. Then I bring it to the table with whoever I\'m collaborating with."
After Moody split in late 2003, he was replaced on tour by former Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo, who permanently joined the band\'s ranks a few months later (see "Evanescence Name New Guitarist"). Having spent several months together on the road, where new ideas were tossed around often, the two developed a strong creative partnership.
"[Terry and I] have been writing together for the past couple of weeks," Lee said. "We\'re working really well together. I\'m just very excited because [the new songs] already have a new sound. It still sounds like the Evanescence everybody knows, but at the same time it\'s going in a new direction, and I love that direction."
Lee attributed the band\'s new course to the band\'s maturation. Much of Evanescence\'s breakthrough album, Fallen, was written nearly three years ago, when Lee and Moody, still living in Arkansas, were barely beyond their teens. The globetrotting that comes with selling nearly 6 million copies helps a band grow up quick.
"We\'ve definitely grown up a lot," Lee said, "me, as a lyricist and a musician, all of us as music writers. We have so many new ideas that have just been building up for so long. It\'s already so different, just because everyone\'s writing and Ben\'s not involved. It\'s just this new thing."
While Evanescence get ready to hit the studio, their departed ex-guitarist is getting reacquainted with the pop charts, having co-written Avril Lavigne\'s new single, "Nobody\'s Home," and two songs on Kelly Clarkson\'s forthcoming album, Breakaway. The confessed metalhead\'s move toward the poppier side of the song spectrum may have surprised Evanescence fans, but Lee said she never really flinched.
"I was like, \'Oh, that makes sense,\' " she explained. "Most people assume just from looking at us and our music that Ben [being the guy] is responsible for all the rock music, and all the sappy stuff comes from me. That just isn\'t true. Ben\'s the one who wrote \'My Immortal.\' He\'s more about the pop influence and being commercial and selling albums. That\'s the part that we also disagreed on. I want to do the more artistic, weird thing, and he would want to do the thing that people would want to hear.
"A lot of the reason it\'s been so much fun writing this album is that we\'re not thinking about that," she added. "It\'s like, \'What do we like? What\'s fun?\' "
While fans await the band\'s "fun" follow-up, they can get their fix with the two-disc DVD/CD package Anywhere But Home, due Tuesday. Besides onstage and backstage footage, the set also includes concert bloopers just to show that the band isn\'t perfect.
"I thought it would be cool to have a whole section dedicated to us messing up," Lee said. "It\'s stuff we think is hilarious. I think it\'s important to realize that we\'re all just human. I mean, nobody is supernatural."
Lee has also been working on music for the upcoming film "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe," inspired by the children\'s book by C.S. Lewis. The dark and morose tale, about four children who discover a magical land in the clutches of an evil witch, not only was a childhood favorite of Lee\'s, but its aesthetic suits the gothic-leaning singer perfectly.
"I love the kind of stranger children\'s stuff," she said. "I think that\'s very much what our music is inspired by. Not only death and the morbid stuff, but that it comes from the perspective of a child and things relating to childhood, because that\'s what I went through."
Lee was offered a small role in the film, currently in production in New Zealand, but considering the role she requested, the film\'s producers may have been too freaked out to give her a part.
"They were like, \'Do you want to do a cameo?\' And I was like, \'Hell yeah! Let me die. I want to be somebody who gets murdered.\' So I don\'t think that\'s going to happen."
For The Record: Quick News On Hoobastank, Paris Hilton, Outkast, Prince, Blink-182, Christina Aguilera & More MTV.com 11/10/04[...]parte inútil[...]When guitarist Terry Balsamo left the company of Scooter Ward for the opportunity to play with Evanescence earlier this year, it seemed like Cold were fast on the retirement trail, but things seem to be heating up for the Jacksonville, Florida, band. With a new label deal with Atlantic in place (ties with Geffen were severed in March), the group plans to start pre-production on the tentatively titled And a Sad Song Lives On this week.
[...]parte inútil[...]Lacuna Coil: Evanescence For Europeans MTV.com 01/09/04"If you like Evanescence, you\'ll love these guys," a Mohawked dude in a Dimmu Borgir shirt told his less metal-savvy date at Ozzfest just moments before Italian gothy slammers Lacuna Coil took the second stage. The assessment was somewhat apt. Lacuna Coil play swooping, melodic metal driven by Cristina Scabbia\'s haunting vocals. However, they\'re more rooted in the underground than Evanescence, and their ethereal songs are balanced by co-singer Andrea Ferro\'s sometimes menacing vocals and the abrasive guitar attack of Cristiano Migliore.
Some artists would take umbrage at being compared to Evanescence, especially an act like Lacuna Coil that has been together since 1994, four years longer than Evanescence. But Scabbia isn\'t at all frustrated. "They\'re a good band and people like them, so why should I be upset?" she said a few hours after stepping offstage at the Jones Beach Theater. "It\'s funny, because in Europe we\'ve been known for a while, so people say the opposite thing. They hear Evanescence and say, \'Oh, is this the new single from Lacuna Coil?\' "
What does kind of frustrate Scabbia is that Lacuna Coil remain on the road two years after the release of their third disc, Comalies. The band had planned to return to the studio last year to work in its next album, but when its single "Heaven\'s a Lie" started catching on in North America, the group decided to stay on tour. The move worked — Comalies has sold more than 100,000 copies.
