After a change in their line-up, Evanescence is back with their first album in five years. To celebrate the release of “Evanescence” (2011) we ignored everything musically relevant to discuss cats and dogs with the band’s frontwoman. Part 3 of 4 of our interview with Amy Lee (who is one of the nicest people alive FYI). Subscribe to catch the rest of the interview where we talk about the band’s hiatus, playing the harp and Evanescence’s legion of fans.

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After a change in their line-up, Evanescence is back with their first album in five years. To celebrate the release of “Evanescence” (2011) we ignored everything musically relevant to discuss cats and dogs with the band’s frontwoman. Part 2 of 4 of our interview with Amy Lee (who is one of the nicest people alive FYI). Subscribe to catch the rest of the interview where we talk about the band’s hiatus, playing the harp and Evanescence’s legion of fans.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Yes there are some obvious similarities between We Are The Fallen and Evanescence. They have many of the same band members, they have a similar sound, but there are differences. One notable difference being Amy Lee lead Evanescence but We Are The Fallen is headed by American Idol contestant Carly Smithson. And there are more – but we will let them tell you.

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For a 12-year seasoned veteran free-lance bassist, Marty O’Brien is all of a sudden experiencing things for the first time now.

The Rhode Island native’s got his first real band We Are The Fallen, ergo, his first real debut album Tear The World Down, and above his first real consistent gig for the future.

He laughs when thinking this was all thanks to an unanswered e-mail he sent in 2002, to tryout for guitarist Ben Moody’s new band at the time, Evanescence.

“Funny story,” says O’Brien who’s been on three different Ozzfest tours as a free-lancer, and has rocked with A-list people like Tommy Lee, Disturbed, Kelly Clarkson and Celine Dion.

“About a year-and-a-half after I didn’t get a reply back from him, I ran into Ben (Moody) outside the Viper Room on Sunset Blvd -after Evanescence had become really popular- and I introduced myself, asking him about that e-mail. He freaked out, and was like ‘dude, are you serious!? At that time, I was living in my grandmother’s basement! When I saw your credentials, I thought that it was like a joke that a few friends were playing on me or something!’”

Not to worry though, because from that encounter stemmed a building friendship between O’Brien and Moody for years to come, where Moody would leave Evanescence in 2003, and have O’Brien play bass on all his solo-projects.

It was only a matter of time that after Evanescence members John LeCompt (Rhythm Guitar), and Rocky Gray (Drums) also left the band in 2007, that Moody would decide to bring them together along with O’Brien, grab a talented former American Idol top ten finalist Carly Smithson (Vocals), and form new talented alternative rock/metal band We Are The Fallen in 2009.

“I tell everyone,” says O’Brien, “even though the band has only been together for a year, it feels like I’ve known some of these guys for a lot longer- for like years now.”

O’Brien admits that this new experience is definitely a contrast to his days free-lancing as a bassist for party rock n’ roll tours.

“There’s a difference for sure,” he says. “With Tommy Lee, you try to go back into the bus to chill out, but wait, you can’t because there’s a huge after party on the bus. Here everyone’s married, has kids, very mellowed out. We watch movies, everyone’s in their PJ’s after the show. It’s funny.”

And although the band’s concentrated ex-Evanescence core has brought a bit of criticism that they sound like Evanescence, O’Brien says that it can’t be avoided.

“It makes me laugh,” he says. “You have to realize, these guys pretty much created Evanescence. It’s like if Led Zeppelin broke up and created a new band…obviously it’s going to sound a bit alike. How do you not sound like yourself?

“But we’re just way too happy right now to be fixed-out about it.”

Keeping them high on life is their debut album Tear The World Down -which was released by Universal Republic on May 11- and is led by their hit single Bury Me Alive, which has climbed the charts and was also used in the promo of the season one finale of CTV’s The Vampire Diaries. Also pushing the record strong are singles like Don’t Leave Me Behind, and Sleep Well, My Angel.

Originally the group was supposed to release a song every eight weeks by MySpace to build a compilation, but after the band underestimated the amount of material that they had actually written, it was agreed that they had to put it together into an album.

“When we formed, we didn’t have one song,” says O’Brien. “So you can imagine how much writing we’ve done over the last year, but we all just had a lot to say on our minds in the beginning, so we had more than enough material to write about.

