Evanescence Mutineers Form Fallen

06/19/09 2:20pm

by Jason MacNeil (CHARTattack)

Evanescence haven't been heard from in a while, but singer Amy Lee is trying to put out some fires when it comes to the band's current status.

This comes after news that three former members of Evanescence have regrouped to call themselves The Fallen, with American Idol vocalist Carly Smithson being the group's lead singer. Smithson finished sixth in the 2008 version of the show.

The band — featuring Smithson, and former Evanescence members Ben Moody (guitar), John Lecompt (guitar) and Rocky Gray (drums) — are reportedly placing a free song on their website when the site goes live on Monday (June 22).

"[The Fallen is] different in the fact that this is a real band," Moody told the Los Angeles Times newspaper recently. "It was never set up that way in the past.  This band is one hundred percent democracy. Everyone is equal. Everyone brings their own crap to the table. And what also is different is that I believe it's better. The music is more exciting. It's got more intensity behind it."

Lee tried to put the speculation to rest in a Friday blog post on Evanescence's  website entitled "Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?".

"There's some pretty weird stuff flying around right now and I'd like to clear up some confusion in the press," she says. "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."

Lee says that the group are working on the follow to The Open Door and told fans to "look out for new music next year...."

"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, strong, and more interesting than before. That takes time, but it's worth the wait for me."

Lee and Moody formed Evanescence in 1995, when they were both 13 and 14 years old, respectively. 

Moody released his debut solo album, All For This, earlier this month.