"It\'s strange to me that Americans are getting into the album two years after it came out," Scabbia said. "People are maybe like, \'Hey, they sound kind of like Evanescence, I like this.\' And they don\'t know that the album is two years old. So, we have all this new material we\'ve written on tour, but we would have to stop to record it, and we\'ve never at home, we\'re always on tour."
Lacuna Coil\'s melodramatic set is one of the highlights of the Ozzfest\' second stage, offering some diversity to an otherwise overwhelmingly brutal bill. Of course, when you\'re a club band that\'s used to going onstage after 11 p.m., playing before noon provides certain challenges and hazards. "It\'s really tough to wake up in time to play," Scabbia admitted. "And of course, we\'re not used to performing in sunlight, so we have to watch out to get sunburns, but it\'s good to be finished early because then you have the rest of the day free, and you can enjoy the festival."
So far, Lacuna Coil have been doing just that. In addition to watching many of their favorite acts perform daily, they\'ve been able to meet some of their idols. "You\'ll just be hanging out backstage with the guys in Slipknot, then Zakk Wylde from Black Label Society will come by. Then you\'ll see Rob Halford walking in," Scabbia says. "The whole situation is completely surreal."
And the kids in the crowd aren\'t the only ones turning on to Lacuna Coil\'s music. "[Drummer] Bill Ward from Black Sabbath has become a fan, which is a real honor," she said. "We talk to him almost every day, and he\'s hosting a radio program that\'s playing our songs, which is a real honor to us."
The only minor hiccup Lacuna Coil have experienced so far has been generated by religious organizations critical of the song "Heaven\'s a Lie." Ironically, the tune isn\'t even about religion.
"It\'s just about the freedom of ideas," Scabbia said. "Religion and politics are two things we don\'t like to talk about because they\'re things that are too personal. We don\'t want to teach anybody anything."
So when will Lacuna Coil finally get a chance to record the songs they\'ve written over the past 18 months? Probably not until at least the end of the year, a reality Scabbia takes in stride. "Waiting for that to happen will just make me more excited for when we do the actual recording of the album," she said. "The new songs we have will be an evolution of Comalies, but not a huge change. I hate bands that are changing every album, because that\'s not a natural evolution. Lacuna Coil will be recognizable on the next album. This is how it has to be."
Evanescence Show No Signs Of Slowing Down At New York Show MTV.com 23/07/04If Amy Lee was road weary after almost constant touring behind Evanescence\'s 18-month-old smash, Fallen, she hid her fatigue extremely well.
For all anyone attending Evanescence\'s gig at Jones Beach Theater on Thursday knew, the charismatic Lee may have been so pooped (having circled the globe on a few occasions to support the 5.5 million seller), she may have been sound asleep before showtime. And immediately after the hour-long set, she could have passed out cold before hitting the tour bus. What\'s certain is that the time in between was spent proffering a show filled with as much urgency and energy as one of their early gigs. As if Evanescence still had something to prove.
"I know it\'s tough to move because of the seats," a pigtailed and striped-stockinged Lee told the near-capacity crowd, "but don\'t be afraid to boogie down." Lee certainly wasn\'t.
The moments were few when her right fist wasn\'t pumping in the air to emphasize her lyrical sentiments. And standing still never really factored into the equation. Lee alternated between determinedly pacing the stage and seemingly floating on the wings of her soaring vocals through textural hybrids such as "Taking Over Me," "My Last Breath" and "Tourniquet."
Lee\'s verve was evident, even when not appropriately rocking out to the music. Returning from stage left after a guitar solo or prolonged instrumental interlude, Lee often fluttered back into the spotlight. She even partially lifted her sheer white skirt, fashionably cut to layered ribbons, in order to curtsy in gleeful appreciation after one tune.
The onstage energy was returned by the crowd, whose screams, shrills and hollers filled any between-song audio lapses. The crowd\'s applause multiplied, of course, for the album singles "Going Under," "Bring Me to Life" and "Everybody\'s Fool."
Guitarist John LeCompt and bassist Will Boyd were also, if not quite equally, animated, as they roamed the stage, banged their heads, and took turns rocking out on a ramp above Rocky Gray\'s drum kit. Recently integrated guitarist Terry Balsamo moved to the music, too, only his movements seemed a little out of sync with the rest of the band — he\'s obviously the new guy.
While LeCompt and Boyd\'s hair was cut short, Balsamo\'s rope-like dreads tickled the small of his back, making for a silhouette not unlike that of Slipknot\'s Corey Taylor. They played black guitars; his was metallic silver with a Coors Light logo emblazoned on the body. And as they faced forward and put on their meanest contorted guitar faces, Balsamo rarely squared off with the audience, preferring instead to look offstage or keep his back to the crowd.
The only lull in the show was self-imposed. Before warning the crowd that she was going to chill for a while, Lee took her place behind a grand piano for a sparse and delicate cover of "Thoughtless," from Korn\'s 2002 album, Untouchables. A bit later, she returned to the ivories for two rare songs, "Farther Away" and "Breathe No More," as well as "My Immortal." The huge crossover hit prompted a massive sing-along, the lofting of cigarette lighters and cell phones, and perhaps even a slow-welling tear in the eye of one tough guy in a muscle shirt and mullet.
The tail of "My Immortal" bled seamlessly into the band\'s first hit, "Bring Me to Life." Evanescence\'s ability to resume their fervent momentum after keeping subdued for so long was impressive, and the massive popularity of the song was a smart set-list assembly that helped the crowd respond in kind. They closed their set with the gently heavy "Imaginary," only to return to the stage two minutes later for an encore of "Whisper."