“We would even all record and submit our own musical ideas form our designated instruments. It was a really creative open brainstorm.”

But surprisingly, writing wasn’t even the first issue on the agenda when the band formed. It was actually figuring out how they were gonna look on-stage.

“Ben was the first to speak to Carly,” says O’Brien, “and they clicked on their vision of what this band should look like, to the album cover, to the performance, to what they wanted to do on-stage. We have all these crazy ideas that we’re working on now.

“I can’t say anything yet, but you’ll be seeing them soon…”

The group hopes to reveal those ideas and their potential while on their current massive 28-city tour in the U.S. with Finish rock-band H.I.M, and then a 14-city solo-tour in the U.S. and Europe.

“We plan on staying on the road for a year-and-a-half, probably 18 months,” says O’Brian. “We’re determined to work this album for a long time. But we have to take this step-by-step, that’s the way to do it to reach longevity.

“We want to prove ourselves. It’s one sitting at a time, to show people what we have. But it’s a great feeling to finally have that album out.”

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Remember Evanescence? You know, the one with that goth female lead singer with the haunting voice? Well, they’re back, and with a bang.

Wednesday night the band performed a secret show at the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom in New York, reports rollingstone.com. A little after 9 p.m., the crowd started growing impatient, chanting, “EVAN-ES-SCENTS, EVAN-ES-SCENTS.” And even though the band hasn’t been heard from in years, you wouldn’t know it from their performance.

And as their front woman Amy Lee explained, last night’s intimate show was quite necessary, considering Evanescence will be performing for 40,000 people at the Maquinaria Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Nov. 8. So, Lee said, they needed a little warming up before heading south.

“Thanks for being our guinea pigs,” Lee joked to the predominantly female crowd.

Evanescence hasn’t put out a record since 2006′s The Open Door, but they’re currently hard at work on a follow-up album. Still, it’ll be another year before the band is back performing in New York, making last night’s concert a special treat for their dedicated fans, who sold out the show in just five minutes.

Lee sported clunky black boots and a multi-coloured dress at the show, commanding the stage and showing off her operatic and smoky pipes. The band, featuring substitute guitarist James Black from the band Finger Eleven, soared through hits like, “Going Under,” “Missing,” Haunted,” “Good Enough,” “Call Me When You’re Sober,” “Bring Me To Life,” and “My Immortal.”

Fans head banged and fist pumped along with Lee, singing along with her and recording every minute with their cell phones and digital cameras. After one song, a fan tossed a teddy bear up at Lee, but it instead ended up in the grasp of a stage hand.

Before leaving the stage, Lee thanked all her fans for being so supportive after so long, and promised that new music was on the way.

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Former EVANESCENCE drummer ROCKY GRAY is unable to comment on the circumstances that led to his leaving the group, because he claims to have been served a gagging order.

The band’s singer Amy Lee has reassured fans Evanescence will continue following the weekend departure of drummer Gray and guitarist John LeCompt.

But Gray insists he has been warned not to mention how he came to leave the band.

He writes on his website: “Amy Lee’s management emailed me last night to tell me that, in their view, the contract I signed to record, perform and tour with the group says I’m not allowed to have any free speech in regard to Evanescence.

“The way they spin it, I’m not even allowed to say I quit the group, I guess. But the news is out there, so, there ya go.

“I need to have a lawyer read over all that mess to tell me what, when and how I can tell you all – the real fans – what really went down, if I ever can, haha.”

As previously reported, LeCompt has also hit out at how his career with Evanescence came to an abrupt end.

Writing on his internet blog, he said: “Without any warning or legitimisations for my future, I was fired for no good reason.”

Both Gray and LeCompt now plan to concentrate their energies on offshoot act Machina.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

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EVANESCENCE singer AMY LEE has reassured fans the group will continue following the weekend departure of guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray.

The Going Under singer has posted a message to fans on her website confirming the split and insisting that upcoming tour dates with Korn on the Family Values trek will go ahead as planned.

She writes, “Evanescence is something I have loved and nurtured since I was 14 and I will continue to protect and fight for it as I always have… Stay tuned for more news on that front. And don’t worry about the tour, guys. Nothing will be cancelled and we will see you soon.”

The group’s next show is scheduled for May 19 at the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio.

