Who's Evanescence now?

Ben Moody, John LeCompt, Amy Lee, Will Boyd, Rocky Gray 2003

Evanescence was the first concert I ever saw, way back in 2004. The band's debut album Fallen was selling like hotcakes after several blockbuster singles, and their music was all over the radio, tv, and in the movies (remember that horrible Daredevil film). It was a great show at the Target Center, with wonderful opening acts Breaking Benjamin, Threed Days Grace, and Seether rocking hard and laying the groundwork to my love affair with concerts. One particularly memorable moment was when Amy Lee joined Seether onstage to perform the hit single "Broken". It's pretty unlikely that anyone will see the two perform this duet single again, Lee was dating Seether's Shaun Morgan at the time but the relationship has since turned volitile (though in breakup produced Evanescense's second album hit "Call Me When Your Sober" and Seether's "Breakdown").

Morgan responds to "Call Me When Your Sober"

I've seen all four bands several times since this first concert, but even by 2004 Evanescense, the band that crafted the super popular Fallen and won Best Hard Rock Performance and Best New Band at the Grammy's, was falling apart.


Moody, Hodges, Lee

When one thinks of the original Evanescence, or at least the original mainstream Evanescence, usually the pic posted at the start of this article comes to mind. Officially though, the three youths pictured above, Ben Moody, David Hodges, and Amy Lee, were the band during the recording of Fallen. While John LeCompt (rhyme guitar), Will Boyd (bass), and Rocky Gray (drums) were made part of the group in 2002-03 as touring musicians, none of them play on Fallen. LeCompt did co-write track eight "Taking Over Me", and Gray originally wrote track six, "Tourniquet", for his band Soul Embraced. Boyd while not contributing to Fallen did co-write two unreleased songs and contributed to pre-Fallen works Origins and Evanescence EP. Moody (guitar,percussion, co-producer), Lee(vocals, choir arrangements), and Hodges (piano, keyboards, string arrangements) wrote all the other songs, and studio artist provided additional instruments.



In December 2002, Hodges left the band feeling he was leading the group in a more Christian direction than Lee and Moody wanted. March 2003 saw the release of Fallen which would eventually go 7 times platinum and stayed in the Billboard to 50 for over a year, one of only eight albums to do so. To promote the album the band, now officially consisting of Moody, LeCompt, Lee, Boyd, and Gray, headlined the Nintendo Fusion tour. This would be the only mainstream tour with this lineup as Ben Moody, who had been writing music with Amy Lee since 1995, left the group in October during the European tour citing 'creative differences'. Terry Balsamo of the rock band Cold quickly replaced him.

In 2004, flying high with awards, massive album sales, and globally successful tours, Evanescence released a live album Anywhere but Home with the current Moody-less lineup. The CD contained all the tracks from Fallen with the additions of a Korn cover and an Amy Lee original. After more heavey touring, the band took a break and began working on their second album in 2006. Taking Moody's place as guitarist, Balsamo co-wrote 11 of the 13 tracks with Lee (LeCompt also co-wrote a song) and the album was a large success following the strong lead off single "Call Me When Your Sober" and Fallen's large fanbase. Bassist, Will Boyd, left the band in 2006 not wanting to go on another big tour and be with his family. Tim McCord replaced him on tour, and the album went double platinum.


Lee, Balsamo, Gray, LeCompt

Heavily touring behind the new album, the band made headlines in May 2007 when LeCompt was fired by Amy Lee for unconfirmed reasons. Commenting on the firing, LeCompt said via his myspace, "I have now become just another of the people fallen by the wayside on the revolving door of her life. It’s funny how many of us there are now. I guess it’s good for lyrical content, though. Maybe I will be among the blessed to have a song written about me, too. Maybe the song will be “Call Me When You’re Broke”. Drummer, Rocky Gray, quit the band immediately following his friend's firing, with Will Hunt and Troy McLawhorn from the band Dark New Day taking their spots on tour. Following the promotion of their second album, Evanescence took a long break and just this past February returned to the studio to begin work on their third album which is supposed to be out in August or September 2010.


Ben Moody, John LeCompt, Carly Smithson, Rocky Gray & Marty O'Brien

As Evanescence is perparing to retake the world again, a second Evanescene group has emerged. After leaving Evanescene, Ben Moody released a solo cd and worked as a contributing songwritter to several albums including Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion, and Daughtry (he also worked with Hodges on several occasions). Following LeCompt and Gray also severing ties with Amy Lee, Moody reached out to his former bandmates wanting to re-enstate the sound they had established on Fallen. Bringing in Moody's friend Marty O'Brien on bass, the un-named group began holding auditions for a lead singer. They settled on American Idol finialist Carly Smithson, who performed Evanescene's hit single "Bring Me to Life" on American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008. On June 22, 2009 the group offically annouced themselves as We Are the Fallen, a throwback to Evanescence's famous first alum and the fact that three of the members are fallen members of Evanescence, and released their first single. In March the group is heading out on their first tour with HIM, and their debut album coming in May.

Apparently two Evanescences will be on the roand and in the airwaves in 2010, though I'm doubtful that they will team up for any dates.