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music was something that helped them
through it. I’ve heard those things from
a lot of people and for a long time, and
I’m at a point where I know that it’s
done that for me. I wasn’t [intentional-
ly] making music to help people, I was
making it really from a place where I
was working on myself.
“I’ve come to really appreciate the in-
credible gi that we’re able to all connect
in our pain and not look at it in a way
like
everything’s so bad
—to go through
it together and be open enough to have
a free place to express how hard life can
be sometimes. We’re kind of all in this
beautiful communion together. It’s just
something that I’ve come to appreciate
beyond ‘oh that lyric was silly, I wrote it
when I was years old.’ It’s just so much
bigger than that to me now.”
Scanning the track list of
Synthesis
recalls just how many modern-day
classics the band churned out despite
or perhaps as a result of those struggles,
including “My Heart Is Broken,” “Lost
In Paradise,” “Lithium,” “My Immortal,”
and “Bring Me to Life,” whose origi-
nal versions appeared between
’s
Evanescence
,
’s
e Open Door
, and
’s
Fallen
. at debut disc from
years ago remains something remark-
able, with its worldwide sales having
since eclipsed million copies—for
perspective, that’s more than
any
Taylor
Swi , Beyoncé, or Lady Gaga album.
“It’s been an incredible gi because
it’s a orded me the ability to take artistic
chances, like this
Synthesis
thing, and
just go for it, have faith, have the ability
and the resources to put that quality
forward,” Lee con rms. “ e money
that we made from
Fallen
—when things
were di erent and it was about CD
sales—to be able to take that and put
it back into our music in a way that it
doesn’t feel like I’m going into debt or
begging for money [
Laughs
] has been
such a gi . Ever since that happened,
I’ve always really thought, ‘ at’s what
this is. I need to pour that into always
keeping the integrity of what I always
dreamed this would be.’ We did get a
whole lot of exposure in that time, and
our fan base has stuck with us incredibly
through all these years and accepted all
the di erent twists and turns that we’ve
taken. I think I’m the kind of artist who
just wants to make the music that I want
to make, period, so the fact that there
are millions of people that hear it when I
do take a chance and make some music,
whether it’s unpredictable or not, it’s a
wonderful thing. I’m so glad for that,
and that’s just the way it had to be for
me.”
Andy Argyrakis is a Chicago-based writer/
photographer whose credits include the
Chicago
Tribune
,
Chicago Sun-Times
,
Daily Herald
,
Daily Journal
,
Illinois Entertainer
,
Hear/Say
Now
,
Concert Livewire
,
Chicago Now
,
Redeye
,
Metromix
,
Paste
,
DownBeat
, Spin.com, MTV.com,
Fuse TV, UP TV,
Pollstar
, and
Celebrity Access
.
He also is the founder and content curator for
ChicagoConcertReviews.com.
Going back
and opening
the songs
back up and
breathing new
life into them
was really
therapeutic.
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 9 – JULY 22, 2018
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