Her body slick with sweat from the hot and humid night air — causing wisps of her raven locks to stick annoyingly to her face — Lee ended the show just as it began: with impassioned and spirited fun.
Perhaps even more impressive than completing just one set of her own, prior to Evanescence taking the stage, Lee joined opening band Seether to duet with her boyfriend, Shaun Morgan, on their hit single, "Broken." Following her exit, the South African nü-metal group ended its set with a cover of Nirvana\'s posthumous 2002 tune, "You Know You\'re Right."
For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.
Vampires And Spooky Moods Inspiring Next Evanescence Album MTV.com 14/06/04Amy Lee is the first to admit her sources of inspiration lately have been "kinda silly."
"I saw \'Van Helsing\' in the movie theater last week," the Evanescence singer recalled recently. "Oh my God, it was so cool. I love vampire movies, and that was like the best one I\'ve ever seen. I went home and I was so inspired."
Like a vampire, Lee stayed up all night searching for fresh ... songs on her piano.
"I just wait until I get inspired, which has been a lot lately, and I just sit there and let it go and I turn on the recorder," she explained. "You go back the next day and you try to weed through it and find the big parts and put it together."
With less than a month to go before Evanescence are due back on the road, Lee plans to see a lot of movies and write a lot of songs for the group\'s next album.
"Just because there\'s still singles coming off from the last album doesn\'t mean we\'re not working on this new one at the same time," Lee said. "It\'s just kind of buying us time, I guess, more than anything. And we\'re taking our time and I\'m having fun writing. It\'s my favorite part."
Lee has a hard time describing her own music, but she thinks her new songs are darker than most of the material on Fallen.
"It still sounds like me, but I\'ve been in a spooky mood lately, so I think it\'s gonna be kinda spooky," she said. "I\'d like to use more organ. I wanna make it heavier and softer at the same time."
"I want to go in a lot of different directions we didn\'t go on Fallen," she continued. "I want to get different emotions across. Obviously I think there\'s a spectrum of emotions on Fallen, but I think it\'s still limited in a lot of ways."
Lee hopes to build on the extraordinary success of the band\'s debut, but she has no expectations of topping it saleswise. "I don\'t think it would be possible ... to be honest," she said. "If that happens, I\'m gonna be shocked and happy, but it\'s not really the goal. What\'s cool about Fallen is it really worked as a springboard, and we have the opportunity now to branch out and grow and do something different. I really don\'t want to put out the same album again."
Lee originally planned to broaden her horizons by collaborating with other musicians, including former Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland (see "Wes Borland Puts Eat The Day On Hold, Hopes To Hook Up With Evanescence").
"We talked about writing some stuff together, which I think will be fun, but the more I\'ve hung out with my band in the past six months or so, and the more that I\'ve heard what they\'ve been writing, the more inspired I am just to work with the band," Lee said. "We\'re actually having a lot of fun as we are and I don\'t really feel we need the help, but I think it could be fun just to experiment with a couple of collaborators."
Lee has been writing with boyfriend Shaun Morgan of Seether (see "Don\'t Expect Many Collaborations From Amy Lee, Shaun Morgan"), but not necessarily for Evanescence\'s next record. "It\'s like he hears me in [the piano room] jamming and he\'ll jam with me," Lee said. "It\'s really fun, actually; it\'s one of my favorite things that we do."
Lee and Morgan will be together plenty this summer when Evanescence and Seether hit the road (see "Your Bus Or Mine? Evanescence And Seether To Tour U.S. In July"), but Lee doesn\'t anticipate many songwriting sessions.
"It\'s hard for me to write on the road \'cause I don\'t carry around a big piano," she said. "We have keyboards and stuff, but it\'s not the same. And it\'s hard especially to find a free moment between doing interviews and getting ready for the show and doing meet-and-greets and all kinds of stuff."
In what little time she does have while touring, Lee likes to sightsee and work on her other hobbies, like clothing design. "What\'s cool about fashion — I hate the word fashion, it\'s so cheesy — but it\'s cool because it\'s just another form of art," she explained. "I love to paint. I love to sculpt and make things. And my favorite subject is the human body. So to actually use the human body and make it into something, it\'s just like painting a picture."
While it would certainly be easy for Lee to follow in the shoes of P. Diddy and other musicians-turned-fashion-moguls, that\'s not on her agenda. "I don\'t wanna say no, but I don\'t think so," she said. "It\'s hard for me to imagine making a [clothing] line, which means making clothes that people could wear day-to-day and making it affordable and using cottons. I like leather and lace and I couldn\'t possibly go down beyond that. I think it might be fun to have a show and have one of each thing — just have pieces, like pieces of art, that\'s the way I feel they ought to be. That, I might do someday."
Evanescence launch their summer North American tour July 7 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Evanescence\'s Amy Lee Hopes To Get Into Film, Rages Against Cheesy Female Idols MTV.com 10/06/04In making the "Everybody\'s Fool" video, which features Amy Lee as a glamorous commercial star with serious insecurities, the Evanescence singer learned something about herself.
"I like to act," she said recently.
So is Amy Lee, movie star, in the near future?
"I don\'t know, that\'s hard to say," she answered. "I\'m really inspired by film. More than anything I\'m inspired by the music of film, so I think my next goal would most likely be writing music for movies. And I would love to write a screenplay, more than actually play the part that someone else wrote. I\'m more the creator. I do like to act, but it\'s more likely you\'ll find me behind the scenes."
