Evanescence are in town tonight (August 23) headlining the Carnival of Madness tour at Rock the Rapids. Frontwoman Amy Lee has been through a lot of changes with the band, but they released their self-titled third studio album last October, six years after 2006's The Open Door. Lee took the time to open up to us about the latest disc, as well as her career aspirations outside of music and more.

The story behind the making of Evanescence is pretty interesting. The band initially went into the studio to work with producer Steve Lillywhite. Eventually things didn't work out between Evanescence and Lillywhite, so the group went back to the drawing board. They tapped Alice In Chains and Foo Fighters producer Nick Raskulinecz for the second session and created what is now the album Evanescence. Lee wasn't worried about being pulled in too many creative directions and wanted to make sure everything felt right.

"I am a true believer in inspiration and when something feels right when it comes to music and art," states Lee. "You know when something is right and you're in the groove, and you know when you're forcing it. I hate forcing it. I feel like we got to a point when it just wasn't right. All the pieces were kind of almost there but it wasn't happening right when we went to the studio for the first time, almost a year before we put out the record."

She continues: "It's hard to sometimes make that bold and embarrassing choice going, 'We're not done. Everybody shut up and go home.' I know that's expensive but we needed to work some more and get the right team involved. I'm proud that we did that because I really, really love the record we made. I think it's the best one yet. I love listening to it still, and that's certainly a good thing because we had to play the crap out of it over the past year now. I love all of our songs, but it's been cool playing so many of the new songs on this last tour."

Amy Lee and fellow female rocker Lzzy Hale of Halestorm have been leading the charge of girls who kick ass in rock. While some may say women in the industry are still seen as less powerful compared to their male counterparts, Lee thinks it's all due to perception.

"Everybody makes assumptions about everything," the singer says. "The beginnings of rock and roll were heavily male. I think naturally people assume you just kind of associate that, especially classic rock. I mean, think about it: Sex, drugs and rock and roll. Also booze, you know? Part of the thing is being kind of a sexist pig and we all can laugh at that. Lzzy can too and think it's funny and stupid and do just as good or better than a lot of people out there. So it's like, 'Fine! Screw yourself. Check us out.'"

Lee goes on: "Is it ever going to be equal? I don't know. I think that's all in your mind. I think it's just about people assuming things before they know any better in general. That is what should go away. You don't know something until you see it for yourself, and that's why we do our best to bring it harder than anybody else every night."

Watch the entire interview with Amy Lee below. If you're wondering why the audio sounds weird, our mics crapped out on us. Sad trombone. Evanescence is in stores now.

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Watch Dave Kim Interview Amy Lee of Evanescence

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