Back in May 2022, Evanescence revealed that they’re parting ways with their guitarist Jen Majura. With two Evanescence albums behind her, Majura addressed the split one day later, informing her fans that “none of this was my decision.” About a month later, Majura talked to Ola Englund, explaining how it all went down (transcript via Ultimate Guitar):
“I was cleaning my apartment, and I got the phone call. And first of all, I was like, ‘Is this a bad joke?’ And I remember after I got the news, I hung up and – I have this hallway in between my studio and my living room, and I just laid there on the floor, staring at the ceiling, wondering what that was, and literally looking over to my suitcase that I have already started packing because I was two weeks from going out on the road until pretty much the end of the year.”
Evanescence frontwoman and the band’s leader Amy Lee has finally reflected on Jen’s firing from the band in a new interview with Revolver. However, while discussing the lineup changes, she didn’t give full disclosure on why this exactly happened because, as she puts it, “It’s hard to explain what I’m saying without being specific.” Her statement on the matter reads:
“I am so happy, we are all so, so grateful. Emma Anzai is from the band Sick Puppies and we are old friends. We toured together in 2007 and she’s just an excellent musician. We’re all fans of her and just fits us on a personal level really well.”
“We did a little European run in June and then we did a few shows here and had our first photo shoot with the new lineup just two weeks ago. Some things are just meant to be. Something I’m getting better at as I get older is not trying to control everything so much. Sometimes you just sort of have to listen to the universe and what’s going on and go, ‘You know what, OK, I need to live in the reality of what’s happening now and make something great out of it instead of constantly trying to pull things the way I think they ought to go.'”
“It’s hard to explain what I’m saying without being specific, and we all love Jen, we had a great time with Jen. Don’t want to make it like it’s anything negative there. But sometimes that chapter just ends, and when you feel that and you know that as a band, that’s how you keep things going. That’s how you keep your team, your band, and everything healthy and moving the way it’s supposed to move.”
“It’s complicated. But at the same time, you just need to follow your heart. At the end of the day, when you follow your heart and trust each other, you can move forward into a better place than you could’ve imagined for.”
Photo: Zhyar Merlin (Evanescence’s Amy Lee, Jen Majura and Troy McClawhorn performing at the Ruth Eckerd Hall)
