Cold is an American post-grunge band, formed in 1996 in Jacksonville
, Florida
. With
two
gold-albums under their belt, Cold
has sold over one million records. On
November 17,
2006, Ward
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 will be
reuniting for a tour in early 2009, followed by a highly
anticipated new studio album due in January 2010.
History
Beginnings/Self-titled Album
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 recorded 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.
13 Ways to Bleed on Stage
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 played for
Limp Bizkit at one point, to take over Scooter's
guitar duties. This would allow Scooter to focus more on singing
and interact more 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
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, when it
debuted at #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, where it peaked at #87.
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, for reasons unknown, Geffen refused to make the
video, or promote the album any further. 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 axe-man Eddie Randini.
In
2004, guitarist Kelly Hayes quit
the band as well. A week later, Hayes officially confirmed his
position as the guitarist in Jacksonville's
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 stayed true to their earlier promise
by not financing or promoting the album any further (despite it
later being certified gold).
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
By September 2004, the band had added former member Matt Loughran
to their ranks and was picked up 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 the loss of their third guitarist in
almost a year and parted ways with Edward Rendini for undisclosed
reasons. 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 suspected 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 #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 the group called
"DDC" (Ding Ding CH) has always been there for Ward and made sure
he made it through this horrible pain, 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 fiance/mother of his daughter, and
the physical abuse of a 14-year-old girl by her own father, and who
also had an alcoholic mother (a theme echoed from each of the three
previous albums).
On November 17, 2006, a MySpace post announced that Cold had
decided to disband permanently. Ward later announced that he and
McCandless had started a side-project called The Witch, now known
as
The Killer and the Star.
Since the posting, McCandless has not been mentioned in any
subsequent information and Limp Bizkit drummer
John Otto has been announced as the
session drummer on their forthcoming album. McCandless is now
playing drums for the band Carny.
Reunion
On July 25, 2008, a blog written by Ward on The Killer and the
Star's MySpace confirmed the rumors of 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.
Cold recently updated their MySpace page to promote their reunion
tour. When the page was originally updated, the lineup consisted of
Scooter Ward, Sam McCandless, Jeremy Marshall, Kelly Hayes &
Terry Balsamo. Hayes, however, decided not to tour and was replaced
by Joe Bennett, who parted ways with Cold in July 2009 and has been
replaced by former-Cold guitarist Zach Gilbert.
According to the band, recording sessions for the new album,
tentatively titled
Epic, have come to an end, with a
projected release date of January 2010.
This will be followed
by a full U.S.
tour. Cold is currently co-headlining a U.S.
tour with
Taproot.
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.
Epic
On November 1st, Cold added a brand new song titled "My Religion"
to their MySpace. The track will be featured on their 5th album,
which is tentatively titled "Epic" and is currently being mastered
with a Spring 2010 release date.
Band members
Current
Touring
- Michael Harris - guitar (fill-in for Terry)
Previous
- Matt Loughran - guitar (Played in Grundig and in Cold from
2004-2006)
- Joe Bennett - guitar (2009 tour only)
- Mike Booth - guitar (2005 tour only)
- Kelly Hayes – guitar
(1996-2004)
- Eddie Rendini - guitar (tour only 2004)
- Sean Lay - guitar (Played in Grundig)
Line-up history
| 1996 (as Grundig) |
|
| 1996 (as Grundig) |
|
| 1996 (as Grundig) |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Sean Lay – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 1996 (as Grundig) |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Kelly Hayes – guitar
- Sean Lay – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 1996–1999 |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Kelly Hayes – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 1999–2004 |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Kelly Hayes – guitar
- Terry Balsamo – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 2004 |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Kelly Hayes – guitar
- Eddie Rendini – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 2004 |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Matt Loughran – guitar
- Eddie Rendini – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 2005 |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Matt Loughran – guitar
- Mike Booth – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 2005–2006 |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Matt Loughran – guitar
- Zach Gilbert – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 2009 |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Joe Bennett – guitar
- Terry Balsamo – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
| 2009–present |
- Scooter Ward – lead vocals, guitar, piano
- Zach Gilbert – guitar
- Terry Balsamo – guitar
- Jeremy Marshall – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Sam McCandless – drums
|
Chart
| Band Role |
Year |
| 1996 |
1996 |
1996 |
1996 |
1996-1999 |
1999-2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2005 |
2005-2006 |
2009-Present
|
| Lead vocals, guitar, piano |
Scooter Ward |
| Guitar 1 |
Matt Loughran |
|
Kelly Hayes |
Matt Loughran |
Zach Gilbert |
| Guitar 2 |
|
Terry Balsamo |
Eddie Rendini |
Mike Booth |
Zachary Gilbert |
Terry Balsamo |
| Bass |
Jeremy Marshall |
| Drums |
Sam McCandless |
Discography
Studio albums
EPs
Singles
| Year |
Title |
Peak chart positions |
Album |
US
|
US
Main
|
US
Mod
|
UK
|
| 1998 |
"Go Away" |
— |
— |
— |
102 |
Cold |
| "Give" |
— |
— |
— |
93 |
| 2000 |
"Just Got Wicked" |
— |
25 |
— |
— |
13 Ways to Bleed on Stage |
| "Confession" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 2001 |
"No One" |
— |
17 |
13 |
— |
| "End of the World" |
— |
24 |
— |
— |
| "Bleed" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 2002 |
"Gone Away" |
— |
28
|
— |
— |
WWE Tough Enough 2
soundtrack
Year of the Spider |
| 2003 |
"Stupid Girl" |
87 |
4 |
6 |
— |
Year of the Spider |
| "Suffocate" |
— |
17 |
21 |
— |
| 2005 |
"Happens All the Time" |
— |
21 |
29 |
— |
A Different Kind of Pain |
| 2006 |
"A Different Kind of Pain" |
— |
35 |
38 |
— |
| "—" denotes
a release that did not chart. |
Music Videos
- "Go Away" (1998)
- "Give" (1998)
- "Just Got Wicked" (2000)
- "No One" (2001)
- "End of the World" (2001)
- "Bleed" (2001)
- "Gone Away" (2002)
- "Stupid Girl" (2003)
- "With My Mind" (2004)
- "Happens All the Time" (2005)
External links
Notes
- "RIAA Database Search for Cold" Recording
Industry Association of America. Retrieved on August 14,
2008.
- "Cold - Charts & Awards - Billboard Albums"
allmusic.
Retrieved on August 14, 2008.
- "Chart Log UK -
Search for C" Zobbel. Retrieved on August 14,
2008.
- American singles chart
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