Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Anxious to hear what Carly Smithson and We Are the Fallen are up to.

If so, head to the band’s Web site, http://www.wearethefallen.com, which went live at 3 p.m.

And you don’t want to procrastinate. Music hasn’t been posted there yet, but the free download I wrote about in this blog Friday is available only to the first 100,000 people who register.

OK, that sounds like a lot.

But let’s remember that three of the five band members belonged to Evanescence when the group sold 15 million copies of its 2003 debut album, coincidentally titled “Fallen.”

Reports surfaced Friday that Carly, the sixth-place finisher on season seven of Idol, was abandoning plans to pursue a solo career and instead becoming lead singer of the new band.

Joining We Are the Fallen seems like a shrewd move for Carly. It distances her from her pre-Idol pop flop – the 2003 album “Ultimate High” — and the power vocals she demonstrated during her Idol run should serve her well in a rock band.

And fans are bound to be curious about new music from We Are the Fallen. After all, that 2003 album sold a cool 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.

Guitarist/songwriter Ben Moody told USA Today that the band doesn’t plan to release an album immediately, but will begin touring in September and will post songs periodically on its Web site.

Apparently, there’s been a bit of a delay in delivering downloads to the folks who register, according to a video message Carly posted after the band’s Monday afternoon press conference. If you’re really anxious to hear the song – ”Bury Me Alive” — you can head to The Fallen’s MySpace page.

Gotta tell you, Carly never sounded this good singing cover songs on Idol.