We Are The Fallen Talk Inspiration Ahead Of Debut UK Show

And the Ex-Evanescence/American Idol band don’t want to be written off!

Posted Monday, 22 March 2010 in

“Open ears is all you can ask of people.” So says Carly Smithson, ex-American Idol contestant and vocalist with We Are The Fallen (featuring the former core of Evanescence), who has spoken of the inspiration behind their first song ‘Bury Me Alive’, the origins of the group and the perils of being dismissed before they’ve had the chance to prove themselves.

“I don’t hear Evanescence in our music,” says Smithson. “OK, there are small parts, but I wrote ‘Bury Me Alive’ before I met the boys. The influences I had when I was making the song - like Iron Maiden, those choruses - that’s what I hear… when I met the boys I didn’t know much about the band before because I wasn’t a big Evanescence fan. I’m more stuck in the 80s. I didn’t know their story when I came into the band and they had to explain that. I don’t hear Evanescence, and when people hear the record they’ll hear that. They’ll hear We Are The Fallen, and we are a new band.

“If Tim Burton made a record, it would sound like this.”

‘Bury Me Alive’, which is available via the band’s MySpace, is an intensely personal song for Smithson. “That song is my story… Hollywood eats people alive all the time, and I’ve seen that many, many times.

“I’ve watched people, as the lyric says, ‘let themselves die’. I’m not the kind of person to make friends easily; if I make a friend then I’m there for life. ‘I hate the nightmare you’ve become, you bury me alive’… there are so many people who would just eat you up to get ahead in life.”

Of the band’s gestation and name, Smithson says, “This happened through me helping a friend move into a house. My friend Monique moved in with Ben, I met him and all of us wanted to be musicians and go down the same path… Ben’s girlfriend came up with the name. We’ve all had this up and down journey; Marty always wanted to be in a band, John, Rocky and Ben all had Evanescence which came to an end and I’ve had multiple things which have all ended. Not all of us achieve immediately in life, and it’s sending a message to everyone that it’s OK to fail once in a while and be part of something that didn’t work out.”

The band, who make their worldwide live debut at London’s King’s College on March 23, will release their as-yet untitled new record later this year. Check out Rock Sound 133, out now, for more on We Are The Fallen, including their plans for their forthcoming live shows.