Recording early EPs

Lee and Moody recorded two EPs as Evanescence: Evanescence (1998), of which 100 copies were made and sold at their early live performances; and Sound Asleep (1999), also known as the Whisper EP. Their demos got them airplay on the local modern rock station in Little Rock, which helped them develop a local fanbase, allowing them to play a couple of bigger shows a year and hire other musicians to perform other instruments live. Although they played with guest musicians, Evanescence remained a duo. “It was more because that’s what we did and how we worked rather than not wanting any other input”, Lee recalled; “the idea of a full band playing these songs was something that only came along later.” Since Evanescence’s start, the two had brought in several people to record or play live, but their vision was never shared by others “so it always ended reverting back to the two of us”. Lee and Moody were focused on writing music over playing live shows, and they did not want to have a band join their writing process, Moody noted; “we just wanted it to be the two of us and so we’d play once or twice a year.” He said that they would be “off writing and recording in our closets for six months”, and as they couldn’t have live shows with just a duo, they would book a gig and ask friends to perform with them. Moody stated that he did not remember how many EPs they released, and he viewed them as “really just a means”; CDs “we could sell ourselves at our shows so we could go out and buy pizza. They really weren’t official releases”.