Lee has appeared in front of the cameras again since filming "Everybody\'s Fool," although she\'s not quite sure how she feels about it.
"My little brother is 10 and of course he loves Cartoon Network, and it\'s my favorite channel. So I went to the Cartoon Network and did an interview with a puppet and I wrote a cheesy song on the guitar about Cartoon Network and how much I love and miss it on tour, and it was really stupid," Lee recalled, smiling at the memory. "I kind of regret it, but not really. My little brother had a blast. And we got all kinds of free toys and stuff, too."
The Cartoon Network was hardly a stretch for Lee after "Everybody\'s Fool," in which she dresses up for various commercials, including donning a pink wig for one in Japanese (see "Evanescence Eviscerate Consumer Culture In Dramatic New Video").
"There\'s this one scene with everybody on motorbikes that every time I see it I just crack up," Lee said. "It\'s the slow-mo scene where I take off the helmet and swoosh my hair and look at the camera ... and it kills me. It\'s so hilarious, it\'s ridiculous.
"It\'s a really different thing for us to do because it\'s not performance at all," she continued. "Everybody was laughing at me the whole time. I was just like, \'Please don\'t laugh at me. Just give me five minutes so I can do this.\' "
The message of the video, which also shows Lee on the verge of tears and breaking a mirror, is in the name of the products her character is pitching: "Lies." "That whole life is a lie," Lee said. "Every smile, that\'s a lie."
Lee conceptualized the video around the lyrics to the song, which she wrote five years ago.
"My little sister was really getting into these, I don\'t want to offend anyone, but like really fake, cheesy, slutty female cracker-box idols, and it really pissed me off," Lee said. "She started dressing like them and she was like 8 years old. So I gave her the talk and I wrote a song."
In the opening verse, Lee sings, "Perfect by nature, icons of self-indulgence/ Just what we all need/ More lies about a world/ That never was and never will be."
"It\'s kind of about exposing that it\'s fake," she said. "And the video\'s more along the lines of exposing the real behind-the-scenes [lives] of some of these people. It\'s basically showing the glamorous lifestyle and the depressed, selfish misery behind it.
"It\'s like beating a dead horse at this point, but at the time Britney Spears was just coming out," Lee continued. "But I still think it\'s relevant."
Evanescence are wrapping up a European tour and will return for an extensive North American outing beginning July 7 in Vancouver.
Kelly Clarkson Hopes To Record With Fantasia, Expects \'Idol\' Tag On Her Headstone MTV.com 04/06/04[...]parte inútil[...]Fantasia and Kelly will both be recording albums in the coming months, but the most recent winner will also be juggling a summer tour, which could make a collaboration tricky. Clarkson, meanwhile, is hoping to write and record with a variety of artists and has already logged studio time with former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody (see "Ben Moody Bringing Kelly Clarkson\'s Music To Life").
"To be honest with you, I didn\'t know that he wasn\'t with Evanescence anymore," Clarkson said. "I just really liked their vibe and I thought it might be cool to work with one of them. So I just randomly asked people I work with, \'Hey, do you think that he\'d work with me?\' And then I found out that he kind of split and that\'s what he\'s doing ... so it worked out perfectly."
Clarkson has written several songs for her follow-up to Thankful (see "Kelly Clarkson\'s Rockin\', Soulful Side To Show On New LP" ) and is already calling the music an improvement from her debut.
"I love my first album," she said. "I think it\'s a great first album. I think it opens a lot of doors. I got to work with Babyface. Christina Aguilera helped write one of the songs, so there\'s a lot of cool things on that album and I\'m very proud of it, but definitely I\'ve grown a lot."
[...]parte inútil[...]Your Bus Or Mine? Evanescence And Seether To Tour U.S. In July MTV.com 19/05/04Evanescence were set to record this summer until Amy Lee decided to spend the time with her boyfriend.
Fortunately for fans, they like to travel.
"I thought it would be really fun to tour together since we\'ve never had the chance," Lee said of Seether singer Shaun Morgan. "We\'re always missing each other on tour, like, \'I wish you were here so you can see this, this is awesome, I\'m in Paris,\' or whatever. It\'ll be fun to see how it works. I\'m gonna try not to blow it. Mixing business with pleasure: sometimes it blows up in your face, but I\'ll try my best."
Evanescence and Seether are touring Europe through July, after which both bands will be joined by Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin for a North American trek beginning July 7 in Vancouver. Only the July dates have been finalized, but the outing is expected to last through the summer.
"We\'re actually playing some towns we haven\'t been to," said Lee, who\'s been on the road since last spring. "There\'s somewhere in South Florida [Sunrise] that\'s really close to where I grew up, and I\'m excited for that \'cause we never get to go to South Florida. And Little Rock, for some reason we also never get to hit, the other place where everybody\'s from. So we will come home this time!"
While near nonstop touring tends to wear on most bands, Lee said the opposite is true for Evanescence. "We\'ve learned how to be on the road," she said. "You learn to pace yourself. It\'s hard to explain, but once the tour has been together for a while you learn how cool it is. We had a break, and after a week it was like, \'When are we going back on tour? I\'ve gotta get back on the road!\' "
On the tour, Lee and Morgan will be spending time together both offstage and on, as Lee plans to join Seether for their version of "Broken" from "The Punisher" soundtrack (see "Don\'t Expect Many Collaborations From Amy Lee, Shaun Morgan").
