Former EVANESCENCE Members Join Forces With 'American Idol' Singer In THE FALLEN

June 18, 2009

Brian Mansfield of USA Today reports that three of the four original members of EVANESCENCE — guitarists Ben Moody and John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray — have joined forces with "American Idol" powerhouse vocalist Carly Smithson to form a new band called THE FALLEN.

A formal announcement will be made this coming Monday, June 22 in Hollywood, with a news conference and the band's first live performance. Debut song "Bury Me Alive" will be available at that time for free download at WeAreTheFallen.com.

THE FALLEN's lineup is rounded out by bassist Marty O'Brien, whose recording and touring credits include DISTURBED, KELLY CLARKSON, STATIC-X, METHODS OF MAYHEM and TOMMY LEE.

"This all happened by accident," Smithson — who sang EVANESCENCE's "Bring Me to Life" during the 2008 Idols Live tour (see video below) — told USA Today. She's friends with Moody's housemate, Monique Morrison. "I met him once or twice (at the house) before the band thing," said Smithson, who had been working on a solo project.

The new group's name alludes to EVANESCENCE's 2003 major-label debut album, "Fallen", which has sold 7 million copies in the USA.

Smithson doesn't see herself as replacing EVANESCENCE singer Amy Lee. "Amy let the boys go," she told USA Today. "We just started a new band, called THE FALLEN. It's got really nothing to do with EVANESCENCE." THE FALLEN initially may perform a few EVANESCENCE songs live, she says, "but we're pretty much focused on new music. You have an amazing writing team here, and amazing musicians.

"Our voices are completely different," she said of Lee. "This music is, obviously, the players from EVANESCENCE, but Marty's bringing a different flavor from what he does. I'm bringing a different flavor from what I do, and Ben has completely explored many different genres over the last few years. It's not EVANESCENCE anymore. It's huge. It's big, big, big songs that I can wail my ass off on, because that's what I love to do."

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).