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This article is about the band. For other similar uses, see Evanescence (disambiguation).
Evanescence
Evanescence 2022
Origin Little Rock, Arkansas
Genre Alternative rock
Years Active 1995-present
Label(s) Epic Records, Wind-up Records, BMG
Independent (as of 2014)
Website(s) evanescence.com
Members Amy Lee
Tim McCord
Will Hunt
Troy McLawhorn
Emma Anzai
Past Members Ben Moody
David Hodges
Will Boyd
Rocky Gray
John LeCompt
Terry Balsamo
Jen Majura

Evanescence is an American rock band, formed by Amy Lee and Ben Moody. The two met a youth camp in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1994 and formed Evanescence as a duo the next year.[1] They recorded several EPs together. Since then, the band has released five studio albums, two live albums, one compilation album and a career-spanning vinyl collection.

The lineup for the group changed several times, including David Hodges's exit in 2002, Ben Moody leaving in 2003 during the Fallen tour, and guitarist Terry Balsamo leaving the band in 2015. The band consists of Amy Lee, guitarists Tim McCord and Troy McLawhorn, and drummer Will Hunt since 2006-2007.

In 2016, new tour dates were announced and Amy Lee confirmed that Evanescence would continue releasing music. In March 2017, Lee stated that Evanescence was working on their fourth studio album, Synthesis, which was released in late 2017.

In November 2019, the band released a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song, "The Chain", for the Gears 5 video game.

In 2020, Amy announced their fifth album, The Bitter Truth, which was released on March 26, 2021.

Beginning (1995–2001)

Evanescence was founded by Amy Lee and former guitarist Ben Moody. The two met at a youth camp in Arkansas. Moody claimed she was playing Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" on the piano,[1] but this was later refuted by Amy in an interview for the magazine Rolling Stone, stating that she was playing pieces by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart on the piano.

The two started writing songs such as "Solitude" and "Give Unto Me", both written by Lee, "Understanding" written by Lee and Moody and "My Immortal", written by Moody and Lee. Two of Lee and Moody's songs were played on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and demand for a concert. They eventually performed live and became one of the most popular acts in the area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, Lee and Moody decided on Evanescence, which means "disappearance" or "fading away" (from the word evanesce, which means "to disappear"). They released two EPs: "Evanescence" EP and "Sound Asleep" EP in 1998 and 1999.[2] Very few copies of these CDs were made.

"When this band started I was about 14 or so, and it was nothing more than a lot of songwriting and home recording. Throughout my high school years, Ben and I (and later, David) filled all our spare time obsessing over songs, demoing them the best we could out of our parents' houses, and playing the occasional club or cafe gig. Origin is a collection of our best homemade recordings as of 2001 (I think. Maybe 2000...) Anyway, back then we were still finding ourselves- learning how to write. I've always felt that our music has grown and improved tremendously since then and want to keep doing better and better than before, instead of looking back. To be honest, it's hard to listen to the really old stuff without laughing at myself a little. But of course, those songs will always be special to me and remind me of a time in my life that was both wonderful and terrible. It's so cool to have them recorded, so I can go back and listen to my teenage self to remember things I'd forgotten."[3] - Amy Lee

Their demo album, Origin, was released on November 4th, 2000 by Bigwig Enterprises, a small record label who manufactured and distributed it.[4] It was marketed by the label as the band's "debut CD."[4] Writing credits include Amy, Ben, and David Hodges. The record is not considered an album but a collection of home-recorded demos and it was used to send to record companies.[5][6] Only 2,500 copies of this record were ever made,[7] and it is not available in stores.[6] In 2003, Amy and Ben encouraged fans to download their older songs.

Fallen Era (2002–2005)

The band was signed by Wind-up Records in 2001 after producer Pete Matthews sent Origin and other demos to Wind-up's A&R, Diana Meltzer.[8][9][10] They were relocated to Los Angeles, given an apartment and rehearsal space and enrolled in a gym, according to Meltzer, and Lee, who was very introverted, received help from an acting teacher to overcome her stage fright.[9] David was fired from the band in December of 2002, four months before Fallen was released. It was thought that he left because he was wanting the band to be part of the Christian rock scene and Ben Moody and Amy Lee did not. When asked about Hodges' departure, Moody said: "We just ended up going in different directions. We worked well together for a while and then it was like... he's probably going to release solo stuff next year. If you can get a hold of that, you'll understand [and] you'll see how drastically different it is. We were just going in different directions so we chose to split ways before we built the whole image of the band based on somebody that wasn't going to be there."[11] In a 2018 interview, Hodges said that after the band had a meeting with the label, Ben and Amy told him that he wasn't going to be a part of it anymore.[12]

