Most of us would love to have a hit song written about us. Seether’s Shaun Morgan isn’t one of those people. But that didn’t stop his ex-girlfriend, Evanescence’s Amy Lee, from penning “Call Me When You’re Sober,” a tune she later admitted was specifically written about her relationship with Morgan. And the timing couldn’t have been worse for Lee’s damning revelation, coming just weeks after Morgan checked himself into rehab for treatment of “a combination of substances.” His rehab stint, coincidentally, began on the very same day the Evanescence track was delivered to the nation’s rock radio stations. As you might expect, Morgan wasn’t thrilled with Lee’s public airing of the pair’s dirty laundry. For the last year, the song has “followed me around and haunted me,” he said, and it chipped away at his reputation. “People would say to me, ‘Yeah, man, I know what you’re going through,’ and I was like, ‘No, I don’t think you do,’ ” Morgan explained. ” ‘Your ex-girlfriend didn’t write a song about you, that millions of people have heard, saying you’re a bad guy. As soon as that happens, buddy, come up and tell me you know what I’m going through.’ ” Now, clean and sober, Morgan and his band are returning with their third studio outing, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, which is set for an October 23 release. But don’t expect the LP to contain a response track. “There isn’t necessarily a response as there’s a lament,” the singer for the South African rockers said. “I was bummed out. I was really upset that she would say and do those things. In any relationship, I don’t think it’s right to say and do those things when people break up, and she obviously felt the need to go out there and make me sound like a complete a–hole. What can I do? I just refuse to lower myself to that level. But it was a painful thing and it got me down — people coming up to me on the street and referring to that song. But I didn’t feel the need to write back and be mean.” Instead, the Howard Benson-produced Finding Beauty — which the band hopes to begin mixing next week — boasts “Breakdown,” a song some might interpret as Morgan’s answer to “Sober.” But that’s not the case. “It isn’t an aggressive song, and it isn’t even an angry song — I would prefer to refer to it as a lament rather than an angry backlash,” he said. “You couldn’t tell that the song was about one person. It’s probably more universal. I prefer to be a little more vague and respectful. There are some things I could have said and done too — there are always two sides to every story. And if anything, the song says, ‘Fine. Go ahead and say those things.’ But what’s the point of telling my side? That’s what the bloodthirsty want, and I don’t care what the bloodthirsty want.” If there are any references on the disc about a failed relationship, Morgan said it will be about his most recent ex and not Lee. “These songs are turning out to be somewhat more introspective, which is weird — you’d assume I’d be more pissed off and have more things to say,” he explained. “I don’t know how much I want to say and what I want to say. It’s tough, because I know what the expectations are for this album and that people will be looking for that Amy Lee reference, and I am trying desperately not to have any. I just ended another truly, truly horrible relationship with somebody, so if there’s anything about somebody on the record, it would be about her, not Amy. In retrospect, Amy and I, at our worst moments, were still better than this last girl and I at our best moments.”