Cold (band)

Cold
Cold live in Flint, MI, 2009.
Background information
Origin	Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Genres	Post-grunge, alternative metal, hard rock
Years active	1996–2006, 2009–present
Labels	Geffen, Lava, SonicStar, Eleven Seven Music
Associated acts	Allele, Darwin's Waiting Room, Evanescence, The Killer and the Star, Limp Bizkit, Reveille, Sierra Swan, Smile Empty Soul, Staind, Weezer
Website	www.coldarmy.com
Members	Scooter Ward Sam McCandless Jeremy Marshall Zach Gilbert
Past members	Matt Loughran Pat Lally Sean Lay Kelly Hayes Terry Balsamo Eddie Rendini Mike Booth Joe Bennett Michael Harris

Cold is an American post-grunge band, formed in 1996 in Jacksonville, Florida. With two gold-albums, Cold has sold around 2 million records in the US alone. On November 17, 2006, it was announced on MySpace that, after a period of uncertainty since that February, the group had decided to disband. In July 2008, it was announced that the original line-up would reunite for a tour in early 2009. This became permanent and the band released their fifth studio album Superfiction on July 19, 2011.

History

Beginnings, self-titled album (1996—2000)

Cold, who at the time were called Grundig, formed in 1996 with the line-up of Scooter Ward (vocals, guitar), Sam McCandless (drums), Jeremy Marshall (bass) and Matt Loughran (guitar). The band, initially based in Jacksonville, moved to Atlanta hoping to get a break in the industry. During this time, Matt Loughran left the band and was replaced by Sean Lay, who also left the group. Kelly Hayes then joined the band, and they all later returned to Florida.

Following Cold's progress in the Jacksonville scene was local Fred Durst. Impressed by what he had heard, he invited Ward to record two acoustic tracks, "Check Please" and "Ugly." The two demos were passed on to producer Ross Robinson, who was also impressed by what he had heard, leading the recently renamed Cold to record their debut album titled Cold, which was released in 1998. The record was a minor success under A&M Records - now an imprint label under Interscope Records.

That same year, the band released the Oddity EP. Its cover photo, taken by the wife of McCandless, depicts their pet tarantula named Wednesday, crawling on the face of her doll. The band sought a signature element that fans could remember them by, and Wednesday served as the inspiration; McCandless gave a particularly favorable image of a spider to a friend and tattoo artist who transformed it into what would become Cold's official logo. The drummer would later note, "Our music kind of creeps along like a spider."^[1]

13 Ways to Bleed on Stage (2000—2002)

Following the underground success of Cold, Geffen financed their second album titled 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage, which was released in 2000. Before recording the album, the group recruited local guitarist Terry Balsamo, who briefly played for Limp Bizkit. Ward was now able to focus more on singing and interacting with the crowd. 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage proved to be Cold's breakthrough album with successful singles in "End of the World" and "No One" frequently played on hard rock radio. "Just Got Wicked" was also a surprise hit, being featured in the soundtrack to the game Jet Grind Radio, and helped add to their fan-base.

In April 2002, the band released "Gone Away," a surprisingly moody ballad. The song first appeared on the WWF Tough Enough album and had a successful music video.

Year of the Spider (2002—2004)

With the success of 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage, Geffen financed their third major album titled Year of the Spider, which was released in 2003. The album has been to date the band’s most commercially successful album, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard Album charts, with over 101,000 copies of the album sold in its first week of release. The album’s first single, "Stupid Girl," has been the only Cold single to crack the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 87.^[2] Following the release of the album’s second single "Suffocate" to radio stations, plans were set-forth for a video to accompany the song. However, a music video was not made due to Geffen not giving approval. The stalemate with the label led to frustrations within the band, and in early 2004 Terry Balsamo departed, replacing Ben Moody in Evanescence. Balsamo was later replaced by ex-Darwin's Waiting Room guitarist Eddie Randini.

In 2004, guitarist Kelly Hayes quit the band as well. A week later, Hayes officially confirmed his position as the guitarist in the Jacksonville hard rock outfit Allele, a move that had been in the works from the time Terry Balsamo left the band. The band made efforts to release another single, "Wasted Years" from Year of the Spider. However, Geffen continued to not support the album any further.^{[citation needed]}

Subsequently, in mid-2004 the band asked to be released from the Geffen label. Around this time, Cold recorded the soundtrack for the video game Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy featuring the songs "With My Mind", "Came All the Way", "Just Got Wicked (Chris Vrenna Remix)", and "Go Away (Chris Vrenna Eye Socket Remix)" and embarked on a short tour with Sevendust in support of "With My Mind", the single released from the CD. They also performed at E3 to promote the game; however, the song was never released on any of their albums.

A Different Kind of Pain, break up (2004—2006)

By September 2004, the band had added former member Matt Loughran and was signed by Atlantic Records (Lava Records division), where they set about recording a new album. The album was to be produced by Elvis Baskette and slated to be released in December 2004. However, Cold suffered another blow with Eddie Rendini leaving the band. The new album was scheduled to be released in spring of 2005. Before releasing the album, Cold went back in the studio to record several more tracks. The album was originally to be titled And a Sad Song Lives On but was later changed to The Calm that Killed the Storm, and the release date was moved to September 13, 2005.

