Evanescence Lose Bassist

With the band releasing a new album in just over three months, bassist William Boyd left Evanescence last month.

Frontwoman Amy Lee broke the news to the band's fans late Thursday in a post to the Evanescence online message board. "A few weeks ago, Will decided to leave the band," she wrote. "He said that he just can't go through with another huge tour right now, and wants to stay a little closer to his family instead."

Lee said that touring "is hard -- you kind of have to sacrifice your life for it. So we can all understand." She added that Evanescence "love Will very much," and that they collectively wish him "nothing but happiness in everything he does. We've been playing music together since I was in junior high. I miss him already."

Fear not, Lee wrote: The departure won't affect the band beyond the annoyance of searching for and hiring Boyd's replacement. Evanescence's forthcoming album, The Open Door, will still be in stores October 3, and the band's to-be-announced touring plans will not be derailed.

Read more at MTV.com.

Comments

[CSguitarvocal]

Ouch.. what a time to quit.

[ChrisW-Ness2003]

Oh dear..

[greasemonkey]

lol. agreed. Could he have picked a worse time to go?

he wouldve known a tour was coming and if he cant take being in a band then i don't know why he didnt quit awhile back...

[Mass_debator]

Oh dear, now they have to find someone else that can hit an open B string over and over again. How will they cope?

[Nedir Kire]

/\ I like this guy. I agree that it'll be a pain to find another bassist, btu couldn't one of the guitarists double as a bassist? It's what I would've done.

[downcast_lg]

^^ lol *dies* He wasn't really much of an addition to the band anyway... A seal on the other hand. Yes!

[fret13]

evanescence rocks and a seal would be awesome but for Amy she isnt just losing a band member but one of her long time friends

[Paddles]

I'm sure it's his personality that mattered or something, but I've never even noticed a bass line in any Evanescence song. Not exactly a huge loss, then.

[AbsenceOfFaith]

Complex and audible bass lines to nu metal is what shredding is to grunge

[ChrisW-Ness2003]

Mass_debator wrote:

Oh dear, now they have to find someone else that can hit an open B string over and over again. How will they cope?

I like Evanescence, but that was funny. lol.

[faqu]

Checked.

[GiantRaven]

Good for him putting his family first

Good for the rest of the band for not being bitter

[flemflames]

I think this is the first time I read a band-departure without negativity and insults.

Haha it sounds like Amy Lee wants to say "Finally that sucker left!" frankly.

[blocsox90]

AbsenceOfFaith wrote:

Complex and audible bass lines to nu metal is what shredding is to grunge

haha you've got that right

[Adarsh]

hahaha....thy're falling apart...about time

[Clarkinator]

Not to be mean but does this guy affect the band in any way? Wernt all the old songs written by that scary looking guy and all the new ones are written by someone else? Or maybe I'm misinformed...

[Cheap Poison]

i Think it is something else but they just say this to avoid a huge commotion.

[t3hrav3n]

okay, please, to the people who will read this later in the day.

NO ON WANTS TO HEAR HOW MUCH YOU THINK THEY SUCK!

sorry for that, it's early and i don't feel like hearing a bunch of whiney asses bitch about evanescence. whoever writes the lyrics is quite good at it and amy herself has an amazing voice

[angelofwisdom]

it will surely be hard for them to find a bassist to replace him...like in metallica, but their case was way worse =)

[Mistress_Ibanez]

God, Amy Lee's bandmates are dropping like flies! first ben moody now this guy!

[liveforever89]

well the guitar player that left the band after their last album was the one who wrote all the music and lyrics as well. that's why it has taken so long. this album will prolly be quite different. i liked the last one....but they're pretty much a totally different band without the former guitarist. but i'll still give it a chance.

[Covin]

Mistress_Ibanez wrote:

God, Amy Lee's bandmates are dropping like flies! first ben moody now this guy!

I never thought Moody was the problem.

[_godsmack_]

what the should do...make one of the guitars be a bass and get the guitarist from system of a down to join their band if s.o.a.d. actually splits...ha see what amy lee can do with that

[bassman182]

Hey, their Bassist has the same surname as me, how interesting!!!

[Diceman42]

AbsenceOfFaith wrote:

Complex and audible bass lines to nu metal is what shredding is to grunge

Bad comparison. Listen to most Alice in Chains, Cantrell was a shredder first and foremost before grunging down.

[sooperskamaster]

i dont like em anyways

[junkie84]

well to answer the question that most of you don't care anyways, He co-wrote one of the songs in their first ep in 1998 but didn't do anything else much. Ben wrote mos tof the music and Amy wrote the lyrics for the first album and this new one is written entirely by Amy. Why some of you don't think she writes her own songs is beyong me.

