We Are the Fallen
Encyclopedia
We Are the Fallen is an American gothic metal
band consisting of former American Idol
contestant Carly Smithson
, Marty O'Brien
and former Evanescence
members Ben Moody
, John LeCompt
, and Rocky Gray
. The band's name is an allusion
to Evanescence's 2003 album, Fallen
, which has resulted in criticism for their very similar sound to Evanescence. In a Los Angeles Times interview, co-founder of Evanescence, Ben Moody, said that We Are the Fallen differs from Evanescence in that "everyone is equal" and that it has "more energy than Evanescence could ever muster." He also stated, "We cannot try to be who we are. If there is some similarity in sound, it's because that genre was created by us."
, the band's co-founder and frontwoman. Years later when Gray and LeCompt also left the band, Moody reached out to them in attempts to continue where they had left off in 2003 with Fallen, recruiting O'Brien in the process. The band held auditions looking for a lead singer in New York City and Moody feared that the search for the band's "soulmate" was going to take a long time due to the exhaustive process. Moody's roommate showed him videos online of Smithson performing her rendition of Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life
" which was coincidentally the song all singers used to audition for Moody and the band. Ben was then introduced to Smithson who was developing a solo album after the tour with American Idol.
Moody and Smithson then discussed what they wanted to do musically and they discovered their needs were "identical". Smithson felt that Idol was for a family audience which wasn't "creatively and musically the best" for her at that time. She also stated that trying to make a solo album was lonely and "now there’s four other people who bring all sorts of different things to the table and musically it's like everything I was trying to do ... heavy rock with great melodies." "Everything that I was told about Carly was right. She had a great voice, but she also has an incredibly strong presence, the kind of presence that is big enough to handle what it is this band does, both musically and visually. Because of that, she was perfect", Ben Moody said later.
We Are the Fallen officially debuted on June 22, 2009 with the launch of their official website. Fans could register their email address at the website to receive a free download of their first single, "Bury Me Alive". Only the first 100,000 registrants qualified for the download. The response to the free download overwhelmed their database and the song was made available via a free stream on their MySpace page while they worked to send the emails to those who qualified.
The band had to confront inevitable comparisons with Evanescence. "I really do think that the farther we go, the more distinct the two [bands] will become from each other... We're so different that I really don't see it being that much of an issue", Ben Moody told Kerrang!
magazine in April 2010.
These plans changed when it was announced that We Are the Fallen signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records on October 28, 2009 for release of a full length debut album. The band then released a remastered version of their original single, "Bury Me Alive", on February 2, 2010, to include an orchestra
l outro
extending the song by a full minute. The song was available for purchase exclusively online at digital media
outlets. On the same day, the band set up an additional free download for an acoustic
version of "Bury Me Alive" at their website. The video for the song premiered on March 25, 2010 on AOL's Noisecreep
website. The song's popularity grew; The Vampire Diaries
used the song in previews for the television show's season finale. "Bury Me Alive" was also featured on "Rumor Has It," an episode of the television show The Hills
.
We Are the Fallen performed a 28-city concert tour
in the U.S. with the Finnish rock band HIM finishing in New York on May 9, 2010. Their debut concert was held at King's College
in London, England in front of a 200-person crowd on March 23, 2010. Following their tour with HIM, the band headlined their own 14-city concert tour in the U.S. and Europe. The band also appeared at the Download Festival at Donnington in 2010. We Are the Fallen performed at the "Cirque Des Damnés" show at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood, California on January 22, 2011. A DVD and live album from that show is slated for release later in the year.
The band's debut album, Tear the World Down
, was released on May 10, 2010 in the UK and May 11, 2010 in the U.S. where it debuted and peaked at #33 on the Billboard 200
.
Ben Moody revealed in a Facebook
posting that the band was dropped by Universal Republic
on May 27, 2011.
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
band consisting of former American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant Carly Smithson
Carly Smithson
Carly Smithson is an Irish soul/pop rock singer-songwriter and actress from San Diego, California who was the sixth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. In 2001, Smithson released her first studio album for MCA Records called Ultimate High. Smithson was dropped from the record...
