Carly Smithson will apparently be able to stay true to her rocker roots.

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The former American Idol seventh-season finalist has become the lead singer of Fallen, a new band featuring three former members of Evanescence, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

Fallen will consist of Smithson and the three former Evanescence members -- lead guitarist and co-songwriter Ben Moody, guitarist John Lecompt and drummer Rocky Gray.  Bassist Marty O'Brian will round out the rock quartet.

After she was eliminated during Idol's seventh season last spring, The Times reported Smithson received several recording contract offers that "attempted to place her in the pop world."

"I kept getting told that 'you don't have the rock voice, you can't do rock music.' But it's everything I am. It's everything I listen to. I'm not the regular girl next door," Smithson told The Times. 

However despite the warnings, Smithson decided to turn down pop-focused recording offers she'd received.

"I thought I was making a huge mistake," Smithson told The Times.  "But I'd rather make a huge mistake than be miserable in something I'd regret for the rest of my days."

Moody said he first saw Smithson perform in a video of one of her performances on last summer's Idol tour and eventually set-up a meeting with her since she's friends with one of his housemates.

"Carly and I sat down and we just kinda geeked out at looking at stuff on the Internet,"  Moody told The Times.  "[My band and I] had been planning all this stuff on one side, and Carly's been planning it on the other and they just happened to be literally identical. And I don't mean, like oh, they were kind of the same. I mean, an uncanny amount of detail being identical. And it was just clear to me that we had found our better half."

Smithson told USA Today in a Thursday report that her joining Fallen happened "by accident," but it didn't take long to realize they clicked.

"The first time we rehearsed, everybody started in on this jam of Iron Maiden," she told USA Today.  "I was like, 'I'm in a band! I love this!'"

Moody added Smithson's rock-star vocals were a perfect fit for the band.

"Carly is a rock star.  She was one of us," he told USA Today. 

Fallen plans to begin touring this September and will initially release songs digitally on the Internet, "so there's always new music and new reasons to come to another show," Moody told USA Today.


About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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