"It\'s funny because whenever I watched their show before, I would get up and sing [\'Broken\'], so it\'s back to how it started," Lee said.
Evanescence recently released "Everybody\'s Fool" as the fourth single from their five-times platinum debut, Fallen, which is still floating around the top 10 some 15 months after it was released (see "Evanescence Eviscerate Consumer Culture In Dramatic New Video").
Evanescence tour dates, according to Wind-Up Records: 7/7 - Vancouver, BC @ PNE / Pacific Coliseum 7/9 - Kelowna, BC @ Rock the Bluff 7/10 - Camrose, AB @ Camrose Exhibition Fairgrounds 7/11 - Craven, SK @ Rock \'N\' The Valley 7/13 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center 7/15 - Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre 7/16 - Columbus, OH @ Germain Amphitheater 7/18 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheatre 7/19 - Ottawa, ON @ Corel Centre 7/20 - Montreal, QC @ Parc Jean-Drapeau 7/22 - Wantagh, NY @ Jones Beach 7/23 - Philadelphia, PA @ Penn\'s Landing 7/24 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion 7/26 - Sunrise, FL @ Office Depot Center 7/27 - Orlando, FL @ TD Waterhouse Centre 7/31 - Portsmouth, VA @ Harbor Center
Evanescence Eviscerate Consumer Culture In Dramatic New Video MTV.com 11/05/04When the video for Evanescence\'s fourth single, "Everybody\'s Fool," surfaces in a couple of weeks, fans will get to see Amy Lee like never before. Instead of her homemade wings and signature gothic garb, the clip finds Lee dressed alternately as a wholesome teenager, a kitschy pop idol and a softly lit glamazon.
Keeping in step with the song\'s lyrics — which rail against idealistic, media-constructed images — the clip comments on the correlation between a phony facade and corroded self-esteem. Before the music begins, Lee — decked out in blond curls, a baby-blue blouse and a long white skirt — emerges from the kitchen holding a fresh-from-the-oven frozen pizza, in a mock TV commercial. She presents the pizza to her family and, as the camera zooms in for a close-up, we see the brand name on the pizza box: Lies.
"There is nothing better than a good lie," Lee says cheerily, through a glistening smile, her head cocked slightly to one side.
Then rolling acoustic guitar and billowing synthesizers pave the way for the harsh power chords that open the song.
Lee is now back in her dimly lit hotel room, removing her pancake makeup, while her disembodied voice resonates in the background: "Perfect by nature/ Icons of self-indulgence/ Just what we all need/ More lies about a world that/ Never was and never will be."
The remaining scenes follow suit. In luxurious auburn tresses and dangling diamond earrings, Lee is a glamorous spokesmodel who violently scratches out her picture in magazines after the photo shoot has wrapped. She\'s also an extreme motorcycle chick who guzzles a soft drink called "Lies" that affords its drinker the opportunity to "Be somebody." And in an electric pink bob, she flashes a plastic smile worthy of Barbie as she hawks a look-alike doll on Japanese TV.
Each scene ends with Lee contemplating her deeds on the verge of tears. When two beach-bunny blondes recognize her, devoid of makeup and wigs, in an elevator and one remarks, "She looks so much older than I thought she would," the singer just loses it. Back in her room, she smashes her image in the bathroom mirror. With the broken glass comes shattered illusions, and Lee realizes that besides the products, her advertisements were also selling negative self-images.
Director Philip Stolzl, who also helmed the clip for Evanescence\'s first single, "Bring Me to Life," shot the video in Los Angeles in mid-April. "Everybody\'s Fool," which is beginning to gain momentum at radio, follows "My Immortal," the previous single from Evanescence\'s multiplatinum Fallen.
Evanescence have one more U.S. show scheduled, on Sunday in Clearwater, Florida, before heading overseas. Another North American tour is being mapped out for late summer.
For a full-length feature on Evanescence, check out "Evanescence: The Split."
Don\'t Expect Many Collaborations From Amy Lee, Shaun Morgan MTV.com 23/04/04The reason why Shaun Morgan and Amy Lee seem like the last two people on Earth in the new video for "Broken" was left out of the treatment by director Nigel Dick, but Seether\'s singer has an idea.
"Just look around," Morgan said. "The whole world is stepping on very thin eggshells. Everyone is pissed off at each other, and everyone is waiting for the other to explode so it can all end in one fell swoop. It might also be a comment on the war and the fact that it could turn out to be really devastating. So far this war hasn\'t been anywhere near as devastating as some of the others that have been fought, and I think none of us agree with it."
The clip takes "Broken"\'s theme of emotional isolation in the wake of a breakup and applies it globally. Shot early last month, the video finds Morgan and Evanescence\'s Lee, his real-life girlfriend, wandering through what appears to be a burnt-out encampment looking for signs of life. Although it seems like Dick (Britney Spears, John Mayer) raided the prop closet of the "Mad Max" movies, Morgan said the site — an abandoned crystal meth lab in Lancaster, California, that had exploded ... twice — is shown exactly how they found it.
"We just walked into a wasteland," he explained. "It had a lot of history. We felt a little bad being there, because there were some kids\' toys lying around; there had definitely been a family there. It looked like the place had been deserted pretty quickly. There were still playing cards on the table in one trailer. It looked like something had happened while people were still in it. We don\'t know if someone died, or how many people died. All of us had a bad energy from the place, but it was good to be there because it kind of goes with the song in some sense."
