Former EVANESCENCE Drummer ROCKY GRAY Comments On His Departure

May 5, 2007

Rocky Gray, longtime drummer for multi-platinum rockers EVANESCENCE, has confirmed reports that he has quit the band.

Best known prior to EVANESCENCE as the guitar player for seminal Christian metal bands LIVING SACRIFICE (a band whose members went on to join P.O.D., NORMA JEAN and more) and SOUL EMBRACED, Rocky joined EVANESCENCE shortly after the recording of their debut album, "Fallen". The CD featured a reworked version of a SOUL EMBRACED song written by Rocky, "Tourniquet", and sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

Rocky is the third band member to leave EVANESCENCE since the recording of the band's second album, "The Open Door".

In a statement issued today (Saturday, May 5),Gray said about his departure, "Amy Lee's [EVANESCENCE vocalist] management emailed me last night to tell me that, in their view, the contract I signed to record, perform and tour with the group says that I'm not allowed to have any free speech in regard to EVANESCENCE. The way they spin it, I'm not even allowed to say I quit the group, I guess. But the news is out there, so, there ya' go. I need to have a lawyer read over all that mess to tell me what, when and how I can tell you all — the REAL FANS — what really went down, if I ever can, haha."

In the meantime, there is plenty to report about Rocky that does not involve EVANESCENCE.

Originally formed ten years ago, the newly reinvigorated SOUL EMBRACED (which reunites Gray with LIVING SACRIFICE drummer Lance Garvin) has a wealth of new material. The band is finalizing a new recording agreement to release their next album. New songs include "Kill This", which is on their MySpace now.

In addition to SOUL EMBRACED, Rocky will continue playing with MACHINA alongside former EVANESCENCE guitarist John LeCompt. And there are a couple more projects which will be announced soon.

"Ya'll ain't ever heard the last from me until the good Lord decides to take me home," Rocky cracked. "Peace to all of the fans who support me and everyone who knows the real deal. And of course to my wife, kids, John, Ben, Will, everybody who's real. See ya'll on the road soon!"

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).