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Saturday, July 7, 2007







evanescence (ev'e-nes'ens ): a dissipation or disappearance like vapor

Although the band's name may suggest a sudden vanishing, the music of Evanescence is poised for longevity. Fallen, the Wind-up Records debut of this talented quartet from Little Rock, Arkansas, is an emotional, ethereal work of undeniable potency guided by the heavenly vocals of Amy Lee. "We're definitely a rock band," says the 20-year-old Lee. "But the twist is that the band's music is epic, dramatic, dark rock."

Co-founders Lee and guitarist/songwriter Ben Moody met while in their early teens. "We were at a youth camp," Moody recalls. "During some sort of recreational period held in a gymnasium, I heard Amy playing Meat Loaf's 'I'd Do Anything for Love' at the piano. So I went over to meet her, and she started singing for me. I was pretty much blown away, so I suckered her into joining a band with me." Since that day, the musical relationship has remained dependably loyal. "We have the same exact vision regarding what we love about music," Moody says. "When it comes to songwriting, we finish each other's thoughts."

Evanescence first took shape in Little Rock at the end of the '90s. Predictably, the band didn't quite fit the mold of most others lingering around the Midwestern state. "It's typically death metal or really soft, older-people music there," says Lee. "I don't even know of any local bands that have female singers."

Influenced by a wide-ranging collection of artists such as Bjork, Danny Elfman and Tori Amos, the band started releasing EPs of its material. Even without the benefit of live performances, Evanescence began to establish a reputation.

"A lot of it developed by being elusive," Moody remembers. "The second song we ever wrote was this seven-minute, ridiculous Goth anthem called 'Understanding.' And for some reason, the local rock station decided to play it a lot. We gained this popularity around town, even though no one knew who we were or where to find us. It was because we could never afford to play a show -- it was just Amy and I -- and we couldn't pay any musicians."

Fallen was tracked in Los Angeles with producer Dave Fortman (BOYSETSFIRE, Superjoint Ritual). The album successfully finds that intangible balance between lush beauty and primal heaviness. Typical of the record is the first single, "Bring Me To Life," a piano ballad-turned-riff-driven barnburner. Highlighted by a guest vocal from Paul McCoy of 12 Stones, the song is featured prominently in the Daredevil film and soundtrack.

"'Bring Me To Life' is about discovering something or someone that awakens a feeling inside them that they've never had before," says Moody. He continued, "You discover there is a world that is bigger than just your safe bubble." Also significant is the vibrant anthem "Tourniquet" and the eerie "Haunted," with its pummeling beats and jarring melodies (augmented by chamber choir arrangements courtesy of Lee). Of the latter, Moody asserts, "It's the song that is the most 'us'. That best sums up what we strive to sound like."

Lyrically, Evanescence explores dark, introspective themes of love, desperation, and despair. But the group insists its fundamental message is a positive one. "The point of this whole record and band is to let people know that they're not alone in dealing with bad feelings or pain or anything that they go through," says Lee, who pens most of the words. "That's life and that's human. They're not alone, and we're going through it, too."

Live, Evanescence functions as a quartet with John LeCompt (guitar) and Rocky Gray (drums) rounding out the line-up. "As a four-piece, we are able to carry out the intricate harmonies and orchestrations of the memorable material on Fallen," Moody emphasizes. "We're very sincere about what we do. There's so much pre-packaged teen angst these days in music. That's not us. We're not trying to sell an angle, we're just here writing from our heart."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You wanted me to leave a comment on your blog telling you what I thought its flaws and cons were. I'm a bit confused, because in the comment you left on my blog you didn't use proper capitalization or punctuation in many places, but on your blog posts your writing style is so much different. I was just wondering if your content you are actually writing yourself.

Also, WAY TOO MANY ADS!!! You have all kinds of Adsense and Bidvertiser ads. All those ads make people just want to leave your site because it makes it feel like you're not organized and you don't care about your site, just earning the money. People don't like being fooled by ads. Try to have no more than three ads on your page. And try to get them blended in more.

Also, why do you capitalize all of your O's in some places? That's annoying and unprofessional. On your post "Knowing About Your Blog", read that first paragraph. Ugh.

But the thing is, in the good posts you don't do that. Are you writing those yourself or is someone else?

Also, what is your blog really about? I see posts about Blogger, people, the iPhone... You need to pick one topic and stick to it.

I'm sorry if you think I'm being harsh but I'm trying to help. Your blog is much like mine when I started, and yours needs a lot of work. Keep it though, lessen down the ads, and just work on typing properly. :)

Also, thank you for visiting my blog :D

Anonymous said...

Hi again,

I'm very flattered to know that you like my blog and that it's one of the first you've commented on. Before I continue I'd like to say that commenting on other people's blogs is vital to YOUR BLOG. When you leave polite comments that add value to other people's blogs, more and more people will visit your blog from the link on your comment (the blog owner included). So leaving comments on other blogs, especially those related to your own, is very important. I just thought I would say that. :)

You also said you get some of your content from Wikipedia. There is one small problem but it can be easily corrected. You do not want to mislead your readers or get anyone angered with you, so it would be very smart to add credits at the end of your post. You should link to the Wikipedia pages you use at the end and write what information comes from where. Not only is it usually required to give credit, but your readers can go further and see the information for themselves if they so desire.

I'm not sure what you were talking about when you mentioned the ClustrMaps widget, but I think you wanted me to add it to my blog and link to you from where I found it. I'm sorry but I'm already tracking maps of where my readers come from using Google Analytics and I don't wish to put up a map like that on my blog, but I do like to help newer bloggers like you because I remember how hard it was to start out. I find you sincere and I wouldn't mind helping you get a little new traffic so I will add you to my blogroll, where it can be seen on every page of my blog. How is that? :D

Maybe eventually I will write a post on ClustrMaps and I will link to you for how I found it. I might not use it but I might write about it. And I will be sure to link to you, whenever I do write that article sometime in the future. :)

I like how you named your blog Morphed and for what reasons. Keep up the good work and if you need help with anything let me know, I would be glad to help you! You're very nice, and not rude like some bloggers I come across. :)

Thanks,
~Tay

Tay said...

$50 dollars a day in Adsense? How does he do that, it seems almost impossible. I've been using Adsense for months and I just have $25.

Anyway, I am not quite sure what friend you are talking about. I get a lot of spam comments lately now from a lot of different people about a lot of different things. Luckily I have to approve the first comment from a new commentator so I can delete them before they appear on my blog. :)

Thank you so much for adding me to your blogroll as well. I really appreciate it.

Good luck with your test! Thank you.

 
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