"Broken" originally appeared on Seether\'s 2002 debut, Disclaimer, and it was rerecorded as a duet with Lee earlier this year for inclusion on the soundtrack to "The Punisher." Morgan and Lee have also worked on a smattering of new songs, potentially for Evanescence\'s next album, though Morgan said it\'s too early to tell if their rough ideas will eventually materialize. He also said not to expect any more collaborations.
"I don\'t think it\'s a good idea because it definitely puts a lot of strain on our relationship," Morgan said. "It\'s not something I\'ll do again because there are a lot of political things that go with working with someone. It goes beyond just creating something cool. It can be become a nightmare if you let it.
"It\'s definitely tempting fate," he added. "All I can say is that I won\'t do it again."
That should make the upcoming reissue of Disclaimer something of a collector\'s item for fans, since, other than "The Punisher" soundtrack, it will be the only other place the collaboration is found. Seether will embark on a European tour in May with Evanescence to support the re-release, during which time Morgan and Lee will have a chance to spend plenty of time together, onstage and off.
Still, you get the sense that a part of Morgan would rather be someplace else.
"We desperately want to get a new album out because in August it will be have been two years," he said. "Some songs on Disclaimer I wrote eight or nine years ago, so I really want to get some new stuff out because I\'ve been playing those songs for years. And having grown as a human being and a musician, our new stuff sounds a lot better.
"Having Amy on the song brought us a lot of new fans," he conceded, "but we also have a lot of old fans that we can\'t abandon."
First Song From New Drowning Pool Lineup On \'Punisher\' LP MTV.com 25/02/04Contributions by Drowning Pool, Queens of the Stone Age and Damageplan are among the 19 new tracks slated for the soundtrack to the comic-book flick "The Punisher."
"Step Up," the first new song from Drowning Pool in nearly two years, will serve as the album\'s first single, according to a Wind-Up Records spokesperson.
That\'s not the only place where new Drowning Pool singer Jason Jones can be heard on the album. Jones, who replaced the late Dave Williams in January (see "Drowning Pool Hire L.A. Tattoo Artist As New Singer"), also lends a hand on "The End Has Come," the first offering from former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody since he left the band in October (see "Ben Moody Bringing Kelly Clarkson\'s Music To Life").
Moody\'s former partner Amy Lee also appears on the soundtrack, as featured vocalist on Seether\'s "Broken." Lee and her boyfriend, Seether singer Shaun Morgan, wrote the song last year.
[...]parte inútil[...]Ben Moody Bringing Kelly Clarkson\'s Music To Life MTV.com 17/02/04With two projects under his belt and a third on the horizon, former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody has become the unlikely go-to guy for pop stars who want to get their rock on.
A month after news broke that he was writing songs with Avril Lavigne (see "So Where\'s Evanescence\'s Ben Moody? Ask Avril Lavigne"), he\'s now showing Kelly Clarkson how to throw up her horns. "Let\'s face it, everyone wants to rock, it\'s just that some people aren\'t allowed to on their first record," Moody said. "We\'re born to do it. If you have an entire record without a guitar anywhere, that shouldn\'t be legal."
Moody explained that the "American Idol" winner\'s soulful voice lends itself to music that\'s a bit edgier than what\'s found on her debut, Thankful.
"It\'s cool because [Kelly] wants to do some branching out, and I\'m doing nothing but branching out," Moody said. "We got together and she had all these songs in mind of what she wanted to do. It\'s just a really, really cool process for me, because everybody is a new experience. Everybody works differently."
For eight years, Moody has only written songs intended to be sung by Amy Lee, the heavenly voice of Evanescence.
So when producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte) rang him up to assist with Lavigne\'s follow-up to 2002\'s Let Go, he finally got to experience another artist\'s style.
"Avril can write songs faster than both Amy and me," he said. "I would just start playing and she would come up with these killer melodies and the most clever hooks. It\'s just ridiculous. We wrote one song about finding your boyfriend cheating on you and every four lines ended with the most clever statement. I was just like, \'How do you do that?\' "
If touring and promoting last year\'s multiplatinum Fallen demanded a grueling schedule, Moody\'s new regimen makes it seem like a Carnival cruise. After leaving his bandmates in October (see "Evanescence Co-Founder Ben Moody Leaves Band During Tour"), he wasn\'t home more than a couple of days before job prospects began rolling in.
He\'s been working with Godhead singer Jason Miller, new Drowning Pool singer Jason Jones and Living Sacrifice drummer Lance Garvin on the track "The End Has Come," slated for the soundtrack to the upcoming comic-book flick "The Punisher." And though he\'s doubtful there\'ll even be a soundtrack to the controversial Jesus biopic "The Passion of the Christ," he and Evanescence songwriter David Hodges were asked to write something for the film, which they did.
Besides writing material for a possible solo album, Moody has written songs for "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and has been assisting the film\'s music supervisor in compiling the soundtrack. He\'s also slated to record a cover of Public Enemy\'s "Fight the Power" with an unnamed rapper for the movie.
While those last few projects may be in step with the lead guitarist of a goth-metal band, Moody\'s latest project, which he denied to detail until it\'s a done deal, would make the seemingly oddball Clarkson and Lavigne projects almost obvious by comparison.