[Chickenfrmheck]

nice....

[AbsenceOfFaith]

I owe my excuses to anyone who felt offended or misunderstood my post, and especially the AIC fans aroung UG. Ofcourse I thought for Alice In Chains before writing that silly remark, and in my opinion, their music is quite far from the real grunge and more along the lines of true hard rock and heavy metal, not to mention that Jerry Cantrell is a kickass guitarist for whose talant and skill I'm willingly giving both my nuts. For me, AIC aren't really grunge. I mean, just compare them with the other big grunge names, Nirvana and Pearl Jam. AIC's music is much more rawer, textured and intricate, even a bit Tool-ish. Ain't no grunge, man.
TURNIP, grunge is a lovely genre, but shredding has no place there in the same manner as in which an educated and high-class skilled musician has no place in your typical boring nu metal band. Except for the Deftones and maybe Drowning Pool, whose guitarists actually can squeeze something really sonically interesting out of their instruments. We are just talking different music worlds here. I'm not offending grunge or putting shredding on top of it in any way. But believe me, shred guitarists know their rhythm for sure
Sorry for the HUGE offtopic. Just hate being misunderstood and in a offending way. \/

[screw_you_pig]

why do so many people hate them? I think their lyrics are well-written and amy lee has an awesome voice, their music isnt very complex but why is that a bad thing? if a 3 minute, 5 chords song is played as many times as a 6 minute solo bull-shited song, who has the real talent?

[Clarkinator]

I think you guys are mislabling grunge a bit. To me, Grunge was never a specific music genre. It was more a style and scene of the time. For example I've heard Nirvana and Soundgarden both called "staples of the grunge movement." To me these bands sound nothing alike. Its kind of like emo today. Dashboard Confessional is called emo, but so is a loud band that screams. There music is nothing alike, yet they can be given the same label based on the times and styles.
So my point I suppose is it is hard to label a band like AIC, Evenessance, etc as "grunge" based on the music. Grunge was early 90s. I mean some grunge bands that were big in like 91 today would be called Nu-Metal or something. To me its more the time the bands from. So I think getting caught up in if the actual music fits a genre is a bit overdone. Then again its all just rock anyways

[primusfan]

Checked.

[black_faerie]

I am dissapointed that it wasn't Amy Lee who left the band. I can't stand her shocking whinging voice (I think she refers to it as singing) anymore!! It makes me cringe everytime...

[distortionsucks]

oh, rats.

[Torico]

Evanescence doesn't like ginger people.

[AvngdSvnfold]

AbsenceOfFaith wrote:

Complex and audible bass lines to nu metal is what shredding is to grunge

Bad comparison. Listen to most Alice in Chains, Cantrell was a shredder first and foremost before grunging down.

I thought we were talking about Evanescence, not Alice in Chains...

[AvngdSvnfold]

I think you guys are mislabling grunge a bit. To me, Grunge was never a specific music genre. It was more a style and scene of the time. For example I've heard Nirvana and Soundgarden both called "staples of the grunge movement." To me these bands sound nothing alike. Its kind of like emo today. Dashboard Confessional is called emo, but so is a loud band that screams. There music is nothing alike, yet they can be given the same label based on the times and styles.
So my point I suppose is it is hard to label a band like AIC, Evenessance, etc as "grunge" based on the music. Grunge was early 90s. I mean some grunge bands that were big in like 91 today would be called Nu-Metal or something. To me its more the time the bands from. So I think getting caught up in if the actual music fits a genre is a bit overdone. Then again its all just rock anyways

Sorry for the double post, but can you people not stay on topic a bit? Go to the grunge forum and discuss this stuff!

[xion665]

In my opinion, when ben left the band, it was bad enough. Cause there goes some of the "evanescence" sound. Now that he's left, why even call the band evenescence anymore...just because she's still there dont mean shit.

[Clarkinator]

^ Yeah your right Im sorry for sidetracking, just replying to a post I found interesting

[MasterXan]

according to Amy, Ben was the one who tried to make the band more commercial and Amy wanted to do something different. But of course, the truth comes out in October.

[TheGuitarDreams]

Torico wrote:

Evanescence doesn't like ginger people.

XD. Nice

But no, it's his decision I suppose. Just hope they get a good replacement

[BumOffBarney]

checked.

[jof1029]

as long as they dont steal a member from another band im starting to get into like they did with their guitarist, i dont care all that much. i mean, their music is decent, but i dont think the bassist plays a huge role in their sound.

