Here’s some big news: The original guys from hard rock band Evanescence, guitarists Ben Moody and John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray, have teamed up with American Idol’s Carly Smithson to form a new band, The Fallen. The name is a reference to Evanescence’s first album, Fallen.
USA Today reports that the band will make a formal announcment on Monday with a news conference and their first live performance. The band’s debut song, “Bury Me Alive,” will be available at that time for free download on The Fallen’s website.
The Fallen plans to tour in September and initially will release its songs in small doses every few months, Moody told USA Today, “so there’s always new music and new reasons to come to another show.”

Evanescence was formed originally in 1995 by vocalist Amy Lee and Ben Moody, who reportedly met while in church youth group. (That’s kept the questions flying for years about whether they’re a “Christian band” or “Christians in a band” or in any way related to Christian music. Both Lee and Moody denied any association, even though their first major label release, 2003’s Fallen, charted on Christian charts and was available in Christian bookstores.)
Fallen spawned the Top 10 singles “Bring Me to Life” and “My Immortal”, earned two 2003 Grammy Awards (Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance for “Bring Me To Life”), and propelled the band to sales of nearly 14 million albums worldwide. Fallen spent more than 100 weeks on Billboard’s Top 200 chart and was certified gold or platinum in over 35 countries.
Moody left Evanescence during a European tour for Fallen, citing creative differences with Lee. LeCompt and Gray followed in 2007. Lee continues to perform under the Evanescence name, though the group hasn’t released an album since 2006.
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