The label initially refused to release the album unless the band hired a male rapper as a full-time member and have him featured on 8 out of 11 tracks on Fallen.[13][14][15] Amy refused to do it, and later reluctantly agreed to the compromise of adding a male vocal on only the lead single, "Bring Me to Life". The label wanted a male vocalist in order to make the music marketable,[13] as a female voice on rock radio was a rarity, and the song was considered for airplay only after there was a male vocal on it.[10] The label's president Ed Vetri revealed that when the label introduced the song to radio, radio programmers rejected it, saying, "A chick and a piano? Are you kidding? On rock radio?"[16] Some program directors would hear the female voice and piano at the start of the song and turn it off without listening to the rest of the song.

Just before Fallen, in January, Mystary EP was sold during a concert as a "Fallen Sampler". After Fallen was completed and released by their label Wind-Up Records, Evanescence's touring lineup was hired with Rocky Gray on drums, John LeCompt on rhythm guitar, and William Boyd on bass. The Daredevil movie soundtrack was released a month before Fallen, featuring Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" and "My Immortal". "Bring Me To Life", the first single off Fallen, was a global hit for the band and reached #5 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Fallen spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Top 10, was certified 7x Platinum in the United States, and sold more than 15 million copies worldwide; the album was listed for 104 weeks on the Billboard Top 200, and it was one of eight albums in the history of the chart to spend at least a year on the Billboard Top 50.

On October 22, 2003, Moody left the band in the middle of the European Tour, reportedly because of creative differences.[17] His explanation of the event can be read in his open letter to the fans, published about 7 years later.[18] In an interview several months later, Amy Lee said:

"It's actually been a relief, I don't mean that as a negative toward Ben, but we've all been through a lot and we were at breaking point. And the thing is, we'd gotten to a point that if something didn't change, we wouldn't have been able to make a second record."[19]

Terry Balsamo, former guitarist from Cold, replaced Moody. The three other singles released from Fallen during 2003 and 2004 are "Going Under", "Everybody's Fool" and "My Immortal".

In 2004, Evanescence released a live album + DVD set: "Anywhere But Home" was released on November 22, 2004, and consists of a concert at the Zenith in Paris on May 25, behind-the-scenes footage and the music videos off Fallen. Also on the CD are the live songs "Breathe No More" (from the Elektra movie soundtrack, released in 2005), "Farther Away", and the band's cover of Korn's "Thoughtless", along with the studio version of the B-Side "Missing".

The Open Door Era (2006–2009)

A spokesperson for the band's label confirmed on July 14, 2006 that Will Boyd had left Evanescence on good terms in late June for "not wanting to do another big tour" and wanting "to be close to his family", after the recordings of "The Open Door" were completed.[20] In an interview with MTV, posted on their website on August 10, 2006, Lee announced he would be replaced by Tim McCord. The album progressed slowly for several reasons, including Amy Lee's desire to maximize the creative process and not rush production,[21] guitarist Terry Balsamo's stroke,[22] and the lawsuit against their former manager.[23][24] The Open Door is Evanescence's second album; it was released on September 30, 2006, in Australia and Italy, October 2, 2006, in Europe, and October 3, 2006, in North America. The album was recorded at The Record Plant in Hollywood, California, and mixed at Ocean Way Studios in March of 2006. It debuted at #1 in the US, Australia, Germany, Greece, Japan, and Switzerland and was in the Top 5 in Austria, Canada, France, Holland, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, UK, Ireland, Korea, Norway, and Denmark. The album was preceded by the single "Call Me When You're Sober", the music video for the song, based on a Little Riding Hood concept, was released on September 25. The tour for The Open Door began on October 5, 2006, in Toronto and included locations in Canada, the U.S., and Europe during that year. This first tour continued on January 5, 2007, and included stops in Canada (alongside band Stone Sour), Japan, and Australia (alongside band Shihad) and then returned to the U.S. for a second tour in the spring (alongside bands Chevelle and Finger Eleven). They also co-headlined on the Family Values Tour 2007 along with Korn and other bands.

