So after playing the Nobel Peace Price concert in December in Oslo, Norway, are there any other venues on the Evanescence wish list? The White House perhaps?
“If they call, I’d definitely consider it,” says singer Amy Lee, who will perform with the band Wednesday, Jan. 18, at House of Blues. “Since we’re back after such a long time off, it feels good to be working again: doing concerts, seeing fans again and experiencing the rush of live show.”
The band’s latest, self-titled studio album arrived in October after a five-year break between projects. The songwriting started informally, Lee says.
“I have a studio at my house, so constantly when we’re not on the road, I’m playing, making demos, drum loops, having friends over to play. Then, it became the band and it took off from there. You write one song and get really excited about it, then you start chasing it.”
In this case, the song was “High/Low” – or maybe “Hi/Lo” — a track that never made it to the album.
“I don’t know how to spell it,” Lee says. “It [the recording of the song] is this thing that’s completely free – no rules, no record, no plan. Just completely indulgent and that’s how it’s supposed to feel. It’s like this awesome hobby and I obsess over it until it becomes my work.
“It’s just like when I was in high school and I was supposed to be studying for school, but I was staying up in my room writing music.”
That’s a long time ago now, a time before the blockbuster success of Evanescence. So is it hard to recapture that spirit of freedom?
“I feel different in a million ways since then,” Lee says. “I’ve changed so much in the course of a decade, but no, I feel like I’ve always had this place in heart and head. It’s the same for writing music as it is for writing poetry or painting. “I do it because I love to do it. It has always felt that way.”
(You can read more of this interview with Amy lee in the Soundboard column in Friday’s Calendar section.)