Evanescence

=Evanescence= #Disappearance like a vapor.
 * 1) The name that Amy and Ben decided to call themselves after looking in a dictionary and finding the original definition of evanescence. Evanescence has become a household name.
 * 2) The name of the EP of the very first collection of Evanescence songs officially released in 1998. Features early versions of Where Will You Go, Imaginary, and Understanding (which is the first song ever written for the band). 100 copies of the EP were produced and then sold out after an early performance by the band.
 * 3) The name of a lesser-known album by a band called Scorn. Many confuse the Scorn album with Evanescence’s works. Among the works of Scorn: Silver Rain Fell, Exodus, Night Tide and Falling.

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Contents
[hide]*1 Biography
 * 1.1 In the Beginning... 1995–2001
 * 1.2 Fallen Era. 2002–2005
 * 1.3 The Open Door Era. 2006–2009
 * 1.4 Third Studio Album. 2010 onward
 * 2 Line Up History
 * 3 Notes and References
 * }

Biography
Evanescence Circa 2000: Ben Moody, David Hodges and Amy Lee.===In the Beginning... 1995–2001=== Evanescence was founded by Amy Lee and former lead guitarist Ben Moody. It's rumored that the two met at a youth camp in Arkansas, where Moody heard Amy playing Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" on the piano, but this fact was later disconfirmed by Amy in an interview for the magazine Rolling Stones[1]. Their first songs together were "Solitude" and "Give Unto Me", both written by Lee, and "Understanding" and "My Immortal", both written by Moody. The songs were edited by both artists, and they shared equal credit. Two of Lee and Moody's songs were played on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and demand for a concert. The band eventually appeared live, and became one of the most popular acts in the area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they 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. Very few copies of these CDs were made, both distributed by Bigwig Enterprises[2].

Their first record, Origin, was released on November 4th, 2000. Writing credits include Amy, Ben, and David Hodges. Amy herself does not consider the record to be an actual album; rather, she considers it merely a bundle of demo songs (some of which she says are not done properly) that was sent to record companies. Only 2500 copies of this record were ever made, and it is thus not generally available in stores. In response, Amy and Ben encouraged fans to download the band's older songs.[4]

Fallen Era. 2002–2005
David left the band in December of 2002, four months before Fallen was released, because he thought he was leading the band to the Christian rock scene more than Ben Moody and Amy Lee wanted to. Just before Fallen, in January, Mystary EP was sold during a concert as a "Fallen Sampler". When their debut album was released by the major Wind-Up Records, the band consisted of Amy Lee, Ben Moody, Rocky Gray (Drums), John LeCompt (Guitar), and William Boyd (Bass). The same day as Fallen, the Daredevil movie soundtrack was released 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. His explanation of the event can be read in his open letter to the fans, published about 7 years later. In an interview several months later, Amy Lee said: Terry Balsamo, former guitarist from Cold, joined the band in Moody's place.

The three other singles released from Fallen during 2003 and 2004 are "Going Under", "Everybody's Fool" and "My Immortal", which later became one of the most popular Evanescence songs.

In 2004 Evanescence released a live album + DVD set: "Anywhere But Home" was released November 22, 2004, and consists of a concert at the Zenith in Paris on May 25, a 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 during 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. In an interview with MTV, posted on their website on August 10, 2006, Lee announced he would have been 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, other band members' side projects, guitarist Terry Balsamo's stroke, and the loss of their former manager. The Open Door is Evanescence's second official album and third album overall; 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. Evanescence circa 2007: Tim McCord, Will Hunt, Amy Lee, Terry Balsamo and Troy McLawhorn.John was officially "fired" from Evanescence on May 4th, 2007 for unknown reasons. Rocky officially left Evanescence on May 4th, 2007, some people believe he did it in order to protest over John getting fired, but this wasn't the reason. 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. He wasn't allowed to say anything about his plans about leaving either. 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[6], but both continued to play with the band through The Open Door tour.

Third Studio Album. 2010 onward
In a news posting to the Evanescence website during 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". The 1st September, 2009, Amy Lee announced Evanescence's headline appearance at the Maquinária Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, which took place on November 8[7]. The 4th November Evanescence played a "warm-up show" in New York, Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom[8] ; the venue had just a hundred capacity and the tickets were sold in less than ten minutes. "Together Again", an outtake from The Open Door, was released as a digital download in January 22, 2010, to benefit the United Nations Foundation for their Haiti earthquake recovery efforts. The download was free with a 5$ minimum donation. It later received wide release as a digital download on February 23, 2010. As announced on January 8 through Twitter, Evanescence entered the studio for the third album on February 22 to begin recording. Will "Science" Hunt joined the band as primary drummer and programmer, while Will Hunt returned as secondary drummer. David Campbell, who previously worked on The Open Door, was brought back to handle string arrangements, and the album will 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. The album was intended to be released during Fall 2010, however, on June 21, 2010, it was announced that Evanescence had temporarily left the studio 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 release of the album[9].

To be continued...

Notes and References

 * 1) ↑ Rolling Stone Italy n. 37 - november 2006. Interview by Emilio Cozzi. Amy Lee: "Please stop with that rumour"[...]"I've never played Meat Loaf songs and I think I 'll never do." Scan of the interview (Italian)
 * 2) ↑ As stated in the Back Insert of the Evanescence EP and in the email from Bradley S. Caviness.
 * 3) ↑ Amy Lee Interview by Evanescenceville.
 * 4) ↑ Here the interview with DC101 radio on February 24, 2003, where the band allows the fans to download the old tracks.
 * 5) ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/08/1073437399128.html
 * 6) ↑ Wind-up Records via Blabbermouth.net (May 17, 2007), New lineup announced
 * 7) ↑ Yes we are - 11/08/2009 - Brazil, Sao Paulo, Maquinaria Festival (Amy's post on EvThreads)
 * 8) ↑ NYC Secret Show (Amy's post on EvThreads)
 * 9) ↑ What's up (Amy's post on EvThreads)