John was officially "fired" from Evanescence on May 4th, 2007, and his friend Rocky officially left Evanescence that day. Some people believe he did it to protest over John getting fired, but this wasn't the reason as Rocky had already decided to leave Evanescence in January (probably because he wanted to work on his side projects, but this is just a theory). His contract with Wind-Up said that he had to finish the tour first and wasn't allowed to announced his plans about leaving beforehand. When John was fired, he defied Wind-Up and told the fans anyway. Wind-up issued a press release on May 17, 2007, stating that Will Hunt (Drums) and Troy McLawhorn (Guitar) from Dark New Day would go on tour with Evanescence as guest members until the end of the Family Values Tour in September 2007, but both continued to play with the band through The Open Door tour.[25]

Evanescence Era (2010–2012)

In a news posting to the Evanescence website in June 2009, Amy Lee wrote that the band was in the process of writing new material for a new album proposed for release in 2010. She stated that the music would be an evolution of previous works and be "better, stronger, and more interesting".[26] On September 1, 2009, Amy Lee announced Evanescence's headline appearance at the Maquinária Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, which took place on November 8.[27] On November 4, Evanescence played a "warm-up show" in New York, Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom;[28] the venue had just a hundred capacity and the tickets were sold in less than ten minutes.[29] "Together Again", an outtake from The Open Door, was released as a digital download on January 22, 2010, to benefit the United Nations Foundation for their Haiti earthquake recovery efforts.[30] The download was free with a 5$ minimum donation. It later received wide release as a digital download on February 23, 2010.[31]

As announced on January 8 through Twitter,[32] Evanescence entered the studio for the third album on February 22 to begin recording. Will "Science" Hunt joined the band as co-producer, primary drummer and programmer,[33] while Will Hunt returned as secondary drummer.[34] David Campbell, who previously worked on The Open Door, was brought back to handle string arrangements, and the album would be produced by Steve Lillywhite. The sound of the new album has been described as "synthetic and atmospheric" quoting influences like Portishead, Massive Attack, and Björk.[34] Amy previewed new songs through Twitter,[35] but they were not included on the final album. The album was intended to be released in Fall 2010.[33][34] However, on June 21, 2010, it was announced that Evanescence had temporarily left the studio in April that year[36][37] to work further on the album and "get our heads into the right creative space" and indicated that Wind-Up Records was going through "uncertain times", which may further delay the release of the album.[38]

Evanescence My heart is Broken jan12

Evanescence in 2011

In April 2011, the band re-entered the studio with a new producer, Nick Raskulinecz.[39] The material recorded with Lillywhite was scrapped by Wind-up as they felt "it didn't sound like Evanescence."[40][41][42] This forced Amy and the band to start over and, according to Amy, "it ended up making me angry enough to write Evanescence's heaviest album".[43] Only three songs from the original project were used on the final album.[43]

In June/July 2011, the productions for the album were finally finished.[44] The first single of the third album, which is self-titled because "it's the biggest band project so far", What You Want, got released in August 2011, followed by a music video in September. The album, Evanescence, was released on October 11th, 2011 in the USA and a few days later or earlier in other countries.

In January 2012, a Renholdër remix of "Made of Stone" was included on the soundtrack of Underworld: Awakening, which was playing during the ending credits.[45] In March, a Photex remix of "A New Way to Bleed" was included on soundtrack of Avengers Assemble.[46]

Hiatus and Parting Ways with Wind-up (2013–2015)

After finishing the tour in support of Evanescence in November 2012, Amy and the band took an extended break after the tour, saying, "At the end of any really long tour you need to get your head in order. I think at the end of the run we'll go on a break for a while and figure things out."[47]

In March 2013, Wind-up re-released Fallen on purple vinyl for its 10th anniversary. In the light of this release, the band published a Fallen scrapbook with never before seen handwritten lyrics, photos, and sketches.

In October 2013, Wind-up Records sold part of their catalog of artists, including Evanescence and their master recordings, to Bicycle Music Company. The combined company Concord Bicycle Music will market the catalog.[48] On January 3, 2014, it was announced that Amy had filed a lawsuit against former record label Wind-up Records, seeking $1.5 million in unpaid royalties owed to the band.[49] In March 2014, via her Twitter account, Amy announced that she and Evanescence had been released from their record label and were independent artists.[50]

While the band was on hiatus, Amy focused on solo projects and released her first solo album, Aftermath, in August 2014, which served as the soundtrack to indie movie War Story.

