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Amy Lee's emotional well-being, as volatile as it might be, fuels the Evanescence leader's songwriting. And the diminutive figurehead to teenage Goth girls everywhere has had a lot to deal with since the worldwide explosion of her band's 2003 album, "Fallen."
First, her co-writer and ex-boyfriend, Ben Moody, quit the band midtour. Then she split with her new boyfriend and got embroiled in a sexual-harassment lawsuit with the band's ex-manager. Add that bit of real-life turmoil to a relentless touring schedule and you see a woman ready to explode if she doesn't get to write and record some new songs soon. And that's where the band's new album, "The Open Door," comes in.
"I don't think my life's been harder or worse or more challenging than anyone else's, but I'm an expresser," Lee said in a news conference just before the launch of Evanescence's new tour, stopping for a show in Utah Wednesday. "I'm a creator, so I'm constantly just putting it out there and getting it off my chest, so people relate to that.
"I release so much of my baggage into the music, but I feel like I can be normal and healthy in real life. I don't feel like I'm always wallowing in pain and sad and dressing in black all the time. I'm a goofball. I'm a normal person. The music is just my therapy. It's my outlet for all those negative things."
It's an outlet that clearly resonates with a lot of people. "Fallen" sold more than 13 million copies on the basis of dramatic singles like "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal," remaining on Billboard's Top 200 album-sales charts for two solid years. Evanescence's new, Moody-free album debuted at No. 1, and its collection of hard rock, creepy choirs and swelling strings will surely hit home for fans of the band's breakthrough.
The more Evanescence toured behind "Fallen," the more Lee was able to realize that her music was striking a chord with people, that her darkest feelings are still universal feelings.
"It seems like a lot of times, it's teenagers who feel like they really have someone that they can relate to or talk to [when they meet me]," Lee said. "It is a huge inspiration to feel like people connected with the music that we've written and the words that I've written. It makes me feel like the whole thing that I'm doing here isn't totally self-indulgent.
"I feel like there are a lot of people that just want to feel that they're not alone and feel like someone else in the world understands what it's like to go through some hard times."
Lee will probably have to find inspiration in areas besides depression and self-doubt for the next album. The success of "Fallen" has made her financially secure, and she has a band that's largely drama-free backing her when she hits the road for the "The Open Door" tour. She also has, according to Blender magazine, a new boyfriend in New York who is, conveniently enough, a therapist and childhood friend.
"Good Enough," the final song on "The Open Door," might be a good indication of where Lee's music is going. The delicate piano-and-strings ballad is far from wallowing in the dark side as Lee tends to do elsewhere. The song, about feeling worthy of a significant other that you worship, is evidence of "the new me," according to Lee.
"I actually had made real changes in my life to separate myself from the negative things that were holding me down," Lee said of the song's genesis. " 'Good Enough' actually came out of feeling good, which is a big first for me because I've always felt like I have to be going through something, struggling with something, to write.
"Passionate, tragic things inspire my music, but I've realized that I don't have to be sad to write a good song."
Evanescence at Saltair
* EVANESCENCE, WITH THE REVOLUTION THEORY opening, plays at The Great Saltair, Wednesday at 7 p.m. The show has moved from In the Venue and additional tickets are available for $27 at SmithsTix outlets and ktix.net.
* FOR SAMPLES of Evanescence's new album, visit