"I got a call, and it was something so far from anything that I had done before, I was like, \'Absolutely,\' right off the bat. I would love to do that, because now I really get to challenge myself to see how good I am as a songwriter."
Music isn\'t the only thing on Moody\'s agenda these days. Leaving Evanescence has allowed him to devote less attention to music and focus instead on film. Together with friend Zack Ward, one of the stars of "Apocalypse," Moody has started a film production company, Makeshift Productions, that he says will flip Hollywood on its rear end.
The pair are already working on their cinematic debut, not unsurprisingly a horror flick they hope will begin production in April 2005.
"I\'m writing more now than I ever have before in my life," Moody said without a shred of regret. "This is the most prolific time I\'ve ever known, and the most freedom I\'ve ever had before."
Evanescence Singer Apologizes For Cold Comments MTV.com 21/01/04Hoping to end the mounting tension between herself and Cold, Evanescence\'s Amy Lee apologized for comments she made last week suggesting that Cold were breaking up.
"I spoke out of turn about the status of Cold," Lee posted on Evanescence\'s message board, EVboard.com. "I just wanted to say that really sucked of me. I didn\'t realize that Cold hadn\'t made any statements about the future of their band, and we don\'t really know anyway. Cold\'s fans hate me now. My bad. ... Sometimes you forget you have a microphone in your hand."
While announcing that Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo, who\'d been touring with Evanescence since November, was now a full-time member of the band, Lee claimed Cold would not make any more records because singer Scooter Ward was in rehab. Two days later, Ward confirmed Balsamo\'s departure, said Cold would persevere and questioned Lee\'s right to comment on his band with a message-board post on Cold\'s Web site, Coldonline.com (see ).
Lee also posted an apology on the same Cold message board Ward used. It read: "Dear Cold fans, I\'m sure the last thing you want to hear right now is more of me running my mouth, so I\'m going to make this short and simple. It was not my place to make statements about the status of Cold — Cold is not my band. I apologize. I\'ve never claimed to be perfect and I\'m not too proud to admit when I\'m wrong."
Evanescence\'s label, Wind-Up Records, did not comment on the posts.
Cold Continue, Return Fire At Evanescence\'s Amy Lee MTV.com 20/01/04Currently without a guitarist, Cold will persevere.
While seeking a replacement for axeman Terry Balsamo, who defected to Evanescence, Cold prepare to drop "Wasted Years," the third single from Year of the Spider, according to a post by Cold singer Scooter Ward on the band\'s Web site, Coldonline.com. When the tune will surface is not yet known. It follows previous singles "Stupid Girl" and "Suffocate" off Cold\'s third album.
Ward also said Cold will start work on their fourth album when they finish an as-yet-unannounced forthcoming tour.
There appear to be no hard feelings between Ward and Balsamo. "Terry was and is a great person, and I don\'t think anyone should ever speak ill of him," he wrote.
The same can\'t be said about Ward\'s opinion of Evanescence singer Amy Lee, however. After confirming Balsamo\'s departure, which was announced by Lee during an interview Friday in Australia (see "Evanescence Name New Guitarist"), Ward admitted he was taken aback at Lee\'s proclamation that Cold were breaking up because of Ward\'s multiple stays in rehab.
"I also don\'t know why Amy threw my life out there like she did," Ward wrote. "I never did anything but treat her with respect, but this is the life I choose and not everything can be a secret. I just wish she would have let me tell my story when I was ready."
In the Australian interview, Lee said she was "pretty sure that [Ward] is in and out of rehab and having real problems."
Evanescence Name New Guitarist MTV.com 16/01/04Cold\'s Terry Balsamo hooked up with Evanescence for their performance at the American Music Awards in November after the departure of founding member Ben Moody. He stayed onboard for a few months of touring but was never considered a permanent member. Until now.
Evanescence singer Amy Lee announced Balsamo\'s promotion to Australian Web site Undercover Media (
www.undercover.com.au) on Friday, before the band performed its final show of a Down Under tour.
A Wind-Up Records spokesperson, however, said the label has had no discussions with the band about Balsamo becoming a permanent member.
Since leaving Evanescence in October, Moody has surfaced as one of the co-songwriters for Avril Lavigne\'s next album (see "So Where\'s Evanescence\'s Been Moody? Ask Avril Lavigne"). He is also working with goth-metal band Godhead, who toured with Evanescence late last year.
Lee indicated that Balsamo\'s departure from Cold is likely to spell the end of the Jacksonville, Florida, quintet, which has released three albums since Limp Bizkit\'s Fred Durst helped the band get a label deal in 1998.
"They could hire another guitar player and continue, but ... I don\'t think they\'re going to be making another record," she told Undercover Media.
A spokesperson for Cold said the band is not breaking up. Cold\'s latest LP, Year of the Spider, was released in April.
Evanescence will begin a 13-day stint in Japan before embarking on another tour of North America that kicks off February 11 in Los Angeles (see "Evanescence Map Out Three-Continent Tour"). Five dates have been added to the trek since it was first announced.
Additional Evanescence tour dates, according to Wind-Up Records: 2/18 - Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion 2/25 - Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre 2/27 - New York, NY @ Roseland 2/28 - Washington, DC @ DAR Constitution Hall 2/29 - Boston, MA @ Avalon
So Where\'s Evanescence\'s Ben Moody? Ask Avril Lavigne MTV.com 13/01/04Since Ben Moody\'s departure from Evanescence in October, many have wondered about the guitarist\'s whereabouts.
