EVANESCENCE Singer: Things Were 'Not Fun' Before Lineup Change

Launch Radio Networks reports: EVANESCENCE debuted its new lineup on Saturday (May 19) in Columbus, Ohio at the Rock on the Range festival (photos),where DARK NEW DAY guitarist Troy McLawhorn and drummer Will Hunt played their first show with the band. The pair replaced guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray, who were let go just two weeks earlier. Singer Amy Lee told Launch why she felt it was time for a change. "The way things were going, things were actually just not fun anymore," she said. "It's hard, you know, when you know that there's a real problem. It really does affect your stage. It affects the show when, you know, you're not working together as a band, you're sort of working against each other. It's really hard, and I feel like we stuck with it for as long as we could the way things were, until everyone really, you know, spoke up and we all did, we knew what we needed to do."

The same weekend that LeCompt and Gray were dismissed, Lee also got married to Josh Hartzler, a therapist and longtime friend she began dating last year. Lee told Launch about the nuptials. "I got married May 6th," she said. "We got married at my parents' house, in the backyard. It was perfect. And then we went off on our honeymoon and I'm very excited. I feel married. It actually does feel different. I feel sort of this bigger sense of purpose and I just feel kind of supported and happy and excited and I think it's awesome."

Lee returned from her honeymoon and went right into rehearsals with the rest of the band just a few days before Rock on the Range.

In an online posting regarding the lineup change, Lee wrote, "I treated both John and Rocky with nothing but kindness and respect, and I got nothing but jealousy and resentment in return."

EVANESCENCE next heads to Europe, followed by late June shows in Russia, Greece, Turkey and Israel. The band will return home to begin co-headlining the Family Values tour with KORN on July 20 in St. Louis.