Crossbreed (band)

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Crossbreed
Origin Clearwater, Florida, USA
Genres Industrial metal
Alternative metal
Nu metal
Years active 1996 – 2010
Labels Driven Music Group
Artemis Records
Website www.crossbreed.com
Members James Rietz
Chris Nemzek
Corey Floyd
Ian Hall
Kem Secksdiin
Jay Diesel
Past members Jason Tropf
Charlie Parker
Travis Simpkins
Phil "Flip" Marquardt
Bishop
Dan "DJ" Izzo
Chris Morris
Dan Fox
Mike Cais
Travis Inskeep

Crossbreed was a six member industrial metal band from Clearwater, Florida, formed in 1996. They were signed with Artemis Records before being dropped from the label in 2003. The band released two EPs and three full-length albums before disbanding in 2010.

History

Early years

Crossbreed was formed in 1996 as a four-man band consisting of James Rietz, Chris Nemzek, Charlie Parker & Travis Simpkins. A year later they added keyboardist Jason Troph who left in 1998 to front the Orlando-based band Irrational. He was replaced by Phil "Flip" Marquardt. Their self-produced album .01 was released in 1998 with only 1,000 copies made; the album featured a cover version of "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak.

In 1999, Dan "DJ" Izzo (then under the moniker "D.J. Balistick") joined the band as their DJ/2nd Keyboardist. It was at this time that he began developing their stage show using black lights and glow paint, which helped bring the band to the attention of the music industry.

2000-2005

On April 29, 2000 Crossbreed played Tampa's 98Rock's radio festival, Livestock, where they met the girls from the band Kittie. They gave them a copy of their 3-Track demo, which found its way to the A & R Rep for Kittie's former label Artemis. Crossbreed was signed to Artemis by the end of the year and their debut album, Synthetic Division was released nationally on May 8, 2001. Their first single, "Underlined", debuted on MTV2 & MTVX. The video for that song was nominated for a Billboard Music Award. In the summer of 2001 they toured the U.S. and Canada with the German band Rammstein and did a short run with Static-X. Synthetic Division has sold to date a total of over 100,000 copies. In what would be a sign for the future, bassist Charlie Parker left the band after a show on April 20, 2002. Crossbreed then parted ways with their label in 2003 and after a show with Orgy on May 2, 2004, bassist Bishop, keyboardist "Flip", and drummer Simpkins left the band as well. Later that year, Izzo would also leave the band. James Rietz & Chris Nemzek chose to continue and re-form the band with new members.

2005 - 2010

With a new line-up and manager (Bill Aucoin, former manager of KISS), Crossbreed spent their time writing new material and doing shows in Florida, including opening for Orgy, Mushroomhead, and Mindless Self Indulgence. On July 25, 2005 they released their self-produced EP New Slave Nation and toured the Midwest with Mushroomhead and Dope on the "Music for Freedom" Tour. The following spring, they went out with Nothingface and Silent Civilian for a brief time before dropping off the tour due to conflict. Since that time they have toured again with Mushroomhead as well as alone throughout the Eastern U.S.

As of May 14, 2008, it was noted on Subkulture's Myspace Blog that Kem Secksdiin is co-writing and performing numerous songs on the upcoming Crossbreed album.

In July 2008, Crossbreed opened up their own audio-visual recording studio. Dubbed "The Candy Factory", the studio is located in the warehouse district of Downtown Clearwater, Florida and served as the studio where Crossbreed's new record KE 101 was recorded.

In June 2008, Crossbreed signed with "Driven Music Group", the new label of ex-Korn guitarist, Brian "Head" Welch. According to the band's MySpace, their new album KE 101 was scheduled to be released in late spring/early summer 2009 via Ryko distribution, but due to the company going under, they have decided to sign with Crash Music, an affiliate of Driven Music Group. Due to this and several other issues, the new album KE 101 was released on September 15, 2009.

Crossbreed played their last show on December 17, 2010 at The State Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Hiatus and other projects

Members of Crossbreed James Rietz and Ian Hall teamed up with Tamara Kemp to form a Super-Mega Group called Shu-Tang. They released their first EP "Drink Til You're Hott" on March 1, 2011 and sold over 5,000,000 downloads in the first week.[1]

On September 2012, they released a new video for the song "Dance Like A Zombie", and retired from the business..[2]

Kem Secksdiin released an album called [eMerGe-n-EvoLve] on January 12th, 2010. The album features guest appearances from Crossbreed's singer James Breed on the song "Night (Replace The day)" and F@mu$ (aka Famus, also known for work with XXX Car Ride) for the song "rEZuRekdEAD".

Members

Final Line-up members

James Rietz - vocals - (1996–2010)
Chris Nemzek - guitar, (1996–2010)
Corey Floyd - bass (2004–2010)
Kem Secksdiin - keyboards (2006, 2007–2010)
Ian Hall - keyboards (2005–2010)
Jay Diesel - drums (2008–2010)

Former Members

Bass - Charlie Parker : 1996 - 2002
Drums - Travis Simpkins : 1996 - 2004
Electronics - Dan "DJ" Izzo - 1999 - 2005
Keyboards - Phil "Flip" Marquardt : 1998 - 2004
Bass - Bishop : 2002 - 2004
Drums - Mike Cais (2007–2008)
Drums - Chris Morris : 2004 - 2006
Drums - Dan Fox : 2006 - 2007
Drums - Angel Bartolotta : 2006
Keyboards - Jason Tropf - 1997 - 1998, 2004 (live)
Keyboards / Programming - Travis Inskeep : 2004 - 2006

Timeline

Discography

Demos

  • 3-Track (Baby Doll) (1999)
  • 5-Track (Blue Guy) (2000)

LPs

EPs

References

  1. ↑ http://www.theprp.com/2010/05/13/news/crossbreed-go-on-hiatus/
  2. ↑ http://www.theprp.com/2010/05/13/news/crossbreed-go-on-hiatus/

External links

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