[hoggie]

bad luck
im sure they'll find someone before they go on tour

[think11270]

1. Who cares?
2. Does anyone actually listen to Evanescence?
3. What does it matter? Bassists don't make a HUGE differece. They could just basically pick another one off the street.
4. I'm bitter because I'll never be as big or as famous.
5. I want to be the new bassist. Just so maybe I could **** that fat Amy bitch. mmm.

[caneex]

1. I care
2. Yup I do
3. It's not so much to do with their skills at playing...music is about expression.
4. No comment
5. No comment (She's not fat)

[onthewaytohell]

Get in Billy Sheehan! Now that would be interesting!

[nineinch9]

The departure won't affect the band beyond the annoyance

Good to know everyone besides Amy is ultimately replacable. And the shitty music machine keeps rolling

[Missino]

AbsenceOfFaith wrote:

Complex and audible bass lines to nu metal is what shredding is to grunge

Hehe...I loved that comment.

Oh well...I have to say I did like him. He had charachter, even though he didn't appear to be the best of musiciens...Best of luck to him anyway!

[Missino]

think11270 wrote:

1. Who cares?
2. Does anyone actually listen to Evanescence?
3. What does it matter? Bassists don't make a HUGE differece. They could just basically pick another one off the street.
4. I'm bitter because I'll never be as big or as famous.
5. I want to be the new bassist. Just so maybe I could **** that fat Amy bitch. mmm.

Shut up, dork.

[tommyg_99]

fret13 wrote:

evanescence rocks and a seal would be awesome but for Amy she isnt just losing a band member but one of her long time friends

hmm... ok, um, anyone else think this guy is an idiot? Who says that he's not their friend? He's leaving because he wants to spend time with his family, not because he hates the rest of them. Who says that they can't all get together for a coffee some time? Or a few litres of vodka, I don't know what Evanescence drink. More likely the vodka. But not if he's a family man. Man, I'm stoned...

[xion665]

Id be willing to bet that if Amy left the band in the future for some reason and the others tried to keep it going with a new singer, she'd probably try to sue they're asses. She just seems like the type that would to me.

[fret13]

tommyg_99 wrote:

fret13 wrote:

evanescence rocks and a seal would be awesome but for Amy she isnt just losing a band member but one of her long time friends


hmm... ok, um, anyone else think this guy is an idiot? Who says that he's not their friend? He's leaving because he wants to spend time with his family, not because he hates the rest of them. Who says that they can't all get together for a coffee some time? Or a few litres of vodka, I don't know what Evanescence drink. More likely the vodka. But not if he's a family man. Man, I'm stoned...

dude listen if your touring and your away from your family the entire time number one it would be difficult to get used to it without someone you usually see there with you and its not like one day durring a tour their going to go out and ssay yeah weve got a concert in 20 minutes lets have some coffee or something. no it wont be hard to find a new bassist

[Bristlehead]

Well, Will recorded the album before he left if I'm not mistaken, and the first album was done when Will wasn't part of the band (he was like... the last one to be "confirmed" into the lineup) so maybe he actually did some interesting bassline stuff in this. I wouldn't know. I hope they find a nice replacement.

[fret13]

xion665 wrote:

Id be willing to bet that if Amy left the band in the future for some reason and the others tried to keep it going with a new singer, she'd probably try to sue they're asses. She just seems like the type that would to me.

probibly and the fact that Amy in my book, ihas a one of a kind voice that could never be replaced

[AvngdSvnfold]

think11270 :
1. Who cares?
2. Does anyone actually listen to Evanescence?
3. What does it matter? Bassists don't make a HUGE differece. They could just basically pick another one off the street.
4. I'm bitter because I'll never be as big or as famous.
5. I want to be the new bassist. Just so maybe I could **** that fat Amy bitch. mmm.

if your arent going to say something nice...

[MoonlitWaters]

Paddles wrote:

I'm sure it's his personality that mattered or something, but I've never even noticed a bass line in any Evanescence song. Not exactly a huge loss, then.

You're serious? You mean to tell me you've never heard the bass in the "Fallen" version of "Whisper" or in "Going Under" or "Eternal?"

[Bristlehead]

Will wasn't the bassist in those recordings anyway, tard.

[kumamilesbear]

liveforever89 wrote:

well the guitar player that left the band after their last album was the one who wrote all the music and lyrics as well. that's why it has taken so long. this album will prolly be quite different. i liked the last one....but they're pretty much a totally different band without the former guitarist. but i'll still give it a chance.

thats where your wrong, sir. ben didnt write all the lyrics.
in fact, he didnt write all the songs, either.
they collaberated on it all.
trust me.