EVANSCENCE singer Amy Lee, who is busy writing new material, recently talked with SPIN.com about the group's messy split with guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray, writing a solo album, scoring films, and "Sally's Song", her contribution to "Nightmare Revisited", the new collection of covers from Tim Burton's 1993 film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas". A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
On the split with LeCompt and Gray:
"It's a difficult situation, as is every dramatic situation our band has gone through. John [LeCompt, guitar], Rocky [Gray, drums] ? we outgrew each other. When they joined the band, Fallen was just completed and they were excited to be a part of something really big. From the beginning, their musical styles were very different from EVANESCENCE. I think, to a degree, they got bored or frustrated. They weren't part of the creative process and were like, 'Why are we doing this?' Their writing just didn't work for EVANESCENCE, and I have to do what's best for the band. I've had a little bit of contact with John since and it was positive. Very few bands have been able to maintain their original members forever."
On new songs and a solo album:
"I need to show that I'm more than a one trick pony. I'm writing here at the house by myself and it's been really good. But I'd really like to do something different next. [The new songs] are definitely different. I feel like I'm going back to my really old roots. They have more of my folky and Celtic influence than ever before. And it's not all sad ? it's nothing I would categorize as EVANESCENCE."
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