Three months after he quit the band without so much as a "Dear John" letter, Moody has resurfaced as a part of Avril Lavigne\'s songwriting team.
Moody, who co-wrote all of Evanescence\'s Fallen, including the hits "Bring Me to Life" and "Going Under," is among the songwriters working with the 19-year-old pop star on her second album, the follow-up to her 2002 debut, Let Go. The collaboration was hatched when Moody contacted Lavigne\'s A&R rep and volunteered his talents, according to Lavigne\'s spokesperson.
Lavigne\'s guitarist Evan Taubenfeld and Canadian singer/pianist Chantal Kreviazuk are also lending their pens to the project (see "Avril Lavigne: No Showers, Just Songs"), which is being recorded in a Los Angeles studio.
Song and album titles have not yet been confirmed, but the album is expected to drop in late spring (see"Avril Lavigne Grows Up, Sheds Her Newbie Ways For Upcoming LP").
A host of new producers have also signed on to help Avril. Don Gilmore, who engineered Pearl Jam\'s Ten and helmed both studio albums for Linkin Park, is on board, as are Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida and former Marvelous 3 frontman Butch Walker, who has gone solo and has been producing since his band broke up in 2001.
Evanescence are still without a permanent guitarist since Moody vacated the slot (see "Evanescence Soldier On Without Ben Moody, Look Forward to Recording"). Although not an official member of the band, former Limp Bizkit axeman Wes Borland has been working with singer Amy Lee on new material (see "Wes Borland Puts Eat The Day On Hold, Hopes To Hook Up With Evanescence").
Let Go has sold nearly 6 million copies since its release in June 2002, according to SoundScan, and has afforded Lavigne three nominations at this year\'s Grammy Awards (see "Jay-Z, Beyonce, Outkast, Pharrell Nab Most Grammy Nominations").
Evanescence Map Out Three-Continent Tour MTV.com 05/01/04Amy Lee has long sung about "Going Under." Six months after her fans began singing along with her when Evanescence\'s second single hit the radio, she\'s about to reach her destination.
Evanescence are heading Down Under to New Zealand for the first date of a brief three-continent tour that will culminate in the band\'s return to North America. The goth-metal group\'s fourth tour of the States since the album Fallen was released in March kicks off February 11 in Los Angeles, according to Wind-Up Records spokesperson.
Nine stops on the trek have been confirmed thus far — through February 24 — and a few additional dates are expected.
Just prior to the start of the Stateside outing, Evanescence will swing by the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 46th annual Grammy Awards, where they\'re nominated for five awards, including Album of the Year (see "Jay-Z, Beyonce, Outkast, Pharrell Nab Most Grammy Nominations").
The entire tour begins January 8 in Auckland, New Zealand, and six shows in Australia round out Evanescence\'s Down Under duty. From there, they embark on 10-date traipse through Japan that ends with the Sonicmania festival on January 31 in Osaka and February 1 in Tokyo, where they\'ll share stages with Korn, Finch and Slipknot.
Lee won\'t have to travel very far for the tour\'s kickoff. She spent the last few weeks in South Africa with her boyfriend, Shaun Morgan of the band Seether. Although she wasn\'t on the bill, Lee made a few cameo appearances at the South African band\'s shows, according to her spokesperson.
Evanescence\'s shows in San Jose, California; Champaign, Illinois; Saint Cloud, Minnesota; Madison, Wisconsin; and Fort Wayne, Indiana, are makeup dates for a handful of shows that were canceled in November, in the wake of founding guitarist Ben Moody\'s abrupt departure in the middle of a European tour (see "Evanescence Postpone A Dozen Dates of North American Tour"). At the time, no explanation for the postponement was given, but Lee later said the atmosphere around the band just wasn\'t right to carry on without Moody.
"It just wasn\'t coming together," Lee said last month in Los Angeles. "It was one of those things where we were so busy in Europe, running around. So we were playing shows in Europe, and everything was happening at once, with Ben and everything. It was kind of like, \'All right, let\'s take two weeks to chill.\' "
Cold\'s Terry Balsamo will take Moody\'s spot on the forthcoming outing, as he did for Evanescence\'s last trek in November (see "Evanescence Soldier On Without Ben Moody, Look Forward To Recording"). That tour found Finger Eleven, Godhead and Seether as openers. Finger Eleven have been pegged to open the upcoming Australian leg, though warm-up acts have yet to be announced for the North American tour.
Upon the trek\'s close in March, Lee plans to begin writing Evanescence\'s follow-up to Fallen, which sold more than 3.3 million copies in 2003, according to SoundScan, to become last year\'s best-selling debut album by a group and third-best-selling album of 2003 overall. And just as her collaboration with 12 Stones\' Paul McCoy helped make "Bring Me to Life" the album\'s first hit, Lee is hoping for similar teamwork on her band\'s next album.
"I\'ve talked to people I want to write with," she said. "I love working with other people; it\'s just a cool thing. I\'m really looking forward to the writing process. It\'s my favorite part."
Evanescence tour dates, according to Wind-Up Records: 2/11 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern LG 2/12 - Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues 2/13 - San Jose, CA @ Event Center Arena 2/15 - Reno, NV @ Reno Hilton 2/17 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium 2/20 - Saint Cloud, MN @ Halenbeck Hall 2/21 - Madison, WI @ Alliant Energy Center 2/22 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Allen Co. Mem. Coliseum 2/24 - Champaign, IL @ Assembly Hall