Although Evanescence has sold over 15 million albums world wide, the band has been anything but drama-free. In 2003, Moody left the group citing creative differences and Gray followed suit in 2007. Lecompt was allegedly fired. While Lee replaced the original Evanescence members, the band has not released a studio album since 2006’s “The Open Door” and many fans speculated that Evanescence was on permanent hiatus.
After leaving the band, however, Moody did not want to see his vision die, telling The LA Times, “It feels like everything with our old fans is at a standstill. There’s not new music, there’s no tour. There’s nothing. So I reached out, and everyone was just ready to get started.”
As for Lee's replacement, Moody auditioned a bevy of singers, having them perform the Evanescence hit “Bring Me to Life”—yet he wasn’t impressed. After a colleague suggested Smithson, Moody took to watching videos of her live performances, including her rendition of “Bring Me to Life” on the “Idol’s Live” tour and the deal was sealed.
News of The Fallen comes as relief to both Evanescence fans missing the band’s signature goth sound as well as American Idol viewers following Smithson on the rocky road to stardom post-Idol. In an interview Tuesday, Smithson claimed she wanted to be stripped of her pop reputation, saying, “I kept getting told that ‘you don’t have the rock voice, you can’t do rock music.’ But it’s everything I am. It’s everything I listen to. I’m not the regular girl next door.”
So will The Fallen boast a predominantly rock sound? Moody describes the new music as having "more intensity behind it. Evanescence was pretty intense. I’m telling you, this is bringing more energy than Evanescence could ever muster.” The public won't have to wait long in anticipation; The Fallen will officially launch this Monday when it holds a small press conference in an LA recording studio. The band will also unveil their new single “Bury Me Alive” on their website wearethefallen.com as a free download Monday.
Rather than record a full-length album, however, The Fallen plans to embark on a year and a half national tour through theaters instead of music venues, only to break once every eight weeks to record songs available for download online only.
Of course, in typical Evanescence drama, Lee took to her band’s website to set the record straight that 1) Evanescence is in fact still in existence and that 2) it’ll return to the music scene better than ever. In a blog entry entitled "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up," Lee writes:
“There’s some pretty weird stuff flying around right now and I’d like to clear up some confusion in the press. As our fans already know, Ben Moody left Evanescence in 2003. Evanescence came out with a follow-up to Fallen in 2006. It was called The Open Door and it debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts and reached platinum status in just over a month. The Open Door has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. We’re currently working on new material that I’m extremely excited about. I believe that to make great music you have to give yourself the freedom to evolve. I don’t see the point in making the same record twice, so I always want to challenge myself to make something better, stronger, and more interesting than before. That takes time, but it’s worth the wait for me. Hopefully, it will be for the fans too. Look out for new music next year…”
So how do you think Smithson will measure up? Will you listen to The Fallen?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
(copied from Buzznet)
