Amy Lee

“Lemmy said, ‘I like your band. Don’t f**k it up.’”

Ohio metalcore outfit Miss May I have debuted their new single "Sanctuary" via Solid State Records.The track is accompanied by a music video directed by Garrett Drake and Josh Hart.

Lzzy Hale is all set to conquer Louder Than Life this September as she and the rest of Halestorm mount their headlining performance as part of the fest’s all-female Stage 3 lineup. The crowd at Louisville, Kentucky’s Expo Center will no doubt be blasted with the quartet’s signature life-affirming and fun brand of hard-rock energy — as heard on anything from 2012’s Grammy-winning “Love Bites (So Do I)” single up to the masterful heights of last year’s epic Everest album. It’ll be electric, for sure, but Hale suggests the scene backstage — where the vocalist-guitarist will be hanging out with artists including In This Moment’s Maria Brink and 2025 tourmate Lindsey Stirling — is also going to be “a little nuts.” She describes it as a “ladies night summer camp” that’ll reconnect her with some of her favorite musical friends. To say the least, Hale’s eager for the hang. “The camaraderie is what it’s all about for me. It’s a different energy when there’s so many of us in one place,” Hale says of the upcoming fest experience, adding, “I’m most excited about being surrounded by my sisters and being supportive of each other, but also [for] looking out into the audience, seeing all of the women and feeling that inspiration come full circle.” The all-female Stage 3 lineup takes over Louder Than Life on September 19th, and it will feature a number of women-driven projects across various spectrums of the heavy-music scene, including Orianthi, Icon for Hire, Kami Kehoe and Diamante. The day is set to celebrate a diverse array of artists making an impact in the current musical landscape, something Hale suggests wasn’t always the case when she was growing up as a horns-raising, headbanging youth in Pennsylvania. “When I was a kid, I didn’t have a whole lot of friends because of the genre that I listened to,” she says. “At this point in time in my life, being able to host a party and being surrounded by all of these girls that are just like me that love the music that I love… It’s going to be one of those moments that I’m going to be thinking about for a long time.” Ahead of making memories at Louder Than Life — and just as Halestorm launch the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “Women in Metal” exhibit with a performance tonight (July 10th) in Cleveland, Ohio — Hale discusses her thoughts on the upcoming festival, advice she got from her “foremothers of rock,” and why she’s gladly holding the gate open for the next wave of female musicians. Steve Thrasher In your eyes, what is the greatest strength of having this specific space carved out at Louder Than Life, rather than integrating female-driven projects across the various stages at the festival?Lzzy Hale We’re a lot louder together, and I think that makes a hell of a statement. And all of us are extremely different, so having us on one stage — “Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am” — is really going to showcase that, rather than spreading us out across the stages. Each one of us represents the different [sides of] femaledom in rock & roll. It’s gonna be a powerhouse, a complete experience with all of us celebrating who we are and what makes it powerful for a woman to be in this business. The fact that there are so many of us — that we’re able to take over a stage like this — is pretty amazing. Are there any acts you’re looking forward to reconnecting with, whether onstage or behind the scenes?Oh, my goodness… all of them! I mean, we’ve toured with everybody on this lineup, except for Kami Kehoe — who I haven’t met yet. That’ll be fun, to actually discover her. But then, I’ve known Ariel [Bloomer] and everybody in Icon for Hire for years. They actually live close to me, so I see them more when they’re not performing. Obviously we’ve been friends with In This Moment for years — we’ve toured with them many times, so it’ll be great to connect with those peeps. I haven’t seen Orianthi in many years, since I was spending some time in California and we had a lot of mutual friends. We did a co-headlining tour with Lindsey Stirling last summer. Diamante is one of my best friend’s girlfriends, we see each other in random spots when we’re not performing. So, it’ll be great to see all my friends do their thing, and be inspired by that all in one spot. How has the music industry changed for women since you first entered the game?It’s not so much of a novelty anymore. It was probably only about a decade or so ago where I’d be playing any of these festivals and I wasn’t the only one there backstage. That’s just not the case now, and I think that’s beautiful. It’s not such a strange notion to have a woman carving her own path in this genre. I always talk about how if there is a genre tailor-made for the woman’s psyche and female rage, it is hard rock and heavy metal. You gotta put it somewhere, and this is the perfect outlet for all of that. With every generation, the women become more and more unapologetic about liking what they like. My foremothers of rock — the women that came before me in the Nineties and the Eighties and Seventies — had it harder than I had it. I never had to sit in somebody’s lap to get my record played, [but] I went through my hurdles. I’ve had this conversation with Amy Lee: I think our only job is to hold the gate open for whoever is coming in next. Just by existing and not giving up — and not letting this industry walk all over you — you are automatically [holding the gate open] for whoever’s coming in after you. If that’s what we accomplish in this particular timeline, then I’m doing my job. Had anyone from that older generation of musicians held the gate open for you?A lot people in the local community in Pennsylvania were huge in believing in me. And there was, specifically, a female-fronted rock band called Aslan — Andrea Aslan was the lead singer of that. This was when I was a teenager, but they were making a name for themselves regionally. I looked up to them, and I remember her being one of the first people to take me aside and be like, “Don’t let anybody tell you what you can or can’t do… everything is absolutely possible.” I’ve made it past where they ended up — they never really got to the point where it was like a major label scene — but I do cite those moments with her as helping me later on, like when we were shopping to labels and everyone was like, “Women in rock really aren’t a thing right now,” or “We’ve already got a girl on the radio, we don’t need another one.” Because of those early conversations, when you find yourself in front of a roadblock, you’re like, “Well, that’s ridiculous. I’m gonna find a way around this, because I’ve been told that anything is possible.” That was very helpful. I’ve gotten to have conversations with nearly all of my female idols: Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Anne Wilson, Lita Ford. I made sure I thanked each of them for not giving up, because I think that if their story had been like, “Well, I tried to do this, but the industry wasn’t looking at me in the right way,” and then they gave up, maybe that would have been my story, [too]. The fact that they stuck it out, and all of them are still extremely successful, made the bridge to my dream possible. It almost gave me permission, like, “You can do this because of these women who came before.” In that same breath, I’ve had conversations with my peers about [how] it’s very important for us to remind young girls, “I’m doing this, therefore you can too.” It’s very important for young girls to see themselves reflected in something. Steve Thrasher When we spoke last year, you’d mentioned that industry insiders were initially trying to pivot you away from metal towards pop. Do you know if younger artists are still faced with those kinds of scenarios?No matter what your chosen path is, there’s always gonna be people that are like, “If you just did this, you’d be more successful.” I don’t think that the opinions of other people necessarily matter as much as they used to, [and] I feel like the majority of young women right now just don’t give a fuck about what anybody thinks. I love that so much. There’s always been the illusion of rules in this business, whereas actually, there are no rules. The veil has been lifted. There are so many young artists doing everything all by themselves, without the need for outside help or advice. That’s part of what’s empowering these young girls to literally do whatever they want to do and be their own weird. Don’t try to get on a train just because it’s trending right now. You wrote in a recent Instagram post that you’re fighting for women in the industry — past, present and future. What’s the fight like right now, and how is that different than it had been in the past?I think we’re fighting to maintain what we’ve already earned. We are living in a society that is constantly trying to drag us back, but I feel like the majority of us just want to be seen and heard. And the more of us that stand up, the more it seems that we have ownership over this genre. With each and every one of us just taking the smallest steps toward living our truest life — making yourself visible in order for young girls to see that it’s possible to do what we’re doing — the more that stigma breaks down. This interview has been edited and condensed for flow and clarity.

DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara recently spoke with Tomasz Michalski of Poland's MetalSide about the growing use of artificial intelligence in music. DevilDriver is slated to release their 11th full length LP, Strik...

Evanescence are thriving in their Sanctuary era — and so are their fans, who voted the album the best of the year thus far in a recent Revolver poll. That said, Amy Lee has added even more art to her already blockbuster summer by delivering an ambient vocal score to recent short film The Seventh Turn. The film — which was written, directed and produced by Eric D. Howell — was released through streaming service Kinema last week, and is described as “a 20-minute ghost story that explores coercive control and the quiet courage it takes to reclaim one’s truth.” It had been revealed last year that Lee had contributed to the score, developing the music alongside composer Michael Wandmacher. Lee’s process involved improvised vocalizations. In addition to the film being hosted on Kinema, a deluxe 11-song, 20-minute score — aglow in ghostly moans, choral melodies and ambient cries — is now streaming as well. You can check out the soundtrack — described by Lee as an extended, uninterrupted audio journey she hopes serves to stir your heart and imagination — in full up above. A trailer for The Seventh Turn is down below, while the short film is streaming as a pay-what-you-can title on Kinema. In related news, the North American leg of Evanescence’s ongoing world tour resumes Wednesday (July 8th) at Tinley Park, Illinois’ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre. Spiritbox and Nova Twins will open. You’ll find the full breakdown for the remaining dates, including a European run with Poppy, over here.

Lemmy, James Hetfield, Amy Lee, Slipknot’s Clown and more open up the haterade on their own songs

Evanescence made Florida their sanctuary last night. For the opening date of their North American tour, Amy Lee and her band treated fans at West Palm Beach’s iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre to a night of classic songs and several live debuts from the band’s latest album, Sanctuary. The night began with opening sets from Nova Twins and Spiritbox, and then Evanescence took the stage to deliver a 21-song headlining performance. The evening was heavily slanted towards Sanctuary, which was released earlier this month. Evanescence began the night with the first-ever live performance of the title track, and then gave stage debuts to “Tell Me When You’ve Had Enough,” “Rapture,” “Self-Destruct,” “Beautiful Lie” and more. They also hit recent singles from the LP, like “Who Will You Follow?” and “Afterlife.” All told, they played the entirety of the 12-song Sanctuary. The night also featured older hits like “Bring Me to Life” and “Call Me When You’re Sober,” while Evanescence also gave The Open Door s Like You it s stage debut. Late in the set, Nova Twins and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante hopped on-stage to help Lee sing the “Fight Like a Girl” single she released for last year’s Ballerina soundtrack. You’ll find fan-shot footage from throughout the night up above and down below. You’ll also find the setlist details down there (via setlist.fm). The tour continues tonight (June 12th) at Tampa, Florida’s MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre. You’ll find the fuller tour breakdown over here. Evanescence setlist 6/11/26:Sanctuary (Live debut)Tell Me When You ve Had Enough (Live debut)AfterlifeRapture (Live debut)Going UnderLithiumLike You (Live debut)Self Destruct (Live debut)Calm Down (Live debut)Call Me When You re SoberBeautiful Lie (Live debut)Wasted on YouForever Without You (Live debut)Bring Me to LifeImaginaryBetter Without YouAbout Us (Live debut)Fight Like a Girl (With Courtney LaPlante and Nova Twins)Who Will You FollowMy ImmortalWide Open Heart (Live debut)

Whether it was making friends with parents at kindergarten drop-off or regretting the wild times of their own youth, these 21 rock and metal dads know a thing or two about trying to juggle home and tour life.

""We are thrilled to welcome the Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to the Warner Chappell Music roster."

Don’t mention the ‘g’ word

The attendance records keep breaking while Metallica tours Europe on the 'M72' World Tour.

Metallica broke another attendance mark with over 94,000 packing Berlin's Olympiastadion.