Evanescence’s Amy Lee Isn’t Afraid Of Big Bad Wolf In ‘Sober’ Clip    ·    July 31st, 2006

Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee’s not afraid of the Big Bad wolf. Nor is she afraid of a room filled with them.

In fact, in a clip for “Call Me When You’re Sober,” the first single from the band’s upcoming The Open Door, Lee actually gets a little forceful with a “wolf.”

“These live wolves came in, and they each had trainers and it was really fun,” she said on the video’s Hollywood set earlier this month. Marc Webb (AFI, My Chemical Romance) signed on to direct the clip. “I thought it was really cool, but then when they came in, they were 150 pounds. So I was like, ‘Wow, if I got on all fours, I’d be about the same size as this huge animal.’ But it was me and the wolves in the room, and it was all cool. It was awesome. My allergies kicked in, but I powered through. And then we shot the scene at the vanity with the Big Bad Wolf coming over my shoulders and trying to seduce me.”

The video, set to debut August 7 on MTV, features Lee wearing a red satin cape and sitting at an antiquated vanity. A young man — with crystal blue eyes and scruffy, overgrown facial hair and sideburns — approaches her from behind, caressing her shoulders and softly kissing her neck as she tries to rebuff his advances.

“The song is so literal, the lyrics and everything — I mean, obviously, just by the title — that we felt like the video would have the freedom to go in a less literal direction,” she explained. “So it’s [a modern re-imagining of] Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf and sort of a more cool, superhero, rock and roll Little Red Riding Hood.”

In the video, Lee’s indomitable Hood gets the better of the wolf, following a scene in which she destroys a table, sending chairs and food flying across the room. Then she sends the wolf packing — no pun intended. Oh, and there’s even a scene where Lee — flanked by four Asian dancers, in black leather clothing — levitates.

The debut of the “Call Me When You’re Sober” clip will precede the October 3 release of The Open Door, the follow-up to Evanescence’s 2003 breakthrough, Fallen (see “Amy Lee Says New Evanescence LP Has More Sensuality”). The video is not expected to feature bassist William Boyd, who recently jumped the Evanescence ship (see “Evanescence Lose Bassist; Amy Lee Vows To Stay On Schedule”).

The song’s subject matter, Lee said, involves “something that everyone’s been through” — the frustration of “dealing with someone with an addiction, which is really hard, especially when you love someone.” Lee’s not so used to writing songs with literal meanings, though.

“It’s very new for us, and it’s fun, actually,” she said. “This album, I sort of pushed all my limits and did all the things maybe I wasn’t brave enough to do the last time or just that I’m older now and more mature and — I don’t know — a better writer. I worked a lot harder and I think that the songs are better and I’m excited. I wish the album was coming out next week.

“I feel like I have the ability to do a lot of things I couldn’t do before, for a number of reasons,” she continued. “As a musician, I feel like I can just do whatever. This album is completely the way I wanted it to be on every level, and it’s more of me and it’s more of my writing. A lot of doors have kind of been opened in my life — not just since everything has happened for us. But lately, I have kind of just learned to go, ‘OK, that’s it,’ and cut a few ties and move away — learn how to say ‘No’ and look for happiness.”

Lee, who said the band plans to tour around The Open Door’s release, said the track that closes out the album is unlike anything the band has done before.

“It’s called ‘Good Enough,’ and it’s completely, completely, completely different for me because it sort of [has a] happy ending,” she said. “It’s the last song that I wrote for the record, and it’s sort of the bravest, I think, for me because I had to tell the truth and the truth is, I feel, good now. The rest of the album is pretty aggressive and dark and everything else, but the last one is like, I got to the good place that I was heading for and I wrote about how good I felt. It turned out amazing, but it’s like nothing we’ve ever done. I just have to write from my heart and be genuine, because I think that’s what people loved about our music to begin with, and if that changes, then that changes.”

MTV