, Marty O'Brien
Marty O'Brien
Marty O'Brien is a professional bass player and member of the band We Are the Fallen. His live credits include playing bass on tour for such acts as Disturbed, Tommy Lee, Static-X, Methods of Mayhem and many others. He has performed on three different Ozzfest tours, each time with a different band...
and former Evanescence
Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide...
members Ben Moody
Ben Moody
Benjamin Robert Moody is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. He is best known as co-founder, lead guitarist, and songwriter of Grammy Award-winning rock band Evanescence from 1995 to October 2003...
, John LeCompt
John LeCompt
John Charles LeCompt is an American musician who has been part of the Little Rock heavy metal music scene since the mid-1990s. He has been associated with a great number of bands, ranging from the unknown and unsigned to multi-platinum sellers, most notably the alternative metal band Evanescence...
, and Rocky Gray
Rocky Gray
William "Rocky" Gray is a drummer and guitarist who has been part of the Arkansas metal scene since the early 1990s. He has an extensive career as a musician and is best known as the lead guitarist for Living Sacrifice and the drummer for We Are the Fallen...
. The band's name is an allusion
Allusion
An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. M. H...
to Evanescence's 2003 album, Fallen
Fallen (Evanescence album)
-Critical response:Fallen has received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic scored the album three and a half stars out of five, and named it an AMG Album Pick, saying, "The album does include flashes of the single's PG-rated nu-metal...
, which has resulted in criticism for their very similar sound to Evanescence. In a Los Angeles Times interview, co-founder of Evanescence, Ben Moody, said that We Are the Fallen differs from Evanescence in that "everyone is equal" and that it has "more energy than Evanescence could ever muster." He also stated, "We cannot try to be who we are. If there is some similarity in sound, it's because that genre was created by us."
Formation
We Are the Fallen began forming when Moody had discussions with Evanescence band members Gray and LeCompt about the band moving in a different direction than originally planned. Moody felt something had to change in order to preserve their style of music and left due to creative differences with Amy LeeAmy Lee
Amy Lynn Hartzler , best known as Amy Lee, is an American singer-songwriter and classically trained pianist. She is co-founder and lead vocalist of the rock band Evanescence. She cites influences ranging from classical musicians such as Mozart to modern artists Björk, Tori Amos, Danny Elfman and...
, the band's co-founder and frontwoman. Years later when Gray and LeCompt also left the band, Moody reached out to them in attempts to continue where they had left off in 2003 with Fallen, recruiting O'Brien in the process. The band held auditions looking for a lead singer in New York City and Moody feared that the search for the band's "soulmate" was going to take a long time due to the exhaustive process. Moody's roommate showed him videos online of Smithson performing her rendition of Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life
Bring Me to Life
"Bring Me to Life" is a song by American rock band Evanescence. It was written by Amy Lee, Ben Moody and David Hodges and produced by Dave Fortman. It also features guest vocals from Paul McCoy of the band 12 Stones. Wind-up released "Bring Me to Life" in 2003 as the lead single from Evanescence's...
" which was coincidentally the song all singers used to audition for Moody and the band. Ben was then introduced to Smithson who was developing a solo album after the tour with American Idol.
Moody and Smithson then discussed what they wanted to do musically and they discovered their needs were "identical". Smithson felt that Idol was for a family audience which wasn't "creatively and musically the best" for her at that time. She also stated that trying to make a solo album was lonely and "now there’s four other people who bring all sorts of different things to the table and musically it's like everything I was trying to do ... heavy rock with great melodies." "Everything that I was told about Carly was right. She had a great voice, but she also has an incredibly strong presence, the kind of presence that is big enough to handle what it is this band does, both musically and visually. Because of that, she was perfect", Ben Moody said later.
We Are the Fallen officially debuted on June 22, 2009 with the launch of their official website. Fans could register their email address at the website to receive a free download of their first single, "Bury Me Alive". Only the first 100,000 registrants qualified for the download. The response to the free download overwhelmed their database and the song was made available via a free stream on their MySpace page while they worked to send the emails to those who qualified.
The band had to confront inevitable comparisons with Evanescence. "I really do think that the farther we go, the more distinct the two [bands] will become from each other... We're so different that I really don't see it being that much of an issue", Ben Moody told Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
magazine in April 2010.
