Fronting one of the worlds most popular alternative rock groups can seem like a real burden. With their first album, Fallen, selling over 14 million copies worldwide, it seems as though the sky is the limit for Evanescence, led by lead singer and song writer Amy Lee.
In November Arkansas natives are to perform only two shows in the UK leg of their European tour. As you would expect, tickets went thick and fast for the two shows, one in London and the other in Manchester.
The group has had quite a rollercoaster ride over the past few years. Shortly after the release of their debut album, lead guitarist and co-founder of the band Ben Moody left the group in the middle of their last European tour in October 2003, reportedly because of ‘creative differences’.
It was not until a later interview with Amy Lee confirmed what happened. “Ben was very controlling and very judgmental… I felt like any moment he would slap at me or tell me,’we can’t do that, we’re not Christina Aguilera’” she told contactmusic.com.
Moody was later replaced with Terry Balsamo, who also went on to have problems in the process of making the groups second album, The Open Door.
The album has taken a lot longer to complete than most people initially thought. Part of the hold up was the health of Balsamo. Lee told the official Evanescence website “Terry suffered a stroke last October and is still recovering, we got a new manager, and I’ve come out of a difficult breakup. But everything we’ve been through together has benefited this album.”
Making the second album for the group has been a strenuous experience for all involved but in terms of creating, according to Lee, it has not been so bad. In an interview with musicOMH.com she said “If anything, the success of the first album made it a lot easier to create this time. The hard part was in the beginning with Fallen. If we had failed, that’s pretty much like our shot would be over; you have that first shot\”
With the soothing and beautiful sound of Amy Lee’s vocals, and the originality of the group’s style, Evanescence has the world in its grip. After the massive achievement of Fallen, and the impending success of The Open Door, combined with two major sellout concerts in the UK, it seems the long road to success has only just began.
