Terry Balsamo

Terry Balsamo

Biography

Born in Jacksonville, Florida on October 9, 1973, Terry made his start in the music world as an early member of the now infamous Limp Bizkit. He left a few years before the recording of Bizkit's now classic album 3 Dollar Bill Y'All (1997), being replaced by Wes Borland. In late 1999, Terry joined up with fellow Jacksonville rockers; Scooter Ward, Sam McCandless, Jeremy Marshall and Kelly Hayes. Otherwise known as the monsters of Alternative Metal, Cold.

Terry remained with Cold writing and recording with them for their epic yet underrated albums 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage (2000) and Year of the Spider (2003). Near the end of his stint with Cold, the band had joined Evanescence as an opening act on the 2003 Nintendo Fusion Tour. This was of course before the abrupt departure of Evanescence's guitarist, Ben Moody. Terry had filled in for Moody on stage with Evanescence after Moody left during Evanescence's European tour, and when Cold's future suddenly became questionable, Terry jumped ship signing on permanently with Evanescence.

Terry can most prominantly be seen and heard in the band's Anywhere But Home (2004) Live CD/DVD and now on the band's new album The Open Door (2006). His style and sound have most definately made an impact on the band, and with astounding results. He has become Amy Lee's main collaborator for Evanescence and co-wrote most of Evanescence's new album including the album's first single, Call Me When You're Sober.

In November 2005, Terry suffered a stroke from a torn neck artery which landed him in the hospital for an unspecified amount of time. Indeed, Headbanging was the cause of the stroke. "They had to do an MRI. When they did the MRI, the doctor came back in the room and he was like, 'Have you ever had any neck injuries like from a car accident or anything?' And I was like, 'No.' Then we were like, 'Other than banging his head all day and every night for an hour and a half.' I’ve always had weird thing in my neck doing that, but I never would have thought it would have given me a stroke." (1) Terry has partially recovered, he says "a good 50% from it," and is touring with the band.

Tools of the Trade

"I use Ibanez guitars. In the studio, I kind of use a similar setup to what I used on the last Cold record I did, which is mix up the amps and combine the sound together. It’s a Diezel and a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and mixed that for one side. Then I took a Bogner and a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier on the other side. I combined it and made one big wall of metal.

Right now on tour I’m using T.C. Electronics, the G-System." (1)

Band Projects

• Limp Bizkit - Guitar (1994)
• Cold - Guitar (1999-2003)
• Evanescence - Guitar (2003-present)

Links

• Evanescence Official site
• Ibanez guitars
• Interview with UltimateGuitar.com
• Intervew with Toazted.com (November 2006)