Universal Republic Records
The band originally planned to release two songs for free over the internet every two months and afterward compiling them onto a record with orchestral interludes. They planned to tour theaters across the U.S. rather than clubs or arenas to focus on "performance elements that go beyond music."These plans changed when it was announced that We Are the Fallen signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records on October 28, 2009 for release of a full length debut album. The band then released a remastered version of their original single, "Bury Me Alive", on February 2, 2010, to include an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l outro
Conclusion (music)
In music, the conclusion is the ending of a composition and may take the form of a coda or outro.Pieces using sonata form typically use the recapitulation to conclude a piece, providing closure through the repetition of thematic material from the exposition in the tonic key...
extending the song by a full minute. The song was available for purchase exclusively online at digital media
Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...
outlets. On the same day, the band set up an additional free download for an acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
version of "Bury Me Alive" at their website. The video for the song premiered on March 25, 2010 on AOL's Noisecreep
Noisecreep
Noisecreep is a hard rock and heavy metal music news and media website based in the United States. The site was created by AOL Music in March 2009....
website. The song's popularity grew; The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire horror series of novels written by L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991, but pressure from readers led Smith to write a fourth...
used the song in previews for the television show's season finale. "Bury Me Alive" was also featured on "Rumor Has It," an episode of the television show The Hills
The Hills
The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...
.
We Are the Fallen performed a 28-city concert tour
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
in the U.S. with the Finnish rock band HIM finishing in New York on May 9, 2010. Their debut concert was held at King's College
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
in London, England in front of a 200-person crowd on March 23, 2010. Following their tour with HIM, the band headlined their own 14-city concert tour in the U.S. and Europe. The band also appeared at the Download Festival at Donnington in 2010. We Are the Fallen performed at the "Cirque Des Damnés" show at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood, California on January 22, 2011. A DVD and live album from that show is slated for release later in the year.
The band's debut album, Tear the World Down
Tear the World Down
- External links :*...
, was released on May 10, 2010 in the UK and May 11, 2010 in the U.S. where it debuted and peaked at #33 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
.
Ben Moody revealed in a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
posting that the band was dropped by Universal Republic
Universal Republic
Universal Republic Records is a record label, owned by Universal Music Group. It is based on the now-defunct Republic Records label founded by brothers Monte and Avery Lipman...
on May 27, 2011.
Band members
- Rocky GrayRocky GrayWilliam "Rocky" Gray is a drummer and guitarist who has been part of the Arkansas metal scene since the early 1990s. He has an extensive career as a musician and is best known as the lead guitarist for Living Sacrifice and the drummer for We Are the Fallen...
– drums - John LeComptJohn LeComptJohn Charles LeCompt is an American musician who has been part of the Little Rock heavy metal music scene since the mid-1990s. He has been associated with a great number of bands, ranging from the unknown and unsigned to multi-platinum sellers, most notably the alternative metal band Evanescence...
– rhythm guitar - Ben MoodyBen MoodyBenjamin Robert Moody is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. He is best known as co-founder, lead guitarist, and songwriter of Grammy Award-winning rock band Evanescence from 1995 to October 2003...
– lead guitar - Marty O'BrienMarty O'BrienMarty O'Brien is a professional bass player and member of the band We Are the Fallen. His live credits include playing bass on tour for such acts as Disturbed, Tommy Lee, Static-X, Methods of Mayhem and many others. He has performed on three different Ozzfest tours, each time with a different band...
– bass guitar - Carly SmithsonCarly SmithsonCarly Smithson is an Irish soul/pop rock singer-songwriter and actress from San Diego, California who was the sixth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. In 2001, Smithson released her first studio album for MCA Records called Ultimate High. Smithson was dropped from the record...
– vocals
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Digital | US Rock | US Alt. Rock | US Hd. Rock | ||
| 2010 | Tear the World Down Tear the World Down - External links :*...
|
33 | 17 | 12 | 7 | 6 |
Singles
| Year | Title | U.S. Alt. | U.S. Main. | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "Bury Me Alive" | — | 31 | Tear the World Down Tear the World Down - External links :*... |
| "Tear the World Down" | — | — | ||