Amy Lee (Evanescence) says female musicians should stand firm and be themselves – Metality UAE exclusive

Evanescence set hearts on fire on Friday with their full on hi-energy, seamless performance on June 22^nd. Amy Lee, the band’s founding member, vocalist and pianist is known for being a strong woman who has pushed the band forward over the last ten years.

With a surge in female fronted rock and metal bands in the Middle East region, such as Massive Scar Era (Egypt), Frosted Leaves (Iran), Hera (UAE), Nelly’s Melody (Iran) and many more, we thought we would ask her for her advice to these frontwomen, who not only have to battle social prejudices, but in many cases the threat of being arrested.

“In general people all over the world, fans or whatever, I always say follow your heart. Don’t let anyone chance you and put words in your mouth and try to make you something you are not because that is not what people want to hear, they want to hear something real. For women especially sometimes it is harder to be strong, but it is ok to be different and I think it is a real bonus to be different. Embrace the fact that you are female, embrace the fact that you are different and stay strong. And best of luck, we need more women out there in the rock world,” Amy Lee told Metality UAE during an interview at the Hard Rock Café inDubai.

Despite her being held up as an example of how to be a frontwoman and her reputation of being a hard task-master, we also discovered that she is pretty much like the rest of us. I am sure all us ladies can relate to this;

“When you are on the road it is a little hard to pack stuff in your suitcase. When you get there everything is totally wrinkled and I spend the best part of my morning ironing what I have to wear,” she told us – and which of us women has not had the same dilemma when arriving in a hotel room!

She also admitted that she loves exploring new countruies and cultures and this one one of the reasons she was excited to be inDubai.

“[Touring] is really more for me about embracing countries and cultures that we are in that I am in. For me I like to be somewhere and feel like I saw that place even a little bit even if it is just having one real traditional meal or going out somewhere,” she said.

To see our review of the Evanescence gig in Dubai, please click here.