Writing on his internet blog on Saturday, LeCompt suggests his departure from the group was not pleasant.

He says, “Around 3.30pm yesterday I received a call on my cell from Amy. This call wasn’t from a friend who appreciated me, but from an enemy who was prepared to hurt me and my family.

“Without any warning or legitimizations for my future, I was fired for no good reason.”

LeCompt and Gray now plan to concentrate their energies on offshoot act Machina.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

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EVANESCENCE frontwoman AMY LEE has leaped to the defence of troubled pop star BRITNEY SPEARS following a hurtful web video soundtracked by one of the band’s hits.

A fan of the rock group posted a spoof film of Spears on file-sharing site YouTube.com, using one of Evanescence’s songs in the background.

But singer Lee is adamant neither her nor her bandmates endorse the clip after “everything she (Spears) has been through”, and is begging the amateur moviemaker to take down the short.

Lee insists her music was never intended to inspire projects “based on getting enjoyment out of someone’s pain.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

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Evanescence went from being a little-known Little Rock, Arkansas act to one of the biggest rock bands in the world in 2003.

Then, in the midst of their growing popularity, guitarist Ben Moody quit, almost a decade after he and Lee started the band. Bassist William Boyd departed this summer.

“I kind of started over,” Amy Lee, the lead singer of Evanescence, told andPOP at the MuchMusic Video Awards this summer. “I feel really good and purified right now.”

With the lineup change came a new method of writing as well, as Lee and Moody used to co-write. On “Anywhere But Home,” the band’s second album, due out in October, Lee was on her own.

“I’ve gained a lot of confidence from when we were writing the first album. I listen back and I hear vulnerability and I hear me as a kid, like ‘everything’s wrong and I’m not going to do anything about it.’ And now I kind of am coming from this perspective of, yes, these are the things that are bothering me and I’m writing about them, but I’m looking for a solution and trying to fix it instead of whining about it.”

Like any artist releasing a debut album, Lee had no idea what was in store for her when “Fallen” was released in March of 2003. As it turned out, the album sold over 14 million copies worldwide and earned the band two Grammy awards. And while some artists may let the success get to their heads, Lee appears more confident and more humble.

“It’s really important not to base success on album sales and money,” she said. “I love what I do and I love my record and I love my first record and that’s what matters.”

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Gothy rockers Evanescence have announced a new North American tour for this fall, with Toronto and Montreal leading off the string of dates.

Billboard reports that the tour begins on October 5 with a stop at Toronto’s Kool Haus. The band will hit the Metropolis in Montreal the next night, before jetting off for three weeks of shows in the U.S.

In the middle of the tour, the band will take a short break to head south for a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards Latin. It’s being held on October 19 in Mexico City.

Tickets for the tour (which features purposely intimate venues) go on sale August 19. They’ll return to play for bigger crowds in 2007.

Evanescence’s new album, “The Open Door,” is set for an October 3 release in North America.

Catch the band this October across the continent:

Oct. 5: Toronto (Kool Haus)
Oct. 6: Montreal (Metropolis)
Oct. 7: Boston (Avalon)
Oct. 9: New York (Hammerstein Ballroom)
Oct. 10: Philadelphia (Electric Factory)
Oct. 11: Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)
Oct. 13: Detroit (State Theatre)
Oct. 14: Milwaukee (Eagles Ballroom)
Oct. 15: Minneapolis (the Quest)
Oct. 17: Chicago (Avalon)
Oct. 21: Dallas (McFarlin Auditorium)
Oct. 22: Houston (Verizon Wireless Theatre)
Oct. 24: Denver (Paramount Theatre)
Oct. 27: Phoenix (Celebrity Theatre)
Oct. 28: Los Angeles (Wiltern)
Oct. 29: San Francisco (Warfield Theatre)

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It’s a headache for Evanescence.

As of Wednesday, a judge has approved an order to refund customers who bought copies of the album, “Anywhere But Home,” from a Wal-Mart store in Maryland.

The agreement, according to reports from AP, partially settles a lawsuit filed by a local couple, who claim the copy they bought at Wal-Mart contained explicit lyrics but didn’t contain a parental advisory sticker.

Trevin and Melanie Skeens of Brownville are suing Wal-Mart for deception, by selling the album to consumers without a warning label.

The refund offer applies to those who purchased the album before Jan. 1.

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