Troy McLawhorn

In May 2007, McLawhorn was announced as the replacement for Evanescence's former guitarist John LeCompt, and played with the band through its The Open Door album tour, which ended in December 2007. He remained active with Dark New Day while playing with Evanescence.[1] However, McLawhorn eventually left Dark New Day in mid-2008 after joining Seether as a touring guitarist.[2] After the success of the subsequent tour, McLawhorn became the official lead guitarist of Seether. From then until early March 2011, McLawhorn did various tours with Seether. He took part in recording with the band on projects such as "Seether iTunes Originals," "Rhapsody Originals," and on covers of WHAM!'s "Careless Whisper" and Frank Sinatra's "I've Got You Under my Skin" as well. McLawhorn finished recording with Seether on the album "Holding On To Strings Better Left To Fray." The first single "Country Song" was released in the United States on March 8, 2011 exclusively on iTunes. On March 8, 2011 it was announced that Troy had left Seether to pursue other interests. Later that day McLawhorn responded on the official "The Troy McLawhorn Fan Site" on Facebook with the following statement: "Thanks for all of the support. You guys are great! I really enjoyed playing and creating music with the guys and I wish that I didn't have to leave especially now that the album that we worked so hard on is finally coming out. It was a hard decision and I wish them the best. I hope that I will see all of you when I find my next project." On April 8, 2011, Seether frontman Shaun Morgan took to his Twitter account to vent his frustrations regarding Troy's still unconfirmed new gig. The next day Troy took to his official Facebook page to release the following statement to explain his departure: "You know...I have been laying low because I didn't want my departure from Seether to be any more dramatic than it has to be but I can't sit by while people come to my site and trash me. There are a lot of people who have been very supportive and I appreciate that so much. As for the haters...I can understand that people are passionate about their bands and the music. I am, too. That's why even when I was barely able to survive financially in this business I never quit because I genuinely love to play music with my friends. My leaving Seether was not about money at all. Ask yourselves this, why would I leave the band after we had just finished making an awesome record? Why? I was as excited as anyone to get out there and support it. I am losing money by leaving the band. You have to know that it was a very personal invasion of trust that led me to make my decision to leave. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a vindictive person and I am just trying to find a place that I can be long term and play music with people that I can trust." On June 12, 2011, Amy Lee of Evanescence announced on her Twitter account that Troy had officially rejoined the band for their upcoming tour and new album due out October 11, 2011.