The Ultimate Collection Era (2016)

The Ultimate Collection vinyl box set was announced on September 14th. This includes the demo album Origin, the studio albums Fallen, The Open Door and Evanescence, a B-side compilation album Lost Whispers and a picture booklet that contains photos, lyrics, journal pages, designs and sketches.[51] The pre-order link was made available on their official website on October 11th. The release date was pushed back from December 9th until January 2017 due to issues with the manufacturer.[52]

During the 2016 U.S. shows, the band premiered a brand new song, "Take Cover", which is an outtake from their third album's initial sessions.[53]

Synthesis Era and The Chain (2017–2019)

Synthesis

Synthesis album cover

Amy Lee announced the band's fourth studio album, Synthesis, by uploading a video to Evanescence's official Facebook profile on May 10, 2017, titled: "Album announcement: SYNTHESIS". In the brief explanation, Amy said that the new album is called Synthesis because it's about "the synergy between the organic and the synthetic, and also the past and the present". The album will feature songs from their catalog of music that will be stripped of the distorted guitars and rock drums and replaced with "full orchestration and a completely synthetic world of beats and sounds". Amy made it very clear that the songs are not remixes and that they will be recording "from the ground up". As well as the songs the fans will know, there will be two new compositions included. David Campbell, who worked on strings for all three studio albums, will be arranging the orchestra for Synthesis as well.[54][55] The album featured the lead single "Imperfection", released in September 2017, and "Hi-Lo", a song originally intended to be released on their self-titled third album.[34]

On November 22, 2019, the band released a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" for the Gears 5 video game.[56] The cover song was originally recorded as a solo project, but later turned into a full-band track.

The Bitter Truth Era (2020–present)

On April 17, 2020, it was officially announced their fifth album cover and title, The Bitter Truth, which was released in pieces throughout the year.[57] Songs were released as singles while the album was in the works.[58] Amy said the album would be out sometime in early 2021.[59] On December 4, it was announced that the 12-track LP would be released on March 26, 2021, via BMG.[60] The album's release was preceded by five singles, "Wasted on You", "The Game is Over", "Use My Voice", "Yeah Right",[60] and "Better Without You".[61]

In Amy Lee's Kerrang! cover story on March 10, 2021, she said she considers The Bitter Truth the band's fourth album, and not 2017's Synthesis, though the former is the fifth album overall.[62] The album leaked in its entirety on March 11.

Evanescence 2020

Evanescence (2015-2022)

The band embarked on a U.S. joint tour with Halestorm from November 5 to December 11, but their last four concerts were rescheduled to January 2022 due to multiple people in their team testing positive for COVID.

On December 17, they released their cover of The Beatles' "Across the Universe", which was only available on the deluxe fan box set of The Bitter Truth.

On May 21, 2022, it was announced that Evanescence parted ways with Jen Majura. No reason was given, but it wasn't her decision to leave the band.[63][64] On the 23rd, it was announced that Tim McCord switched to guitar, his original instrument, and Sick Puppies' Emma Anzai will play bass.[65]

During the U.S. Summer Tour with Korn, from August to September, Amy Lee joined the stage to perform "Freak on a Leash" for the first time since 2006.

On September 28, 2023, a remaster of the 2002 demo of "Bring Me to Life" was released, along with the announcement that a remastered edition of Fallen in celebration of its 20th anniversary would be released on November 17, 2023 through Craft Recordings, distributed by Concord.[66] The reissue is available on 2-CD, 2-LP and digital formats, as well as a limited edition Super Deluxe Box Set with a cassete tape with 10 previously unreleased demos and voice notes, which was going to be released in February 2024 but pushed back a week due to manufacturing issues.[66] The box set is exclusively available via the band's official store.

