Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock and metal band, combining elements of gothic rock and metal, hard rock and symphonic metal, headed by Amy Lee. who acheived international sucess with their hits "Bring me to Life", "Going Under" and many others. The band was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by Lee and guitarist Ben Moody.
The band originally started out as just a duo in the 90s, during Lee's and Moody's teenage years. Soon enough, the two started playing acoustic sets at local coffee houses and book stores. Their first demoes were made using Lee's 16-track recorder and a keyboard for additional instruments such as strings, choirs and drums. Three of their debut EPs were released in 1998, 1999 and 2003, while in 2000, their first demo CD, Origin, was released Songs off of the EPs helped them develop a local fanbase and hire additional musicians to perform live with them. Despite that, Evanescence remained a duo.
While having their demoes mastered, they were heard by head of A&R at Wind-up Records, which led to them signing to the label in 2001. Their debut LP, Fallen, was subsequently released in 2003. The album features the afforementioned songs, "Going Under" and "Bring Me to Life". After the album's completion, the band hired three additional musicians, guitarist John LeCompt, drummer Rocky Gray, and bassist Will Boyd. During the tour, Ben Moody had been replaced by Terry Balsamo, after Moody's conflicting interests wit Lee led him to leave the band.
In 2004, Lee worked with Balsamo, writing material for their second album, The Open Door, which would be released in 2006. The album sold more than 400.000 copies in the U.S. during the first week, earning them their first number 1 spot at the Billboard 200 album chart. The album was produced by Dave Fortman, and features Limp Bizkit's DJ Lethal doing beat programming, with David Campbell taking care of orchestral arrangements. During these years, all three additional musicians left, and were replaced with drummer Will Hunt, guitarist Troy McLawhorn and bassist Tim McCord.
The third self-titled album, produced by Nick Raskulinecz, was released in 2011. It again brought back David Campbell to handle string arrangements, while Will Hunt assisted with programming. The tour began shortly after the album's release. In 2014, after Wind-up sold part of their catalog to Bicycle Music Company, Amy Lee filed a lawsuit against Wind-up Records, seeking $1.5 million in unpaid royalties owed to the band. The same year, she announced on her Twitter that the band were released from the label and became independent. A year later, Terry Balsamo departed the band, with Jen Majura filling in for him. Between 2015 and 2019, Evanescence were on a hiatus, with Lee focusing on her solo projects.
Amy Lee said in 2019 that she had plans for Evanescence to release their fourth album in 2020. In the beginning of 2020, they started recording their fourth LP, "The Bitter Truth", which would be released in 2021, with Raskulinecz returning as the producer. In 2022, bassist Tim McCord switched to guitar, while bass duties were taken over by Emma Anzai.
Speaking about Muse, in an interview with "Starry Constelation Magazine" Amy said: "I don’t have a ton of bands brand-new that I absolutely love right now. I love Muse. We’ve been listening to that a ton backstage lately. They’re not that new, but I love them. I think they’re incredible."[1]
Evanescence supported Muse during the entire U.S. leg of the Will of the People World Tour in 2023, with One Ok Rock and Highly Suspect joining them during select dates.[2] During shows with Highly Suspect, their lead singer "Terrible Johnny" Stevens was brought on-stage to do the rap vocal part in Bring Me To Life. Speaking of touring with Muse, Lee wrote on Evanescence's Instagram, "It has been an absolute honor to be a part of the #willofthepeople tour with @oneokrockofficial , @highlysuspect , and of course @muse . Too much to sum up in one post. Saw a lot of old friends, made some new ones, and had the unique privilege of being able to walk out to FOH at the end of any given night and get completely inspired together with the crowd in a beautiful union of our love for music through Muse’s epic songs. We will never forget this one! Thank you for having us, thank you all for coming out!!"[3]