In June 2005, the band's official website noted yet another change to the new album's title, changing it to A Different Kind of Pain. "Happens All the Time" was the first single and video released. Just prior to shooting the video, the band added Las Vegas guitarist Mike Booth to the band. He would appear in the video and tour with them for a few months, being replaced later that fall by Florida-native Zach Gilbert. The album debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard Albums charts, with more than 36,000 copies sold. The title track was released as the second single, but Atlantic did not fund another video. The majority of A Different Kind of Pain was written in Ward's sister's bedroom while she had a long battle with cancer, and is said to have been the root of the subject matter on the album. Other subjects include the end of his relationship to his fiancée/mother of his daughter, and the physical abuse of a 14-year-old girl by her own father, and also had an alcoholic mother (a theme echoed from each of the three previous albums). The album has sold over 160,000 copies in the US.

On November 17, 2006, a MySpace post announced that Cold had decided to disband permanently. Ward announced that he and McCandless had started a side-project called The Witch, later known as When November Falls and now known as The Killer and the Star. Shortly after forming, McCandless left the project.

Reunion, Superfiction (2008—2012)

On July 25, 2008, a blog written by Ward on The Killer and the Star's MySpace confirmed both a b-sides/rarities release and a new Cold album featuring the original line-up, due Fall 2009.

In January 2009 Cold officially announced the first dates of its reunion tour on the band's MySpace page. When the page was originally updated, the lineup consisted of Scooter Ward, Sam McCandless, Jeremy Marshall, Kelly Hayes and Terry Balsamo. Hayes was replaced by Joe Bennett, who parted ways with Cold in July 2009 and has been replaced by former Cold guitarist Zach Gilbert. Terry Balsamo was briefly replaced by Michael Harris of Idiot Pilot, who also played bass in The Killer and the Star. After the first tour in the spring, the band went out on the road again later that summer.

On June 3, 2010 Ward put out an update on Facebook which stated, "Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay on this post. Due to our previous tour schedules cutting into the making of the album I have decided to spend a few more days fine tuning the record In New York. I am currently working on adding(harmonies,guitars and strings) to the songs at this moment. I know you guys have been waiting patiently and we thank you for your concern. We of course want this record to be everything it can be and have chosen to take this time to do so. This will however prolong the release of the record until late summer or early fall. This record is "hands down" the most important record..."

On August 11, 2010 Ward updated the band's official MySpace Blog stating, "What is up Cold Army? We left jville Monday for NYC to record 3 new songs for the New album. Everyone in Cold camp is super excited and ready to get this record out for you guys. Record will be complete in 3 weeks and then release dates will be released. I jumped the gun in hopes for an earlier release (like i always... do) but we keep writing great songs and adding tracks to existing ones...."

Because of the care and time everyone put into the record we believe it will indeed become a Epic release for the band. We love you all and will see you guys soon. If i have time i will get some footage for you all” ^[3][4]

Although initially dubbed the "final album," Ward has said on "Alternative Addiction" that Cold will continue to record and tour after the 5th album comes out.^{[citation needed]}

The first official single from Superfiction was "Wicked World".

Superfiction was released on July 18, 2011 through Eleven Seven and debuted at No. 37 on the Billboard 200 with 11,317 copies sold.

The band had mentioned while touring that they would be including a live version of their song "Snowblind" as a hidden track on the new album, though many fans who have purchased the album noticed that there was no hidden track at all.

The second single from the album, "American Dream", was released on January 1, 2012. The music video for it was released through Eleven Seven official YouTube channel two weeks later.^[5]

Double live album and Live In Orlando DVD (2012 — present)

On November 20, 2012, Scooter Ward revealed on the band's official Facebook page that Cold is going to begin recording an acoustic album in early 2013. The album is set to include studio acoustic versions of fan favorites from the band's first four albums as well as b-sides, rarities and four new songs (including "Snowblind" and "Beautiful (Ugly, Part II)").^[6]

On April 2, 2013 Ward revealed that in addition to Cold's upcoming acoustic record another record is set to be released. It is going to be a double-live album and will be recorded in May in Jacksonville.^[7]

On July 1, 2013 Cold confirmed on their official facebook page, the recording of a live DVD, which will include three shows, and the participation of Kelly Hayes and Terry Balsamo. Since that time there was no news about an acoustic album.

On February 7, 2014 Cold started an Indiegogo campaign for the recording of a double live album and DVD "Live in Orlando".

Band members

Current members

• Scooter Ward – lead vocals, keyboards, guitar (1996–2006, 2009–present)
• Jeremy Marshall – bass, backing vocals (1996, 1996–2006, 2009–present)
• Sam McCandless – drums (1996–2006, 2009–present)
• Zach Gilbert - guitars (2005–2006, 2009–present)

Session/Live only members

• Terry Balsamo - guitars (2009, 2013)
• Kelly Hayes – guitars (2013)
• Drew Molleur - guitars (2010–2012)

Former members

• Matt Loughran - guitars (1996, 2004–2006)
• Pat Lally - bass (1996)
• Sean Lay - guitars (1996)
• Kelly Hayes – guitars (1996–2004)
• Terry Balsamo - guitars (1999–2004, 2009)
• Eddie Rendini - guitars (2004)
• Mike Booth - guitars, keyboards (2005)
• Joe Bennett - guitars (2009)
• Michael Harris - guitars (2009)

Line-up history

Discography

• Cold - 1998
• 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage - 2000
• Year of the Spider - 2003
• A Different Kind of Pain - 2005
• Superfiction - 2011

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Cold at AllMusic