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References

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  3. "An Interview With Amy Lee". EvanescenceVille. October 1, 2007.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Evanescence Announces Major Record Deal". Bigwigenterprises.com.
  5. Buske, Adron (2003). "The Evanescence Experience - KPNT Interview". KPNT.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "Evanescence - December 14, 2003 - Live@Much". MuchMusic.com. December 14, 2003. Archived from the original on April 14, 2004.
  7. "Dark splendour". August 10, 2003.
  8. D'Angelo, Joe (2004). "Evanescence: The Split - Ben Moody says Amy Lee was obsessed with "selling out"...". MTVNews.com.
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  10. 10.0 10.1 "Evanescence: Rock's New Dynamic Duo". The Washington Post. September 12, 2003.
  11. Evanescence interview. PowerPlay magazine. August 2003. Page 10. Issue 47.
  12. Ep. 43: David Hodges (May 28, 2018)
  13. 13.0 13.1 Kaufman, Gil (May 29, 2003). "Evanescence: Fallen To the Top". VH1.
  14. "Beyond the Boys’ Club: Amy Lee of Evanescence". Consequence of Sound. May 23, 2019.
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  16. Titus, Christa (March 4, 2013). "Evanescence, 'Fallen': Classic Track-By-Track". Billboard.
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  18. Moody, Ben (August 24, 2010). "A message from Ben Moody...". EvBoard.
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  20. Lee, Amy (July 13, 2006). "Will". EvBoard.
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  22. Lee, Amy (January 20, 2006). "i love my album :)". EvBoard.
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  26. "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?". Evanescence.com. June 19, 2009.
  27. Lee, Amy (September 1, 2009). "Yes we are - 11/08/2009 - Brazil, Sao Paulo, Maquinaria Festival"EvThreads.
  28. Lee, Amy (October 20, 2009). "NYC Secret Show". EvThreads.
  29. Lee, Amy (October 24, 2009). "Sold out yesterday in under half an hour!". Twitter.
  30. "Evanescence Teams Up with the United Nations Foundation to Raise Money for the Victims of the Earthquake in Haiti". United Nations Foundation. January 22, 2010.
  31. Lee, Amy (February 23, 2010). "Whoa, Together Again is the #10 downloaded rock song on iTunes after being up there for less than 24 hours.". Twitter.
  32. Lee, Amy (January 8, 2010). "We are officially going into the studio to record our third album next month.". Twitter.
  33. 33.0 33.1 "Evanescence is Back". ARTISTdirect. February 26, 2010.
  34. 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Goodman, William (March 5, 2010). "Exclusive: Amy Lee on the New Evanescence Album". Spin.
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  36. "Amy's new blog post on EvClub" (in Spanish). Evanescencechile.co.cc. April 20, 2010.
  37. Weiss, David (May 21, 2010). "MSR Studios Hosts Kid Cudi, Evanescence, Lloyd Banks, + Cast Recordings". SonicScoop.
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  40. "Evanescence Not What Amy Lee Wanted?". YouTube. November 4, 2011.
  41. Lillywhite, Steve (January 3, 2014). "i remember them thinking it didn't sound enough like "Evanescence" which is why i was let go". Twitter
  42. Adams, Cameron (October 3, 2017). "Evanescence with strings attached". News.com.au.
  43. 43.0 43.1 Lee, Amy (December 15, 2015). "Cover #4: Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing". Facebook.
  44. Lee, Amy (June 7, 2011). "Unbelievably close to the finish line. 2 or 3 more days of recording, the mix starts next week!!!". Twitter.
  45. Evanescence, Linkin Park + Lacuna Coil Appear on ‘Underworld: Awakening’ Soundtrack (December 27, 2011)
  46. Soundgarden, Evanescence, Kasabian on 'Avengers' soundtrack (March 27, 2012)
  47. Bowar, Chad (September 19, 2012). "Amy Lee Says Evanescence Will Take Extended Break After Current Tour". Loudwire.
  48. Christman, Ed (October 31, 2013). "Bicycle Music Acquires Wind-Up Records' Back Catalog, Cuts Deal with Concord Music Group". Billboard.
  49. Hartmann, Graham (January 3, 2014). "Evanescence Singer Amy Lee Reportedly Suing Record Label for More Than $1 Million". Loudwire.
  50. Lee, Amy (March 18, 2014). "Today, for the first time in 13 years,  I am a free and independent artist". Twitter.
  51. "We're very excited to announce that we are releasing a very special vinyl boxset this Fall!". Twitter. September 13, 2016.
  52. "We've just learned from the manufacturer...". Facebook. December 9, 2016.
  53. Garner, George (December 2016). "It's a Kerristmas Miracle!". Kerrang! (1650)
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  56. Titus, Christa (December 16, 2019). "Amy Lee on 'The Chain' Cover and Next Evanescence Album: 'We're Definitely in the Mood to Rock'"Billboard.
  57. "We promised you a new album in 2020 and we won’t let anything stop us. We are proud to begin sharing our new album ‘THE BITTER TRUTH’ with you". Twitter. April 17, 2020.
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  59. Schaffner, Lauryn (October 29, 2020) "Amy Lee: Society Has to Understand It's Okay to Have Differences". Loudwire.
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  62. "I needed to face the abyss head-on: Evanescence's Bitter Truth laid bare". March 10, 2021. Kerrang!.
  63. "EVANESCENCE Parts Ways With Guitarist JEN MAJURA". May 21, 2022. Blabbermouth.net.
  64. "JEN MAJURA On Split With EVANESCENCE: 'None Of This Was My Decision'". May 22, 2022. Blabbermouth.net.
  65. "EVANESCENCE Announces New Touring Lineup". Blabbermouth. May 23, 2022.
  66. 66.0 66.1 "CELEBRATING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF EVANESCENCE’S STRATOSPHERIC DEBUT, FALLEN, WITH DELUXE REISSUE". Craft Recordings. September 28, 2023.
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