EVANESCENCE Singer On Former Guitarist BEN MOODY: 'We're Not Friends, We Do Not Talk'

Theresa Tayler of Dose.ca recently conducted an interview EVANESCENCE frontwoman Amy Lee. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On parting ways with songwriter/guitarist Ben Moody in 2003 while on tour in Europe:

"Ben was becoming very unhappy and going through personal things that I don't think had anything to do with the band. He was making everything miserable for everyone, for a while there I thought, 'Oh God, this band is just going to dissipate, Ben is going to bring us all down.' "

"When he left I felt like I could become a new person. We're not friends, we do not talk. Sometimes it's much, much healthier to just walk away. I know as much about what he does as everyone else does from the news. I think he's writing music for people, mostly pop-stars, which is cool, I guess. I think it shows the artistic clash between us where he wanted to pull the music into something commercial and I wanted to be more innovative and try something more artistic."

"When Ben left I felt like the guys really came through for me, for the first time I really needed to lean on them and they were there. They worked their butts off, John (LeCompt) reworked and learned all of his guitar parts for both guitars and he learned all the leads, we finished the European tour as a four-piece with out missing a single show. That was a big thing for me, for all of us. It made us feel really worthy, we knew we were good at what we do."

On guitarist Terry Balsamo's serious stroke in November 2005:

"I think we've all been inspired by how hard he's worked, from the day after the stoke he wanted to be perfect at the guitar again, but it's not easy. We love Terry so much there was no way wouldn't wait for him, he's part of this band he's part of creating this new album."

On the new album, "The Open Door":

"This new album is far better than the first. The first did really well and that's wonderful but this is about a piece of work hands down and I really feel confident in it and I don't care what people think."

"I was only sharing part of myself on 'Fallen', the gloom and doom and the torment and pain things I needed to say back then. I'm in a different place now, my writing has become more broad. This album is stronger and more empowering, I've grown up and I know it's not the end of the world anymore."