John LeCompt

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John LeCompt
Background information
Birth name John LeCompt
Born March 10, 1973 Little Rock, Arkansas
Occupation(s) Musician
Instrument(s) Guitar

John Charles LeCompt (born March 10, 1973) is an American musician from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He has been part of the Little Rock heavy metal music scene since the mid 90's and has been part of a great number of bands—ranging from the unknown and unsigned to multi-platinum sellers. One of his main collaborators is long time friend Rocky Gray, who is often John's bandmate in various group projects.

Contents

[edit] Bands

[edit] Mindrage

His first commercial effort was a band called Mindrage. Pulling double duty as lead vocalist and lead guitarist, he enlisted Nick Williams (bass) and Chad Wilburn (drums) to form the Christian Metal trio. In June of 1998, Mindrage recorded the album Sown In Weakness, Raised In Power - a full album consisting of 11 tracks. For their second album, (a collaboration with the band Nailed Promise) Justin Carder (now with Chasing The Fall) took over on drums, replacing Chad Wilburn for the four track feature.

[edit] Kill System

Later, John joined forces with then-Living Sacrifice guitarist Rocky Gray to form what would be known as Kill System, along with Chad Moore (Soul Embraced) on bass, Allen Robson (Between the Second, Becoming Saints) and former Living Sacrifice drummer Lance Garvin on drums. Unfortunately, the Kill System project never had an official distribution deal despite their commendable effort. Despite John's heavier musical history, Kill System proved to be much more melodic, making the project a big fan favorite.

[edit] Soul Embraced

Continuing with their seemingly endless collaborations, John joined Rocky once again for work with Soul Embraced. John features as a vocalist on the track entitled, "Seems Like Forever" on the 2003 album Immune.

[edit] Mourningside

During Evanescence's creative hiatus, John (on guitar / background vocals) formulated what would later be known as Mourningside. Members include Jack Wiese (ex-lead of the.5th.element) providing lead vocals, fellow Evanescence member Rocky Gray on drums, Jeff Bowie (Becoming Saints) on bass and Devin Castle (Eva Braun / Ashes of Augustine) on guitar. They have since played shows in St. Louis, Missouri as well as in Little Rock, Arkansas, gaining not only a strong fanbase in the States, but among Evanescence fans all around the world.

Like Kill System, Mourningside has yet to gain an official distribution deal but has released a collective 7 track EP. Their debut song, entitled "Painting The Eyes", was featured on a multi-band promotional CD distributed at Dirty Elf Fest 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri.

[edit] Evanescence

After signing with Wind-Up records, Evanescence turned to some old friends from Little Rock to aid with the live tour production. John joined as second guitarist, Rocky joined as drummer, and Will Boyd joined as bassist.

On "Fallen," the duet "Bring Me To Life" features Paul McCoy (12 Stones). Despite the fact, John has performed all live versions of the song except for two (both done by Paul), giving the song a complimentary edge you can trace right back to his Little Rock metal scene roots.

John's aid with Evanescence traces back beyond even "Fallen" where he is mentioned in the booklet for the band's EP release, "Origin," credited / thanked as "the sexiest man alive" by Amy Lee and Ben Moody.

Although John's only writing credits for the multi-platinum selling official debut "Fallen" include for "Taking Over Me", John collaborated with Amy Lee on one track for the band's sophomore endeavor, "The Open Door", entitled "All That I'm Living For". He also has programming credits on "All That I'm Living For" and "Call Me When You're Sober". "The Open Door" was released worldwide October 3, 2006.

[edit] Machina

In 2005, John began collaborating with ex-Future Leaders of the World lead Phil Tayler. They are currently working on new material and plan on touring with hopes of releasing an album in late 2006. As a band, Machina includes Phil Tayler (vocals), John LeCompt (guitars), Jack Wiese (guitars), Thad Ables (bass) and Rocky Gray (drums). With new material and new members, the band decided to change their title from "Future Leaders Of the World" to "Machina" in Spring / Summer 2006.

Contrary to popular belief, this particular "Machina" is pronounced "mah-shee-nah" and not "mah-kee-nah", as generally spoken.

[edit] GUITARS

[edit] Hardware

John LeCompt uses ESP/LTD electric guitars. He has many different models, including the F-300FM, EC-1000, Viper-301, H-301 and H-307 seven-string.

His Yamaha acoustic guitars include the CPX900 and LJX6C models.

As for amplification, he has stated he a uses Mesa Stilletto Deuce. [1]

[edit] EC-1000

Set mahogany neck with 24-3/4" scale, topped with a rosewood fretboard adorned with abalone flags plus the model name at the 12th fret. TonePros locking bridge and tailpiece keep tuning rock-solid. The black and cherry models feature a pair of EMG-81 pickups, while the amber sunburst model (the particular model used by John LeCompt) sports a Seymour Duncan JB/59 setup.

[edit] Guitar Effects

In an interview John answered:

"The only effects that I use are some delay and reverb... sometimes a little tremolo and wah. I only use it on my clean channel. My metal channel is all metal, all the time. No stinking effects there."

[edit] External links

Evanescence
This box: view • talk • edit
Amy Lee | John LeCompt | Terry Balsamo | Rocky Gray | Tim McCord
Former Members: Ben Moody | David Hodges | William Boyd
Discography
Major Label Albums: Fallen | The Open Door
Other Albums/EPs: Evanescence EP | Sound Asleep EP | Origin | Mystary EP | Anywhere but Home
Singles: Bring Me to Life | Going Under | My Immortal | Everybody's Fool | Call Me When You're Sober | Lithium
Related content
Evanescence songs | Evanescence albums
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